Sentries: The First

I don’t scream as the woman surely expects me to. I stand up, dropping the cloak, and she stumbles back. I look at the dagger in my stomach, shrug, and pull it out. It doesn't hurt going in or out, only gives me the feeling that something is where it shouldn’t be.

The woman’s eyes widen as she stares at my wound. Or where there would have been one if I was only a mortal. The hole in my shirt only shows pristine white skin and she seems very shocked by it. I let a harsh bark of laughter escape from my lips and she looks back up at me. She will finally learn what fear feels like.

I look at the dagger in my hand in an exaggerated movement. Then I look back at her. She tries to scramble back while keeping an eye on me and the glinting dagger in my hand. I frown at her as I would frown at a pet that had made a mess.

“Freeze.” The word is spoken clearly, as is necessary for magic to take hold onto what I want it to. She freezes, unable to move. Her eyes can’t go any wider, so the blood drains from her face instead. I crouch down next to her.

“Darling mortal, did you really think it would be that easy to kill me?” I let out a chuckle that makes her tremble in fright. “It’s just not that simple.” I glance at the dagger clutched gently in my hand again. Then our eyes connect. Her eyes are wide as a full moon and her face is as pale.

“Sadly though, I can’t kill you,” I say and she noticeably relaxes, trembling fading. “I have to send you to the Gregers instead. They get all the fun.” I stick out my lower lip and make a face found all too often on children when they don’t get what want. I found it quite fun to make, and found it much more fun watching the woman tremble so violently when she heard the name mortals cursed.

“What’s your name?” I ask. She looks at me, mouth closed. This was only a question, not a command. “Tell me your name.”

“Harina,” She speaks through gritted teeth. I smile, knowing the pain I caused by pulling an answer from a throat that didn’t want to speak it.

“Ah, Harina,” I say, remembering her name from the conversation I heard that was between her and her lover. “You have been very naughty.” I throw my head back and laugh, it echoing through the silent forest. Animals knew better than humans. They stayed far away from my kind.

“Sleep,” I say and she slumps to the ground, unconscious. I snap my fingers and Killamore launches himself from the tree. An arrow streaks towards him and thumps into his chest. Kill falls to the ground with a thud, stirring the dust that his dead body landed in. I just roll my eyes and leap to his side. It is only the length of five men, an easy stretch for me. Most mortals can only leap a single man’s length.

I wrench the arrow from Kill’s chest and he flutters back to life. A creature made from a dead creation cannot be killed. That was one of the many aspects he and I shared. I pointed at the woman and gave the command for him to take her to the Gregers. He picks her up with little difficulty and flys away. I hear a twang of a bowstring and the whoosh of two arrows.

I face the arrows and knock them away with my new blade faster than a mortal could blink. Easy, simple. I launch myself just in front of the bushes where I know the woman’s lover is waiting. The man charges out, screaming, bow taught with an arrow.

I knock him flat on his back and take his bow, arrows, and daggers. I leave his hidden one to give him a sense of security, but after what he had seen, a tiny dagger would give him more fear than if he had nothing.

“Your name is Entor,” I say, leaning over him. His eyes widen. “Yes, I heard your earlier conversation, before your lover went to kill me. She failed.”

“She’s my wife, not my lover,” he said, not moving from the ground.

I put a hand to my chin. “Yes, it appears so. ‘Entor, I am not a fool. I know what I am doing.’ She said it quite so imperfectly.” As I speak the exact words of Hirina, I mimic her voice perfectly. So perfectly, in fact, that Entor looks around to see if Harina has magically come back.

I laugh down at him, taking pleasure in his fear and the way his eyes widen when he flinches. Seemingly, my laughter makes him frightened.

“I will need to kill you, of course.” I say. Entor grows pale, as if he had not thought of that before. He begins backing up but I say, “Freeze.” He can’t do anything but hold still and watch me, fear in his eyes. Fear make his eyes so much brighter and I smile at him.

“But you must know. You can never run from a Sentry,” I crouch down next to him and tap the flat of the dagger against his cheek. “And never try to kill one of their pets.” I turn the blade just enough to nick his face. A drop of blood begins to bead on the cut. “Why do you seek to kill the Sentries?”

Entor’s eyes turn away and he doesn’t answer.

“Do you even know who we are?” Our gazes connect.

“I know that you protect that hideous King. Though for what reason I cannot fathom.” Anger changes his eyes. They almost looked better in barely fought rage, but I still enjoyed how the light in his eyes faded when he was afraid.

“Yes. We protect the King. Mostly from ignorants such as yourself,” I tilt my head. “We don’t die. We don’t receive wounds. We are imbued with special abilities that you mortals could never understand. We are miles above what you call your best.” I slide the flat of my blade across his forehead, wiping away the sweat collecting there. Then I press the blade against his throat with just enough pressure to be painful. Not enough to slit his throat though. Not yet.

“We. Are. Sentries.”