Leki was still exhausted from the poisonous gas she inhaled. Those leaves may have saved her life, it’s not like they actually blocked all the poison out completely. She insisted on sleeping outside with Petta. Not merely for being with their trusted horse, but also because she preferred being in a natural environment over any house, even one as lovely as this one.xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Sentinella agreed surprisingly fast to this. Not only could the horse protect Leki if needed, but the fresh air would do her good. Not to mention all the beneficial scents from the flowers in the courtyard. Sentinella had one additional reason for letting Leki sleep outside: her plants could protect her far better than any of the magic inside the house could.

Sentinella’s skin felt cold as ice when she tucked Leki in. Shaandra was looking after the wound in her shoulder, using some of Sentinella’s more potent healing herbs. Sentinella spoke calm and smiling as always: ‘I’m going to get your brother back, he’s been out for far too long now.’ Leki nodded, she hated being too weak to join her.

‘Are you going alone?’

‘Yes dear, Shaandra needs to rest as well.’ Sentinella looked at Shaandra with a caring smile, but Shaandra clearly wanted to disagree with her. She didn’t, in the end she was indeed too weak to be of help.

‘Aunty Senti, there were too many. You won’t make it on your own.’

‘First of all: there are many more than those you’ve seen. Second: they won’t stand a chance.’

‘There’s always the thing you didn’t expect Aunty.’

‘Very wise words my dear cousin. I promise you I won’t get careless than. Now you go to sleep, because I really do have to go get your brother now.’

Sentinella always left the house with her blue lace scarf draped over her long blond hair. At this point at night, when the first light started creeping in, she looked more angelic than ever. Her breath came out in frost clouds, her step was elegant yet fast paced. An angel of revenge, if any.

She stopped at the bridge to the lower city. A woman was sitting there, feeding the pigeons. Sentinella walked up to her. Without further introduction she addressed the lady whom she didn’t know at all. Still her senses had revealed the awareness the woman had of her, and the way she observed her.

‘Go to the leader of that pack of rats of yours and tell him that the lady of the house of scents has come to pick up the boy.’

‘Are you drunk? I have no idea what you are rambling about.’

‘If you make me repeat yourself, you will die in the process.’ Sentinella smiled at the woman and straight after jumped of the bridge, just above the big round sewer exit. A little pond seemed to stretch up to break her landing. She hardly even bent her knees upon hitting the floor.  

The sewers weren’t all sewers, they were mainly underground water canals. They were used primarily before the lake was dammed, now they were merely there as a security option: if the dam would break, these tunnels could direct the water away from the houses and buildings of the upper city.

Enormous tubes in stone that were filled only for a little part most of the time, leaving enough room to walk alongside of the water. It was the maze where anything dwelled that couldn’t stand up in the light of day. The water was rather shallow this high up in the maze, but it would get to a small stream further in. Sentinella walked into the puddles, going straight on.

A few vagabonds hang out in there, they welcomed a fresh sight like Sentinella. Not only was she an attractive woman, she also appeared rather wealthy with her lace and gloves and all. One extremely scruffy woman was the first to come up to her, while one of the men tried to block her way back out. Sentinella looked at him and said: ‘I have no intention at all of running away, so you shouldn’t bother.’ The woman scorned her, while reaching out for her scarf. Sentinella stamped her foot and immediately the wrinkles in the water chained up around the legs of the woman. ‘Step aside please, once you can of course. I have neither the time nor the intent to end up in a brawl with the likes of you.’ The woman gazed at how the icy chains fell of her feet again. She backed of, but the man behind Sentinella did not. She merely kicked up some more water. It formed a ball of ice as fast as looking. The next moment it stomped him in the lower stomach, very low in fact. ‘Go cool of, before I lose my temper with you lot.’ A few icicles flew about, not particularly aimed to hit anyone specific.

They ran, all of them, in different directions. A few ran further down the tunnel she was headed for. Of to warn the others. More would be waiting for her, she was sure.

The light got more dim, but somehow the water shimmered on. Sentinella approached the group waiting for her. These weren’t beggars anymore, these were the first of the fighters. With slow distinct movements she took of her lace gloves. She let her scarf down from her head and her hair hang loose.
Two men with knives came up to her. Water twirled under her hands, it moved in a spiral up to her fingers as she awaited their attack. On the first move one made she let go a wave of small but sharp ice blades from her left hand. Most blades passed them but a few hit their arms and chest, cutting them like small knives indeed. The next moment the ice dissolved to water and only the open wounds remained. She walked on, inviting more to try their best. The fight ensued with a fierce brutality. One had a long stick he turned and twirled in a deadly fashion. An ice lance from her left hand again pierced his shoulder and knocked him back. A chain of connected blades swooped from her left, ripping open the legs of many. Ice bullets sprang around in circles as she stomped her foot. Sentinella was in a chilling rage. Nothing would stop her from going through to the boss of this lot. The one she knew that was holding Kyell. There were many attackers but nothing they could do from being severely cut by unstoppable weapons. Sentinella had to do nothing it seemed to summon these blades and chains of ice. She walked, mutilating anyone foolish enough to step in her path.

From a far she heard a voice with authority yell out: ‘Get back you idiots, wait for her. She’ll rip you apart one by one.’

‘My first opponent.’ She had a wicked smile as she said it, sweeping the last one running from his feet with a sharp chain again.

The tunnel took an opening, in front she saw the man who had called the others back. He held a torch, his black hair matched his dark red robes.

‘Charming,’ Sentinella said, ‘but not the leader I’m looking for.

‘Don’t get near her men. Let her come to us if she desperately wants to die.’ He was cautious but not afraid. Neither was Sentinella and she walked on, merely to amuse him. In the middle of the water, she stood still: ‘Is this spot good for your strategy? Since it is for mine, and it would be nice if we could agree on those.’

He kept silent, waving his arm around at his men, who moved along the walls on both sides.

Bowstrings were strung, bolts were mounted on the crossbows and bullets were loaded. The man lifted his torch, he didn’t intend to fight her up close.

Sentinella stood there, waiting politely till they were all ready. ‘Do try not to miss because it would be rather silly if one side ended up shooting the other.’ Several men repositioned themselves when they realised they were indeed standing straight opposite the others.

The man grinned at her when he gave the signal with his torch. An endless chain of clicking, swooping, banging and twirling sounds was unleashed. In the same fraction of a second the first projectiles were launched, a cone of water blasted up around Sentinella. In the blink of an eye she was covered by a massive block of ice protecting her from anything coming her way. Not only the arrows and even bullets could not pierce this rock of ice, but they all ricocheted back in some direction. They all flung to one side or another, several indeed hitting some of the men. The group panicked and their first reaction was to move out, even if by than the shooting was done. From inside her block Sentinella let the water spread out as an enormous slick of ice no one could remain standing on. Now they panicked for real. You couldn’t run on the ice, only those few that remained calm could actually walk. Next was the crackling of the entire block of ice, into what had to be a zillion little cuts. The man with the torch was the only one standing still. ‘Get out! It’s going to shatter.’ His men and women tried to move out on the ice, falling and crawling over each other. The crackling stopped and next they knew the massive rock of ice exploded into an endless wave of sharp projectiles. Most hit the upper part of the stone tunnel at first, as the waves came lower in direction. It was as if they were given time to get away before being shred to pieces.

Amidst this rain of ice bullets, a cone of fire was hissing at the wall. A corner was the only real cover he could use to hide, trying to stay out of the line of sight while burning of the incoming ice.

Sentinella stood there in the same spot still. She had not moved an inch.

The man with the torch came from around that corner there as well, the last one standing in fact. The others had either been struck or they fled.

‘You are not the one in command. Tell him to give me the boy and I will be on my way again.’ She was relaxed and friendly. Nothing hostile in her voice, while the struck and the wounded were dragged away.

‘The boss already gave me his answer. He said: kill her.’

‘How practical.’

The man waved his torch as he spoke to her. Hissing was heard where his fire met the water. He drew out a long blade as well. Rather swift in his movements with it.

‘Aw.’

‘What?’

‘Such a disappointment. I thought you would put up a good fight but if you think you need to rely on a sword than I gave you too much credit.’

He sneered. He demonstrated his skills with his sword for a moment, but deep down he had to know she was right. But maybe he counted on her being right. His sword might not have been his most lethal weapon, but it sure was his fastest.

He launched towards her, sliding on the ice. It turned to water again and he jumped. It moved from under his feet altogether and he swiftly started running on the lower bottom. He was fast on his feet and his reactions were perfect. She could not fool him, or stop him.
His sword swept passed her face, almost cutting her face open. Sentinella’s eyes were on the torch, lashing flame tongues at her from the failed distraction of the sword. She avoided his dashing attacks.

One moment he felt his sword was stuck. Sentinella didn’t look away from the torch, but he did. The man was amazed by what he saw: she held his sword by the blade with her bare hand. The metal froze up. His hand could barely hold the clinging cold. He tried to warm his hand, but he knew he couldn’t without using his torch for that. His torch?

That very moment he realised his mistake as his hand with the torch suddenly felt cold and numb. A shield of ice so thin and sharp, like a guillotine, rushed up next to him. It came up extremely fast. He knew he had been distracted by his own sword: she had used it against him to draw his attention away from the fire he wielded in his other hand. His strongest weapon.  The torch fell to the water, and even though he felt nothing at all, he could see his hand fall with it.
The water under his feet swelled again and in one blow threw him back to the wall. She had let go of his sword and it was still frozen to his hand. With the hand she released the sword from, Sentinella formed a lance of ice, twirling it up from the water to her fingertips.

As his back hit the cold damp stones of the wall, he pulled his head in with his last efforts. That instant he saw the lance fly towards him, in that last blink. It pierced his chest instantly. There was no pain, everything was cold.

Sentinella looked at him with kindness in her eyes, and a little compassion for his own foolishness.

He gasped for air.

‘I will be getting the boy now. Could you tell me where to find that boss of yours now?’

‘He will kill you, child or no child.’

Sentinella nodded kindly. As she gave him a light but cold kiss, he felt the lance dissolve into water again and flow from his body. It flowed endlessly.