“This isn’t about you, Finnrey.”Gaz moved toward Taio, and Finnrey intercepted him.To my shock, Gaz thrust out an arm and knocked Finnrey back, sending her sprawling across the clearing.
“Finnrey!”I screamed.She lay on the ground unmoving for a long moment just as Gaz and Taio came together again.Taio swung his weapon, and it grazed Gaz’s shoulder.Gaz cried out.Beyond them, Finnrey sat up, shaking her head.Blood dripped from the corner of her mouth.
Behind her, something in the trees moved.
“Finnrey!”I cried again.She held up a hand and wiped at the blood on her lip.Something was emerging from the trees.I could hear the hisses now as two Hollows, attracted by our noise, lurched forward.“Finnrey!Behind you!”I started for her, but Kintle caught me around the waist and held me back.“Let go!”I screamed.He held fast just as Nize held Omira.No one but I had seen the Hollows yet.Everyone’s attention was fixed on the fight.Kintle wouldn’t let me go if he thought I might get in Taio’s way, so I made myself go limp and drew a breath.“Hollows!”I yelled as loudly as I could.“Finnrey!Hollows!”
Time seemed to slow.Finnrey’s head turned in time to see the first Hollow—a man dressed in rags.Half of his cheek hung loose, flapping over his jaw and exposing the bones of his face.Finnrey scrambled away, trying to free her weapon.Gaz and Taio separated, both looking about in panic.The looks on their faces would have been comical, if this wasn’t deadly serious.Nize released Omira, who ran to her brother.Nize freed his sword and went for the woman Hollow, who had veered toward him.She wore the remnants of a dress, though the color and style were impossible to discern.She was filthy and grunting as she moved toward Nize.The stench of these two was overpowering.I almost retched.As I bent over, I realized Kintle had released me.I raced toward Finnrey who was grappling with the male Hollow.She’d been unable to free her weapon, and she had both hands on his shoulders as he snapped at her and tried to sink rotten teeth into her arm.Gaz got to her before me, knocking the Hollow down and bending over him to plunge a dagger into his ear.His hissing and growling went silent.I caught Finnrey up in my arms and pulled her away from the trees.She shook like a leaf in a storm, and I pushed her behind me as I searched for more danger.I heard a growl before Nize destroyed the female Hollow.The clang and subsequent wet twack as he cleaved her skull in two was thunderous in the sudden silence.
I had never been so happy to hear nothing at all.The birds were silent, and the breeze through the forest carried no grunts, no hisses.My gaze focused on Nize.Gaz was beside him, and I saw now that the four Zulenii had moved into an offensive formation and were advancing on my two countrymen.I had to do something, but I didn’t know what.
And then behind me, Finnrey crumpled to her knees.
***
ISWUNG AROUND AS FINNREYdoubled over.Sheathing my skullcrusher, I went to my knees too.“What’s wrong?”I barked.“Are you hurt?”
Slowly, so slowly, she lifted her bloodied face to mine.“I’m bitten,” she said.
“No.”I shook my head.“No!”I said more forcefully.In my head I couldn’t form a thought.All I heard were screams ofno, no, no, no, no!I dug my short nails into my palm and forced myself to focus.“Where?”I asked.“Let me see.”She was wrong.She hadn’t been bitten.What she thought was a bite was really a scratch from a tree or blood spatter from Gaz’s kill.
Finnrey looked down at one of her arms.My gaze slid down her shoulder, her bicep, her elbow, and stopped on her forearm.The fabric of her tunic was torn and bloody.I grabbed her arm and pushed the material up and away from her wrist.As it slid higher, I kept screamingnonononoin my head.
But I already knew.
When I revealed the oval bite mark—a perfect indentation of teeth on her forearm—I had to close my eyes to keep from passing out.My head spun, blood whooshed in my ears, and I couldn’t breathe.
“I’m bitten,” she said.Her voice sounded like it might if we were on the beach, and I caught just a fragment of it as the wind whipped it away.She was telling me how it happened now, but I couldn’t understand her.I didn’t need to.I knew exactly how it had happened.She’d had her arms out, holding the Hollow back.He’d lowered his head and taken a bite out of her arm.
Gaz had probably killed him seconds later.But he’d been too late.
By the time Gaz reached the Hollow, Finnrey was dead.
Finnrey slid sideways, and I caught her and pulled her hard against me.I wrapped my arms around her and held her close, like I would if she’d been a child.Like my own mother had done so many times when I’d been young.Before I’d learned to hide my emotions.Before I’d learned to protect myself.No protection in the world would have sufficed as I held Finnrey.My hard shell cracked open, and my guts spilled out onto the ground.
“You’re fine,” I whispered.“You’re fine.You’re fineyou’refineyou’refineyou’refin—” I couldn’t stop saying the words.I wanted so desperately for them to be true.Finnrey shook uncontrollably, her trembling making my body shake as well.
“—you’refineyou’refine’you’refine—”
“Mara.”A heavy warm hand settled on my shoulder, snapping me out of my chanting.I looked up and into the blue-green eyes of Taio.“Let me see her.”
“No.”I shook my head and clutched her closer.“No, no, no.”
He crouched down so his face was level with mine.“I will not hurt her.Let me see.”
I stared into his eyes, and he stared into mine.
“Trust me, Mara.”
His eyes were clear and unwavering.I saw no deception in them.I realized I’d never seen deception in them.We were the ones who’d deceived him again and again.I swallowed and nodded.He reached for Finnrey, and I released her as he caught her in his arms.She looked so small as he held her.“Omira,” he said.His sister came forward and placed a bedroll under Finnrey, and gently, so very gently, he laid her down.
I gasped as I realized where I’d last seen Omira and Taio.They’d been advancing on Gaz and Nize with Yung and Kintle.I twisted around on my knees and spotted Kintle and Yung leaning over a body.
“It’s the Twilight Man,” Taio said, reading my thoughts.I narrowed my eyes and realized he was right.The Hollow woman lay on the ground at the far end of the clearing.I scanned the nearby area but saw no sign of Gaz or Nize.“They ran away,” Taio said.I turned back to him, watching as he removed Finnrey’s sleeve with one quick rip from the seam at her shoulder.Gently he removed the fabric and tossed it aside.
“You let them escape?”
“They were the least of my worries.”He studied Finnrey’s arm.“We should act now.It is a desperate act, but we could cut it here.”He indicated her elbow.“This might save her.”
