Chapter 13 Trouble at the Halfway Point #2
Tears were finally streaming down her face when she spotted the lantern light at the edge of the city.
She couldn’t go into Heck with her skin turning an even funnier color as she devolved into a total mess.
Her legs once again took over, veering her off the path into the woods.
She wasn’t done running anyway, heart refusing to calm.
It was too late now: she could only run and cry and turn into that wicked little monster her stepmother always said she was, and she needed to do that alone in the dark where no one else could see.
Branches tore at her skirt and arms, but at least the pain was different than the despair.
She couldn’t slow, even when the path was gone and the trees grew closer together.
She stumbled and slammed into a trunk, but refused to let it stop her, pushing off and through the pain that rang through her ankle and shoulder.
Another tree came up too fast, but this time she screamed as she collided with it like she could push it out of her way.
It didn’t budge, and she ricocheted into another, bark tearing at her back.
Even the forest wouldn’t welcome her into it, and gods, she needed somewhere to pretend to belong.
It would have to be deeper then, into the darkness and—
The ground disappeared, and Brioni was falling. She choked out a cry before she landed, the air knocked from her lungs. Without her next breath, the scream when pain ripped through her body from knee to hip didn’t come either, but it was just as real, pouring out of her and leaving her empty.
She tumbled on pitched earth, jagged bits catching her skin and tearing until she fell still, gasping shallowly on fallen leaves.
Clawing at the soft earth, she squeezed one knee to her chest, but the other leg wouldn’t come.
When she could finally drag in a full breath, she reached for the hem of her skirt and found blood instead.
Her own touch on the raw skin was like fire, and she pulled her hand away to find it wet with crimson in the moonlight.
She’d never bled so much, not even that time she fell out of the tree in the garden.
She’d been in so much trouble then for tearing the dress her sister had grown out of, but at least she’d been somewhere bright with siblings to…
not exactly help, but they kept her alive.
Brioni pushed up onto her hip. She could make out the ravine she’d fallen down behind her, too steep to climb back up even if she wasn’t injured.
The forest spread out in every direction, and it spun, but she reasoned that the spinning was from the fall—at least she hoped it was since she’d never been this deep before.
There were no lanterns, no magic, no demons, but there was a yellowy haze that gave off its own glow, enough to see through the shadows cast by species of trees she didn’t recognize.
She crawled to the closest tree, holding in a cry until it forced its way out. The sound was pathetic, more like a squeaky whimper than the gut-wrenching roar she thought she held inside, but then that was all Brioni ever was really, a pitiful snivel in a world full of ardent howls.
Hands slick with blood, she dragged herself to her feet and began away from the embankment. She could only manage a hobble, but she had to find a path. The demons would have made those out in the forest, wouldn’t they?
Out in the forest. The Veilwood. The…
Okay, okay, okay, she repeated into her mind, head swiveling and muscles twitching as she clasped her thigh.
This is fine, I’m fine, I’ve been in the woods before.
Practically a professional at it now. Maybe I can even join Kaly on the guard after this.
I could be a scout. I could…scout things.
She cast a quick glance down to her silver cuff and bit her lip.
Stupid broken bracelet. Stupid orange demon. Stupid Ragnar. Stupid me!
She grunted with each step, agony in her leg like a hundred paper cuts given all at once. Her vision spun, wetness gushing between her fingers, and she considered taking a break. Just a little one. She’d made it at least three whole steps, and that was—
No, I’m a scout in training, she reminded herself as she dragged her leg a fourth step and didn’t double over, though it wasn’t exactly the pain but the lightheadedness that tempted her down to her knees.
What would a scout do? Probably look at stuff.
Like that tree. And that tree. And, oh, yeah, great, another dumb tree.
She slumped sideways, and a trunk caught her.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to think that. You’re not dumb, I am. ”
Tipping her head back, she rattled out a sigh. Stars. There were so many stars. But they were all behind her lids, the lights bursting and swirling. She had to open her eyes, had to scout her way back. Kaly’s going to be so proud when I tell her about this.
Except she wouldn’t because Brioni had gotten herself into it by being messy and weak and clumsy. Alamar would yell at her for missing work and Kat wouldn’t ever say it, but her eyes would fill with disapproval. And no one else would care except maybe Ragnar.
Ragnar, who she had already made a fool of herself in front of for nothing.
She huffed, glaring out at the spinning wood. Short tree. Gnarled tree. Six-legged tree. Really tall tree.
Her eyes pinged back to the tree that moved like a snake but was ten times bigger, covered in scales, and had lots of sharp bits sticking off of it, all of which wasn’t tree-like at all.
Oh, I am not cut out for the guard, she thought and finally reached inside herself to let loose a throat-shattering scream.