Kaia the Argent Wing

Harmonic Chanting, it turned out, was a way for large numbers of people to sing huge ritualistic spells into being. The book was mostly about how to apply the concept to building roads and digging drainage ditches by having everyone sing a song that greatly increased their work speed. It was fascinating stuff, but not really something we could use right then.

“I wonder what other rituals these people had,” Chloe said wistfully, laying her head down on the table to stare at the spine of the book.

I didn't really have anything to add to her musings, but that was mostly because I was fascinated by the way her curls fell on the desk. I wanted to play with her hair so bad. At this point, I was just giving in to the tides of my bisexual lust for everyone around me. Seriously though, how was Chloe so gorgeous, and as I'd discovered only recently, how was she so cute?

“There's little snippets that give hints about their culture too!” She said bolting upright again. “The part you read about ‘singing according to the perfect curve’. It gives me religious vibes. Some geometric curve they think of as a good thing? It was referenced earlier in the book in the same way, too.”

“Uh huh,” I nodded dumbly.

“Read more,” she said, tapping the book expectantly.

Sighing, I began to read, carefully pointing to each word as I did so. Chloe took notes beside me, but every so often she'd stop me and ask something about the vibe of the word in my head. We were discovering that my understanding of this language was almost… native, like it was the first tongue I'd learned.

Oh, and Cynath had zero clue why I could read it, other than perhaps it came packaged with the ‘alien angel’s essence’.

When I pressed her on what she meant by ‘alien angel’ she explained that the angel that gave me her power had been a follower of one of the higher primal gods—The goddess of energy and friction, apparently.

As far as my goddess knew, nobody on Earth or near it spoke or wrote in the language and alphabet from these books. It was entirely new to Earth, which had some confusing and perhaps even disturbing ramifications.

“Stop, stop, stop,” Chloe said, waving her hands to stall me. “That word there, how does it work in your head? Give me the vibes.”

Looked back down at the page. “Uh… Actualise?”

“Yes, that one,” she nodded. “The rest of the paragraph implies some extra meaning in that word that's getting lost in translation.”

I stared at the word again and tried to figure it out. “It's like… the context is like, planned structures becoming reality. It's when you, how do I say this… it's like when you have a dream or a goal and you deliberately and comprehensively work to bring it into reality.”

“Okay… that's interesting,” she said, nodding as she wrote it down. “The context of that one is with spellwork, which leads me to believe that these harmonic chants can be built or created.”

“Oh, that makes sense,” I agreed, glancing out the window to rest my eyes.

We were on the second floor of the building that housed the workshop on the first. Nobody wanted to set up their living quarters here because of the frigid outside walk to the cafeteria. Out on the field, several people were practising their skills or abilities. Tess was out there of course, honing her archery skills with the sort of hyperfocus that made me wonder—

As I watched, two middle aged men approached the teen, and I sat up straighter. Chloe looked up and followed my gaze, and we watched as they began to speak to Tess. We couldn't see their faces, only hers because their backs were turned to us.

The young girl was uncomfortable from the outset, but it seemed like everything was fine. Then her expression became a proper frown, and she took a step away, trying to dismiss them with her inattention.

Faster than the girl could react, one of the men stomped forward, grabbed her bow and snapped it over his knee. Chloe and I stood up at the same time. Who the fuck were these guys?

We rushed for the door, but then Chloe stopped and gave me a look.  “Let me handle this. In the interests of public image, you shouldn't be seen to be involved. Okay?”

“Why? I'm going to go—” I said, beginning to protest.

She cut me off with a shake of her head. “I got this. Watch from a distance, back me up if it gets fucky.”

“Okay…” I frowned, following her as we continued our rush down the stairs.

Chloe pulled ahead, and soon she was striding out of the side door, palming a hex bag.

“Cynath,” I murmured urgently.

I'm aware. Those two have already lost the protection of the wards.

“How were they able to do that?” I asked, frustrated.

Property damage was not included in the pact I made with your Captain.

“Why the fuck not?”

Because I did not have the power to extend protection to everything inside the wards.

I sighed, still unhappy. “Fair enough.”

The men walked around the corner, and that was when I vaguely recognised them. They were, I think, some of Pastor Thomas’ goons. They definitely had little crucifix necklaces.

I kept to the darkness of the doorway, watching with interest.

Chloe strode towards them, confident and angry. “Hey, what the fuck was that?”

“None of your business,” one said haughtily.

Chloe's hex bag flew through the air to land at their feet. A sharp noise echoed through the courtyard, drawing everyone's attention as it threw the assholes to the ground.

“I asked you why you just broke that girl's bow,” Chloe repeated, loud enough for everyone around to hear why she was attacking these dudes.

“It's none of your business, you crazy bitch!” One guy said as he tried to rise.

The other guy apparently thought he could justify their actions. “We're just doing what's right! Edgewood used to be full of good, god fearing folks. Now it's going to shit—”

Chloe stomped on his stomach hard enough that he cried out in pain and flopped back to the ground. Holy shit, what was she— The other guy, stunned by the sudden and vicious violence, wasn't prepared for the kick he received up under his ribs. He screamed.

“Well, I gotta thank you both,” Chloe said with an unhinged, angry grin. “It seems that breaking the bow of Cynath's chosen archer has caused her to rescind her protection over the two of you. I'll ask the angel later, of course, but for now all I know is that it would seem you're both free game inside the wards now.”

One of the guys—I think it was the one who broke the bow—drew a blade and lunged up off the ground to stab at Chloe. The blade veered away before it could even come close, as if pulled by an extremely strong magnet. Chloe laughed, and it was not a kind sound.

“You know what else is great?” Chloe asked, glancing from the two men to her terrified and growing audience. “We have healers in the school! So long as I don't kill you or chop off any limbs, the damage I do won't be permanent! I'll have to apologise for the work I'll be dropping in their laps, of course, but the healers have been loving my herbal teas. I'm sure they'll overlook this.”

Then, she drew her dagger and rammed it into the side of the man who'd just attacked her.

I felt… sick. I mean, they'd done a shitty thing, but this was…

The man dropped screaming to the ground while blood pumped eagerly from the wound.

“Oh, but don't worry, I haven't forgotten you!” She sang, turning to the guy she'd stomped on.

Almost casually, she stomped again, and his shin gave an ugly, wet crack. Okay, that was enough.

I stepped out of the doorway. “Chloe! What the fuck are you doing? That's enough!”

My friend turned her attention to me, and to my surprise, there was a… a knowing smirk on her face. Oh, that little fucking weasel. She knew. She knew I'd stop her before she went too far.

“Yes, Silver,” Chloe said, giving me a damned bow.

I closed my eyes and summoned all of my patience. “Someone go and get the Captain. Let him know that two men stole and broke Tess’ bow, and that Chloe… well, tell him she got to them before I did.”

Nobody moved, so I pointed to a boy who looked like he couldn't be older than fourteen. “You, if you could relay the message. I'll see that you get a reward.”

His face paled, but he nodded enthusiastically and took a step or two towards the admin offices. Then he looked at me, “I want a cool knife!”

“You got it, bud,” I said with an indulgent smile. Then I snapped a finger, “But only if you get the healers, too. I think we'll need them.”