Page 20 of Shadow Kissed
“Arkynn!” A high-pitched voice screams, and I follow the sound to find Mayla running towards us with three mutts hot on her tail.
“Run, Mayla,” I urge her, thinking if she can just get to us, Arkynn and I can protect her. Mayla picks up speed, but she stumbles over her own feet and falls to the ground, just as one of the creature’s leaps on to her back. She lets out a piercing scream as the mutt’s talons sink into her flesh. I watch with horror when her eyes glaze over as the creature finds her greatest fear and feeds on it. “You!” she yells, pointing across the square at me. “You did this. This is all your fault.” They are the last words she ever speaks as the creature feeds on her draining her of life in a matter of seconds. The mutt lifts it head into the air and howls long and deep and I shiver as responding howls come from every direction.
“Reya, behind you!” Arkynn yells and I pivot on my heel just in time to see a mutt bounding towards me. Something stops me swinging my sword at it. I hold out my hand. “No. Not him.Go!” The mutt skids to a stop about two feet from me and sniffs the air, looking hungrily at Arkynn who fights off another mutt behind me. “No!” I order.
“Eretreya!” The sound of his voice pulls my attention from the mutt before me, and I breathe a sigh of relief as I see Raegal and Jasiel enter the square followed by four other shadow soldiers. His pale grey eyes turn the darkest shade of black as he releases his shadows into the night, and they rush across the square. They spread out in volume as they go, splintering off to aim for each mutt in the vicinity. My breath stutters in my throat as the first shadow reaches a mutt and it squeals in pain as the shadows singe its black fur. As another mutts howls in pain, I double over, sheer agony ripping across my chest. What in crystal heaven is happening to me? I cry out in pain and Raegal’s dark eyes fall upon me, I feel his shadows wrap around my arms and my body lifts from the ground as his shadows pull me across the square to him. As his shadows continue to attack the remaining mutts, I’m brought before him. He catches me as I fall, holding me up with one arm and, tucking me into his side, he continues his assault on the creatures. My head drops to rest in the crook of his arm.
“Pain,” I whimper. “So much pain. I can’t take it.”
The mutts gather in a circle as they attempt to regroup from Raegal and his men’s shadows.
“Please, leave,” I whisper, barely able to speak as the pain rushes through my body, burning me from the inside out. As my eyes flutter and fight exhaustion I see the mutts run for the gates and the tree line. As my eyes fights to stay open everything falls silent. Is this the end? Is this what death feels like?
“Reya!”
It all happens in slow motion, like I can see it coming but I’m powerless to stop it. My mother rounds the corner with my brothers just as the mutts are leaving, one mutt that is lookingback towards us crashes into her and lashes out in defence locking its jaw on her neck.
I’ll never forget her scream for as long as I live. It pierces the night and sends a bone numbing chill through my body.
“No!” I whimper as I fight the world of pain my body is in. Raegal flings out his hand and his shadows race across the square and attack the mutt, flinging it off my mother. It slides across the earth whimpering as the shadows burn its fur, before it staggers onto its legs and limps as fast as it can after its pack.
My mother lies on the floor, blood pouring from her neck. I grab Raegal by his collar. “Save her, please.”
He looks from me to my mother conflicted. “I’m fine. Please go to her.”
Swearing under his breath he directs Jasiel to support me as he strides across the square to my mother. Arkynn grabs hold of the boys and pulls them away. Elian cries for his mother and Corym stands there, silent and devoid of any emotion, as Arkynn wraps an arm around each of them. I watch as Raegal drops to his knees beside her, looking over her injury and grimaces. He glances across the square at Jasiel and shakes his head.
No! My mother can’t die. We need her. My brothers need her when I’m gone. I struggle to get to my feet and Jasiel tries to stop me. “Stop me and I’ll sink my dagger through your black heart!” I warn him. He obviously decides better than to fight me and instead, helps me stagger to my feet and supports me under my right shoulder. I drag my pain riddled body over to where Reagal tends to my mother. I drop down beside him, and he grimaces as his eyes meet mine.
“It’s poison has entered her system. It’s too late.”
“No.” I shake my head unwilling to listen to him. “We can save her. We just need a healer.”
I jerk when he grips my chin with his fingers and forces me to look at him. “The only ones who can reverse the effects of the venom is a Night Borne and they no longer exist.”
My mother whimpers and I return my focus to her, I press my hand over the wound on her neck, attempting to stop the blood. “There must be a way.” I watch in horror as the venom travels along her veins, staining them dark purple as it progresses through her system. Mother screams in pain and it pierces right through my heart.
Her eyes fly open as she inhales deeply. “Pain. So much pain.” She groans, thrashing her head from side to side. “Please stop the pain.” She turns her wide eyes to Raegal. “End it, please.”
Raegal swallows and nods his head, reaching out and putting his hand on her chest.
“No!” I scream, knocking his hand away and throwing my upper body over my mothers.
“Reya,” she says hissing my name through the waves of pain. She cups my cheek and smiles at me. “My precious gift. I did what I needed to. I kept you safe. Fate has come for you now. It’s time for you to become who you need to be. Look after your brothers for me.”
“No, you’re going to be okay, Mama. We just need a healer,” I insist, leaning down to kiss her cheek. “You can’t leave us Mama.”
She smiles weakly and I pale when I see the purple venom reach the veins in her neck. I lash out as someone places hands under my armpits and lifts me off her. I scream and kick and punch, as I fight to stay with her. Raegal leans over her and places his hand on her chest. With his other hand he takes her hand, and I watch as he leans his ear down to hear whatever she says. He nods his head and glances briefly at me. I watchthrough a veil of horror as his shadows leak from his body and attach themselves to her.
“What is he doing?” I ask Jasiel, as I sag in his arms, no longer fighting him.
“He’s speeding the venom through her system. Otherwise, she’ll die here in slow agony until it reaches her brain.”
I see the moment the venom reaches its target and her once beautiful green eyes turn purple as she expels her last breath.
Gone.
My mother is gone.