Chapter Five #3
“I need you to listen to me now. Be a good girl, yes?” She’s still crying. I scan the woods for danger and then look back at her. “You’ll be safe in the little castle behind me. Please, come with me. The lord of this manor is very kind and generous. He won’t hurt you.”
The girl sobs harder. I think I see movement in the woods behind her. I lean forward.
“Can you tell me your name?” I ask. She shakes her head.
“My name is Katria. The woods are a scary place, aren’t they?
” More movement in my periphery. My heart is racing.
I extend a sweaty palm. “Come on, take my hand.” I don’t know if Lord Fenwood’s protection will extend to her as well.
But if she takes my hand, with one good yank, I can get her back behind the crumbled edge of the wall.
If we run fast, we’ll be at the manor’s back door in a breath.
She stops crying and raises her tiny fingers. My hand closes around hers. Her eyes flash a bright yellow, like torchlight hitting a wolf’s eyes at night.
The girl smiles wide, and her mouth is full of too many teeth, all dagger sharp.
She wrenches my hand with a strength that she should not possess and pulls me past the end of the wall.
I topple head over heels, letting out a yelp of surprise.
On my knees, I dig my hands into the moist underbrush of rotting leaves and damp earth and jerk my head back in her direction.
The girl is no more. In her place is a gnarled woman. She has bright yellow eyes with slits for pupils. Gossamer wings unfurl behind her and drag on the ground as she stalks toward me with bony claws. Around her shoulders is a swirling shawl of shadow.
I open and close my mouth, trying to form words, but there are none. I blink several times as if that will make her go away, as if I’ll wake myself up from this nightmare, but she comes closer and closer.
“Please don’t hurt me,” I squeak. I push off the ground and crab-walk backward. I should get up and run, but fear has made a fool of me. Her hungry eyes look for my death.
“Maybe I won’t hurt you.” Her voice is distorted and worn—it’s as if someone ripped out her voice box and shoved it back in the wrong direction. In addition, the common tongue doesn’t seem to be her first language. “If you promise to do one thing for me.”
“What? I’ll give you anything you want.”
“Open a window of that room.” She points a bony claw toward the dining room. “Leave it open this night.”
So she can murder me in my bed later? “I—of course,” I say quickly. “Anything you want.” The metallic taste of a lie fills my mouth. There’s no way I’m leaving the window open for this creature.
“Hmm, your kind can lie.” It’s as if she can smell the metal on my breath, and she reconsiders her offer. “Maybe I’ll just make you scream loud enough that he has no choice but to come out himself.”
I let out another squeak as I back into the tree. I’ve scrambled in the wrong direction. Get up, my mind screams. But I’m locked in place. I have to run. I have to fight. I can’t die like this.
She crouches before me and digs one claw into my chest. “He’s begun amusing himself with humans, has he? Let’s see how long he’ll be amused if you don’t have an arm.”
The crone grabs my left wrist and yanks my arm. Her right hand rears back and upward. Those wicked-sharp claws are going to sink into my flesh. I close my eyes and turn away as I see her hand move through the air.
A roar rocks the earth. The sound is part man, part beast, and all primal rage. Air rushes past me, and my arm is pulled painfully until something pops. I let out a scream as I hit the ground. My head strikes a rock.
I blink, dazed. My vision is blurry and all I can see are the woods.
But behind me, a struggle ensues. I try to push myself up from the ground, but my one arm refuses to work.
The world tilts and I upturn the contents of my stomach.
I continue blinking, trying to bring things back into focus.
The pinpricks of sunlight poking through the dense canopy are far too bright, the noises far too loud. I fear I might be sick again.
These sensations are familiar. The last time I felt them was when I fell off the roof with Helen. My world became hazy, and when I came to—
“Take her.” That’s Oren. “Go back to the manor; I’ll hold her off.”
“Thank you.” I recognize Lord Fenwood’s voice, even in my state, even never having laid eyes on the man.
I know it’s him. Just like I can feel his presence behind me, warm and sturdy, undeniable.
“Close your eyes,” he whispers, surprisingly tender and in stark contrast to the growling and grunting happening behind us.
I don’t want to close my eyes. If I do, when will I wake up? And what will be happening then? But I want to stay out here even less, so I press my eyes closed with a whimper.
Two large arms slip underneath me, one around my shoulders and one under my knees.
I’m weightless as the lord hoists me into the air and clutches me against his chest protectively.
I was right—he is tall. But far more muscular than I was expecting.
I can feel that rippling strength beneath the thin shirt he wears. Strength he’s using to protect me.
“You’re safe now.” Yet even as he says those words, a scream erupts from the beast. Nothing feels safe.
“Please don’t hurt me.” My voice quivers.
“I will never hurt you.” Truth.
“What’s happening?” I press my face into his chest so I don’t open my eyes out of temptation. I don’t think I want to see what’s going on. The image of that woman is already seared onto the backs of my lids, threatening to haunt me for forever.
“You’re safe now,” he repeats. “I have you in my arms, so you have nothing to fear.”
It’s not an answer. But my nose doesn’t singe, so it’s also not a lie. I exhale with another whimper and put my faith in him as he carries me back to the safety of the manor.