The Thorn was fast as it dodged through the trees, weaving and darting. Adalia gritted her teeth and pushed the mare harder. She was gaining on it quickly. The Thorn turned to face her as it ran, its eyes terrified and determined at the sight of Adalia closing the distance between them. Black wings protruding from a body fitted with dark green soldier leathers dashed through the heavy forest, moving towards the Oscuro Veil. She’d been fighting Thorns for ten years; there was no way this one was getting away.
The forest was getting too dense—the need to pursue on foot growing stronger. As she neared, Adalia unsheathed a dagger from her waist. With a graceful leap, she flipped into the air and landed steadily in a crouched position. Her mare instantly stilled, flinging sticks and rocks across the forest floor. Adalia paused, grinning at the Thorn, then dashed forward.
Their bodies collided and rolled, fingers clawing and grabbing. The Thorn was female and equal in strength and stature. Adalia lifted her arm to bring her blade down, but the Thorn bucked, kicking it from her hand. The women tumbled in the underbrush, teeth bared and eyes locked.
“Adalia!” Shiloh screamed from a distance.
The urgency in her friend’s voice fuelled Adalia’s fight, and she brought a second blade from her waist towards the woman’s neck. The Thorn bit down on Adalia’s arm and her cry pierced the air. Freeing herself from Adalia’s grasp, the woman scurried backwards. Adalia clutched her arm in pain. The Thorn hissed before scrambling to her feet and turning to run.
Adalia sucked in her breath and followed, sprinting after her once again.
The two women raced through the woods, ducking and weaving between the trees and underbrush. Adalia’s heart waspounding with adrenaline, but she pushed her body harder. The Thorn came into her path and Adalia hurled her dagger towards the woman, catching the skin of the female’s leg. With a cry, the Thorn stumbled forwards, rolling across the forest floor. Adalia skidded to a halt and quickly secured the Thorns’s hands behind her back with leather binding.
“Not quite how you saw this going, is it?” Adalia smirked at the female.
The Thorn scowled. “Are you going to kill me?” Adalia shrugged. “Maybe I will spare your sad life. Maybe I won’t. It will be for me to decide, but first you will tell me what I need to know. If you’re lucky, and I’m feeling generous . . . give me the information I seek and I will throw you back into your kingdom.”
Adalia gripped the female by the collar of her leathers and spoke through gritted teeth. “Did you come through a tear?”
The Thorn’s body language changed, and she trembled in Adalia’s hands. “Please, I was only told to scout. I didn’t speak to anyone, I swear. Send me back to Oscuro and I promise I will never return.”
Adalia ignored her plea, but noted the shift in her demeanour. Roughly pulling her to her feet, Adalia pushed her forwards, back to where she’d left her horse. Shiloh was there upon their arrival.
“Who do we have here?” Shiloh asked with raised brows.
“I found this one hiding in the shadows,” Adalia answered as she tied the woman’s hands to a long rope attached to her horse’s saddle.
Turning her attention back to the Thorn, Adalia squared her shoulders. “I only need to say the word and the horse will take off running . . . Won’t be fun to be pulled along.” Holding the tip of her blade to the underside of the woman’s chin, Adalia spoke low. “Tell me where the tear is.”
The female’s top lip lifted in disgust. It was a stare off between light and dark. Adalia held her ground—flaring out her wings in dominance.
“Half a mile that way,” the woman said, her brown eyes flecked with hatred.
Adalia eyed the woman one more time, determining whether or not she was telling the truth, before removing her blade and taking a step back. She had her answers. It was time to return the darkness back to where it came from.
“I’m taking her to the Oscuro Gates in District Seven.”
Shiloh nodded, and the small party mounted their horses.
Adalia turned to look at the Thorn. “Try anything funny and I just might change my mind and end you right here.”
Adalia wouldn’t actually do it. She would always choose life over death—but the Thorn didn’t know that.
The woman scowled under the threat but remained silent.
The journey was slow. Adalia could see that the wound on the Thorn’s leg was painful and there was no way the female could travel at a fast pace.
Once they neared the Gate that separated The Grey from Oscuro, Adalia slid from her horse and untied the Thorn from the saddle, pulling her towards the guards stationed there.
River, Caden, and Shiloh flanked her, providing a shield and support against potential aggression from the guards. Adalia shoved the Thorn forwards, and she fell to her knees before the defensive line of her Kingdom, black wings scraping the ground.
The two Oscuro guards scowled, but only one spoke. “What do you Lightners want? Standing a little too close for comfort, are you not?”
Holding a dagger to the prisoner’s throat, Adalia gave them a stiff smile. “I found one of your kind in the woods, thought you might want it back.”
The guards huffed.
Adalia hoisted the Thorn soldier to her feet, untied her hands and pushed her towards the Gate, warily eyeing the guards as the woman passed them and entered Oscuro.
