literature

LaF Round One: Page Seven

Deviation Actions

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Literature Text

Aeja draws her arm back
like a vile snake
rearing up to strike.

For not water-
but rather her venom-
fills her glass.

With a lash of her arm,
she hurls the scalding spittle
into the prairie dog's eyes.
She pivots on her heel,
and brings the glass down
upon Haydn's head.
It shatters into a thousand shards,
digging into his fur and flesh.
Aeja flings the lingering pieces away,
wincing as their edges bite her fingers.

Cozzolani screams,
stumbling wildly in the depths of her pain.
The venom, however dilute,
rushes into her mouth
her nostrils
her eyes
seizes her muscles-
slowing them
numbing them.

Her cries strike Haydn;
they fill his coward's heart
with flames of courage.
He leaps from the chair
and slams against Aeja's knees.
They buckle for an instant,
throwing her off balance.
She stumbles back,
crashing against the cabinet
by the stove.

It rocks once,
twice
thrice-
and throws it doors wide
Bottles of clear liquor spill forth,
falling like raindrops from high above.
Two strike Aeja,
shattering against her chest.
She grimaces and rolls upright
as the bitter smell of alcohol
floods her senses.

Haydn lies still,
draped on the floor
like a ragdoll.

His chest rises and falls-
his eyes dart about-
but he reacts not
as she rises up.

Aeja steps back.
Her eyes drift to her desk.
She snatches the candle
and hurls it into the spilt liquor.

A blue flame issues forth,
racing across its rippling surface
like a mighty wave across an island,
washing over Haydn in an instant.

Then, the air itself
turns to fire.

A roiling inferno of dazzling power erupts,
bursting forth from the flaming pool.
Yellow light floods the room,
tailed by a wave of parching heat.
A gale of wind rushes from the fire,
driving Aeja to the ground.
Sharp pain strikes her ears,
but quickly subsides.

The firestorm lasts but a second,
leaving a thin haze of smoke in its wake.
Dispersed by the blast,
the last dregs of liquor
burn away to nothingness.
Flames lick at the wooden beams,
but the damp prevails,
snuffing them out.

Cozzolani, blinded by venom
and heat
and pain
tumbles from the bed.
She lands upon the floor
with a dull thud,
drawing Aeja's prying eyes
like a wounded elk's cries
to a famished wolf.
The cold-blooded lizard,
undaunted by her whimpers,
pounces upon the prairie dog,
pinning her down
like a cat catching a mouse.
She wraps her fingers
'round Cozzolani's fragile body,
digging into her flesh
with claw-tipped fingers.

"I'm awfully sorry,"
she hisses.
"If you'd just have relaxed,
your death would be without pain."

She tightens her grip,
digging deeper
squeezing harder
killing faster.
Cozzolani opens her mouth
in a silent scream
as her bones bend
and groan
and strain.

A hoarse shout bursts out.

"FIONA!"

Sharp claws dig into Aeja's back

She turns wildly,
facing Haydn
with burned fur
and bloodshot eyes
and wounds sealed shut
by fire's merciless fury.
Scorched strands of fur
flake off like needles from a pine
revealing red-streaked flesh beneath.
He exhales sharply,
gasping for breath
as he lashes out,
all signs of his former self
lost beneath kindred fury.

How could he-
mulls Aeja-
-it'd have seared his lungs.

Unburned by his satchel-
which lies smoldering
in the remains of the blaze-
he leaps with surprising speed.
for how slow he'd once been.
Aeja frees her left hand
and draws her blade,
only to be struck in the elbow.
Her right arm convulses,
losing its grip on the neck
of the tortured, snow-white prairie dog.
Cozzolani stumbles back,
gasping for breath.

Haydn strikes at Aeja again,
stabbing into her shoulder.
She retaliates in an instant,
bringing her dreadful blade-
a blade stained with the blood of hundreds-
around at an equally dreadful speed.

It burrows into his left arm,
cleaving flesh in twain
spilling blood with ease
driving into the gap between bones
jamming firmly in place.

He howls with pain-
a broken, terrible howl-
and snatches at the blade,
scraping the skin from Aeja's knuckles.
She flinches,
losing her grip.
on her dealer of death.
Haydn yanks the blade free
with a terrible ripping of flesh,
stepping back and shuddering
as his ingrown claws
dig into his seared skin.

He holds the blade-
more of a sword for him-
pointing it towards Aeja
with shaking hands.

"Just stop!"
he cries.
"Get away!"

"I'm awfully sorry.
I hoped you would die faster."
:pointl:Previous Page-----Next Page:pointr:
:iconlost-and-found-oct:

uh oh Aeja you put out the stove wrong

I spent a fair bit of time reading about gas explosions for this
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Moongaze14's avatar
Haydn got a second wind despite his injuries. I got to say he has a lot of fight into him despite getting burned.