Fowlhunter [GL]

The Cockatrice looked down from the trees.

Herds of Beasts burst out from the woods, having answered their Princess’ call from earlier. They'd been just ready to form up muster for battle, only to see the Cockatrice already midway fighting an angel. Weapons raised, they now surrounded Ennanis Zoleil from all sides.

“Don’t you dare make another move, angel, or drop dead,” threatened the front guy of a group of minotaurs, his own bow and arrow aimed at her. This bow was easily twice the size of the angel’s, an arrow with a point the size of Ennanis’ head. The tip dripped with some shining, foreboding substance that anyone with good sense wouldn’t let themselves near.

Ennanis opened her mouth to say something back, but someone interrupted first.

“Stay away from her,” the Cockatrice called out sharply from the branches. “Call off the herd. We’re not attacking Casca tonight.”

The minotaur stalled, bewildered. The others around him looked equally confused.

“But Princess, why?—”

The crystallised icicle of Lunaki hanging in the air dropped like an anvil. It slammed into the dirt, sending waves of tremors through the forest floor. The Beasts stumbled.

“This angel and I have a score to settle,” the Cockatrice snarled. The blustering wind suddenly picked up, a scent akin to acrid rain filling the air. Two more sparkling icicles began to crystallise in the air beside her, cold silver light shadowing the woman’s mask. “She’s mine, got it? Now, back off.”

The Beasts looked uneasily between themselves and decided not to argue further. They made a hasty retreat back the way they came, disappearing into the dark woodland.

Left alone again, the two of them regarded each other. The Cockatrice, hiking herself up on the branch, sent the pair of icicles sailing down at the pink-haired angel, paths criss-crossing in a blinding silver helix. Ennanis dove to the ground as they whizzed over her head. The Cockatrice watched as the angel leapt to her feet immediately after, and started to run—running for the Cockatrice’s tree.

Two, three steps, Ennanis sprinted up the gnarl, grabbed the first branch and hauled herself up, muscles flexing. The Cockatrice had no time to summon any more icicles, or react in any sort of meaningful way. Ennanis reached the top of the tree in no time at all, where she jumped and tackled the Beast. They both toppled out the tree, crashing into the earth.

The two women became embroiled in down-and-dirty, animalistic hand-to-hand combat. The Cockatrice kicked Ennanis. Ennanis wheeled back and rained punches on her. The Cockatrice spat blood and rammed her knee into her groin. As the latter doubled over, she grabbed Ennanis by the hips and rolled them over, straddling the angel.

Ennanis raised her elbows to block the Cockatrice’s fists. But she was spent of Soleki, and as physically strong as she was, she was ultimately no match for the Beast’s Lunaki-enhanced blows. It was only a matter of time before the Cockatrice grabbed ahold of both her arms and wrenched them apart, pinning them at her sides.

She dug her nails under the edge of Ennanis’ armbraces. In practised manoeuvres, they unclasped with a soft click, and fell away to the grass.

Slit-gold eyes widened. For the first time, something like fear flashed through them. Ennanis struggled, but the Cockatrice’s silver-glowing grip was as unbreakable as manacles. Her legs hugged either side of her waist, locking her in place.

A wicked grin spread under the Cockatrice’s mask. She dug her fingertips into the angel’s inner wrists, nails pressing into the soft skin there.

“Any last words?” she leaned in close, rasping into her face.

Ennanis finally stopped struggling. She just shook her head, loose pink hair spread out around her. “You won’t kill me, Chime.”

The Cockatrice cocked her head. “What do you mean?”

“Because I saved your life.”

The woman stared. Then laughed.

“You seriously believe any of the bullshit I told you in the prisons?” she sneered. “After what happened?”

“I’ve been thinking. And I don’t believe that all of it was a lie,” Ennanis said defiantly. Even lying on her back, her gaze was unflinching. It was like her initial fear had melted away, replaced by something else. Something deeper… calmer. “You told me about yourself in the sunprisons, after all.”

And the angel started to recount.

“Once, when you were at school, you saw a group of kids shooting Soleki at a baby bird. Out of your classmates, it was you who ran ahead to protect the bird. After taking the brunt of the bullies’ ire, the battered you took the battered bird home with you. Knowing that your parents would not willingly allow you to shelter the bird, you kept it a secret, taking care of it all on your own. Even when one of your older brothers found out and flung it out a window, you dragged yourself out into the fields to find it again, and nursed it back to health.”

“Another time, when your family fell sick to the village poisoning, it was you who cared for them, despite your own pain.”

“Lastly, when you were sunburned halfway to death in a prison cell, you called out to a surly-faced angel and gave her genuine advice.” She breathed. “I believe that deep down, the real you is a kind person. Or at least, one that doesn’t forget what others have done for her.”

Even with the mask obscuring her expression, one could feel the waves of incredulity rolling off the Cockatrice.

“I could’ve made those tales up so you’d let your guard down and free me,” she scoffed. “And, even if they were true, you have no idea the things I’ve done since then. The girl you knew in the prisons is dead, Ennanis. I killed her, and I’d do the same to you in a heartbeat.”

“You’d do it, but you don’t really want to.”

“Don’t talk as if you know me,” the Cockatrice’s hands curled tighter around her wrists.

“Then kill me now,” Ennanis goaded. “If you really wanted to, what’s taking you so long? Why haven’t you just taken off your mask, used your Eye? Wouldn’t it have been so much faster?”

“Don’t be full of yourself,” the Cockatrice said gruffly. In one fluid motion, she dropped her wrists and whacked her upside the head.

Ennanis blacked out.

When the angel came to, she was alone in the forest. It was still nighttime, the chorus of crickets thick in the leaves, stars twinkling up above in the stratosphere. Cool wind wound through the trees, but gone was the aura of frigidity that had accompanied a certain woman.

Ennanis picked herself off the ground, brushing off her scraped knees, the earth that clung to her uniform. She found her golden armbraces cast in the grass, and refastened them around her wrists anew. Slowly, trudging on foot, Ennanis made her way back up Mount Casca.

An angel’s natural healing capabilities left her injuries less taxing than they should’ve been, but they still impaired her. It took her until dawn to reach the first peak. Once she was there, Brigadier Rodwyn and the other angels rushed to her.

“Where were you this whole time?” They took in the state of Ennanis. Her long rose hair was undone, dishevelled and full of bramble. Her topcoat and culotte were torn and streaked with so much dirt you could hardly see the blue under it. Her face was punched bruised and swollen, the skin of her arms and legs lacerated with cuts. “Were you fighting? But there wasn’t a Beast attack last night…”

Not just that, but…

“And Commander Zoleil, what…” the greybelts hesitated as they studied her further. “What is that weird thing on your face?”

“?” Ennanis swiped at her face, cheeks. She thought it was blood from the fight, but nothing smeared off. Finally, her fingers traced her lips, feeling a strange tug of the muscles there.

Her eyes found a soldier’s reflective golden shield.

The angel realised that she was smiling from ear-to-ear.

~~~

The subsequent nights went like this. The Cockatrice would come alone, letting out a rooster’s cry—one too soft for any of the other angels to hear. Any angel except Ennanis, who would fly down to meet her. And then they would fight—chasing each other around the forested foothills of Casca, sometimes climbing further up the mountain into open starlight, sometimes descending into darker marsh.

Each time, they would show up more and more prepared. Ennanis’ quivers carried more arrows, her grey belt holstered more weapons, and in her expansive culotte pockets she brought along first aid supplies so she could patch up without Soleki. She became more accustomed to conserving Soleki at night and learnt how to defend against Lunaki. Meanwhile, the Cockatrice became more familiar with Ennanis’ fighting style, keenly taking advantage of her weaknesses while doing her best to avoid her many strengths.

Not all that they did was fighting. There was also talking.

Lots of it.

“Haah!” the Cockatrice crowed, silver-glowing hands outstretched as a gigantic icicle materialised in the air between them. “Try and dodge this!”

Ennanis was yanking two icicles out from her shoulders. They popped out in bloody splatters, dissolving to sparkles in her hands. When she saw the third shooting its way towards her, she simply raised a sword and deflected it off the flat of the blade.

“I said dodge,” the Cockatrice complained.

“A tip, chickling,” Ennanis said, switching to her bow, “never tell me what to do.”

“Okaaay, so you’re an angsty, rebellious teen,” the Cockatrice drawled as she rolled and flipped through the rain of arrows the angel commander sent her way. She launched herself like a silver bolt of lightning at her, darting behind her and grabbing ahold of her fluttering, long rose hair. “Hair down, huh? Not a great fashion choice on the battlefield-” she remarked as she yanked Ennanis’ head back by her hair.

Except, she didn’t. The hair slid through her fingers, slippery and smooth as dew-laden petals. “What in Medusa’s- why’s your hair like that?”

Ennanis swung around with her leg, kneeing the Cockatrice in the gut. The Beast went sprawling over the mountainface.

“Because I’m amazing,” the pink-haired angel said.

“Right,” the Cockatrice grunted. “It’s intentional, then. Is this part of your emo phase? The bulky weapons? The ripped uniform? Because all you’re missing is the tear-streaked black mascara.”

“You’re also a teen,” Ennanis pointed out. “And definitely more angsty and rebellious than me.”

“How so?”

“Ooooooh, the girl you know is deaaaad,” Ennanis croaked, in a bad imitation of the Cockatrice’s raspy voice. “I’m so irredeemable, ooooooh. I dress up as a chicken-snake every day and call other people’s dressing emo.”

“Yeah, right, because you’re an idiot who still thinks there’s good in me,” the Cockatrice whipped out a broken treebranch, catching Ennanis’ arrows in it. She threw it aside and started to run for the angel.

“You just have to come to your senses, Chime,” Ennanis insisted, standing in place as the Beast got closer.

“You come to your senses,” the Cockatrice shouted back. She jumped at Ennanis fists-first. “What kind of lunatic says that to the person that’s tried to kill them a dozen times??!”

“You haven’t yet succeeded,” Ennanis was smirking, sidestepping the punches.

“I will put you in the ground,” the Cockatrice promised darkly. “I will string you up by your guts and leave you to dry. I will chop you to pieces and feed you to my Beasts. And when you resurrect like the feathered roach you are, I’ll do it all again.”

“Lovely fantasies you have there, sweetheart,” Ennanis reached out, grabbed both the Cockatrice’s arms in one hand, and flipped them over. Holding her hands above her head, she bore her weight down on the woman’s back, pinning her to the rock. “But you don’t seem to be trying very hard to make them real.”

“Rrrrrghhh-” the Cockatrice writhed beneath her, seemingly trapped. But then, the feathered bustle of her gown snapped, a tail that lashed out and struck Ennanis across the face. The angel let out a pained grunt, releasing her and falling back.

The Cockatrice dragged herself to her feet. She adjusted her mask and glared up at her.

“I don’t understand you at all,” she spat.

“I don’t understand you,” Ennanis retorted. “What’s it all for? Why are you Beasts attacking us?”

The Cockatrice let out an exasperated laugh. “Oh, you didn’t even know?”

“Tell me.”

The Cockatrice snorted. “Sure, I’ll tell you. Queen Medusa wants your sun.”

“And what do you want?”

“The Queen’s wishes are the wishes of all Beasts.”

“That’s not an answer,” Ennanis droned. “If you don’t want to do it, why don’t you just stop?”

“How naive are you? It’s not as easy as that,” the Cockatrice deadpanned. “We’re at war, if you haven’t noticed.”

“I’ve heard about the things you’ve done, Cockatrice,” Ennanis said. “But you don’t have to let them define you forever. You can still change your ways.”

“You’ve heard about it, but I don’t think that you really know. Because if you did, you would see that there is nothing to change,” the Cockatrice answered. “This is who I am. Let me be, already.”

“If you refuse to open your eyes, then you leave me with no choice.” Ennanis drew her sword and aimed it at her. A red-hot Soleki beam began to build at the end of it.

The Cockatrice smiled a fanged smile. “That’s more like i-”

But before her words could finish, her head suddenly dropped forward.

For a javelin had sprouted from the back of her head.