The man beside my log laughed. Rather perfect timing, as my stomach chose that moment to give a tremendous heave in protest of the stench. But my soft, dry gag went unnoticed.
“You can drink fresh, running water, lass.” Terrick’s voice echoed in my mind. “But the water from a stagnant pond will make you ill.”
I’d never fully comprehended how revolting a stagnant body of water was until that moment. For there were no waves or currents to remove the feces. It merely stayed where it landed, festering, and contaminating everything around it.
“Has Seruftruly arrived in Sakar?” the man asked, still chuckling. “Or is Lola merely spreading ‘er rumors?”
The conversation from that point onward centered on Lola, and the way she used her plentiful bosom when she wanted to beguile soldiers into giving her information. There was quite a bit of talk of her bosom. At least until the man finished spewing his toxic odors and stood, pulling his trousers over his hips.
I saw his knife fall, and I stopped breathing as it landed with aplopin the murky water.
“For feck’s sake!” the man knelt to retrieve his blade. His eyes flashed as he caught sight of me, huddled in the log. “You bloody—” he snatched my legs. “Hiding now, are you? Waiting for—oof.”
I swung my arm, my knuckles catching the side of his throat, winding him. As he wheezed, I slithered out of the log, landing in the water with a splash.
Water.I gasped in relief. The itch rippled across my skin as the fire thundered in my veins. But it did not emerge. It couldn’t. Not while I was submerged.
“You feckingbitch!”The man seized a fistful of my hair, dragging me out of the puddle.
“Stop!” I clawed at his hands. “Leave me in the water!”
The man shoved me backward onto the ground and wrapped a lock of my hair around his fist. “Hmmph,” he grunted as he twisted my neck back. “They didn’ say you was pretty.”
I disliked the hungry look in his eyes as he gazed upon my bare flesh.
His hand stretched toward my chest. “If ye can keep that power of yours contained for five minutes, I’ll let you leave. Ten minutes, and I’ll hide your trail.” He winked.
Hiscallis—callous-roughened hands hurt when they touched my skin. His breath smelled of ale and decay.
The fire inside me roared.
“Remember, lass,” Terrick said, “When you hunt, be sure to kill the animal quickly. If your initial wound wasn’t fatal, find the beast and end its misery. There’s no need for any creature to suffer.”
I burst free of the man’s hold and grasped his face in my flame-wrapped hands. And I felt no remorse when he cursed and bawled. Instead, the sounds incensed me to keep clutching onto him until he perished.
A quick death. As Terrick had taught me.
There was also no shame in me when I repeated my actions with the man’s equally odious companion.
So this is to be my fate,I thought glumly in the aftermath.
To be hunted. To kill those who wished to kill me. And to repeat the horrendous process each day until I perished.
* * *
The next day,I took shelter inside a yawning tree hollow as yet another group of hunters approached.
“It took Seruf a merehourto breach Darfield’s borders.” A boy said in a hushed whisper as the soldiers rode their horses past my tree.
Darfield.
I trembled as I pressed myself to the back of the tree trunk.
“How?” A woman asked. “Darfield has one of the largest hybrid armies in Sakar.Andthe protection of aCelestial.”
“Aye. Maya said Ellard Fell,” the boy said grimly.
Another woman gasped. “Is she certain?”
