“You’ll need to trust me,” Vedikus said.
She licked her lips. Vedikus took her hand that still had her sleeve wrapped around it and peeled it off. He raised the blade of the dagger to her palm and held her hand tight within his grasp. She braced herself for the pain she knew would come, barely aware of the fighting going on around them and the creatures that wanted to eat her. Aldora closed her eyes and gave herself up to what he wanted, but the blade paused, as if awaiting something from her.I can take it.She gritted her teeth and nodded.
It sliced across her flesh and an agonized moan rose from her throat. Just as swiftly, the cloth was back, soaking up her blood, and the howls rose back up from the ranks of the barghests. She flinched when Vedikus pulled back the cloth and replaced it with mud from below, caking her hand and wrist. The dirt filled her wound, and a stinging sensation replaced the heat.
The creatures surged in renewed frenzy, braving the firelight and rushing toward her. She was pulled hard into Vedikus’s chest, and for a moment, the thundering of his heart matched her own and overtook all else. He threw the bunched up cloth across the clearing and howls intensified.
“Run!” Vedikus commanded.
She wasn’t ready for it but had no choice as she was dragged back into the mist. It opened up as they sped through. The golden light from the bonfires vanished, and a rapidly darkening swamp met them on every side. She tripped, but Vedikus caught her, keeping her upright as they fled from the carnage, and the stifling heat quickly replaced with a humid chill as the mists pressed inwards. An uncomfortable hug that reminded her of a cold corpse.
Her lungs spasmed with pain, and murky water clung to her boots, making each step heavier than the last, but she kept going despite the ache, her wrist clutched in Vedikus’s hold. The sound of barghests in pursuit followed.
They stopped suddenly and she was thrown to the ground just as something whipped past her head. She saw Vedikus whirl and slam the blade of his axe right into the barghest’s head, filling her ears with a wet thump. Another one pounced as the first lay dying feet away. The second dropped immediately after, twitching next to the first when more appeared. One by one bodies fell around her and she jerked away, their snapping jaws still after her flesh even at the moment of death.
“We need to keep running,” she yelled, bringing Vedikus’s attention back to her and away from the current body he was hacking. He rounded on her and offered his hand. She grabbed it and they took off with more beasts snapping at their heels.
Green lights appeared before her and she aimed for them through the tears in her eyes.Make it. Please make it.She lost her hold on the minotaur as she pumped her arms, fighting the air, the muck under her feet, and her screaming muscles. The first light blurred past her and she kept going. She pushed on until the howls lessened and were replaced by dying squeals.
Vedikus was no longer beside her.
Aldora fell to her knees and shook, feeling the frenzy burst through her and release with every gasp of breath. Sweat streamed from every pore. When she lifted her gaze, Vedikus was approaching her from the mist, axes dripping with gore. His eyes were on her in the same way he looked at an enemy.
She lowered her gaze just as his caked hooves entered her line of sight.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, still breathless.
A hand gripped her chin and raised it, tilting her to face up to him again. “As am I.” He took her wounded hand and brought her palm to his mouth. His intensity pinned her as he licked the cut clean.
Chapter Sixteen
***
They made their wayinto Prayer, exhausted, dirty, and determined, following the eerie lights that led them to it. Somewhere in the darkening hours prior she had lost what was left of her reserve, and a riveting, guiltless freedom had taken its place. The sheer volume of blood she had seen was staggering: barghest, centaur, minotaur and her own. Spending so much time a moment away from death had changed her, and she didn’t know if it was for the better or not. Regardless, she was alive, Vedikus was alive, and at that moment, nothing else mattered.
I’m alive.
