Free Aftershock by Mark Walden

path.’
    The door set in the opposite room of the circular pit swung open and a barely recognisable figure staggered into the room.
    ‘Tolya,’ Natalya gasped. There was no hint of recognition in his eyes as he looked at her, just a terrible blank stare that made the hairs stand up on the back of her neck. ‘What have they done to you?’
    ‘He has received exactly the same punishment as you, my dear,’ Anastasia said, ‘but I’m afraid he lacks your strength. They say that if you leave a person in darkness for long enough they will always carry some of that darkness around inside them. I fear that in this poor boy’s case it has consumed him.’
    Tolya made a terrible low guttural growling noise, more beast than human and he ran at Natalya. She dodged to one side, pushing him away from her and into the wall. He spun and lunged back towards her with an infuriated roar and she backed away, circling him, trying to stay out of his reach.
    ‘Tolya, it’s me, Natalya,’ she said as they circled each other. ‘We’re friends, please, try to remember.’
    ‘Let’s speed things up shall we,’ Anastasia said as she watched Natalya duck away from another of Tolya’s lunging grabs. She signalled to Furan and he opened a section of the cage that surrounded the upper walkway and threw two objects into the centre of the pit. Natalya stared at the gleaming pair of blades that lay on the floor between her and Tolya. He dashed forward and snatched the twin katanas from the floor before Natalya could react. She ducked backwards as he swung the blades wildly at her. She felt the concrete wall at her back and he lunged. The tip of one of the blades sliced into her cheek, leaving a long curved gash, and she hit back blindly, punching him in the face. Tolya staggered backwards as Natalya advanced feeling the blood trickling down her cheek. The training she had received over the last two long years suddenly kicked in and she delivered a series of precise punches and kicks to Tolya’s torso. He flailed at her with one of the swords and she ducked beneath the wild swing and jabbed at his wrist, paralysing his hand and sending the blade clattering away across the floor. He swung at her again with the other katana and she ducked beneath the sweeping blade and rolled towards the sword lying on the floor. She scooped it up, despite the fact she had never fought with a sword in her life, and turned back towards Tolya who charged at her with an animal roar. She brought her sword up in a vain effort to defend herself as he hit her like a freight train and she felt a sudden, shuddering impact run through her weapon. She struggled to throw him off her as she felt his hands closing around her throat and squeezing. She couldn’t breathe, feeling panic as the fringes of her vision started to blacken. Then Tolya’s grip slackened and just for a moment Natalya thought she saw a flicker of recognition in her friend’s eyes. He gave a small pained gasp and then collapsed on top of Natalya with a final rasping sigh. Natalya rolled Tolya’s limp body off from on top of her and staggered to her feet. She grabbed the hilt of the katana that protruded from her dead friend’s chest and pulled it free before picking Tolya’s sword up from the floor. She looked up at Anastasia Furan, half her face covered in blood and with a sword in each hand. She didn’t say anything, she didn’t need to, her expression made the depth of her hatred perfectly clear.
    ‘She’s going to be dangerous,’ Pietor Furan said, looking down at Natalya.
    ‘No, Pietor, she is going to be magnificent,’ Anastasia replied with a smile.

    now
    Raven caught the Shroud’s co-pilot’s wrist in a vice-like grip a moment before he actually touched her shoulder. For a fleeting instant there was a look of such unbridled malevolence in her eyes that he felt his heart quicken but then her expression softened.
    ‘I’m sorry to wake you,’ the man said slightly nervously.
    ‘I