Prose Magica: The Ballad of the Seventeenth Part 10

The street lights flashed by as Sleepy Sue weaved through traffic on the busy Toronto streets. Odette's leg tapped unconsciously as she sat on the floor, silently sharpening one of her spears. Mona was nearly hanging out of the armoured car's turret, shouting directions while her wet ponytail whipped around violently.

The busy sounds of traffic eventually melded into quiet suburbs with the occasional over-hanging lamp. It had been less than five minutes since they'd left the club, but Odette had enough sense to know that they were probably already too late. Soon enough, the car rolled up in front of the gated driveway of the Bernard home. Odette whistled as they pair jumped from the turret and stepped up to the wrought iron bars.

"Damn," the one-eyed girl mumbled, "Casa Loma ain't got shit on you."

"Yeah, yeah. What's the plan?" Mona snapped.

"You head in the front. I'll circle around back," Odette whispered, trying to figure out a plan in her head. "Keep my number dialled on your phone. I'll try to find you if something comes up."

Mona nodded and, in a single bound, leapt over the stone fence around the lot. Odette quickly followed suit, disappearing into the darkness around the edges of the wall.

✱✱✱

Mona fumbled with the key to the front door as she shoved it into the hole and gave it a hard twist. She'd never imagined that she'd be breaking into her own home. The past two days had seemed so surreal. Being offered a position in Valkyrie squad, teaming up with not one but two of the Seventeenth's warmasters and... having to chase down a killer after her father.

The house was deathly still as she stepped into the front hall. Not a single light seemed to be on in the entire building. The only sound was that of her own breathing and the steady thrumming of rain on the rooftops. It occurred to her that not a single thing was out of place. There wasn't even any water on the floor - which could only mean that the other girl hadn't come in through the front. For a moment, the tall Eversor almost believed that she'd gotten their early, that the psychotic she was hunting was too late. But of course, she was smarter than that.

How long had it been since Fubey first paid her a visit? She could never forget that day. He had been waiting with the warmaster outside of her highschool. "Good afternoon, Miss Bernard," he had said to her. "Would you be so kind as to give me a moment of your time?"

She'd just moved to the city back then. Jim Bernard had never been a terribly successful man. He jumped from job to job, always changing cities. Her mother had left them long ago, back when Mona was still too young to realize what was going on. "Mona, sweetie," her father had said, "I think this is the one! I'm gonna make your mother regret ever leaving us."

"I wish my dad's business could be successful," she had said to the incubator. "So we can live his dream."

A smell struck her as she put her hand on the door to her father's study. It was sweet, yet hateful. A smell that instinctively threw up all of the red flags in that primal part of her brain. With a turn of the knob, Mona pushed the door open and stepped inside. The study was much bigger than it had any right to be. Bookshelves lined the walls with old tomes that no one had ever bothered reading. A golden chandelier hung from the ceiling, unlit and still.

And there he was.

Slumped over his desk. Just like all the nights he had fallen asleep doing work. All the nights that were made worth it by his success. But as the metallic scent of blood rushed into her nostrils, she knew.

With a scream of "Daddy!" she rushed to his side. She could see the hole straight through his chest. Tears streamed down her face as she heard a sharp, girlish gasp from somewhere above her.

"You call him daddy?" An all too cheerful voice asked as the clinking of chains rang out through the room. "That's cute! You're cute! Gotta love a cool girl who gets all sweet and innocent~"

Mona spun around without a second thought, pointing her rapier outward. Fennel Vance hung upside down from the chandelier from her golden chain, a messy sea of dark hair hanging down further. A flash of lightning lit up the room for a brief moment and Mona could see the enormous grin plastered to the other girl's face as she swung back and forth.

"You... you killed my father," Mona growled.

"No shit," Fennel replied, leaping from her perch and landing back on the ground, golden chain in hand. "You aren't the one I'm looking for but," the Wolf held up one of her enormous hooks, gleaming in the moonlight and coated with fresh blood, "I could go for a little warm up."

Mona dashed at her father's killer, her teeth bared in a vicious snarl. Once, twice, three times her rapier clashed with Fennel's hooks in a shower of sparks. Her teeth ground together as she put all of her strength into the blows, each one deftly turned aside by the other girl. With a roar of anger, Mona kicked off the ground and performed an elegant pirouette, aiming to backhand the other girl with her buckler.

In a display of flexibility, Fennel leaned back to dodge the blow and cast her hook over the taller Eversor's shoulder. Mona glanced back, watching the hook tear through her father's books and crack through the shelves with ease. She remembered her opponent's presence a moment too late - turning her head only to have her vision obscured by the soles of Fennel's feet.

Mona tumbled to the ground, managing to catch her self only an inch before her head slammed into the marble floor. She heard a dull clinking just as a sudden pressure clamped around her ankle. A snort of laughter filled Mona's ears as she felt herself lift off the ground. It felt as though her guts were about to spill out of her mouth as she was jerked upward at speeds usually reserved for race cars and roller coasters.

Then she hit the ceiling.

A distinct crack sounded through the study as her whole body slammed into the marble. Mona groaned in agony. It felt as though she'd just been hit by a truck. However, the rush of adrenaline suddenly dulled that pain when the chain loosened.

A moment later, gravity worked its magic, slamming her back to the floor. Using her sword for support, Mona forced herself to her feet, unsteady as they were. It would take a lot more than that to keep her down. Or, at least, that's what she told herself.

"Alright, kid," Fennel sighed. "It's been fun. It really has. But if you don't stay down, I'm gonna have to stop goofin' off."

Mona rolled her neck and cracked her shoulders, giving her rapier a whirl in the air. "I'm-," she coughed violently and spat out a mouthful of blood, "I'm just getting started."

Fennel rolled her eyes and with a short huff, cast both ends of her chain into the ceiling, smashing through it with ease. The chains unfurled from a seemingly endless spool at the girl's feet, going on and on into whatever space laid beyond.

Mona took the opportunity to charge forward, holding her rapier up for an overhand slash. But she had underestimated her opponent. With a flash of brilliant gold, both ends of the chain shot back through the ceiling on either side of her.

She snickered. "You miss-"

Pain shot through her body.

Both hooks snapped back and tore into her. One went up through the left side of her ribcage, cracking bone and piercing organs. The other impaled her inner left thigh, easily ripping through the tender flesh. Mona screeched as both hooks pulled back in opposite directions.

Her leg went first. She felt it dislocate, then tear from her body as the hook pulled it back to the far side of the room. The rest of her went flying into the opposite wall before her world went black.

Fennel smirked, taking the opportunity to admire her own handiwork. The hooks detached themselves from the two pieces of magical girl before retracting back into her hands.

"Next?"

✱✱✱

Odette never got a phone call, but after the scream she knew exactly what to do. She crossed the yard in a matter of seconds, leaping over hedges and gardens as she went. Her spear thrust into the soft ground as she vaulted up to the window, a sudden gust of wind catching under her cloak and sending her further upward.

She didn't even want to think about what she'd find on the other side of the glass. She'd been through this kind of thing far too many times to have any optimism left. Odette knew it'd be a lucky break if Mona was still alive.

The glass shattered as she tumbled through, holding her cloak over her face. The glass rang out as it hit the floor, an orchestral symphony heralding her arrival. The former warmaster dashed her cloak over her shoulders as she rose to her feet. Her pure ivory costume shone through the room as she took a deep inhale and her single eye scanned the surroundings.

The scent of blood hung thick in the air, but never did she wince or wretch even as her eye ran over the broken body of Mona Bernard.

"'bout time you showed up!" Fennel called out a sing-song voice. "I was starting to worry that you'd chickened out!"

The Wolf licked her lips as she gazed upon Odette, a rhetorical, theatrical gesture. Odette's eye simply hardened in response.

"You killed Mona's dad?" She asked, her voice stern.

"Ayup!" Fennel's reply came in the same cheerful tone as she always seemed to use. "Real quick and painless! I'm a professio-"

"And you hurt Mona?"

This time it was Fennel who grew cold. "Don't interrupt me." She cocked her head back at the bigger part of the junior Eversor as a devilish grin curled her lips. "Wasn't so quick and painless for her. Hell, she still might be conscious!"

The one-eyed girl nodded. "Right," she muttered, her breath coming out as vapour.

Odette seemed to disappear in a blur of white before Fennel's eyes. It was only the jingling of the chandelier that alerted her to the silver-haired girl's location, but by the time it reached her ears Odette was already gone. With a subconscious flick of her wrist, Fennel shot one of her arm-sized hooks at the hanging fixture.

The former warmaster was fast, Fennel thought to herself. Just as fast as she'd heard. It had been said that everything the Silver Lady lacked in brute strength she made up for with raw agility. The pale blur zoomed around the edges of the room, leaving ruined bookshelves in her wake where her spears had pierced the walls to act as hand-holds. Fennel's golden chains lashed and whip, a moment too late every time. All the while, the Wolf was forced to dodge hurled spears as she swung about on the chandelier.

In the blink of an eye, Odette seemed to disappear from the edges of the room. Fennel's neck craned just in time to see tiny, pale fingers wrap around her large collar and HEAVE her from her perch. She felt wood crack under her weight as she soared through the door and into the hallway. She prayed a silent prayer as she realized what a terrible mistake Odette had made.

The silver-haired stalked out of the room after her, a spear clutched in either hand. She let out a short snicker as she watched the other girl take off down the corridor.

"Running away already?" Odette called out. "I didn't even think we started yet!"

Fennel turned on her heel and leaned an elbow against the wall. "Come at me then."

Odette eyed the hall carefully. The other girl was twenty - no, thirty feet down. She could probably cover the distance in a matter of moments. But she knew better than that. She could see the predator pacing in the Wolf's eyes.

"Why don't you come here?" The one-eyed girl asked, her eyes narrowed.

"Ohoho! We got a clever one!" Fennel giggled and snorted in a most unladylike fashion. "What's Fennel got in store, I wonder? Hm? Come on, don't be shy!"

Odette tapped her foot nervously. She could take the bait. She could simply waltz down the hall like the other girl clearly wanted. Or maybe it was all a ruse. Maybe she was just toying with Odette.

"Hey, hey!" Fennel called out. "Little Mona, she called him daddy, y'know? Isn't that ADORABLE?!"

Odette released a short breath, halfway between a growl and a laugh.

"She sang like the rest! Right at the end when I ripped off her leg!" The Wolf's words came out dark and animalistic with a certain primal joy in her work. Odette had known a great many people like that - many of them fellow warmasters. "They all sing in the end. The Blessed Lady was so pleased! Only that ponytail girl gave in, though. Didn't need her by then anyways. Made a pretty penny off her soulgem!"

The one-eyed girl suddenly stopped, her foot still in mid-air. She could feel her hands growing colder. A chill ran up her spine as she felt the familiar sensation of icy cold right down to her bones. Under any other circumstance, she would fight it back. But not now. Now she needed it, as loath to admit it as she was.

Fennel blinked and Odette was already halfway down the hall. She was moving faster this time. Too fast. She propelled herself down the ice-covered floors using her spears as makeshift ski poles, bearing down . The air hung crisp and cold as the window panes cracked and popped while frost glazed them over. Fennel could see her own breath. And she grinned.

The chains slipped from her hands like a pair of serpents. They flew through the walls, dousing the corridor in a mist of plaster and wood splinters. The first shot out just behind Odette, close enough to knock her foot as she skated down the hall. A second burst out from behind a painting just ahead before crashing through the opposite wall. Soon enough the hall was filled with shining golden chains criss-crossing back and forth as they slid ever forward.

Still, Odette pressed on. Sparks flew as her spear collided with the chain still in Fennel's hands. It was a perfectly even match, Odette noted. Both were combatants were far better suited to mid-range fighting. All bets were off for this match; it was simply a matter of who had more aces up their sleeve.

Fennel took a quick leap back, which was swiftly answered by a javelin soaring past her cheek. The chains continued to pierce through the walls both in front and behind the two clashing titans, forcing them to duck and jump every other second. Ever more the chains flowed, ever forward through the ether from whence they came. The one-eyed girl couldn't even tell which part of the mansion they were in anymore. It all seemed to meld together as she pushed the Wolf through room after hallway after room.

The Wolf's retreat was suddenly blocked off as she felt her back hit a railing. With a grin, she realized that they'd made their way to the entrance hall, with it's sweeping wooden staircase, ornate Corinthian columns and enormous, gaudy chandelier. Her grin quickly vanished from her face as Odette's boot collided with her chest and sent her tumbling over the edge.

One of the hooks shot out and wrapped around the chandelier. Fennel cackled with pure, child-like glee as she spun around, riding it like a swing carousel. This time it was her foot that met the side of Odette's head - who had jumped up on the railing, ready to tackle the flying girl.

Odette was swept off her feet from the blow. Her hands desperately grasped at the railing for purchase as she fell, only one of them managing to get a hold as her spear clattered to the floor below.

With panic in her eye she reluctantly let go, dropping to the floor in a low crouch. Odette ducked as a hook flew past her head, hanging from the spinning chandelier. She quickly picked up her spear and batted a second aside as it swung by much too quickly for her liking.

Fennel hung upside down below the centre of the chandelier, striking acrobatic poses as she directed her hooks about like a conductor. The serpentine chains lashed and whipped at Odette as they passed, forcing her to block as her back was pushed up against one of the columns.

The Wolf had managed to work herself into a near-perfect defensive position. Odette's single blue eye flickered back and forth as she watched the hooks spin and lash out, scanning for an opening. It seemed that the space was only open for a single beat.

Odette took a deep breath. She only had one chance. She'd have to time it perfectly.

A hook lashed out at her. She grabbed it and heaved, stabbing her spear between the links and pinning it to the column. The chandelier jerked and tossed about as it suddenly started spinning in the opposite direction.

The second hook lashed out. Odette grabbed and yanked, placing the sole of her foot into the loop.

She flew forward as Fennel recalled it, her spear aimed forward at the Wolf like a jousting knight.

A third hook appeared from the corner of her eye, bursting from the checkered marble floor. It missed by inches as it wrapped around Odette's waist, winding her and sending her flying back against a column.

The one-eyed girl spat out a mouthful of blood as she rose to her feet. Ribs were probably broken. Organs might have been crushed. Definitely some internal bleeding.

"You have three," Odette laughed, leaning on her spear.

Fennel shook her head and the former warmaster was suddenly made aware of a delicate clinking behind her. A sudden spike of gold rose from below her field of vision in a spray of blood. She couldn't feel the pain. Only the sudden sensation of a foreign material piercing just above her heart. With a jerk, she felt it lift her off her feet, dangling her like a slab of meat in a butcher shop.

There was a light thud as Fennel dropped to the floor. A single golden chain ran from her hand and disappeared into the ceiling as she walked forward, running her hand up it. She ran a hand down Odette's cold cheek and whispered in her ear,

"I have four."

The wolf cackled as she pulled a syringe from behind her back and jabbed it into Odette's neck. The one-eyed girl's one eye slowly closed as her world turned black.