The wind carried whispers of rustling leaves and trickling water. The sound morphed as it flowed around my ears, a faint, breathy chant echoing in my mind.
Bring us blood.
Bring us blood.
Bring us blood.
A disembodied howl ripped through the air.
I jumped back, and my heel caught the end of a log. My ankle buckled, sending me to the damp ground. A grunt of pain escaped me as I tried to calm my racing heart. I reached out to grip the edge of the log and haul myself forward when my fingers closed around smooth, wet scales.
A snake darted away from my touch. I scrambled backward on my hands, letting out a string of curses.
It wasn’t alone.
At the base of the log swarmed a nest of snakes, their tan and dark brown speckled scales gliding over one another, squirming in unrest. I froze, still leaning on the palms of my hands as my eyes darted across the scene.
Letting out a breath, I leaned forward with painstaking slowness to crouch on my heels. When the snakes stayed in their nest, I rose and took a single step back.
Then another.
And another.
The adrenaline racing through my veins evened out as I put several feet of distance between us. My eyes shut in relief when I felt for both my packs and the arrow, finding them all intact.
Something brushed against my knee.
I opened my eyes and glanced down to see a brown, scaled tail winding up my thigh.
Before I could blink, the snake lunged.
Sharp fangs sank into my neck. An ear-splitting scream flew from my lips as I wrenched it off my body by the head, but its lower half was still wrapped around my leg. It thrashed andwrithed, coiling even tighter in defense, and my thigh throbbed with loss of circulation.
With a shaking hand, I yanked a dagger free from its sheath and plunged it through the snake’s neck. Its body went limp. I flung the head as far from me as I could, and with a frightened sob, I unwound its lower half from my leg and kicked it aside.
Blood trickled from my wound and darkened the front of my leathers. I lifted a hand to my neck, pulling back fingers coated in blood.
My breaths came out in short spurts. I had no clue what kind of snake it was—what kinds of snakes even inhabited this foreign island. Was it poisonous? Had it nicked something vital? How deep had it bitten?
The sun had completely vanished. Moonlight filtered in overhead, giving barely enough light for me to see the trees in front of me. I turned, searching for any sort of shelter to stop for the night.
To my right was a slow stream, its water lapping gently as it flowed toward the coast.
Up ahead was the shadowed outline of the mountain range.
To my left was a pair of bright yellow eyes.
I screamed and launched myself backward, only to realize it was an owl resting on a low branch.
Gazing up at the tree, I saw several nearby branches and one thick, sturdy one several yards above my head. My limbs were shaking, but I gripped the first branch as tightly as I could and pulled myself up. I took it one branch at a time until I reached the largest one, then dragged my legs over the curve of the rough bark.
I was panting by the time I straightened my back against the thick trunk. Either I was woefully out of shape, or that snake bite was getting to me.
I gingerly felt for the two small holes in my neck, wincing at the stab of pain that shot through me. The wound had begun to clot at least, which I told myself was a good sign.
Taking the rope from my bag, I tied myself to the branch so Iwouldn’t slip off in the middle of the night, then tugged my weapons close to my chest.
Exhaustion and adrenaline warred inside every crevice of my body, making my head swim and throb. Pain pulsed from my neck with each heartbeat.
