Bleeding Color

The claws that catch

Watching her movements as she sheathed the spear on a holder across her back, it once more hit me the calculating way she did things. On impulse, I waved my hand in front of her face. The snakes hissed insistently, making me drop my hand for caution they might bite.

"Go ahead and ask."

I squinted, trying to see beneath the veil. I had been told it was impolite to stare, yet everyone had stared at me. Perhaps it was only impolite to stare at normal people, at humans or maybe people stared because I was the savior. I continued gazing intently at this little snake child. Why was she wanted and not Pitri? Why was she wanted and not me? How was she so special?

"I can't see, well sorta."

I blinked, pulling out of my head and outta the rabbit hole I had fallen remembering with a start what thought I had been following.

"That doesn't make any sense. You haven't been running into anything."

She laughed. "Being blind doesn't automatically mean you run into everything. It's more complicated than that, even for a human who is blind. You learn ways to live with it." She pulled back out the spear and spinning it, demonstrating her prowess. "Some people count steps to and around areas they have to use daily, others use these stick things, and some even have like dogs to help. Me, I have my snakes and my hearing."

I tried to put together her words. It didn't much make sense to me. It seemed to make a human so vulnerable this disability, and yet the way she talked about it made it sound like not a terrible thing. I was confused. I had always been told that people with issues like hers had died out quickly when the Others invaded, that they were weak. Yet as I watched her confidence I began to doubt that. She had obvious skill with that spear and her ability to move in a world of black was impressive. Still...

"Why did your family keep you? Not only you are a halfling, but you are broken. Incapable of sight and reliant on the charity of others." My voice was calm and even as I said this, reciting a philosophy that had been drilled into me.

A frown shifted the veil, crossing her delicate features. I think, I think I had hurt her feelings and surprisingly I cared. I took a step back, as though it would help distance me from the unsettling feeling in my chest. It was an odd weight, one I didn't like. She stiffened at my reaction, before seeming to set herself on something. Her fingers whitened as she tightened her grip on her spear. The snakes began hissing an incessant sound, a bit of an angry battle cry.

"Fight me." She challenged, her snakes getting louder and weaving in agreement.

I shuttered a tad, frightened by the sudden shift within the girl from doting to confrontational. I suppose I had it coming, but still. It was not what I expected based upon what I had been told. As she sank back into a fighting stance I was once more reminded of my own awe of her just moments before. I shifted uncomfortably. I didn't know how to react. It had already been pounded into me the lack of honesty and fact based knowledge the scientist had drilled into me, and yet I still clung to it. It was a safe net to catch me.  A place where I knew I belonged and had a purpose, even as the net caught fire with me laying in it. It would be my undoing, but I would surely fall without it.

"Okay." I brought up my fists, resigning to it.

The wind whistled through the misty woods of the Gorgons domain, seeming to be excited by the duel. I wouldn't be surprised. It had an unnatural feeling and not just from it's occupants. I rolled my shoulders and rolled to the balls of my feet, bouncing about. I was small, fast, and strong, even without a weapon I would take her down no problem. I sprang. My movements darting left then right to fake her out as I attempted to swing an upper cut at her jaw. A wave of hissing permeated the air and Honi shifted. Dodging, she spun along my attacking arm and whacked me in the back with her shaft. I stumbled forward, but remained standing. Her hit had been solid, but nothing compared to what I had taken before.

Honi wasn't done though. She pounced, her head tilted, as she honed to my position. Her spear spun and came to crack me upside the head when I turned back to attack. Staggering, I put distance between us. She didn't advance, instead cautiousness and listening. It had been a while since I had practice hand to hand combat, the half century beneath the dirt had done nothing for my skills. Still I had been trained a warrior, a savior for the world against...against people like her.

Emotions boiled up inside of me. It was frustration and sadness mixed with shame and guilt. I wouldn't lose. I needed to be a winner.

It didn't take long for my face to warm from the river of blood flowing from my eyes. I wasn't sure what, just letting the nature of the Other flow through me like air. My abilities may be a hit or miss with the effectiveness, particularly with the higher level Others, but it didn't mean I couldn't make something happen. Something always happened and then I would figure it out from there. I didn't need control to tear apart my enemies.

Silk threads began floating in the wind, barely visible with their whispy white film. It took a second to realize they were coming from me. Like sweat from my pores, the filaments trailed out and floated through the air toward Honi. The snakes couldn't see them, though from their frantic movements I knew they could sense something. Honi remained still, her jaw working in twitches. It hit me that must be part of how she hears. Snakes sensed vibration through their jaw. Still, even with her amazing hearing, there was nothing that she could do about the threads.

They drifted around Honi, little glossimers settling upon her skin. She tried to wipe them off only to have the piece of silk stick to her. That was when her panic set in. She began swiping with her spear, but more and more of the silk was being made by my body, all attempting to entangle her. Soon she couldn't move, her body cocooned in the stronger, sticky threads. I dropped my hands from where I had subconsciously raised them.

My legs took me forward of their own accord toward the little Gorgon halfling in the shell. She was wrapped from the neck down to her ankles, the spear trapped right along with her. Reaching out a finger, I pushed watching her fall with a detached interest. She didn't vocalize a sound though, just the thump of her hitting the ground. I frowned dropping down to a crouch to look at her.

The forest had become quiet. It sank in why with a start, her snakes weren't hissing. I shook Honi by the shoulder. She didn't move. Leaning forward, I put my ear near her mouth and heard just a shallow breath after a moment. This wasn't good. Putting my fingers to my face, I came away with a reddish white film of blood. I dug through my memory for the Other and screamed when I realized the one.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." The thought I may have killed her was heavy on my heart. I didn't want her dead, well not anymore. I had just been angry.

My finger raked at the web and began bleeding trying to peel it off. The sound of feet pounding and large sweeping movements approached. The Gorgons were coming and would find what I had done. I began sobbing in desperation. I needed her to live.

My body was suddenly in the air. I was picked up and flung into a tree. My head cracking on the solid wood. Blackness encroached my vision as I passed out and for once I was grateful because as my eyes closed the red eye Gorgon began her approach lifting at her veil.