Chapter 12 Briar
Briar
Grinding his teeth in pain, Silus twisted his body. My fingers brushed his wrist, and he jerked to the side, his hand locking around mine just as the narrow ledge beneath him crumbled.
The sudden weight hit me like a jolt of lightning.
My arm went taut, my shoulder nearly wrenched from its socket.
The sharp edge of the ledge dug into my ribs, grinding bone and stealing my breath.
Silus’s full weight dragged me forward. The nails of my other hand scraped the stone, sparks of pain shooting through my fingers as I tried to brace myself, but my body lurched, threatening to topple over the edge with him.
Elara and Myantha strained behind me, heels digging into the rock as they anchored my legs. Quen flung herself across my back, her elbows jamming into my spine to hold me steady.
Silus’s grip was slick with blood, his wing dragging him sideways, its feathers bent at twisted angles. His boots scrabbled against the wall, kicking stone chips into the abyss below.
“Hold on!” I choked out, my chest grinding against the ledge so hard I could barely breathe.
A rush of air swept past me—Thalen. He half-stumbled, half-lunged, his injured wing dragging, but his reach still strong.
He dropped beside me and caught Silus’s other arm, teeth bared, muscles trembling with strain.
“Fecking bastard! If you die on me, I’ll never forgive you, especially after you were such an ass. ”
Silus groaned, trying to brace his foot, but the stone beneath him cracked with a hollow snap that echoed through my chest. My muscles screamed as I took more of his weight, but I refused to let go.
Below, Rhielle and Veralt had recovered from their fall against the tunnel wall. Veralt crouched, bracing his legs wide as he gripped Rhielle’s thighs and lifted her up again in a surge of brute strength. “Don’t kick my woman in the face,” he growled.
Rhielle gritted her teeth and grabbed Silus’s legs, shoving upward.
With a guttural cry, Silus surged, his body scraping over the edge until he collapsed beside me, chest heaving, blood streaking his face and hands.
I crumpled next to him, gasping, my whole body shaking from the effort. Myantha fell back, panting with strain, before crawling to Thalen, who was clutching his mangled wing. Elara threw her arms around Silus, pressing his head to her chest and kissing his temple like she could anchor him there.
Louder and sharper snarls tore through the tunnel. The scrape of claws became a pounding rhythm, relentless and closing. The smell hit next—wet fur, blood, and that sharp electric tang that bled from the portal.
I scrambled back to the edge with my heart hammering.
Rhielle was already reaching down to Vyraetos while Veralt braced her from behind.
Vad sprinted beside them with the last of the bags.
He thrust the coil of razor wire and the pinchers into Veralt’s grip before slinging the remaining packs over his shoulder.
The wolves snarled, pacing back and forth and biting at the air as if testing it.
Then the new leader charged forward over the corpses, but it didn’t see the razor wire either, and hit full force, the thin blades slicing through its throat.
Blood sprayed in a crimson arc as the creature’s momentum carried it forward, then bounced it backward and crashed it into the two wolves behind it.
They went down in a snarling heap, tangled in the wire, but more poured in behind them.
“Move!” Vad’s voice cracked through the chaos.
I leaned farther over the edge as Rhielle and Veralt hauled Vyraetos up between them. The old fae’s face contorted as we caught his hands and dragged him higher. Thalen slid in beside me and caught Vyraetos’s other arm. Together, we hauled him over the edge, where Myantha and Quen pulled him clear.
I dropped flat to my stomach again, stone biting into my ribs as I reached for Rhielle.
Her slick fingers locked around mine. “Hold on!” I gritted.
Thalen crouched beside me again, his silver-white wings shaking as he caught her other arm.
Together, we pulled, inch by inch, until she, too, scrambled over the ledge, chest heaving, eyes wild.
The tunnel pulsed with snarls and the wet shuffle of limbs.
Vad dropped low, hands laced, and barked, “Veralt!”
Veralt started to scoff, some half-formed snide remark on his lips until he looked back.
The wolves that had survived the first razor wire line were dragging themselves upright.
Blood dripped in thick rivulets from slashed flanks and shredded shoulders, but they moved, snarling low and jaws gaping.
One limped forward, its ribs exposed, its side peeled nearly to the bone.
Another twitched violently, a ragged length of flesh hanging from its haunch like a torn cloak, but its head stayed low, and it kept its eyes locked on Vad and Veralt.
Then it lunged straight into the second line of razor wire. The metal sliced clean through its chest. Blood sprayed, and its body thrashed before it collapsed in a heap.
More wolves barreled around the bend. Four. Six. Eight. Too many.
“Come on, big man!” Thalen motioned with his hands. “Everyone else, get ready to grab!”
I dropped flat, bracing one arm, reaching with the other. My eyes flicked between Veralt and Vad. I knew Vad would be last. I understood why. But I still hated it.
Veralt ran, boots striking hard on stone, then pushed off Vad’s hands and launched. He hit the ledge hard, his ribs and forearms colliding with the rock. His legs kicked above the drop, and his fingers clawed for purchase but found nothing.
He slid, and we lunged.
Thalen and I dove first, our bodies snapping forward. His weight yanked me painfully down, my bandaged ankle scraping the jagged rock.
Silus dropped beside us, knees slamming into the stone. He caught Veralt’s other arm just as Rhielle flung herself across my back, her hands locking in Veralt’s collar. Her gasping grunts matched the panic blazing through the bond.
Vad was still below.
We heaved together, bodies straining, dragging Veralt over the edge so he wouldn’t block Vad’s path.
Cold tendrils of fear choked me as I linked, Come on!
The bond ignited, Vad’s fear mixing with mine, sharp as a lightning strike. His focus locked on the wolves spilling over the second razor-wire line. One vaulted cleanly over the wire with its claws shrieking against stone as it landed in a crouch. Another followed, yellow eyes burning bright.
As soon as Veralt was clear, I twisted free and flung myself forward.
“Vad!” I screamed, stretching both arms out. “Now!”
He leapt, wings flaring wide just as a wolf lunged and snapped its jaws around the thick leather of his boot, then slipped with a sharp yelp down into the pit. The jolt knocked Vad sideways, throwing off his flight mid-beat. His wings pumped, strong and desperate, once, but it was too late.
He slammed into the rock face below the ledge with a guttural grunt, his claws raking stone, desperate for a hold. But his boots slipped.
The bond drowned me in rage and terror. His. Mine. One wild, pulsing flood of emotions between us.
I caught his arms, and his hands locked around my shoulders. He pressed his palms flat, keeping his claws from tearing into me, but his weight pulled me down like an avalanche. My ribs ground against the stone. My ankle screamed as it jammed against a jagged rock.
Thalen shot past me in a blur of silver-streaked feathers and caught Vad’s shoulder. Silus lunged in, looping an arm under Vad’s other side. They braced and lifted, wings trembling, muscles corded tight.
“Pull!” Thalen roared.
I hauled with everything I had. Stone shredded my arms. My body burned with strain. Silus’s jaw locked in a grim snarl as we dragged Vad over the edge, one brutal inch at a time.
The wolves barked louder, their howls scraping across the stone walls like a curse. Veralt grabbed my hips and anchored me, grunting from the effort. With one final heave, we yanked Vad up and over.
He collapsed beside me, breath sawing through his chest. I rolled onto my back, gasping, my muscles shaking.
Thalen and Silus staggered back, wings half-spread for balance and blood dripping from torn feathers.
The shadows from our single oil lamp danced across their strained faces, turning them sharp and hollow.
Below us, the wolves growled, pacing and snarling—too many to count, too angry to back down. One edged toward the ledge and sniffed the air, head tossing. Another charged halfway and skidded to a stop just before the wire.
More would come, especially with all the blood here.
Weapons and gear littered the ledge around us, along with two bags and the oil lamps.
I forced myself upright, ignoring the pain flaring in my feet, legs, chest, and back. My body screamed for rest, but I shoved the feeling away and crawled to Vad. My arms wrapped around him tightly. “Don’t ever scare me like that again,” I breathed into his neck.
That goes for you as well. You need rest. Don't try to tell me otherwise. His jaw flexed. The ghost of a grin, half snarl, half relief, touched his lips before vanishing. “We need to keep moving.” He spoke loudly, trying to be heard over the ear-shattering noise below us. “We don’t know how many more are coming.”
Silus touched his injured wing, grimacing. “We don’t even know how they’re opening those portals. If they cut us off from the forest—”
Quen whimpered.
Vad cut him off. “Then we find another way. But we tend wounds first. This is as safe as it’s going to get for now.”
My heart expanded as I watched him take charge and calm the panic. In that moment, he reminded me so much of my sister that it hurt.
Veralt dragged a boulder from farther up in the cave toward the mouth of the tunnel with a grunt. It wouldn’t stop a horde, but it’d buy us time.