Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Txälina

When Kaluen drew his sword, I retreated. He closed the distance between us, pressing the blade against my neck. The females shrieked, keeping a wide berth between them and the males. As I stared at him, anger ruptured through my chest. It was a belated realization that I should have utilized the voice a long time ago. I should have used the voice on him first.

"I'm not afraid of you," I said brazenly, taking a step forward.

He glared at me belligerently.

"We have spent our whole lives under the shackles of hardship you and other Säli males bestowed on us. You sold me to Mätxin like a livestock, a slave, as you regard me. I have been raped, bludgeoned, and defiled. Do you wonder why i never end it all by killing myself?"

"Save it to yourself," he sneered. "You were born to be a whore, a slave, a breeding mare. Mätxin was right. I have been lenient on you so far. But not anymore."

"It is a pity you don't really know me. I am not your slave. I am Txälina, the daughter of the moon goddess Säli, sent by her to save the females of Säli from you."

Mätxin lowered his sword and laughed. "Daughter of Säli? How daft of you."

A small smile curled on my lips, and much to his chagrin, I opened my mouth to command the voice.

But in a swift move, Kaluen drove the sword deep into Täneli's chest. She screamed, dropping to her knees as she clutched her bleeding wound.

"This is for going against me," he said as he pulled the sword out. Then he gestured to me. "You are next."

My brain slowed down as I tried to process the scene before me.

"No!" The scream tore through my throat as I lurched toward her. I cradled her in my arms.

"Txalin..."

"No... No... You can't die. You... You..."

"Kill him," she cried, her eyes fluttering closed. "Kill them all."

We have been surviving since we knew each other. Just when the suffering was about to end and this happened.

I felt a combustible rush of anger that spiraled across my face like wildfire. It careened through my veins, corrupting me with rage. My hands clenched around Täneli's.

Give this one to me.

"I command you to kneel!" I screamed. "I curse you, brother. May Säli take your soul. From now on, you shall know nothing but darkness."

All of a sudden, he dropped to the ground, his knees kissing the floor in bewilderment.

The room began to vibrate with rage. I saw the walls cracked, the warriors grasping anything to stabilize themselves.

The anger spreading through my chest was wild. It shrouded my vision, burning me with pure rage. My breath grew heavy, my blood simmering at high heat.

Kaluen's eyes widened, and he strained to hurl his sword at me, but before the blade left his hand, mist danced around him like a ring.

It grasped him, swimming through his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth as Kaluen screamed. The warriors tried to intervene, but Säli slashed them with the mist, cutting deep into a warrior's heart like a sword.

My mind was devoured by rage, and I felt power emanate from me.

"She's flesh and blood of Säli!" the females shouted.

"The first of her kind!"

At last, Kaluen cried bloody tears. "Sister!" he begged. "Please make it stop! Please!"

He fell to the floor splayed, his eyes red with blood, his veins bulging against his flesh.

He is no brother of yours.

Kill them all.

All who have inflicted pain on Säli's females.

They'll pay with their blood.

A clangor of voices rang through my head, filling me with more rage. When I gazed at the males, I saw their memories. I saw the memory of the first warrior.

"Please, no!" I heard the voice of a female crying as he assaulted her. "You claimed you would wait until I experienced my first bleeding. Please don't do this to me. I beg you."

I whipped my head to another warrior and saw the memory of him sinking his claws into a female's chest.

I saw yet another memory of a warrior assaulting a pregnant female even as she bled, even when she lost consciousness and stopped moving.

Their memories bludgeoned me, and I took a step back, anger simmering through my veins.

Kill them all.

I closed the distance between me and the warrior, a tall, bulky male. His memories were sullied with the blood of females he'd murdered.

I didn't feel like myself anymore. It felt like Säli had taken control of my body. I grabbed the man by the neck, determined that he would feel every bit of pain.

"Mercy," he begged. I remembered him. He'd threatened to assault me when Kaluen locked me in that dark cell.

"Mercy?" I scoffed as my hold tightened on his throat, forcing him to his knees. "The females you murdered sought for mercy too."

His eyes grew wide.

"For every woman," I spoke, "every child whose life you have stolen, not even the afterlife will save you. Säli will torment you there. She will make sure you don't get a sliver of freedom. You will burn now. All of you who have suffered and killed Säli females will burn from the inside out, and die a slow, painful death."

I stepped away from him, watching as his skin melted and shrank. I felt the heat emanating from him as his blood turned into volcanic steam, consuming him from within. One by one, the males dropped to the ground, horror stretched across their faces as their blood turned against them.

Tears slicked my cheeks as their memories bombarded me, leaving me breathless, painful memories I would walk through fire to never see again.

My head slowly turned to Tanëli's lifeless body, but all of a sudden, I saw Kaluen block my path. My eyes widened. He's dead. I saw him die. How is he standing here, alive and well?

When I looked around, I saw that we were surrounded by the walls of his room.

"Kneel," he commanded, and I found myself falling to my knees.

"I warned you not to awaken the beast in me," his voice echoed in my head, and I felt a whip strike my back, splitting my skin. My throat released a sob.

"Brother, please…"

"You woke the beast in me."

Crack.

My skin was on fire. Tears burned my vision.

Wake up. None of this is real, I heard Säli's voice in my head.

I cried as another lash whipped my skin.

Wake up. It's all in your head.

I woke up, peeling my eyes opened to an unfamiliar, aromatic scent of someone in the air. Turning around to ascertain the owner of that scent, i found Alpha Mätrang standing at the entrance of the room.

"You're in my mind," i said. "Distorting me with hallucinations."

His jaw clenched.

"Get out," I commanded, banishing him and sealing the door to that memory shut.