In this new multi-part serialized fiction story for The Mary Sue, LadyStar: Escape from Widow’s Island tells the story of Jessica and her team of fighters pitted against their teacher during the last phase of their training as Ajan Warriors. Check out more LadyStar books here. Click here for Parts One, Two, Three, Four, Five, and Six.
“Wouldn’t it be great if there was like, a warrior from every planet? They could have super powers and fight evil and stuff. Now that would be cool.” — Ranko Whelan
The Shroud
Widow Island
Near the Hagog Gate
“Okay, wait wait. Let’s think about this first.” Jessica Halloran made sure to speak up quickly, as Ranko was already advancing towards the apparition at the Shroud courtyard entrance. Overhead, the distorted windows and strange-looking surface of the tower obscured the sparse starlight.
“I’ll wait if that thing waits!” Ranko replied impatiently. “The Professor already warned us about what those undead things can do if they zap us, and whatever that is, it sure looks like the vice-president of First Undead Bank to me.”
“But it doesn’t look like it wants to fight. It looks like it wants money!” Cici interrupted. “See? Look at its little basket! There’s silver in there!”
“Cici’s metal-discovery powers always come in handy at just the right time, you know?” Alanna quipped.
“Ranko! Drop!”
The Warrior of the Storms spun at the sharp, commanding voice and dove towards the ground. A dark hairy creature cut through the ends of her reddish hair with its sickle-like weapon, but missed her head. The other Ajan Warriors scattered just before a three-foot obsidian shaft punched into the chest of the fanged beast that had nearly cut Ranko in two. An otherworldly shriek pierced the night. As it fell the beast vanished in a cloud of sinister inky smoke.
Another appeared out of thin air and tore in Cici’s direction. The Warrior of Stone was caught out of position and didn’t see the onrushing beast.
The Huntress drew another arrow forward and reloaded, sweeping Blackwhisper left to lead the attacking creature. She fired a second time and reloaded again in one smooth motion. The silver-tipped heavy arrow speared the beast’s wrist, yanking it sideways and off its feet. It tumbled to the ground and somersaulted back to its full seven-foot height, roaring defiance at the Ajan Warrior of the Night.
Shannon’s gleaming green eyes locked bearings. She fired again. Her third shot pulverized the slavering creature, driving a full ounce of pure silver directly through its center-of-mass. It’s body exploded in a poisonous lycanthropic reaction.
Two more creatures appeared, bracketing the spot where Ranko had dropped to avoid the sneak attack. Shannon hissed a signal, and Kishi tore out of the forest, ears flat and teeth bared, bounding directly towards one of the fiends. By now Ranko was back on her feet, and she turned to confront the second.
“Hey! Take another swing at me!” She held her War-Hammer laterally, ready to block the larger creature if it closed distance. It sneered at the human girl, saliva dripping from its blood-smudged fangs.
Kishi screamed and leaped a good fifteen feet through the air. His teeth and claws clamped into the first creature’s head and neck. They tumbled and rolled across the ground, a mass of black tail, teeth, hair and legs.
The second fiend leaped forward, crashing into the Warrior of the Storms and knocking her back. The impact reaction caused tendrils of lightning to spiral in all directions. Ranko rolled and regained her feet. Her armor glowed with the absorbed power of the creature’s attack.
“I said take a SWING AT ME!” Ranko shouted, slamming Thundercaller’s handle into her own armor and causing it to glow brighter.
“Don’t give me that weak stuff! Hit the fight harder!” Ranko pounded the Earth with the enormous iron head of her Hammer. The ground heaved and thunder rolled across the sky.
The creature bellowed. Its eyes filled with rage. It slashed and screamed. Claws raked across Ranko’s shoulder appliques and pounded against her plate-protected body. The Crimson Champion crushed the beasts face with the handle of her weapon, then blasted its body with a powerful jab of the Hammer’s spike.
Lightning ripped across the ground and spun around the head of the Storm Warrior’s bludgeon. Her armor glowed brighter with each impact until fiery white and red energy surged across every etched design and metal seam of her dense silverflake plate. Ranko’s eyes began to glow.
“Come on!” she shouted angrily. “Take your best shot!”
Sparks and tiny fingers of electrical energy popped and sizzled.
“Run!” Alanna shouted.
Only Talitha hesitated, because she had the one Ajan Weapon capable of protecting her from what was about to happen. Technically Cici could have withstood it too, but the youngest Ajan Warrior outran both Jessica and Alanna as the three girls hurried into the forest for shelter.
“One time, baby! All it’s going to take is one shot! This one I call the dog pound!”
By now Ranko’s teeth-gritted expression was as bright as a sunny day. The energy in her armor lit the ground for several yards. She and the creature slammed into each other again and again, the Crimson Champion shouting taunts while the beast bit and clawed. Again the mighty iron War-Hammer slammed into the ground. This time the quake was enough to knock Talitha off her feet.
Electrical energy snaked along the trees, leaving scorch marks and small fires in the brush. A shockwave of power exploded along the ground in all directions, reached its maximum distance, then collapsed back on the spot where Ranko stood. An impossibly bright onslaught of arcane energy flowed into the Storm Warrior’s boots and intensified the glow in her armor. Ranko’s next shove threw the creature back.
Alanna ducked to the ground. Talitha hid under her Shield. Cici crouched behind a tree and hugged her Lantern. Shannon and Kishi were nowhere to be seen. Jessica put her hands over her ears and closed her eyes tight.
“One time, baby!” The air itself seemed to rattle and shake as if it were on the verge of shattering.
The Warrior of the Storms held Thundercaller forward by the end of its handle. Then the red-haired girl spun it high over her head.
“CRIMSON THUNDER!”
The sound echoed, ringing in the sky like a quick thunderbolt. Ranko ripped her Hammer down into the ground. The explosion of lightning and sonic energy drowned her voice as she shouted.
“SHOCK!”
A breath-stealing invisible sphere of energy pulverized the nearby air and tore the dead branches off the trees. It scoured the Earth of every pebble and loose piece of dirt. The wind crashed back inward and swirled around the Crimson Champion, forming an impenetrable cyclone of lightning and fire. Ominous and angry clouds formed overhead momentarily, and ice cold rain froze in the whirlwind before spinning up into the sky.
It took nearly a full minute for the miniature storm to subside. The hairy vicious creature was gone. The other Ajan Warriors peeked out from their hiding places to see what had happened.
There stood Ranko Whelan, rainwater dripping from her hair. She hefted Thundercaller and let the handle rest on her shoulder.
“Okay, Professor, tell me about this undead thing.”
Prepare for battle and don’t miss next week’s chapter as the Greatest Fighting Team of Teenage Girls Ever Assembled continue their impossible quest to Escape from Widow Island!
The first new story LadyStar: With This Ring is free for a limited time!
W. Scott’s LadyStar series is celebrates its fifteenth year in 2015 with the release of a brand new collection of thrilling fantasy stories filled with romance, magical creatures and spectacular battles! Visit the Official LadyStar Bookstore and join the adventure!
