the opportunity to swing the heavy weapon down at her, a move she counteracted by rolling out of the way so my mace hit the ground. Her own weapon was a long sword that looked one hit away from cracking. It seemed that these Harpies had robbed the armoury of this Castle, for everything they used to fight with was old and rusted and barely worth the handle it was mounted in. Yet despite this, when she swung her sword, the tip of it still managed to catch me in the arm making me hiss with the bite of pain before snarling back at her with anger.
After she had caught me with her blade, she spun on a heel and started to run back towards the Eye, which was when I decided to throw my Mace, knowing it didn’t have to travel far.
“RRRAHHH!” I screamed, aiding my throw and making it spin sideways before hitting its target square in the back and knocking her off her ugly birdy feet. I heard her whimpering in pain as she tried to get up, but it must have been too much for her as her hands and her knees gave out from under her.
It was only when I approached that I realised why this was, as the damage caused to her back was definitely not something she could sleep off and feel better in the morning. Not when I had cracked her spine.
She tried again to get up, only this time attempting to flap her wings, but they also were too damaged and wouldn't work properly. They only managed to lift her off the ground and gain her about four feet in height. Her body steered off to one side due to it becoming lopsided when one wing gave out completely. This made it easy for me to reach up and grab her foot before yanking her down hard back to the floor.
“No! You…you can't do this to me! I was promised my revenge!” she said, as she scrambled backwards like a wounded crab searching desperately for the protection of its shell. I picked up her fallen sword and stalked towards her, finding her broken and bleeding form close to one of the mounds of stone that was covered with soul weed. It was time to teach her a lesson in revenge.
I stalked over to my prey and in response, she started to drag herself back quicker, meaning that by the time I had reached her she was closer to the soul weed. Then when she started to try and get up, I made my final move and kicked her chest, making her fall backwards, pinning herself against the large thorns. She screamed as each one pierced through her body and wings. She reminded me of a butterfly pinned on the wall of some eccentric Entomologist’s office.
“My Master, he will have your head for this!” she threatened, making me roll my wrist around, swinging the sword and telling her,
“I would like to see him try, for what I remember of him, he was the one running away like a coward and leaving you alone to endure my wrath.” She snarled at this but I could see in her eyes she knew it was true.
“Your Master has forsaken you and all of your kind. You were nothing more than a puppet to him to use and now he has cut those strings leaving you for dead.” She turned her head away as if she couldn’t bear the truth coming from me any longer, but I wasn’t done. I put a foot to one of the branches of soul weed and rested my bent forearm to it, to lean in closer, telling her,
“So, tell me, Bird Queen of a dead flock…” I ignored her snarl and snap of teeth, continuing,
“…You really think he cares for your life and all for a revenge you seek when it is sourly misplaced?”
“Your mother killed my sister!” she screamed back at me making me shake my head, now with a look of pity on my face. I straightened back up knowing what I had left to do.
“You’re just a mortal, you couldn’t understand my pain!” she said with tears of hatred in her eyes. She was a creature lost to her own self-absorbed bitterness and mortal loathing, and it was time to end both.
“No? Well, in the words of Buffy the Vampire slayer…then I will just have to settle with causing it!” I said as I raised my sword