Page 172 of Upon Buried Embers
“You dumb bitch.”
“Get off of me!” I scream, my scalp burning.
She throws me to the side and I roll, coming to a stop. Then she’s on me again, my hood now fallen down.
She slaps me and goes for my neck. I scratch at her arms, trying to get her to release my throat as she shouts down at me. I can’t even make out her words properly.
“Darcia, we can’t be here,” Rhett hisses, coming over to us.
“Everything is getting all fucked up because of you! You just had to be in The Pit, didn’t you. You just had to come with us! Didn’t you?!” she shouts, eyes ablaze with fury, her blonde hair a mess.
“I’ve done nothing wrong!” I croak out, legs kicking.
She’s much stronger than me.
“Darcia!” Rhett calls. “They’ll hear you!”
“She dies now, Rhett. She shouldn’t exist, everything was working. All my hard work will be for nothing. She should have fallen in the lake with Serah after I smacked her.”
My ears ring.
She hit Serah? She nearly caused her to fall in the lake?
Anger swells inside of me, and then my hands are on her face, a shocked scream coming from me as I claw at her with all my might, trying to get my legs under me to bolt her off.
“Ouch, you cunt—” her head swings to the side, and she falls off me.
I gasp for breath in the dirt, grasping my throat, coughing.
“Hey! Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?” I hear Tofa’s voice, and I look up as she punches Darcia, blood instantly spurting from her nose. “You bitch!”
“Tofa?” Calian comes rushing in, grabbing Tofa from on top of Darcia as she screams, holding her bloodied nose, Rhett looking wide-eyed just beyond her. “What is happening?”
“Come and fight me and see how you like it,” Tofa shouts. I take deep breaths, trying to get more air into my lungs. “Let’s see who will win, Darcia? Come on, challenge me!”
“Calm down, Tofa,” Calian tells her.
“No.” She scratches Calian’s hands, thrashing in his hold as he picks her up off of the ground, legs dangling. “Let me go!”
“What, is going, on!” The roar is sudden, sharp, and we all look to Rohan and the crowd that has gathered, some dragons included.
Even Drogonah has come over, his head higher than everyone else’s as he watches with a keen eye.
Oh no.
I quickly lift my hood up, covering my ears, but others are gaping at me, eyes wide.
“Rohan,” Darcia cries, getting to her feet and holding her bleeding nose, tears streaming down her face. Rhett still hasn’t moved, his face pale. “She attacked me.” She points at Tofa.
“Fuck you!” She escapes out of Calian’s hold while he’s distracted, heading for Darcia and tackles her to the ground, punching her again.
“Tofa.” Rohan barks, rushing over to them and grabbing her. I don’t think he’s seen me yet. “What has gotten into you?”
“Let me at her.”
“Are you okay?” Beau’s voice startles me. He’s crouched before me, looking at the crowd.
“I think they saw,” I whisper to him, pulling my hood tighter around me.
