Kindred Souls Complete Series: Books 1-4

Chapter Two

The guards moved closerto the cart, probably for my daily bathroom break. Or they were ready to kill me. It surprised me they hadn’t sent assassins to do the job. Maybe the king thought their loyalty would be divided, unwilling to kill the kindred of their fellow assassins, of their prince.

I was stuck, unable to release the final screw in the metal plate the shackles were connected to. I yanked at it, bracing my legs against the side of the cart and pulled as hard as I could, tears forming as the metal scraped against my raw wrists. My ankles were still caught together, but they were free from the plate. If I could only get my arms free.

Then I could use the skills Sky and Elora had drilled into me and escape. I just had to get free.

The key rattled in the lock on the door, and I threw the rest of my body around, trying to hide my free legs. I curled back up, pretending to be cowed, to be weak.

The door swung open with a screech, and the weight of one of them made the cart bounce. I huddled further into myself, letting a whimper escape. It wasn’t all for show. Fear had me trembling and stiff.

I peered through my folded arms at the guard.

“Sit up.” He kicked my back.

Pain radiated up my spine, and I winced with a groan. I straightened and drew my legs up to my chest and then kicked out as hard as I could at his knees. He folded with a surprised grunt, landing half on top of me. I wrapped the chains hanging from my arms around his neck, pulling tight and holding on while his face reddened and he spluttered and fought for breath. His eyes rolled back into his head and saliva spewed from his lips.

It felt like hours, but was less than a minute, and he slumped over, unconscious. I dug through his pockets and pulled out the key to my cuffs, shoving his dead weight off of me. With my ears perked for any of the others coming, I unlocked the shackles and eased them around the guard’s wrists. It wouldn’t stop him forever, but it left one less for me to deal with.

My hand clutching the key, I sneaked a look outside, noting where the rest were. I relieved the sword from the guard, holding it steady just like Sky and Elora showed me. We hadn’t gotten very far in my training, but far enough I was confident I could hold my own against one of them. Probably not three, but I was damn sure going to try.

The guards were too busy setting up camp for the night to question what was taking so long yet. They faced away from the cart, gathering wood and setting up the tent.

I wouldn’t get a better chance.

I hopped from the cart and landed with a light thump, wincing at the sound, praying they hadn’t heard me. I was scared to look back, but I forced the glance over my shoulder as I headed for the woods. They still hadn’t noticed.

My breath puffed from my lips as I pushed myself up the hill, my body weak from lack of food, water, sleep, and exercise. Shouts rang through the air behind me, and I ran harder. The woods swallowed me, keeping me hidden. I used the sword to lean on as my shaky legs brought me to the top of the hill. I clutched the trunk of a tree and fought to fill my lungs with air, staring back down to see if they were on my trail.

There was no sign of them, hopefully they headed in a different direction, but I couldn’t wait around to find out. I had to keep going. I had to create false trails. I had to hide.

The orange light from the setting sun filtered through the trees, warning me of the impending night. With no supplies and darkness falling, if I didn’t find somewhere to hole up fast, I was jumping into trouble almost as bad as what I’d just escaped.

With one hand still gripping the sword and the other clutching my empty and complaining stomach, I pressed on, using the sword to keep my balance as I lurched down the other side of the hill. I couldn’t see the bottom clearly, the foliage too thick. I had no idea what waited for me.

There wasn’t much information about the dragon lands. They didn’t even have a name for their country that we knew of. They kept to themselves, remained separate from their surrounding countries. They weren’t actually dragons. Their legends declared they once were and so they continued to call themselves dragons. They loved sparkly things and fire and who knew what else?

What I did know was how dangerous they were believed to be. They were masters in every form of combat, ruthless and bloodthirsty. I didn’t want to stumble up on any of them. I needed to find my way back into Faligrey. Back to my kindreds.

Sweat gathered on my back, soaking through my disgusting clothes and my breath stuttered from my lips as I fought my way to the bottom, my lungs screaming, my legs shaking, everything radiating with pain.

I hummed under my breath, the song I hadn’t been able to get out of my head buzzing in my throat. It was the one that came to me for my kindreds. It told our story, our journey. I hadn’t yet had a chance to sing it for them, play it for them. It was the first thing I’d do once we were back together. They needed to know. They needed to know how I felt for them. How strong my feelings were. I didn’t think they really believed I chose them, that I wanted to stay with them, that I wanted to fight to keep them, fight to build a life together.

My voice grew stronger, words replacing the hum, but I kept it quiet, not wanting to draw my enemies to me. The song kept my mind off the pain and exhaustion trembling through me. I hoped the song would somehow reach them—let them know I was alive, I was coming for them. I hoped it created a bridge between us, connecting us.

So focused on putting one foot in front of the other, on my song, on thoughts of my kindreds, I didn’t see the hit coming.

The sword slipped from my hand as everything went black.