Bounty of Ash

Chapter 5

3

She choked on the salmon. I smiled.

“Phoenix! You’re here!” She was wiping her hands down her hairy chest, trying to get the mustard and salmon bits from her hands. She merely succeeded in mashing them into her fur. I felt calm and cold as I spoke.

“Of course I’m here. This is my apartment.”

The last time I had seen this yeti she was selling me out to my sworn enemies. I wanted to rip her apart with my bare hands. I wanted to launch myself across my apartment and close the fridge door on her head over and over and over and, you get the idea. But she might know where Sid was, and I needed that information before I kicked her ass.

“The real question, Yeren, is how did you get in here?” I opened my wings slightly, she gulped. “I thought Travellers couldn’t enter another’s home without permission.” I c****d my head to the side. “I don’t remember giving you permission.”

She smiled.

“Well, I guess that means this isn’t your home.”

I hadn’t thought of that. My wings twitched, her smiled grew broader.

“Why are you here, Yeren?”

“I thought Sid might be here.”

“You don’t know where he is?” s**t.

“No, I’ve been looking for him everywhere.” She was inching her way across the kitchen as she spoke, she didn’t realise that I’d noticed this. I wanted to keep it that way, so I turned easily with her, keeping eye contact. “I thought maybe we could work together and find him quicker.” She smiled again, with teeth this time. It was a gruesome sight, bits of salmon and mustard clinging to her bear-like jaws. “That’s if you can accept my apology.”

“Apology?” I asked quietly. She was up to something, I could feel it. Yeren was trying desperately to shield her energy, but I could sense it welling up inside her.

“Yes, an apology. I’m sorry about how things went down.” She held out her hand as if to shake mine. “Friends again?”

I know bullshit when I see it. Fortunately for me, Yeren still thought of me as my former self. The me I was before my time in the mortal world, when I just lived in the Void, quietly healing those who came to me, never making a fuss, keeping to myself. But that was before the inhabitants had come together and banished me in a bloody attack. That was before they sent me screaming into the unknown before I had clawed my way to hell and back to find my wings. That was before. This was now. And Yeren had forgotten all of that.

I slapped an innocent looking smile on my face and began to walk towards her.

“I’d like that.”

“Great.” She took a step towards me; her smile didn’t meet her eyes.

Two things happened at once. Yeren made a grab for me, and I threw a ball of energy at her face. It shot from my hand, a blue-green orb the size of a softball, and hit her right in the nose, sending her slamming back into the kitchen cabinets. She hit them with a big crack, and the doors fell off the upper units. Blood spurted from her nose, mingling with the mustard and salmon on her fur.

“b***h! You broke my nose!” she yelled at me. “Now I am seriosly pissed!”

I was already moving; I needed to take cover. Although my place was small, there were a few spots that provided shelter. I dashed behind the big unit that divided the living room from the kitchen, instinctively tossing another ball of energy over my shoulder as I ran. It hit the island in front of Yeren, bits of Formica rained down on the apartment. I looked down at my hands.

“How the hell am I doing this?” I whispered to myself.

I had no clue, I had sensed the rising danger in the room, and before I knew what was going on, I’m tossing softballs of destruction all over my apartment. Yeren yelled something incoherent, and a ball of black energy struck two feet above my head.

“Two can play at this game!” she cackled. “In fact, I can do this all day! You’ll tire soon enough, and then I’ll have you.”

The black energy oozed like oil, slimy and thick, down my entertainment unit. It hit my television, and it began to sizzle. It continued to drip down, and I watched as my tv melted. She melted my tv. My beautiful fifty inch HD television. She melted it. The b***h must pay.

I leant around the unit and quickly retaliated. This time I sent two balls of energy at Yeren in quick succession. One hit the microwave, and the other finished off the upper cabinets that Yeren had already smashed up. Yeren laughed.

“You do realise you’re just destroying your place, right?”

Damn, she was right, I was trying to force her out of here, and meanwhile, I was just tearing my place apart. There had to be a better way.

“What do you want from me, Yeren?”

She answered without hesitation.

“There’s a Bounty on your head, Phoenix. A big Bounty. Every low-life in the Void will be looking for you, but I’m going to be the one that collects.”

What the hell was she talking about? As I tried to process her words, a light whooshing sound filled the air, and a giant ball of black crud sailed over the entertainment unit and landed near my feet. I scuttled out of the way as it melted my carpet. This was getting bad. My carpet was melting, and a Bounty was on my head. I had to get out of here and get back to my home, my one true home as it turns out, and regroup with Archer. An experienced warrior like him was just what I needed right now, but first I wanted to get a bit more information out of Yeren. Even though I could smell my carpet burning, I kept my voice light.

“So is it a ‘dead or alive’ kind of thing?”

“Oh, they want you alive. Very alive.”

“Well, that’s comforting. And who is ‘they’ exactly?”

“No idea.”

“That doesn’t sound very legit.”

“That’s how Bounties work in the Void. When I bring you to the meeting place, they will reveal themselves, and I will get my reward.”

“What if they don’t give you your reward?”

“Then I kill them and you as well for the trouble. How do humans say it? It’s a win-win situation.” She laughed. This b***h was seriously crazy; I had to get out of here.

“What’s the reward?” I tried to sound blasé even though the patch of black ooze next to me was slowly spreading closer.

“Why do you care?”

“Well, if it was really cool, like a dirt bike or something, maybe I turn myself in, and we split it.”

She laughed.

“You can’t split power.”

“Power? That’s it?” The disbelief was plain in my voice. “More power?”

“Not just power,” she scoffed. “That would be meaningless. The creature that brings you in gets a share of your power.”

“Seriously? You guys already tried that.” I sighed heavily, dramatically, letting boredom coat my voice. “Remember? You ripped off my wings and sent me flying?”

I could feel my wings reacting to the tale. Power rippled through my feathers. The air around me felt charged like the sky before a lightning storm.

“Nobody got a piece of me then,” I called out. “And nobody’s getting a piece of me now.”

My power was growing. Yeren was forced to shout her retort above the rushing winds of energy that now filled the apartment.

“Not this time, Phoenix! The news has Travelled through the Void like wildfire! There is a creature who has figured out how to strip you of your power! They have mastered how to take all that you are! You cannot stop them! They will take your precious wings for good, and I will share in the spoils!”

Seething with rage, I burst from behind the cabinet as Yeren threw a giant ball of pulsating blackness towards me. I threw up my hands to shield me from the evil tar hurtling towards me. As the word shield flitted through my mind, a shimmery wall of energy materialised before me. The ball of darkness hit the shield and rebounded towards Yeren. I watched through the shimmering veil as it hit her full on in the chest and began to eat away at her fur.

She screamed.

I Travelled.