From his perch in the catwalk, Darren watched horrified as the wandering guard went from a living, human being, to a bloody pulp just a few brief moments after being touched by Claire.
The momentary scream that fell from the guard's mouth just before his passing had been the worst. It had been a primal, animalistic cry whose udder pain and despair scarred the souls of anyone who had heard it.
The scream had frozen everybody in the storeroom in place for several heartbeats. The remaining guard was the first one to move. Moving quickly, the man grabbed Hida and held her next to his body, his left arm across her chest to keep her in place. The guard looked wide eyed, his small crossbow tracking across the room in all directions. For her part, Hida attempted to struggle against the man, but could find no purchase or opening to break herself free.
Darren looked over to Claire, who sat in the pile of rags, mouth agape. She was in a repeating pattern of looking momentarily at some sort of small object in her right hand, to the bloody pile of meat that now sat in front of her hiding space.
"What did she do?" was all Darren could think. It was one thing to perhaps subdue the guards so the three of them could make an escape, but this, this was on another level. From his time listening to the girls talk while they had been trapped aboard the ship, he had thought he had a good grasp of each of their personalities. He would have never thought Claire was one for ultra violence.
"More importantly, how did she do that?" he questioned. As far as he could tell, Claire had no weapon and the guard seemed to have very little in the way of metal on him. Did she have some sort of power that was beyond metalmancy?
He felt he should do something, but the guard armed with the crossbow was a liability. Darren didn't want to endanger Hida by acting rashly.
"Mo?" The guard below shouted - his head cocked to the side where he had last saw his partner. "Mo?" He asked again, panic in his voice now. The guard began to walk backwards, dragging Hida along as he backed towards the entrance to the crate maze.
"You better not be fucking with me, Mo!"
The guard paused, waiting for some sort of answer.
Hida continued to struggle, this time her foot stamping down on one of the boots of her captor. The guard winced and extreme anger flashed across his face.
"Let me go!" She shouted.
"Shut up! Just shut up!" The guard said. Despite her efforts and protests, the guard did not relax his grip.
"Whoever's out there," the guard shouted into the darkness, "Make a move, and the girl gets it."
The guard then moved the hand-crossbow so it was pointed at Hida's temple. Hida went very still at this.
Neither Darren or Claire gave a response. Darren looked back to Claire who was still sitting, looking horrified at the pulpy carcass.
When there was no answer, the guard gave a slight smile.
"Good, I'm going to take the girl and leave!" The man shouted again. His voice was a little stronger and a little more confident this time. "Keep in mind this place will soon be swarming with guards and if my missing friend is hurt, there will be nowhere safe for you in this city."
The guard began hauling Hida towards the door. Darren could only watch helpless from his position on the catwalk.
***
"YOU DUMB IDIOT!" Hida thought to herself when the guard pointed the crossbow towards her head.
Hida wasn't completely sure if she was calling herself or the guard the idiot. On the one hand, the glint of the tip of the crossbow bolt's head reminded Hida that it was made out of metal, so the guard had inadvertently tipped her off that she might be able to do something about the weapon. She also admonished herself that it had taken her so long to notice.
The ungodly scream that had emanated from the stacks of crates a few minutes ago had put her on edge, but if whatever was out there was against her captors, she felt she probably had a better chance with whomever of whatever that was. She just had to get herself free, and as the guard was dragging her towards the door to the storehouse, she knew that she was running out of time.
She twisted and turned in the guard's grasp, until in her wild thrashing, she landed a lucky elbow on the guard's nose, crushing it with a sickly crunch sound. In that brief moment, the man released his grasp, and she tumbled away from the man.
"You bitch! My nose!" The guard held the crossbow directly at her, a small stream of blood flowing out from his nostrils. As the guard fired the bolt, Hida grabbed onto the tip of the bolt with her mind, stopping it inches from her chest. The guard stood wide eyed, staring at his missile now floating in mid-air.
Hida flipped the bolt around, and floated it back towards to guard.
"Leave, or I let this go!" She demanded.
The look on the guards face was one of spite and anger. "I'll be back, and I'll be bringing friends."
"I don't care," Hida said, trying to project as much confidence as she could as her strength ebbed from holding the bolt aloft. "Fuck..." she pushed the bolt closer towards the man, "OFF!"
The guard turned and bolted towards the door, swearing all the way as he went.
When she was certain that the guard had no intention of returning, she released her hold over the crossbow bolt and it clattered to the floor. She fell to her knees, breathing heavily, and waited for a few moments for her strength to return.
She herd a series of metallic clangs from the catwalk and saw a figure emerge from the darkness. He waved, making sure that he was catching her attention.
"The boy from the ship!" she thought. "Was he the one trying to save me?"
She then noticed that he was alone.
"Hey!" she shouted. "Where's Claire."
The boy pointed at the maze of crates where the other guard had disappeared.
Hida nodded, and brought herself to her feet, steadying herself on a nearby crate as she rose from the floor.
She saw the boy watching wide eyed as she began picking her way towards Claire's location. Was something wrong?
She turned a corner, and saw her friend sitting on a pile of sacks, looking in horror at a pile of pulpy viscera and flesh.
Something was definitely wrong.