23. Rhune
Rhune
I watch in slow motion as dozens of pale, winged creatures fall from the canopy, filling the forest with their horrible screams. They're the size of demons, lean and completely hairless with puckered bald heads.
Their skin is the same pale hue as the dripping Welwig leaves, allowing them to blend in with their surroundings.
Their faces are human-shaped, but that is where the similarities end. Each creature has four eyes set in two stacked pairs, all of which are a deep, wet red. Just like their eyes, the monsters have two pairs of wings apiece, though they’re thin and veined like an insect's versus a demon’s.
Their muscular arms end in talons the length of my forearm, and as they move, they clack together menacingly. One of them opens its mouth, and it just keeps opening, the whole lower half of its face hingeing open to expose rows and rows of needle teeth.
It closes that mouth around a soldier's shoulder and takes him up into the branches, disappearing in the blink of an eye. There is one horrible moment of screaming before it cuts off, and I know he is dead.
Then they're everywhere. Talons punch through backs, through wings, through skulls. Soldiers are being ripped off their feet in every direction I look, hauled up into the canopy where they meet their untimely ends. There is so much movement and carnage, it’s hard to think. But I know I have to protect my Willow.
“Run!” Vhalthor yells.
I pull Willow to my chest, one arm under her legs, the other locked around her waist, and I run. Dravik and Nyx have Cin between them, hauling him along by the arms, his feet dragging through the frozen underbrush.
We run.
Willow's hands fist in my suit, and her heart beats so fast against my chest that I can feel every single strike of it.
I have you, I promise through the bond. I have you. I will not let go. I will not let them hurt you.
Branches whip at my face. My wings scrape against the trunks on either side, but I do not slow down or shield myself. If one of those creatures should attack from behind, it will rip into me, and I can use the distraction to hand her off to Dravik or Nyx.
Anything. Anything to protect her.
The screaming does not stop. It comes from ahead of us now, not just behind. Then from the left. Then from somewhere off to the right.
We’re surrounded.
"They're all around us." Nyx’s voice shakes. “We… there’s no way out.”
Vhalthor slows ahead of us, then stops. His remaining soldiers stumble to a halt behind him, and the forest goes quiet again. It’s worse than the screaming.
Slowly, silently, the creatures step out of the shadows into the open. They do not rush. They do not need to.
The monsters surround our entire group, now, all four of those evil eyes fixed on Willow, talons clacking menacingly.
Vhalthor plants his feet and raises his blade, putting himself in front of what remains of his men. Dagny’s mates form a line in front of her, while my brothers and I circle Willow. Dravik at her front. Nyx at her side. Me behind her, both hands on her, refusing to let go.
They will not have her. Not while I breathe. This I vow.
The creatures advance slowly, the circle tightening around us one pace at a time. Talons clacking. Mouths dripping black saliva. Unblinking, predatory red eyes.
Suddenly, three of them break from the ring and rush straight for Cin. They’re too fast, and I know we won't reach him before their strike.
The first creature gets a grip on Cin's wing and pulls. There is a wet, tearing sound that causes my stomach to flip, and the wing comes away from his back. The membrane splits along the joint, and blood spills out across the frozen ground.
Cin does not scream. He doesn’t so much as blink. Just sits there, taking the abuse, staring blankly out into the shadowed forest.
“Cin! Gods-dammit, Cin!” Before they can do more damage, Dravik flings himself on top of Cin, lashing out at the creature still gnawing at his wing. His attack lands, and the creature is blown backward, smacking into one of the Welwig trunks with a wet thunk.
As the other two creatures advance, Dravik grabs one of Cin's arms and hauls his body back toward the center of our circle. Nyx jumps in, using the last of his strength to fight them back. He’s still weak from his injury, and the creatures overwhelm him.
“Nyx! NO!” Dravik drops Cin, launching back into the fight and ripping the creature off his brother just before it closes its jaws around his throat.
Screaming breaks out to my side, and I look in time to see a dozen creatures launching themselves at Dagny’s group. Vhalthor and his remaining forces are locked in a similar battle, and no one seems to be doing very well.
My throat closes as I watch the struggle, wanting to help but knowing I cannot. I must protect Willow. Must protect my mate.
“I have you.” I clutch her tighter. “I have you. I will not let them have you.”
Something hits me from behind.
I do not see it coming. I do not have time to prepare for it.
The forest goes white, then red, and blood runs into my eyes, blurring my sight.
Shapes move all around me. Talons and wings and bodies, and I cannot tell them apart.
There’s a fierce ringing in my ears that makes it hard to focus, and I wonder for a moment if my skull is split.
I do not have time to worry about it, though. There is something far more pressing to worry about. My arms are empty.
“W-Willow…” I blink rapidly, trying to see past the blood, the dark spots lining my vision. “Willow…”
I fall to my knees and sweep my hands across the frozen ground, desperately searching. I promised. I promised her. I said I would not let go, and I did.
She should have been with Dravik. She should have been with anyone but me. I am the one who whines and fusses and checks her boots for wounds, and when it mattered, when it truly mattered, I could not hold on to her.
“Willow…” I search and search, but she is nowhere to be found. I do not stop, though. I can’t stop. I have to find her. Have to… have to… have to…
A scream cuts through the ringing in my ears. High-pitched. Female.
Willow.
My head snaps toward it, and I catch a flash of her through the blood and the bodies. Then, just as quickly, she disappears into the canopy—hauled away by those horrible creatures.
No… no…
I am mortally injured. I have lost my mind. I know that. But I do not care. I must go to Willow. I must save her.
I get to my feet, and I run.
I do not make it three strides. They come out of the dark in front of me, then more behind me and to my sides, closing in faster than I can react.
Talons sink into my chest. Another set rakes down my back, tearing through the muscle and catching on bone. Mouths clamp down on my wings, ripping and tearing at the joints.
I do not care. I do not care. Willow is up there, and I am down here, and nothing they do to me matters.
I will not let her go.
With my vision fading, I press forward, watching my actions through someone else’s eyes, someone else’s body. A hand swipes, tearing a creature's head clean from the body. Another blow, another kill. I walk three more steps.
They land on me all at once. Seven of them—maybe more—driving me face-first into the frozen ground. I thrash, I kick, and I fight, but it does nothing. There are too many. I have lost too much. I am too weak.
I cannot get to her.
All around me, the screams and sounds of chaos tell me we are losing the battle against the horde.
Willow screams again.
Then… something miraculous happens.
Cin sits up, blinking heavily. He looks around, and I can tell even from this distance that his eyes are clear.
He comes up off the ground in one motion. He does not look at me. He does not look at the horde. He does not reach for the remains of his bloody wing. Cin turns toward Willow’s scream and tears off into the forest.
Not one creature chases him. Not one of them even tries to touch him.
I blink, and Cin is gone.