Chapter 13

**Merianna**

Without thinking much of it I dove into the battle with a cry that raised the hairs on my own arms. Swinging the blade of the Reaper over my head I let the air carry me over the damp earth and straight to a Hunter that was trying to tie a struggling male witch to a new pyre.

The Hunter didn't have time to blink his astonishment before his head went rolling on the floor and his body fell in front of his own gaze. I cut the bindings off of the male witch and dove to the next pyre as I saw a witch's flesh starting to blister on her already raw skin. Cutting her loose I parted the flames and quickly got her out of the pyre, handing her over to one of the members of the healing group.

I sprinted off with a gust of air to the next hunter in my sights and split him in two from naval to nose, in that order, and before his lax body hit the ground, I dove for the next one in my sights again.

With my arms moving from one angle to the next, my legs moving in rhythmic steps, I didn't pay much attention to what was going on around me. All I saw was the next target that was within my sights and their blood that kept coating the glowing silver blade of the Reaper.

Within the Reaper's twirling blade I caught glimpses of myself as I stormed through the growing throng of attacking hunter's. My eyes contrasted brightly against the blood that was coating my face and making my hair stick to my skin by my sweat. They were sparking with the energy that coursed through my veins. My face was pulled in a fearsome expression. In that flash of my reflection, I didn't even recognize myself.

*My dress had new holes in it now, I would have to fix it again. I thought numbly to myself.*

Out of the corner of my eye I saw one of the senior members getting stabbed in the back by a hunter and without thinking much about it, I was in-between them in a heartbeat. I felt no wind that carried me, I only felt energy coursing through my movements as I sliced the Hunter's arms off from his flailing body. It felt so natural to move like this, why haven't I done this before?

I took a moment to look around me at the chaos that was breeding continuously.

Spells were flying across my vision, potions were trapping and poisoning the hunters faster than they could move. Nana's blood rot bombs were flying through the air and hitting groups of hunters at a time.

Noch was stuck in hand to hand combat in a tight circle of hunters, but even when he was covered in sweat, he grinned like the devil as he fought through the hunters around him. I bet he felt like he didn't need a weapon, and was enjoying the possibility of being stabbed... go figure.

Raska and her group were melding in and out of shadows as they fought around the boundaries of the coven's village. Making sure that no Hunter had the possibility of escaping through the surrounding forests.

Fog and Jasnine were flinging spells and weapons through the hunters as they tried to form fighting formations with their groups. They were slightly overwhelmed with the amount of Hunters around them and fought with vigor against the swarm.

I caught all of this activity in a glimpse as I fought. I effortlessly activated a Rune on the Reaper to help it stick to my hands as I felt the staff of the reaper starting to slip in my grip with the blood and bits of flesh that kept pumping out from my targets. A cool breeze had kicked up and was caressing my bloodied hair as I moved through it.

I felt nothing as I culled the hunters on the coven's territory. All I felt was the waning energy of the area that had lost its witches. All I saw was the burning bodies of the witches they had tied to the pyres. All I smelled, was the stench of the witches' burned corpses and their blood mingled in with the smoke in the dying light of the setting moon.

My fingers danced over the runes like it was a bagpipe, my feet and body danced with the music of the natural energies in the air that beat like a drum.
My senses were pulled into one focus point in all this madness - I had to help what was left of the coven. I had to help them get away. I had to try and defeat these hunters. The hunters were always the first ones to strike, we never tried to hunt the hunters. We weren't like that.

We fought to defend. We fought purely to live. We have traditions that exceed those of the hunters. We want the land to know us. We just want to live.
All the energies around me were pulling together, my own energy seemed to want to jump out of my skin to greet them. I pulsed my energy outward to relieve some of the pressure around me, and saw small sparks of lightning energy bouncing between me and the air. Some of the hunters around me jumped back at the unexpected surge but then came back with a new vigor.

Lightning suddenly flashed through the air above us and my body thrummed in excitement with it. My feet kept moving, my hands kept gliding, my body kept dancing...

The stench of iron kept getting stronger around me, even though a strong gust of wind had started barreling through.

I couldn't see any of the Order members around me anymore, the throng of Hunters were too great to catch a glimpse of anyone I knew anymore.
I needed to get rid of these hunters before they got a chance to hurt anyone else. Before they got a chance to become even more sadistic and bloodthirsty than they have already.

I pushed my energy to my limbs, to my hands, my feet, and to my whole body to move faster. I need to get them before they get anyone else.

I thrummed with energy as everything around me started to blur. I could feel my energy calling out to the forces in the sky as I fought. Energy thrummed overhead and I caught a glimpse of darkened clouds above me. I followed my instincts, as I let my energy seek out the energy of the heavy clouds above me and it rumbled in response. The feeling was surreal, like I was both inside and outside of my own body. Everything felt strange yet right at the same time...

A rhythmic litany suddenly entered my mind like a muddled memory resurfacing. Word for word it slowly rose up to my mind as I danced and looked up at the sky.

*Come to me,
Clouds of light ye be,
Air of light I see,
Sounds of drums to me,
Call ye I do,
Come to me to cut the yew,
So call I ye, so mote it be.*

In a rush all the hairs on my body stood up on end and a blinding blast of energy came crashing down to the earth exactly where I stood. I heard a sudden cacophony of screams and explosive sounds. For an instant I saw nothing but bright silver-purple light. Then silence and darkness.

My eyes slowly adjusted and as they did, I looked around myself and gazed at the now smoldering corpses at my feet. They were all burned beyond recognition, their teeth were pearly white against the blackened and crumbling skin of their horrifically disfigured faces. Their limbs were all black and distorted, like all the moisture in their bodies had been taken in one sudden blast of heat. The ground at my feet was blackened outwards towards the hunters. The pile of corpses around me did nothing to phase me. I was only surprised that it was me that took out so many of them.

I barely even knew what I did. Who knew that following my instincts could lead to something like this? Where did that incantation come from in the first place?! No one has taught us something like that yet, had they? Did I subconsciously pick it up from one of the many boring lectures that Fog or Noch gave?

A drop of wetness hit the top of my head and pulled me away from my toiling mind. Another rumble of thunder rolled contently through the clouds as more fat droplets started pelting down onto the scarred earth beneath me.

I looked up at the storm clouds above me and bathed in the coolness of the pure crystal droplets falling down on me. As they washed the blood off from my face and hands, I felt calmed with a cool breeze brushing over me...

My serenity was broken however by a whiff of something being carried in on the wind from the western side of the village. A whiff that nearly knocked me to my knees and made me clutch the scythe against my chest to keep myself upright. The whiff also smelled strangely familiar.

***Please** tell me she didn't.*

Then I heard yelling coming from that same direction as well as a series of moans, loud groans and unpleasant gagging sounds. I uttered a colorful curse and quickly started constructing a bubble of fresh rain air around my head, working it over my body as I ambled towards the new chaos.