She scrambled to her feet, cut off the front of her dress, wrapped it around her wrist, kicked off her loose boots, andrantoward her friend, herastryllein the sky above her. Her lungs burned, and snow soaked through her stockings. She didn’t care about any of it. Only that she got to her friend before the unthinkable happened.
A hand caught her hair and yanked.
Lia cried out, almost dropping her blade. Tears pricked her eyes when he yanked her back into his body. She kicked him in the shin, but it hardly fazed him.
“That’s enough of that, half-blood,” the monster spat.
Searing pain struck her neck. Dahlia screamed, tears running down her face. The brute had bitten her shoulder. He shook her, tearing more of her tender flesh. The giant released her and breathed harshly in her ear.
“I’ve marked you for all to see what you are. A slave, a lesser being meant to serve. At least, the human half of you is.”
Loshika cried out again and again, and Lia fought against the pain. She couldn’t stop now.
Distract him.
Lia went limp in his grasp, folding forward.
Serenity screeched.
He grunted and shook her.
She didn’t react.
“Weaksaloes,” he spat.
Lia would show him weak.
When he took a step forward, she stabbed him in the inside of the thigh.
The giant grabbed her by the hair and wrenched her upward. The world swam when he tossed Lia into the snow. She clutched the blade to her chest and clawed her way up the mountain away from the limping giant. He fell upon her, and she slashed at him,catching him across the cheek. He squeezed her wrist, forcing her to drop the dagger.
“Your little body is disgusting. I want to destroy it,” he hissed, ripping the shoulder and arm of her dress, her corset exposed. Nausea rose up at her blood smeared down his chin, the scarlet liquid stark against his grey skin.
Lia’s left hand patted the snow for anything. Her hand touched a sharp rock, and she swung with all her might. He turned his face at the last moment, and she slammed it into his right eye. The giant roared, rolling away from her with the pointy rock lodged in his eye.
Move, Dahlia.
She rolled onto her stomach and retched when the monster gurgled next to her. She swiped the blade from the snow and forced herself to her feet. She swayed, noting the leader had disappeared over the ridge.
Reinforcements?
How many had there been?
Eight?
The leader had left. Lia had dispatched two. Loshika three.
Her eyes narrowed. Now there were only two left.
Help us. Help me.
Lia pushed herself toward Lo, unwrapping the fabric around her wrist. She whistled at theastrylle.
The giant holding Loshika’s hands spotted her first. He said something in Loriian to the male messing with the laces of his pants. He spun to face her as she leapt at him, wrapping the fabric around his neck. His claws cut her around the ribs as she spun behind him, using her weight to choke him with the fabric. It wouldn’t hold, but it was enough to get him off Lo’s legs.
He grunted and then swiped, cutting the makeshift garrote from his neck. Lia tumbled backward and scrambled to put space between them as he spun around. Hate burned in his eyes.
Serenity attacked the other giant, her furious screeches echoing in Lia’s ears.
