8. Twice Betrayed
Twice Betrayed
Pearl screamed. She reacted without thought, jamming the heel of her palm into the jaw near her face.
It hurt, and did nothing to slow them as the earth drew farther away.
She twisted and struggled to free herself, but the blight wasn’t cooperating.
She could feel it, but it wasn’t obeying her.
Her instincts were telling her to fight. So she did.
Her knife. She stabbed it into the closest thing.
And she was suddenly falling, tumbling toward the land that rushed right back at her. Too fast.
Arms closed around her middle. Air exited her lungs in a whoosh, her ribs straining as she was yanked back up, like a rag doll.
Driz had caught her. And it knocked some sense into her.
Pearl needed to not fall to her death. Then she could figure out everything else.
Struggling to breathe, she reached up, clambering and latching onto Driz’s front, locking her arms around her neck and knees around her waist.
Pearl stared up at the night sky as the flap of massive wings brushed her elbows.
She was flying. She hated it.
She closed her eyes, which was a mistake because she wasn’t expecting it when they hit the ground. Driz’s body jerked and Pearl almost screamed again, but Driz just gently lowered Pearl to her back on a patch of scrubby grass, the moonlight catching on curling horns amongst tangled hair.
Panting, Pearl stared up at the goyle looming over her.
Pearl rolled as the bile rushed up her throat.
She convulsed, the blight and the turbulent flight overwhelming her stomach.
She gagged and heaved into the grass, sweat collecting on her temples as she choked, struggling to breathe while her body did its best to expel her insides.
Her arms shook supporting her own weight, the sensation of an intense fever flushing through her body, though it was no natural sickness.
The earth heated and the grass flickered and bent, distorting.
Someone rubbed a light, soothing path down her back. Pearl frowned in confusion. Glancing over her shoulder, she was met with a leering face in the darkness, growing and stretching to encompass the sky.
Pearl flailed away, knocking the hand off with a gasp.
Driz retreated. Pearl blinked, the horrifying face flickering and resolving back into the one she had met before.
Her frantic heartbeat steadied as she scrabbled for control over the chaotic sparks of blight messing with all her senses.
She focused on gathering them up and closed her eyes.
Only trace amounts remained, and she channeled it all back down into her aching stomach. Calming it.
Her breath rushed between her lips as the world steadied. When she dared open her eyes, the grass remained dormant.
She looked back at Driz, who crouched an arm’s length away, with Pearl’s knife jutting from her shoulder. Almost none of the blade was visible, the new fabric surrounding it shiny and dark.
“Shit,” Pearl muttered, reaching up but Driz reared back before she could touch.
Driz yanked the short blade from her body and tossed it. Pearl flinched as it landed in the grass a safe distance away. She scrambled forward, slipping it, still-bloody, back into its sheath on her thigh as she stood on unsteady legs.
They were on a strange hilltop, but two valleys over, faint light glowed.
“I’d ask why the fuck you did that, but you never answer that question,” Pearl bit. A piece of her mind knew she should be apologizing to Driz. Instead, Pearl was angry. More than angry. Mostly at herself for losing control of the blight.
“You were in danger,” Driz rumbled.
“I’m always in danger. And why d’you even care?” Pearl started to run, back toward the valley. “Why’re you even here?”
“I came to warn you. It was a trap.”
“Yeah, I figured that out.”
Pearl knew she was being an ass. But adrenaline surged through her as she pushed herself to run harder. She wouldn’t wear more blood of her people on her hands.
“Why are you going back?” Driz asked as she kept pace easily.
“Because my men are there. I’ve gotta help them.”
“I can take you.”
Pearl paused while clambering over a large rock to glare back at Driz. “Don’t you ever pick me up again.”
Driz recoiled, her body folding in on itself as Pearl spat the words at her.
Pearl didn’t have time for guilt. She ran on.
Driz followed Pearl back toward the danger. Perhaps she had been wrong. She’d thought she was helping, but maybe she hadn’t.
Her shoulder hurt, but she would be fine tomorrow. She’d been so shocked by the pain and suddenness of it that she’d momentarily dropped Pearl. That had been a terrible feeling, watching her fall beneath her.
Driz wished she knew how to be better. All of this was new and foreign to her. She’d never carried someone. Never interfered and exposed herself to so many eyes. Never been helpful. But she wanted to be.
When they reached the crest of the hill that overlooked the ambush valley, they had a view of both the caravan trap and the concealed camp.
Three of the four men Pearl arrived with had their hands tied, and more of the enemies milled about.
Pearl moved forward toward the valley, but Driz stopped her by stepping in front.
“There is a human directly below us, past the small section of cliff.”
Pearl glared at her. Then her eyes shifted away and she nodded.
She crouched low, following the slope and cutting back toward where Driz had said. Driz leaned over the cliff and watched, keeping eyes on the man still posted up here.
He didn’t see it coming. Pearl crept up behind him, covered his mouth with one hand, and simultaneously used the knife she’d stabbed into Driz to cut his throat, quick and unflinching. Driz swallowed, her hand touching her own neck before she dropped down beside Pearl.
Pearl jumped and shot her another glare as she picked up and checked the rifle the man had been holding.
Her eyes widened and she twisted abruptly, doubling over and retching again.
Driz tensed with worry. “You are ill.”
“I’m fine,” Pearl mumbled, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand as she gripped the rock face of the short cliff and forced herself upright. Glowing droplets clung to her damp skin and the scrubby grass. Blight. She had consumed it, and it was making her sick.
Driz shifted in distress. She had always been taught to fear blight. And now it was hurting Pearl.
“You should not do that,” Driz stated.
“Do what?” Pearl asked, breath too quick as she loaded the rifle with practiced movements.
“Use blight. It is dangerous.”
Pearl huffed, brushing past Driz to peer down into the valley. “Oh thanks. Good to know.” She watched the camp for a moment before glancing around, her hunter’s eyes surveying the terrain. “How many more are there?” she whispered.
Driz warmed with pleasure at being asked. “Five left. Four in camp, one in the brush across.”
Pearl nodded. “Should be able to get two of them from here, before the others start up.” She glanced at Driz, face serious and a bit wary. “I can draw them away. Will you…free them?” Pearl jerked her head at the camp, and the men tied up.
Driz didn’t like the idea of Pearl facing three enemies in the dark. Although, Driz had seen her take down four the first time they met. If Driz released Pearl’s friends, they could help her. “I can do that.”
Pearl nodded again, turned back to the valley, and aimed the rifle.
Driz took to the sky. She circled wide, around to the other side of the valley as the first shot rang out. Then a second. A third sounded, but it missed its target, who had already disappeared into the brush. Driz tracked their movements, obvious to her from up here and with her senses.
She swooped down to land next to the three men still tied up in camp, who were trying to free themselves as their guard ran off. They all startled, reeling and wriggling harder away from her.
“Be calm,” she said, but they didn’t listen.
She reached for the nearest one and he flailed. She had to hold him still to tear through the bindings on his wrists, and did the same with the other two, though they didn’t resist as much. One of them was bleeding badly from a wound in his leg.
“What’d you do with her, rock vulture?” the first man snarled, having freed his mouth as well.
“Head up the valley,” Driz said. “She is—”
Sharp pain seared through Driz’s left wing. A loud crack echoed.
The first man had shot her.
Driz stumbled back.
“Tell me, or it’ll be your head next time,” the man spat. The sweet scent of blight filled Driz’s nose as traces of it wafted from the barrel of the gun.
The others reached for weapons as well and spoke more words, but Driz didn’t hear them. Blood rushed through her ears. One put a hand on the first’s arm, distracting him. When he glanced away, Driz fled, stumbling into the bushes. Another shot followed her but got lost in the bramble.
The branches caught and tugged at her torn wing. She cradled it close to her body and ran.
She had been trying to help.
Dampness stung her eyes. She was all wrong. Humans didn’t want her, and she didn’t belong with them. Even Pearl had stabbed her.
Driz was meant to be alone. This was what she got for trying to be anything else.