Lephas turned to address the group. “We jog on, follow the wolf prints. Karn will reach her before we can ever hope to.”
“Uh, what will he do when he finds her?” Haros asked with a nervous laugh.
“What he's been trained to do – he'll fetch.” Lephas grinned.
CHAPTER TWO
I wish I had worn comfier shoes...
Lori Goldwyrm huffed and blew a long golden strand of hair from her face. She hadn't been walking for that long, but it felt like years.
She knew it was impossible, but it felt like it had gotten colder and colder the further from Awrelwood's protective stone walls she got. Lori shivered and pulled her short fur coat up around her neck.
Though shewas wearing her thickest serpent-hide garments, the icy wind still managed to penetrate them, chilling her to her bones. It was so cold even the metal piercings she adorned herself with – several studs in each ear and a small jewel in her nose – burned at her skin.
Yet still she continued to trudge forwards. Lori was impressing even herself. She never had been one for sticking at anything once the going got tough.
And this was tough. Tougher than she had thought it would be.
Large snowflakes began to fall, slowly at first but gradually gathering momentum. She glowered at the sky above her.
The faerie pulled her hood up over her head and tucked her long braid out of the elements.
Just a little further...
She was kidding herself; she had no idea where she was going. Whenever sanity loomed and she wondered what the hell she was thinking, Lori pushed on harder and lied to herself with sentiments of encouragement.
Almost there...
What time was it? She had left Awrelwood in the early hours; it had to be at least late afternoon now. The sun had been present earlier that morning but now the snow had set in, the sky was an endless expanse of grey.
She could worry about where she was going and what she was going to do later. For now, she just needed to focus on getting far enough away from Awrelwood, but not too close to Banesteppe. Surely, she would come across a small tavern somewhere along this blasted road sooner or later?
Whilst she remained in the castle's ominous shadow, Lori could still feel her father's presence looming over her. He was undoubtedly sending soldiers to retrieveher.
She muttered to herself angrily and aimed a vicious kick at an innocent snow drift. She tucked her heavy silk satchel back securely onto her shoulder, though it had long since begun to make her ache.
Lori had never been an obedient girl. She had memories as far back as two years old, climbing curtains solely because her mother had told her not to. Whilst she had gotten smarter, she hadn't gotten any better with age.
She knew why her father kept them locked away night and day. He called her and her two sisters – Sivelle, the eldest and Faye, the youngest – his buried treasure. His protectiveness came from a good place but, as with all good things, left unchecked they often became sour.
He was terrified beyond measure of the demons finding his daughters. Lori feared their father's concern outweighed his love for them.
As in all matters where Lori felt like she was being told what to do, she had fought back... And kept fighting.
Lori and her father often butted heads. He loved nothing better than telling people what to do and Lori loved defying authority. They fought constantly.
It was when her father over-stepped his mark by trying to tell her he was arranging for her to be married off to some toffee-nosed snob that things had become serious. He expected her to be happy about it, like Sivelle had been.
Her eldest sister had longed for the day when their father would offer her an arranged marriage; she seemed all too keen to begin her new life as her husband's prisoner, as opposed to her father's.
Lori scowled to herself. She didn't let her father, King of the Faerie people, tell her what to do. Some twit from a 'well-to-do' family didn't stand a chance.
Really, she'd had no other option in the end than to run away, but she needed to move. Lori glanced over her shoulder for the thousandth time, delicately pointed ears straining for the drum of heavy hooves approaching.
Undoubtedly her father would know she was missing by now. He would send his men after her. They were probably scouring the countryside for her right now.
Thankfully she had seen only one otherperson on her journey so far. She had been frightened, far more than she'd have ever let on, when she saw the young demon boy at the side of the road in the early hours of that morning.
