Chapter 1 #3
Powerful wings pounded the air behind me. If it wanted to eat me, it wouldn’t find me an easy meal. I’d no doubt that I was fast. In my youth, packs of free-folk children often chased me, bent on teaching me one lesson or another. All they’d taught me was to run faster.
But was I fast enough to outrun a winged monster?
Ahead of me, the flock ambled in confused circles. I veered toward the herd. Safety in numbers and all.
Surrounded by the meandering bunch, I dropped to my knees, wrapping my arms over my head. The distressed animals knocked into me, and still I tucked low, hiding amongst their huddled forms.
Woosh.
The black shadow rushed over the flock, the wind from its wings glancing off my back. I dared to peer over the head of the nearest nerf. The creature banked hard, lining up to charge again.
Flark! I ducked as it swept in for another pass.
“Baaah!” My troops objected, threatening mutiny. Stampeding hooves thundered against the earth.
“Hold your ground, you bloody cowards,” I shouted at my uncooperative army.
A woolly body knocked into my shoulder, and I hit the dirt. Bells rang in my ears as the sound of the fleeing herd faded into the distance. Hot steam blasted the back of my head, tossing my wild curls over my shoulders.
Don’t look. Do. Not. Look.
My muscles quaked, and I rolled onto my back. With trembling fingers, I shoved my crimson locks off my face. Peering down at me were two reptilian eyes set into a horrifying face. Below that were a pair of smoking nostrils. Lower, a set of gleaming teeth.
The identity of the creature chipped away at the ice in my brain. No. That wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be real. The stories about the mountain couldn’t possibly be true.
“Dra–dra–dra—” Oxygen seized in my lungs, my vocal cords shriveling.
“Dragon!” The word slashed through my mind, snarled by a voice that wasn’t mine.
The beast’s massive foot slammed down on top of me. Certain I was about to become Serafina jam, I screamed, curling into a ball. When my lungs continued to draw air, I forced my eyes open. Talons the size of my arms speared the earth, forming a cage. Talons that were very real. Very sharp.
The beast studied me, a malicious child eyeing the little bug he’d captured.
“Sera!” Speck’s terrified shout cut through the haze. Fact or fable, I would not be this creature’s dinner.
This little bug had teeth. I yanked my dagger from my pocket.
“Crawl back into whatever fairy tale you jumped out of, fiend!” I slammed my blade into the space between hide and claw. To my delight, it sank deep, my makeshift weapon a thorn beneath its cuticle. A miserable feeling I knew well.
The beast retracted its deadly claws, barking a pain-filled yelp at the stars.
“Serves you right, you winged bastard.” I was already running, legs burning, eyes locked on the tree line.
Go. Go. Faster. Faster. I pumped my arms, willing my muscles to a quicker pace.
Wind gusted. The sound of beating wings pounded the landscape. The blue-eyed monster was airborne again. If I could make it to cover, surely the creature would be too big to follow. Ahead of me, the trees loomed. On the ground was a large hollowed-out log. Tight fit. It would have to do.
Hot, steamy breath blasted up my skirt. He was close. Too close. The smell of a rampaging forest fire filled my senses. Teeth flashed at the edge of my vision. Jaws snapped behind me. I hit my hands and knees, diving headfirst into the log.
Pain ripped through my buttock. Fabric tore. I shrieked, yanking my legs into the suffocating space.
What sounded like a dark chuckle reached my ears.
Stuffed inside the darkened hole, I panted.
Silence followed.
Did I lose him?
Mold and moss filled my nostrils. The noises outside my sanctuary were muffled. Something skittered over my hand. I squealed, smacked it, and flicked away the centipede.
At the distant sound of bleating nerf, I dared to twist around and poke my head out.
“Sera!” Speck hobbled in my direction, his crutch clamped under his arm. “Are you okay?”
I crawled out of my hole then stood, dusting decaying debris from my skirts. “Is it gone?”
He pointed. “Over there.”
I peered out at what remained of the scattered flock just as the winged beast swooped down, grabbed a bleating nerf, and soared into the sky. Its long tail flicked out as it sailed away, the gesture striking me as rude.
“Oh, Speck. I’m so sorry.” I rubbed my aching posterior.
“It’s okay, Sera. Gods save me, I thought you were a goner. Are you hurt?”
“Nah. Just a couple scratches.” I turned on wobbly legs, heading to the hill to collect my basket.
Speck fell in behind me, then gasped. “Sera. Your skirt.”
“What?” It was then that I noticed the draft sneaking into my knickers. I groped the back of my thigh and froze. Bare skin met my wondering fingers.
“Good Goddess, my ass is hanging out.” Heat rushed to my cheeks. “The bastard bit me!”
Speck covered his mouth, shoulders shaking.
I slung my arm around his scrawny neck, ruffling his hair with my knuckles. He’d have little to laugh about once Master Mortis heard about his missing nerf. Somehow, I had to find a way to explain this. One that would keep Speck out of hot water.