Running her hand over her side, Iryana pulled back red-stained fingers.
Perfect.
Not letting herself slow down, Iryana ran those fingers over the trees, cutting back and going in other directions until the whole wood was full of the overwhelming stench of her blood.
She couldn’t ignore the pain in her side now, not with her adrenaline fading and with how she kept touching it to gather more blood. But she clenched her teeth and hurried.
Satisfied, the sounds of the dakii having spread out around the edges of the woods as they slowly tore in, Iryana slipped out of the far side where a babbling brook wove between the trees.
She tried to move as quickly as she could without splashing too loudly. The water would make it hard for them to track her, or at least slow them down. Cold mountain water immediately seeped into her boots, soaking up her leggings and the skirt of her dress.
The sounds of the pack spread out behind her, as if they didn’t know which way she’d gone and had split up.
That was good.
She left the brook, cutting through a winding bit of forest that would eventually lead to the Yuresh River. She was slowing down, tiring, but if she could make it to the river, then she could throw herself in. Let it carry her away from the dakii and hide her scent until she found some shore to collapse against before making it the rest of the way.
Then a sound tore out of the forest behind her.
With a silent scream, Iryana glanced behind her to find two dakii, both with double sets of gleaming horns and snouts stained red as if they’d rubbed them against her blood on the trees.
Shit.
Yanking her bow out, Iryana fired two arrows at them, hoping to slow them down.
They dodged easily.
Iryana pumped her arms harder, trying to fight the exhaustion in her limbs, the pounding in her head.
One of the dakii pounced but her shield absorbed most of the blow. Still, one claw slid through, digging into her shoulder, and almost sending her spinning.
Somehow, she stayed on her feet.
She reached for an arrow again, but her shoulder protested, not letting her move her arm high enough.
Swallowing, she tried to ignore the panic. She couldn’t shoot her bow. Probably couldn’t use her spear with just one hand.
The river was her only chance.She had to make it to the river.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Feet skittering as she slid down a ditch, barely managing to stay on her feet, Iryana scrambled back up the other side.
The dakii were right behind her.
Reaching the top, Iryana kicked a fallen tree with all her might, not waiting to see it tumble down the trench toward the dakii. Hopefully giving her an extra moment.
She was moving so much slower, breathing ragged, but she could hear the water now.
Still, the dakii closed in through the moonlit trees.
She stumbled over roots and through hanging branches, barely deflecting a snapping jaw with her shield as she flung herself the other way.
Everything hurt; everything burned. But just as they were almost upon her, Iryana crested a small ledge overlooking the river.
She jumped and the cold swallowed her.
The shock of the freezing water froze her limbs as the current swept her under the surface and carried her away. Her lungs were close to bursting before shefinally fought her way to air. She swam with the river, begging it to carry her through the Yuresh Valley as quickly as it could.
