Chapter 10
Ten
T he trees sped by, and Vaelor swung hard, trying to avoid them as we descended.
Leaves and twigs snapped against us. Then came a loud crack and a harsh jolt, followed by Vaelor’s cry as we plummeted through the branches.
He twisted right before we hit the ground, landing on his side, taking the brunt of the fall.
His grip on me loosened, and he gave me a small shove. “Run… hide…”
I extricated myself onto rocky ground surrounded by trees. A stream trickled not far away. I turned to look at Vaelor—and paled. His left wing was bent the wrong direction. The bone cracked, so it hung at an unnatural angle.
Gods, it looked bad.
I had read that spirits could be injured when they interacted with the physical world. According to the book, even after a spirit severed its connection to the physical world, any injuries it had sustained still caused pain.
Vaelor had remained anchored to this plane as he moved through the trees because he’d been carrying me .
Vaelor clawed at the ground, his face twisted with agony. But when he looked at me with those glowing orange eyes, the desperation in them had nothing to do with his own suffering.
I reached for him, wanting to help, but he caught my wrist.
“Hide... they're coming.”
The other spirits hadn't been protecting anyone, so they hadn't needed to maintain contact with this plane.
They could pass straight through the trees without difficulty.
And as far as I knew, unless two demons were interacting with the physical world at the same time, one spirit couldn't harm another.
He was right.
I was the one in danger.
“Remain… near the stream,” he ground out. “It’ll drown out your heartbeat. Your scent…”
Shit. My scent. I had little time. After yanking off the bag and my cloak, I tossed it into a small leafy bush and searched the nearby area.
I ran toward the stream and then along it, looking for something, anything.
Vaelor must have chosen this place because the stones would hide my footprints, though they had made for a much less cushioned landing for him.
Tons of rosa woodsii , or woods rose, bloomed pink in large, thick clumps, some bushes taller than I was.
I rushed forward, choosing a bush that was large.
I bit my lip in dismay. Its curved and sharp thorns were meant to catch anything that might harm it.
I steeled myself, then forced my way in.
I kept my face close to the ground, but the thorns caught on my hair and clothes.
My arms and hands took the majority of it as I shoved into the bush.
Once my entire body was covered, I remained motionless, taking deep breaths to calm my racing heart.
Though I was downstream from Vaelor, I’d angled myself toward him subconsciously. I saw him through a gap in the bushes, his head bent forward, horns almost touching the earth. The muscles in his arms and shoulders stretched taut as he struggled to handle the pain.
He dove into the woods to protect me. Why? The question pulsed louder now in my brain. If this were some elaborate game, I couldn’t figure it out. Was it worth it for him to injure himself simply to trick me?
Several spirits faded past the trees. From the other direction, the winged skeleton horse trotted in unharmed, its gaze glowing orange. A silvery mist slid out of it, and Raxus coalesced into being. “Where is she?” he demanded.
Vaelor sat up, struggling to his knees, and glared at Raxus. “Go fuck yourself.”
Raxus’s eyes narrowed. “Spread out and search for her,” he said to the spirits with him before turning back to Vaelor.
“It’s a mystery to me why you are protecting her.
She killed you the same way she killed us.
And from the looks of your wing…” He tsked without pity.
“Seems to me she is quite the liability.”
“I’d think you’d be more interested in finding a suitable body instead of coming into Misophae.” Pain clouded Vaelor’s gaze, but he climbed to his feet, straightened and spoke as if he felt nothing.
“You can kill two birds with one stone. Misophae breeds powerful bodies, and Spiritu Malignos values power above everything else, especially at the end of the Final Proving. But you already were aware of that, or you wouldn’t have come this way.”
If he did, Vaelor gave no indication that was the case.
The demons moved about, searching. My heartbeat pounded in my ears, and I prayed the stream would be enough to cover it, that the roses would hide my scent.
The thorns pricked at my arms and sides, but luckily my pants were thick and my shirt offered some protection.
The dress I’d first worn to Vaelor’s mansion would have left me far more scratched up by now.
Tricken drew near, and I held my breath, staying as unmoving as possible.
He snorted and turned, returning to Raxus and Vaelor.
“If she is here, we can’t find her. Look at all these flowers.
We’d have to become physical to move them, and we don’t have enough time to search every one. She might be anywhere.”
A winged demon dissolved into mist going into the bush and coming out the other side before retaking shape. “Yeah, in that state I sense nothing. We won’t find her that way either.”
Raxus glared. “You’re giving up like that?”
He took a step toward the skeleton horse, but Vaelor shifted into mist and streamed into the creature before Raxus could enter it. The creature's flaming eyes suddenly burned orange.
Raxus swore. “This isn’t over. When we get bodies, the game will be different. We’ll get our revenge on that little human bitch.”
He motioned to the other demons, and they all faded into the darkness.
I didn’t move. How could I trust they were gone? They could pretend to leave, hoping I’d reveal myself.
Vaelor, inside the skeleton horse, stood staring out into the forest for a long time. Then he trotted over to my bush. He came out of the horse, which stood there, patiently while Vaelor coalesced into existence. “You can come out now.”
I crawled out, holding in my curses as the thorns again did their worst.
“They’re gone, but we can’t take to the skies,” Vaelor said.
“And we must be watchful, as they may circle back at any time.” He reached out and brushed his thumb against my jawline.
I flinched at the scratch there, and his thumb came away slightly bloodied.
“Your blood will attract demons and monsters alike.”
“They are simply scrapes. They shouldn’t take long to stop bleeding.” I looked at his still-broken wing, and my heart twisted.
“We should not stay here, though,” he said. “Get some flowers from the rosebush and stuff them in your pockets.”
Yes, that would help hide my scent. “You came here on purpose. You knew this was the perfect place for me to hide.” I drew the sword and hacked at the bush next to me. Vaelor watched a tad bit of amusement in his pain-filled eyes.
“I’d already marked out a few safe places in my mind in case something like this happened.”
It took a second, but I got the weapon into the sheath and began picking up the severed flowers, plucking off their petals. “And yet your wing?—”
“It should heal within a few hours,” he said. “It’s part of being a spirit.”
I’d read that in the book, but I wasn’t so sure in this case. “Will it?” I asked, I stuffed my pocket full of flower petals. “If misaligned, will it heal?”
He let out a breath, angry and frustrated. “I don’t know, Denara. It isn’t as if I have experienced this before.”
I glanced at his broken wing and grimaced. Gods, he’d done that to rescue me. None of it made sense, but clearly there was much more under Vaelor’s exterior than his cold roughness.
“How do I smell?” I gestured to the flowers in my pocket.
He moved closer and sniffed. “It will do. Come. There’s an inn not far from here, hidden from anyone who doesn’t know how to find it. We can rest and plan our next move from there. Go collect our supplies and then get on the horse.”
Hurrying over to where I’d thrown the bag and cloak, I reached past the leaves of the bush and grabbed them. I re-donned the cloak and the money inside the bag clanked as I lifted the strap over my shoulder.
I walked up to the skeleton horse that eyed me with distrust. Vaelor faded into mist, taking it over, and the expression in those eyes instantly changed. The skeletal horse lowered onto its front legs, allowing me to gripped the spine and haul myself up before settling on its back.
And we made our own path into the deepness of the forest.