Chapter 14 Vhaena
Chapter Fourteen
Vhaena
FIRST NIGHT
Every rustle, every snap of a twig, every small sound had my heart racing so fast, I thought it would burst through my chest. I couldn’t see in the blackness blanketing the forest. It was a moonless night, and the leaves of the trees blocked out any starlight. I had never experienced such darkness.
I told myself the scratching and skittering above Inka and me was the breeze against the branches and leaves in the hopes of convincing myself it wasn’t something else.
But the sounds of movement on the forest floor had my eyes open as wide as possible, attempting to drink in any amount of light to see what was around us.
I realized that while we were concealed within the tree, we were also trapped—unable to escape if something suddenly appeared at the opening.
So much for not being cornered.
As long as no one got too close, they shouldn’t be able to see us.
But what if they could smell us? Could hear my ragged breaths?
I had no idea what kind of powers demons possessed.
If they found us, Inka and I couldn’t outrun them—the former could barely walk.
As much as I hated myself for it, I debated taking Amalia’s advice—to stay separated and look out for myself.
If I stayed with Inka, would I get myself killed?
Would I have had a better chance at survival if I left her on her own?
At least then they would likely go after her first, seeing as she was weak and—
No. If the demons are going to take my life, I’m not letting them take my humanity, too.
Thinking about it now, I was surprised with myself for having held onto it at all.
Aside from my family—and I supposed Daemon, too—no one ever asked if the rumors were true.
The whole town just took one person’s word at face value.
Not only did they believe them the moment they started, but they also engaged in spreading them.
It took next to nothing for the entire town of Nillah to turn on me—to betray me.
Friends I’d had, city officials, neighbors; all of them.
And not a single person asked if it were true.
By the time I had figured out what was going on, I knew they wouldn’t have believed me anyway.
Not to mention, I wasn’t willing to risk Vosten…
I had no interest in ever going back to Nillah.
Despite it being the only place I had ever known, home to my childhood and my family, I hated it.
The people and the physical town itself.
The memories. I couldn’t walk down a street without a memory being tarnished by hateful slurs and hurtful experiences, or the painful reminiscence.
Windmill Lane, where I climbed my first tree, beating Vosten to the top?
Ruined by Carina, the seamstress, who moved to the other side of the street to be farther away from me while hissing vulgarities.
Trinity Street, where Pa carried me on his shoulders after I sprained my ankle when I was six?
Sullied by Jordis, when he spit at my feet and called me a worthless slut twenty years later.
But at least those memories were better than the ones when men came up and assumed they could touch me without my permission only for Vosten to come to my defense.
Yeah, they could all go to the hells. I didn’t have Vosten to cover my back anymore.
Now that I was out of there, I never wanted to go back.
It was nice to go a couple of days without hearing the degradation.
The only reason I was planning to go back was to get my mother.
She had no one. And then we were going to leave Nillah for good.
I was going to take her to a healer in the capital, and maybe we could live out our lives in Hythe—the one the elderly woman, Dita, had told us about on the ship.
All I had to do was survive for seven days…
I rested against my place inside the tree trunk, keeping my eyes peeled for the dangers that lay outside our little sanctuary and holding my sad excuse for a weapon at the ready.
Fucking ridiculous… A damn spoon was all I had for protection.
At least the demons hadn’t taken it away from me before putting me on the ship.
Natascha, the middle-aged, cranky woman on the ship, said they had checked everyone for weapons before they were brought down there.
The demons likely didn’t see the spoon as a threat.
I had considered using a fallen branch instead, searching for one while we ran, but the only ones I could find were either even smaller than my spoon—which would have been more useless—or ones too big for me to carry, let alone swing at someone in defense.
My eyes grew heavy, and I fought to keep them open. I’d hardly slept since I woke up on the ship, and I was utterly exhausted from all the running. I wasn’t exactly physically fit for strenuous activity.
My mind began to drift to thoughts of home, to the events of the past few days.
Vos—
I stopped them before they had a chance to fully form. I couldn’t think about what I had lost just yet. If I fell into that dark place, I wouldn’t be able to crawl my way out. Survival had to come first—to get back to my mother. Then…I could grieve.
Another snapping twig had adrenaline rushing through me, instantly chasing away drowsiness.
I still couldn’t see anything out there.
I didn’t know what was more unnerving: knowing demons were out there hunting, or not knowing what else was out there.
I’d read about old stories from the few women who had survived the Hunt in the past that there were creatures that inhabited the island, but I didn’t know what.
It could have been boar, wolves, large cats, or even something as harmless as goats.
Either way, I hated not knowing what could have been out there.
The forest was quiet, with the exception of the ocean breeze blowing through, and each sound that struck the silence was piercing. My ears strained for any distant noise. After what seemed like a couple of hours, I heard footsteps.
They were getting closer. And closer…
Carefully, I nudged Inka, trying to wake her in case we needed to flee.
She grumbled in protest. I pressed my hand against her mouth, stifling the sound.
My vision had only adjusted enough to make out the bare details of her features.
Her eyes flew open, and I shook my head in warning once she looked at me.
I could see her drift back into reality as she finally saw the plea for her silence in my eyes.
When I was convinced she wouldn’t make another sound, I removed my hand from her mouth and tapped her ear with a finger, then pointed to the forest outside. She nodded and leaned toward the opening of the trunk. Her eyes widened after a moment.
Not that I was an expert on listening for footsteps in a forest, but they were quick and seemed frantic, stumbling on or over something occasionally with faint grunts of exertion.
The steps were first to our right, then the left.
And then coming directly toward us. They thundered through the roots beneath us, pulsing through my skin like the beat of a heart.
We stopped breathing, the air stolen from our lungs as terror took hold, our ears straining.
Then, faintly in the distance, there were more… I couldn’t discern how many as the steps jumbled together until they were one solid, deafening noise.
A scream made Inka and me jolt, the sound chilling my blood.
It was followed by a loud thump. The scream turned into a wail of fear and pain.
Inka placed her hand over her mouth when the squelching rang through the trees.
I wanted to cover my ears. It was the most horrid, animalistic thing I had ever heard. Or so I thought…
Because then came the laughter.