I dove towards the wet grass. Last night's rainfall has provided my Norwegian bestie with just enough juice to make this a fair fight. Hence – outside fight today. Sam's foot slides the air above my head. On the last second, he switched up and axed down on my shoulder. I rolled and shot up. My knee to his face. He rebounded and caught my shoulder and spearing me to the ground. I tasted the dam mud as I inhaled the soil.
Pinning me to the ground by my right shoulder, he took a sharp breath and said, "You need to move on kiddo."
I tensed my core and twisted out of his grip; swinging and catapulting my heel towards his face. He took the opportunity to evaporate and reappear in front of me with a knuckle-sandwich to my face. So, the nymph wants to play. Game on.
I allowed my body to heat up and turn molten so that the next time he tried to strike; he'd be battling the sun. The African sun is nobody's bitch. I smirked as he jerked his hand back.
"I can't just move on. It's not like she broke my favourite mug. She killed my brother!" The sullen and sympathetic look on his face pissed me off
I stepped towards him with arms wrapped in flames. He immediately raised his hands in surrender.
"Take a breath, Nikky. Breathe," he said slowly until I finally let my hands drop to my side. Taking this as a good sign, he approached me and let wrapped me in a blanket of raindrops to cool me down. He gently grabbed my shoulders and asked me to look at him.
"I know, bud. But you can't let her take your last chance to go home away from your too," he said within a voice only he knew how to use. The lumbering fool was shit many things. Not being a friend though – he mastered that years ago.
"Thanks, Sammy. You really-". A shriek stole the word out of my mouth along with warmth in my veins. We jetted off towards the house. It took us a minute later to reach the source of the sound. Melissa.
She was standing in the centre of Riley's room. Shards are glasses were littered under the windowpane and the bed was in shambles. The thing that set me off was the blood. There was blood on the sheets. That was it. My veins erupted with molten determination and my world turned red.
Less than 12 hours and someone had managed to snatch my charge from right under my nose. I looked at Sam with my hands already alight. He was right. She was my last ticket home and I wouldn't let anyone take that from me.
With Melissa finally consoled, the siblings shared a look and followed me out of the house.
--
It took us 180 nagging minutes to track the energy trail left in the moisture. Melissa took the lead on that front. She led us to the to an abandoned warehouse near the borders of the town. We found a shed to hide behind near the entrance.
"Next time, I'm doing the tracking. You really didn't have to take the long route," Sam said with a huff. I slapped the upside of his head.
"We don't have time for this! Lissa got us here – that's all that matters. Last time you followed an energy trail, you almost reanimated a springbok corpse!" I snapped in a whispered voice. The older Nøkkenson was not the wisest mage and we didn't have time for trial and error today. We had a princess to rescue.
"Fine! What's the plan, boss?" I rolled my eyes at his sarcasm and thought it through.
"The plan is that I am going to go up and scope out the place and take out any little shits I find up there. Sammy, you are going to tail me and, when I give the green light, you are going to get Riley and get her to safety," I said in one flow of breath.
I paused for a second to peek out from behind the shed to see if I could detect any movement. I couldn't.
"I need to get closer. We're going to move on three, okay?" I made a move to get up, but Melissa pulled me back. She looked adorable with her narrow lilac eyes and wet eyelashes. She flicked my ear softly to get my attention. I gave her an apologetic smile.
"What am I supposed to do in this grand plan of yours?" she asked in an annoyed voice. I somehow convinced myself that she would just stay put.
"You're going to stay here. As a lookout," I tried.
"You mean to stay out of the way?" she retaliated. I took her face into my hands and cradled it, placing a tender kiss to her forehead.
"I need you to stay here. When I go in there, I have to place Riley as my first priority in order to save her. If you're there I can't do that. I'd sooner die than put anyone's safety above yours. So, please, stay here where I know you're safe." I was practically begging at this point but luckily, I fell in love with an understanding and intelligent woman. Melissa reluctantly nodded her head and wished me good luck with a deep kiss.
Sam and I stalked towards the warehouse, using the surrounding foliage as coverage.
"Don't think I don't know what you did back there, Casanova," Sam said with a knowing look on his smug face. I rolled my eyes and motioned for him to look forward.
We made our way around the building and found an unhinged door. I picked up the door and placed in gently on the floor – the last thing I needed was to make a creaking announcement of our position. We scanned the first floor and proceeded to make our way up the staircase. Once, on top, the sound of two voices reached my ears. It sounded like two men from the pitch of their voices. They were speaking in a dialect that I didn't recognize. Definitely not Bantu. There were a pair of footsteps approaching us. I signalled for Sam to hide and got out of the line of sight until the footsteps left earshot.
We had wasted enough time, so I instructed Sam to stay in the stairwell until I gave the signal. He gave me a curt nod and I was off. I allowed my veins and emotions to pulse while I snuck into the room.
Please, father, allow me your strength.
I clocked a sight of Riley unconscious and in a chair in the centre of the room. I took a second to observe the position of the men in the room. I was right. Three robust men stood at opposite sides of the room while the tallest of the group lorded over her. The first time his hand touches her cheek, I allowed the lightning vibrating in my lungs to explode through the windows and tear him to shards. He fell. They charged and apparently Samuel forgot what our signal was. He came running in, but I didn't have time to reprimand him because I had a blue-eyed giant to fight off. I took to the sky and speared through the large oaf with a single kick. He fell to the floor just in time for me to rip the heart out of the second ghost's chest. Had time to died before all hell broke loss. I watched Riley come to as a drop of her blood touched the ground. I rushed past Sam as he rustled with some long-lost behemoth.
Riley was still waking up as I let my inner flame engulf my frame and wrap itself around her attacker's neck. I watched him scream in agony as the flames gnawed at his flesh. They ate until his head fell at the princess's feet. A popping sound from Sam's location indicated that the last of the pests were finally exterminated.
"Is that all of them?" I demanded from Riley. I tore the chains form her wrists and lugged her over my shoulder. Once, close enough to Sammy, I unloaded the princess into his unexpected arms.
"Please carry the precious princess home. We need to get away from this place as soon as possible." I said with all of the frustration I could muster at the moment. I disregarded the chard pieces of clothing falling from my body as I walked towards the door.
"What the fuck, Nikola. I was just kidnapped and attacked. What do you do? Toss me to your friend like some excess luggage!" she screamed back at me. Unable to control me, I charge towards her and melded my eyes with her. I tried to ignore how her eyes fell to my exposed torso; my bra was dangling by a single strap that was frayed halfway through.
"Actually. PRINCESS. I just saved your life. You got yourself kidnapped and I have to risk the lives of my family to rescue your useless ass!" I was fuming at this point. This cemented her attention to me.
"Your family?" she asked in a mocking tone as she motioned to the dismayed corps on the floor. I let the flames reach my eyes as I glared at her.
"Watch. It. Riley." I spoke slowly, emphasizing ever nitric syllable as it was forged on the edge of my tongue.
"Nikola, stop," a soothing voice called behind me. I immediately shook the anger out of my voice and turned to face the woman I love.
"It's not her fault, skatt. She was outnumbered." I bit my tongue. The last thing I wanted was for Riley Mpande to cause conflict between Melissa and me. The last thing that the daughter of Chief Mpande needed to worry about was being outnumbered by a few ghosts. They might have been overgrown but they were ghosts none the less and this was her ancestors' land. I kissed the crown of my love's head over her soft brunette lock interlocked our fingers, ignoring the growls brewing in Riley's throat as Lissa's free hand traced the exposed skin on my midriff. I smirked at the lioness over my shoulder. Sammy chuckled.
We reached the house in a haste. Within minutes, the most valuable memorabilia were tossed into three travel cases. That is beside the obvious horde of belongings the princess tracked after us. By nightfall, our former home was stripped of all sentiment and reduced to ash.
"Where are we going to go now, Nikky? Sam asked as the girls climbed into the car. I took a deep breath and looked at my friend.
"I'm going to show you my home," I said in a shrunken voice and walked ahead.