Chapter 23 #2
The creature that rose from the brush was the size of a dog, its body lithe and muscular.
It was covered in a slick white leathery skin, its strange handlike paws ending in sharp claws.
Its face was oval shaped, but with a long snout like a hound’s.
It had no eyes, but its mouth had come unhinged, revealing rows of pointed teeth all dripping with green saliva.
Its nostrils flared, its mouth widening as it let out another screech.
Thalia flung her dagger right into its open jaws.
The creature screamed, head shaking at the embedded knife. Thalia didn’t look back as she ran.
Her arms pumped as she fled, branches cutting into her face and arms. She should have grabbed another weapon—
The creature roared behind her, and she ducked around a trunk. The sound of the tree breaking as the creature slammed into it echoed. She dodged and weaved behind trunks, trying to slow the thing down.
A stitch speared itself up her side, and Thalia gasped. She pushed past the pain, her lungs to the point of breaking.
She just needed to get out of the forest.
A pang of fear speared through her. She couldn’t go to the city. Not if this was one of the spawned creatures—it could bite the Vampyrs, spreading its poison—
In a split-second decision, Thalia changed course. She flew between the densely packed trees, her body scraping against the tight spaces. The creature chased her, but she led it deeper into the forest, away from Irenbis.
But she couldn’t outrun the thing forever; already her body was to the point of giving out—
Thalia screamed, ducking as something sailed overhead. The creature appeared before her and lunged.
Thalia’s back hit the ground and she managed to catch the creature by the throat. Its jaws snapped at her, saliva flying. Her dagger was still embedded in the back of its throat, the blade doing nothing to stop it.
Thalia gritted her teeth, struggling against the weight of the animal and its jaws inches from her face.
A roar sounded off to her left, and Thalia’s heart sank—there were two creatures.
This was it, how she was going to die.
Something slammed into the creature’s side. The creature was a blur of white as a figure with auburn hair tackled it.
Thalia gasped, her chest heaving as she struggled to get up.
Cassius.
Cassius flung the creature aside, its back cracking against one of the trees. He pulled out his sword. The creature’s maw opened, shooting toward Cassius. He rolled, narrowly avoiding its snapping jaws. Cassius swung his sword, the blade barely cutting through its leatherlike skin.
The creature whirled again, lunging. Cassius grunted, the front of his chest shredding against its claws.
Thalia screamed.
Cassius turned, but not fast enough as it attacked a third time. The creature knocked him aside, jaws at his throat.
Thalia surged forward, her knife finally having fallen from the creature’s mouth. She gripped the slick handle, flying toward the creature.
She screamed again as she brought her blade down, aiming straight for its side. It was like cutting through thick mud. The force of her downward swing reverberated up her arm.
It distracted the creature enough to turn to her.
Thalia expected it to lunge at her, but it merely bared its teeth, nostrils flaring in her direction, almost like it was inhaling her scent for the first time. It must have been too set on killing her to really take note when it’d knocked her from her saddle.
She froze, stunned by its reaction. It flared its nostrils again, a low sound chortling in its throat. It took a step away from Cassius’s fallen body, and Thalia retreated.
The creature kept scenting the air, chuffing as it advanced slowly on her. Thalia’s limbs shook as she backed away until her spine pressed against a trunk.
The creature paused, lifting its head. Its nostrils flared a third time, and then its strange snout touched her chest.
Thalia trembled as it shifted backward—
It let out a screech as Cassius’s sword embedded in its neck.
Cassius grunted, the sword sticking halfway through, the creature somehow still alive. Its cries spurred Thalia, and she surged toward Cassius. Her hands wrapped around his own and together they used all their strength to push the sword down.
Two arrows thwacked the creature’s body, and Thalia knew Keegan was there only by a blur of gold in her peripheral vision.
Finally, after three more arrows and a last push from Cassius, the sword slid through bone and sinew. The creature’s headless body stumbled backward before falling over in a heap, its limbs twitching.
“Fuck, are you all right?” Keegan panted, racing over.
Thalia turned to Cassius. Bright red stained the front of his shirt. She gripped him as he fell to his knees, fresh panic entering her veins.
“Did it bite you?” she rasped as Keegan came to Cassius’s side, whipping off his cloak to try to staunch the bleeding.
“Cassius, did it bite you—” She hadn’t realized how tightly she clutched him until one of his hands squeezed her wrist.
“No. No it didn’t,” Cassius got out.
Thalia’s relief was short-lived. Blood was soaking through the fabric of the cloak now. “We need to get you back to the castle.” Her eyes met his. “Now.”