A Trial of Blood and Thorn #2
This would have made me run if it hadn’t been sauntering lazily toward the flower between us like it held no interest at all in Nella and me.
We backed up a few more paces. The creature stopped and just stood by the flower, staring at us with its glowing eyes.
It was…guarding the object of my task. Great.
“Naci, I don’t think that deer is going to let us take the flower. What do we do?”
My brain was forming a plan. A shitty plan, but a plan nonetheless.
“I’ll draw it away so you can swipe the flower and run.”
“The last time we did this plan, you got hit with lightning in the face and lost your sight. We have to come up with something different!” Nella replied, panicked.
I needed to test a theory before I responded, so I took a step toward the beast and the flower. It trained its white eyes on me, watching. When I took the next step, it lowered its head and started pawing at the ground, leaving smoke trails with each drag.
So the demon deer got aggressive over the flower… And it didn’t move from its guardian spot.
After yelling and waving my arms to look threatening and then throwing a rock at it that sailed right through its middle, it still didn’t budge.
The rock had gone right through it...
That was it! It wasn’t corporeal. If the thing wasn’t solid, then it couldn’t hurt us. Right? Big gamble, but we had to get a move on.
I took another step toward the stag, and this time, when it started pawing the ground, I kept walking, feeling my palms slick with nervous sweat. It threw its head back in clear anger, but it didn’t advance. Nella squeezed my hand, and then I released hers from my grip.
“Stay here,” I told her.
The banshee had said that the animals here were not what they seemed. What if this was just an illusion, something to scare us away from the flower but not hurt us?
When I got only a couple of paces from its head, I sucked in a deep breath and held it as I reached a hand toward the beast.
“Naci, be careful!” Nella called.
I hesitated, every instinct telling me this was a terrible idea. But I forced my hand forward.
Time seemed to stall. I expected my hand to meet solid flesh. Instead, it sank into the smoke, feeling nothing but cool air beneath my fingers.
The triumph lasted only a heartbeat before fiery pain shot through every nerve in my body.
Shadows shot from the smoky antlers and ensnared my body, lifting me off the ground.
It felt as if my skin was tearing from my muscles, and muscles from my bones, like my entire body was being ripped apart, piece by piece.
I screamed for Nella to run, but I wasn’t even sure the sound left me.
I had no grip on the world around me. The anguish I had felt in my face and neck when Aemilia struck me with lightning was nothing compared to the creeping, searing pain slipping through every fiber of me as this stag’s shadow enveloped my every nerve.
It felt like an eternity of pain…until suddenly everything stopped.
My feet hit the ground, and the surrounding smoke vanished, leaving behind nothing but a rush of cold air. The stag was just…gone. As gone as the pain was. Why had it released me?
Had the pain even been real, or was it in my head? Could shadows cause pain like that?
I shook my head to clear it and noticed the flower was gone. Nella must have grabbed it in the chaos while I was…occupied, and the stag must have dissipated once the flower was taken. No flower, no flower guardian needed—it made sense to me in the confusion.
Nella’s voice brought me out of my shock and back to my senses.
“Naci…” I knew from her sullen tone that something was wrong.
I turned to find the flower clutched in Nella’s hand. Before I could even enjoy a fleeting moment of success at capturing the flower, fear curdled in my gut.
The beauty of the flower was in stark contrast to the oozing puncture marks lining the inside of Nella’s open hand where she’d held it by its stem. Each was bleeding, with an orange thorn protruding from its center. I counted four in total.
The area around the puncture wounds were tinted green and bumps were forming in a line up her arm.
“Naci, I don’t feel good…”
Oh gods. The thorns must have been poisonous.
A pain greater than any thus far clutched at my heart as Nella raised her eyes to mine, and I saw the fear gripping her own heart.
“Drop the flower, Nella, and don’t panic. We’re gonna figure this out. You’re gonna be okay,” I said as calmly as my dread would allow.
She obeyed, and her face began to pale. She swayed where she stood until I caught her and guided her to the ground, propping her head on my thigh. I looked around helplessly, seeing nothing but the trees surrounding us.
Tears threatened to spill from my eyes as she whispered to me, “Naci…I feel dizzy.”
“I know, little lamb, I’m gonna get you better. We’ll find something.” I wasn’t even sure I believed those words as spittle and foam started gathering at the corners of her mouth, the last of the color in her lips fading to a lifeless gray. The poison was moving too fast.
“No, please...” I pleaded to no one. “Please, not Nella. Please, don’t take her from me.”
The tears started falling as I prayed to the gods I didn’t even believe in. I needed to find help, but I couldn’t leave her here. The banshee had removed my infection. Maybe that was Nella’s only hope. I needed to get her to the banshee.
Avoiding the stem, I grabbed the flower by its petals and heaved Nella into my arms. Holding her with the flower in hand was difficult, but I couldn’t show up to the banshee’s house without it and have any hope that it would help us.
I ran as fast as I could with her weight, realizing I had no idea which direction to go.
I cursed, knowing I’d never forgive myself if I couldn’t get her help in time simply because I didn’t know east from west. Hell, I might take the flower in my hand and follow her into death instead of living without her.
Nella’s eyes fluttered shut as she started convulsing, but I held her tighter and kept moving, begging her to hold on just a little longer. The fear gripping my heart and mind was relentless, clouding all thought.
She took a sharp breath and fell still in my arms.
“Nella. Nella! Stay with me,” I screamed, shaking her.
Nothing.
I dropped the flower and fell to my knees, Nella still in my grasp. I bellowed, “Help! Please, banshee! I can’t help you without her. Please, help her!”
The black bird landed next to us as tears poured down my cheeks. It plucked at the flower until two blue petals fell off, then ruffled its wings.
I stared at the bird, wondering, as it picked up a petal and held it in its beak. “Will…will that save her?”