We remained silent as we pushed on. The trees grew thin around us and the path ever steeper, stretching out into treacherous expanses of loose stone. My flimsy sandals were utterly useless, and I fell over twice, my feet battered and bruised.
“Wait.” My brother’s voice made me jump. It was the first anyone had spoken in a long while.
I glanced back at him, sweat dripping down my temples. “What is it?”
“Do you hear that?” he whispered. “Listen.”
I frowned. All I could make out was the night chorus of cicadas and my own ragged breaths. But then I heard it. A distant rumbling, like a storm rolling in from the horizon.
“What is that?” Melitta breathed.
“Horses,” Melanthius and I said at the same time.
“We gotta move.Fast,” Xanthias hissed.
Panic sharpened my senses as we raced through the trees, praying we could lose our hunters on the winding mountain trails. But that thunder of hooves was closer now, accompanied by another sound, one that stilled the very blood in my veins.
Barking.
They had hounds on our scent.
A wild fear pounded through me, eclipsing my mind. I could no longer feel my screaming muscles or butchered feet or even hear my own breath sawing out of my chest. All I could focus on, all thatmattered, was that darkness ahead and the freedom that lay beyond it.
We just had to keep going.
Just keep going.
A yelp sounded from behind, followed by the clattering of scattered stones. Beside me, I felt Melanthius turn.
“What are you doing?”
My brother ignored me, dashing back toward the figure nowslumped on the ground. “Melitta? Are you all right?”
“My ankle,” she gasped.
“Melanthius,” I hissed as loudly as I dared.
“I’m not leaving her. Go. We’ll catch up.”
“I can’t leave you.”
“Go, Melantho!” he cried, the raw, desperate fear in his voice spurring me onward.
Ahead of me, I could just make out Xanthias scrambling through the trees. I focused on following his shadow, pushing my way through the disorienting darkness.
Just keep going.
A growl ripped open the night, followed by Xanthias crying out in pain. A moment later, an arm shot out from the blackness, locking around my stomach and hauling me off my feet. I kicked and clawed at my attacker, throwing my head back so that my skull collided with his face. There was a loud crunching sound as I was dropped to the ground, my forehead bashing against a rock, breath fleeing my lungs.
Something warm dribbled down my face, and I opened my eyes to find the forest spinning around me. With a cry, I began dragging myself forward on my stomach, gasping for air that would not come.
Just.
Keep.
Going.
Someone grabbed my hair as a fist collided with my face, followed swiftly by another.
