Page 20 of Ash and Roses
“What is it?” Teagan asks. “Is it Merrick?”
He doesn’t answer her for a long moment. “Shit,” he hisses.
He ushers us down a slope where we lay on our stomachs behind a log. I hear nothing at first, until thundering hooves slam against the dirt road just on the other side of a cluster of trees. A horse neighs as it’s forced to a sudden stop and boots thump to the ground.
“I know you’re here, Abilene.” The Commander’s voice echoes through the trees, making even the birds go silent. He’s no doubt smelling the remnants of our fire still carried on the wind. I should have argued against breakfast. This is my fault. I tug my wolf shawl tighter around me, hoping the fur will somehow camouflage me. “If you make this easy, then maybe I’ll let your traitorous friends live.” There’s no chance of that.
Jade dives sideways as something whizzes towards us, putting himself in front of Teagan and me. When he lets out a sharp groan, I look to see an arrow imbedded in his lower arm, just beneath his elbow. The tip of the arrow went all the way through and is poking out the other side. Without hesitation, he grabs the tipped end and rips the rest of the arrow through his flesh before tossing it aside.
What the fuck?
Blood spurts, but there’s no time to do anything. The Commander and his men know we’re here. Jade looks angrier than I’ve ever seen him. He marches out from the thicket towards the men. “You could have hit her!”
The Commander smirks back at him and signals his archers to wait. “Seems it was worth the risk, because here you are.” He cranes his neck to get a better look at me.
“Come, Princess. It’s time to go home.”
“She’s not going anywhere with you.” Jade’s whole body tenses, as if readying himself for something. Before I can find out what, an abrupt scream has our full attention. It came from the left, but I can’t see anything besides nervous Guardians also searching for the source.
Jade stiffens by my side, and his hand on my back moves to the string of his bow. “Don’t make a sound,” he says in a low voice.
A flash of silver catches my eye, but by the time my head whips around, whatever it was is gone. A low growl sounds somewhere to our left, but the sound is drawn out by another shriek. This time I see the man go down, but whatever took him out disappears from sight. It’s too fast for my eyes to follow, leaving only a silver glint as it moves through trees and shadow.
The Guardians panic. At least two of them are dead, and no one knows what they’re up against. Drawn swords shake in trembling hands and arrows fly blindly. We’re lucky none of the archers are aiming this way.
Another blur of silver turns to a splattering of red as a Guardian only a few yards ahead of us is torn in two. He doesn’t have the chance to force a scream through his gaping mouth as his legs are sent flying away from the rest of him. The thunk they make against a large tree turns my stomach, but I can’t look away.
“Where is it?” a Guardian calls, panic ringing clear in his voice.
“Does anyone see anything?” another calls back.
“It’s the monster!”
Another scream reverberates through the trees. Whatever it is, it’s killing them all one by one.
Jade readies his bow. “When I tell you to run, get on a horse and follow the road out of the forest.”
“What about you?” The idea of leaving him behind is absurd. I can’t do that. I won’t.
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be right behind you. Go!”
There’s no time to think. I jump to my feet and lurch out of the bramble towards one of the frightened horses with Teagan right behind me. It rears up as I grab the reins, but I’m able to still it long enough to get a leg in a stirrup and pull myself onto its back. Teagan clambers on behind me. The animal is all too happy to run, so it takes only the softest of kicks to send it flying down the road.
Something hits us only seconds later, and I feel Teagan slip off behind me. “Teagan!” I pull hard on the reins, forcing the horse to stop as I whip my head around. I outstretch a hand, ready to pull her back on, but what I see makes my heart all but stop. Teagan is on the ground, eyes open yet unseeing, blood seeping from an open gash to her throat.
There’s no time to stop because an arrow flies by, only inches from my head. Jade is on a horse behind me, quickly closing the distance between us. “Go!”
I give my horse another kick and it lurches forward again. Away from the massacre… and away from my friend.
Something hits me this time with enough force to knock the air from my lungs. I blink the tears from my eyes and instead of the open road ahead of me, all I see are swirling shades of green. The tree canopy, I realize, as I become aware that whatever hit me knocked me off the horse, just as it did Teagan.
“Jade?” I call out, feeling around blindly.
A low growl is my only answer. I roll onto my stomach and try to scramble to my knees, but something sharp slices into the back of my right shoulder. The pain hits me sharper than a whip’s lash and the scream that rips through me is unlike anything I’ve produced before. Whatever air was in my lungs comes out with such force that I think I might vomit them out entirely.
I want to speak, to call for help or beg for my life, but no words can make it through the inhuman shriek.Please. Please, no. Don’t kill me.
The massive forepaws of an animal are on either side of me now and what I can only imagine is hot blood drips from its jaws onto my back. It’s going to rip my throat out like it did to Teagan, or tear me in half like that Guardian.