Chapter 19 Audryn #2
“Oh, fun party trick.” The witch turned to face me. “I've always enjoyed hunting down the ones who wield distance, it keeps things … exciting.”
“You have no use for my daughter.” Dolcie’s voice bounced against the alley walls behind me.
“That’s right—” I started.
“Take the woman instead,” Dolcie interrupted. “She is King Grave’s lover, and he will pay handsomely for her.”
I gasped. “Bitch!”
“Indeed,” the witch agreed with a grin.
Edithiya’s small sobs disappeared behind the click of a door, and I didn’t need to turn around to know I was left alone. Alone and without a weapon.
Just as I lost the little faith I had, wide flapping wings beat overhead. My heart jumped, knowing Col had found me. Emotions soared when I found Dysis hovering instead. Her green eyes were fierce with rage, and her screeching was hideous.
“Aww look, your beast is here to save you,” the witch crooned. “How cute.”
“She’ll rip your fucking head off,” I snapped. “So maybe you should rethink your plans.”
“I think not.” The woman rushed me, throwing me back onto the ground.
I pushed at her, but she didn’t budge. She was so much stronger, despite me being twice her size.
The woman straddled me and pressed her burned staff across my neck.
What felt like hours passed as I struggled to convince air to enter my vacant lungs.
She’d kill me and leave my wyvern as the only witness.
Using all of my effort, I bucked my hips, forcing her weight to shift. I sent my knee sailing up until it met bone in between her thighs. She groaned, but only became more infuriated. Her staff met the side of my face a breath later. Blood pooled inside my mouth on impact.
The witch stood, giving me only a moment of reprieve. Pain, hot like flame, echoed through my body as she rained down a beating with her stick like no other. Thick wood whipped across my forearms and the tops of my hands as I tried to protect my face.
Dysis, wild and angry, snapped at the assailant, but couldn't get close enough.
I curled onto my side, and the woman’s focus shifted. Strikes landed on my body, fabric splitting under the assault. Wood met bare skin. I curled tighter into the ground, leaving my back exposed. Cool air kissed my burning flesh.
When the beating paused, I glanced under my arm. The witch had stepped back and was appraising the lashings she’d dispensed.
“Had enough?”
“Yes,” I cried as I tried to stand, but my bones were frayed and broken. “Please. You don’t need me to get what you want.”
“Oh, but I do,” she replied coolly. “Willingly or not, you’ll be going to Oras with me.”
Pain echoed through every inch of my body. “I’ll go. Please, just—no more.”
Dysis screeched in protest, and I silently willed her to leave. If she were harmed, I couldn’t forgive myself.
The beast screeched once more. My tattered clothes fluttered from the gusts of her flapping wings. Before I could stand, the witch pulled me up by a fistful of my hair. My knees buckled the moment the tension released, and I nearly collapsed.
“You’re taking all the fun out of this. At least struggle a little.” The witch straddled her staff and gestured toward the back. “Hop on, princess … or shall I say, future queen?”
I didn’t bother letting her know I had planned to dissolve the engagement the moment I returned to Rivale. Instead, I climbed onto the invisible seat floating just above the piece of wood. It was much wider than I’d expected and might’ve been comfortable given different circumstances.
The red contents of the globe swirled into a frenzy, and the staff darted forward; we were traveling down the alley at a sickening pace. Turn after turn, we stayed low among the empty streets. I looked up, expecting to see my wyvern, but she’d left. I was torn between disappointment and relief.
“Audryn!” Sky’s voice boomed as she turned from a side street and ran behind us. The staff lifted higher just as my friend nearly made it to me.
Soaring high above the capital, twelve women on staffs rode on the breeze in the center of the valley. My gaze shot to the surrounding mountains as a dozen shadowy beasts stood tall and patient. My breath stuttered as I found three wyverns sitting on the nearest ridge.
“Shit!” the witch screeched as her gaze found the beasts waiting for us. She trailed the other witches flying in a circular pattern.
“You’re not going to be able to leave,” I said through a bloodied lip. “Not with me.”
“Shut up!” Her voice pitched. “They’ll be smart to let me pass with you on the back.”
The woman made wide circles near the cliffs to show the prize she’d captured. My eyes found Col’s, and I took in a long inhale urging my emotions to remain level when all I wanted to do was sob at the sight of him.
Breeze whipping through his unbound hair, his expression remained stoic. Unsurprised. He kept his face plain as he tracked us with inky eyes.
Amalee sat at his side, Ralti shrieking at the witch as we passed. A riderless Dysis hissed in my direction, and I felt her threat deep within my belly; it was a promise I was certain she would keep.
As we made one last pass, a red streak of flame shot through the sky with a large beast flying behind it. Two dozen wyverns descended upon us all at once.
The woman's maneuvers were quicker than the beasts. She soared through the legs and under the beating wings of wyverns like she’d practiced the exact path to take in order to sneak past. Turning took the creatures longer than the women flying.
My faith in the rescue began to fade. If I were taken back to Oras, I’d be killed, and if I fought while in the air, I might fall to my death. But doing nothing wasn’t an option.
Ralti, Zalzre, and Dysis kept close as they all worked together to stay triangulated on my kidnapper. Dysis snapped her mouth at the witch as Amalee called out to me. But with the wind and twirling moves, I couldn’t make out a single word.
Athela’s brown hair floated in the breeze as she sat high on Vek’s neck. The beast scorched a witch only to catch the charred body in its mouth and shake her around like nothing but a blonde doll that had already lost its stuffing.
Dysis sped up and quickly clamped down on the staff behind me, her maw dripping with blood from the point stabbing into her. I turned to my creature, preparing to climb to her. but the witch dug her bladed nails into my thigh, shredding my flesh like a pair of shears.
“Sisters!” my abductor called out to the half-dozen women who’d yet to fall.
Two women sent staffs soaring through the air, striking my beast on either side. Dysis released the wood and shrieked in pain as she fell. A lump formed in my throat; her terror and pain were my own. I cried out as she spun toward the ground in a twirling nosedive.
Amalee pitched down—and though I hoped—I wasn’t certain she’d reach her in time. My beast realized the same as panic filled the both of us.
High-speed climbs and dives at that altitude, in combination with the severe injuries I acquired, took me to the verge of unconsciousness. I teetered on my seat and looked over the side at Ralti chasing Dysis. My body followed my gaze. There was nothing but blue sky as I toppled over and fell.
“Don’t think so!” The witch clawed into my wrist as her razor-like nails drove into my skin. My descent stopped the minute her nails anchored into the bone at my wrist, leaving me dangling.
“Audryn!” Col’s voice was loud enough I swore it passed next to my ear. My mind was playing tricks on me.
“You’re coming home with me,” the woman shouted as her super strength began drawing me up. “You belong to me.”
With stars pricking at the corners of my vision, I knew I had one last-ditch effort to make. “I belong to no one.” I clamped my teeth into the side of her bare abdomen and bit down with the last strength I had.
Darkness closed around me as the witch released her grip and soared away, leaving me to the mercy of the cool afternoon air.