Half Breed
Chapter 11: All Are Punished

It had been two days since the Caido had taken in Kurnar, Chosen One of the High Elves, and Lunaki, his Oceanic traveling companion.

Two days since she had seen those eyes...

Two days since she had heard those words...

Celeste had backed out on her nightly shifts in the shed, claiming that she better things to do than to watch some spoiled elven brat and his friend.  But the real reason was the decision to stay or to go.  Her heart knew what she had to do, but her mind wasn’t so sure...

Ever since members of the Caido had attacked Abrasi village, the overwhelming sense of shock she had felt was too much to bear.  The realization that she was a mindless killer in a gang with an unstable leader was a major factor in her lethal decision-making.    Staying would result in more meaningless killings and tortures, fighting more meaningless battles, becoming more and more what she hated.  Leaving would result in her death.

That night, she tossed and turned in her bed, unable to sleep.  Lying awake, staring at the cracked plaster ceiling, she made her decision.  That it was worth the risk.

Bolting upright from her bed, she grabbed a knapsack and stuffed as many articles of clothing in it as she could find.  She snatched a small pouch filled with coin and put that in as well, along with canteens of water and scraps of food she had lying around.  She stared at her black coat and daggers for what seemed like an eternity, when she finally snatched her daggers and left the coat behind.  It would always be a reminder of them and she didn’t need that where she was going.  

Wherever the hell that was.  

Before she left, a glimmer of silver caught her eye.  She turned around and saw the chain that she had taken from Kurnar the night before.  She grabbed that as well and tucked it into her pocket.  Closing the door to the confessional, she tiptoed quietly across the temple to the back door.  Shutting it silently, she made her way to the shed.  She had one more thing she had to take care of before she left for good.  

Opening the door, she saw Anberlyn jolt awake, sitting in a chair in the corner while Kurnar and Lunaki stared at her, shocked and surprise.

“Mmm...Celeste, I still have a half hour to go,” Anberlyn murmured sleepily.  Celeste shut the door and took the keys off of the hook next to it.

“Anberlyn, listen to me,” she said calmly before taking a deep shaky breath.  “I’m leaving.”

This time, Anberlyn was at full attention.  Her red eyes snapped open and she shot up from her chair and rushed towards Celeste.  “Are you serious?”

Celeste nodded, looking anxious and scared.  “Dead serious.  I know you’re here against your will...and I feel like you can keep this secret.  You tried warning me, and now I realize what you were saying was the truth.  Please...please don’t tell Trinity,” she said, almost begging.

Anberlyn stared at her for a moment before she smiled and nodded.  “Of course I won’t tell her.  Like I said when you first came here, it’s too late for me.  It might be too late for you as well...but I sincerely hope you get the hell out of here.”

Celeste smiled at her, then nodded towards the two chained men.  “I’m taking them with me as well.”

Anberlyn took out her set of keys and gave Celeste a wink.  She made her way over to Lunaki and unlocked his chains while Celeste unlocked Kurnar’s.  As soon as both of his hands were free, one very strong hand wrapped around Celeste’s throat and slammed her against the stone wall, hard.  Celeste’s head smacked the wall painfully, almost knocking her out.  She scratched at his hand and gasped for breath, his face inches from hers.

“Why should we trust you?” he sneered, feeling his hot breath on her cheek.  “You’re nothing but a half breed...a piece of filth, and here you are, after beating and starving us saying you’re coming to save us?!”

Anberlyn put a hand on Kurnar’s arm.  “It’s not like we chose this,” she began quietly.  “Trinity saved us from living on the streets.  We never knew she would become like this.  We...Celeste and I...have both seen the light of who Trinity is and what the Caido stand for.  We were her followers and we were her victims.  She’s trying to help you Kurnar, now let her help you and your companion escape.”

Kurnar’s grip loosened, but he still kept her pinned to the wall.  Celeste breathing shuddered and struggled.  “Please,” she whispered.  “I’m trying to help you!”

Kurnar grimaced and he threw her aside.  Celeste stumbled, gasping and coughing.  Lunaki rubbed his wrists and grabbed his and Kurnar’s belongings from the far end of the room.  He tossed an elegant bow and a quiver of arrows to his partner, while he kept a crescent-shaped staff.  Celeste grabbed her knapsack and slung it over her shoulder, still rubbing her bruised throat.  Before leaving, she turned around and threw her arms around Anberlyn in an out of character hug.

“Thank you Anber,” she whispered in her ear.  Anberlyn was shocked, but hugged her back.  

“Get the hell outta here,” she whispered.

Celeste bounded for the door, Lunaki and Kurnar following after.  The moon and stars were disappearing, and the horizon took on a faint pink glow.  “It’s nearing sunrise,” Celeste stated.  “We need to get as far away as we can as fast as we can.”

The two men nodded and they ran for their lives.  Celeste was filled with adrenaline, the same adrenaline rush that filled her when she left Lord Dracan’s.  She was leaving the evil that had plagued her for two long years, and she couldn’t be more happy.  Forgive me mother,” she prayed.  For what I have become.

They had been running a solid three hours, green leaves falling all around them.  The sun was now rising, and they had ran a full five miles from the temple.  Celeste stopped to catch her breath and take a drink from her canteen while Kurnar stretched his limbs and Lunaki caught his breath.

“Damn...elves!” he gasped.  “Why d’ya have to be so fast?!”

Celeste shook her head and drank the cool, sweet water in her canteen, keeping an eye on Kurnar as she did so.  He didn’t even so much as look at her since their confrontation in the shed.  She sighed and reached into her pocket.  “Kurnar...” she began.  He turned around to look at her and froze in shock.  “Celeste...” he began, pointing behind her.  Celeste turned around, and what she saw shocked her to the very core.

Trinity, Brea, Melody, Eden, and at least five other half breeds were standing behind her, weapons in hand, the shimmering backdrop of a portal behind them.  Anberlyn was nowhere in sight.  

Celeste dropped her canteen and drew her daggers, twirling them expertly with her hands.

“Run,” Celeste told Kurnar and Lunaki sternly.  Kurnar nodded and turned around while Lunaki stood staring at her.

“But...” he began.

“I SAID RUN!!!!” she screamed.  Lunaki, with a look of hesitation on his face, backed up and began to run after Kurnar.

Trinity approached Celeste, an eerily calm look on her face.  “And just where do you think you’re going Celeste?”

Celeste backed up.  “As far away from you and them as possible,” she shot back, gripping her blades tightly.

Trinity only chuckled and shook her head.  “Well, you were better than Anberlyn I’ll give you that.  We found her an hour after she left.  Ever wonder where that scar on her face came from?”  She tapped the left side of her cheek.  

Celeste’s stomach was flooded with razor-winged butterflies.  “I’m not going back,” she announced.

Trinity’s eyes became slits and her lips a snarl.  She unsheathed her katana.  “Oh I think you’re wrong about that.  Dead wrong, to be exact.”  She snapped her fingers and Melody and Brea went charging forward.  Cornered and panicked, Celeste flung her blades at the girls.  Melody ducked and the blade cut across Trinity’s throat, unleashing a river of blood.  The other blade caught Brea in her eye and she fell, dead before she hit the ground.  Trinity clutched her throat, blood seeping between her fingers.  Melody grabbed Celeste’s left arm while Eden came forward and grabbed her right, holding her so she couldn’t move.  

“You see, we never really liked you, or understood why Trinity did...”Melody began.

“...So we played along with her, but now we’re glad she can see you for what you really are...monster,” Eden finished.

Celeste didn’t fight back as Trinity approached her, still clutching her throat.  “You’ll pay dearly for that, wench!” she cried, her voice hoarse.  Sword in hand, she drove it up, cutting a clean, but deep line along Celeste’s left eye.  Celeste cried out in pain as she felt the cold steel slice the thin skin of her eyelid.  Trinity moved to do it to the other eye, but she moved her head in time, slicing along her brow and cheekbone instead.

Celeste jumped in the air and shot out her legs, kicking Melody and Eden back away from her.  She lunged at Trinity and landed on top of her, Trinity’s sword flying out of her hand.  Over and over she punched Trinity in her face and stomach, her fists flying at an amazing speed.  She felt hands pulling her backward, and it wasn’t long before those hands had yanked her off of Trinity and slammed her into the ground.  

Over and over, Celeste’s body was punched, kicked, and cut.  Her lips were cut and her left eye was swollen shut and completely void of sight.  She felt her right wrist shatter and two ribs break.  All the while, she just lay there, taking it all.  She had decided that this was her punishment.  Anberlyn had betrayed her and she was right to do so.  How dare she think that she was above the Caido.  She may not have liked it, but she belonged with them.  A gang of monsters...that was her place.  And now that she had tried to escape her fate, she was paying the price.  The pain was excruciating, but she didn’t say a word, nor utter a cry of pain or mercy.

Melody took the dagger that had killed Brea and was about to stab Celeste with it when a hand stopped her.  She looked back to see it was Trinity, whose face had become ghastly white from the blood loss.

“No...let her die here.  Slowly,” she croaked, her face deathly white and her voice barely above a whisper.  Melody nodded and dropped the dagger.  Trinity signaled for the rest of the girls to stop their beating, and they all heeded her.  Two of the younger girls picked up Brea’s body and carried it to the portal, followed by Eden, then the three other new girls.  Trinity turned around before entering the portal, glaring at Celeste with her blood red eyes.

“I loved you Celeste.  I loved you like my own sister.  For you to betray me is heartbreaking, and you must pay the price.  We will meet again, Celeste, and then, I will take your life with my own two hands!” she warned.  She stepped through the portal, disappearing from sight.  Melody turned around and kicked Celeste in her ribs, breaking a third one.  Celeste grunted and clutched her stomach.

“Die already you dumb bitch,” Melody snapped as she stepped through the portal.  That was it.  Celeste was all alone, battered and bloody on the forest floor.  She lay there, writhing in agony.  She couldn’t cry, she couldn’t scream.  She was neither angry nor sad nor vengeful.  She was numb, lying on the forest floor.  She had given up, she was ready to die, despite her being only seventeen.  She could’ve sworn she even heard angels singing...