Chapter 4
I scrambled to my feet and shot off into the trees to my left. The creature gave this bone-crushing scream, like that of a deep-throated hound with a sore throat, and took off after me. I soon learned it was much faster than I, being on four legs and with a stride much greater than mine.
My heart pounded in my chest. My lungs pleaded for air. My legs ached, and still I pressed on.
The trees parted in front of me, and a large meadow a hundred yards long stretched before me.
Tall grass slowed me, and the uneven ground caused me to stumble.
I lost my balance and tumbled onto the grass.
The heavy stab of the ground made me roll over.
The creature was almost upon me. Twenty feet.
Ten feet. I flung up my arm to protect myself against those gnashing teeth.
The monster had nearly reached me when it let out a terrible scream and crashed onto its side.
Black blood poured out of a wound in one of its front legs.
The creature turned its crushing fangs on the wound and ripped something gray and shimmering from the depths.
The thing spat it upon the ground, and I beheld it was something like an oyster shell.
I felt a tremble along the ground and twisted around to see a man riding toward me on a pure white horse.
He wore leather pants and tall riding boots, and a cape flapped behind him.
Layers of vests covered his upper body, and gloves hid his hands.
The tails of his coat were lined in a glimmering yellow that reminded me of gold, and the front halves were likewise sewn with the majestic color.
He was handsome, with a face of about thirty, ringed with short black hair. Even from that distance, I could see his eyes were a dazzling green. His skin was soft, but not without tan from much riding.
Other horsemen soon emerged from the forest behind him, a half dozen of them. They were likewise attired, though their cloth wasn’t as handsome, nor their horses as swift.
One of the men at the head of the group stood up in his stirrups. “Your Highness!”
“Keep your weapons trained on the ira!” he shouted as he directed his horse over to me. The steed came up to my side, and he slid off the saddle as smooth as water. He landed in front of me, between the creature and where I lay.
The thing had risen to its unsteady legs and snapped at him, hissing and growling. The man held out a fisted hand, and four of the strange shells that had been embedded in the creature seemed to sprout from between his fingers. The monster let loose a terrible roar and charged.
The man pressed his arm against his chest before he flung it out, throwing the shells like daggers.
They sailed through the air like those sharp weapons and struck the creature deep in the abdomen and face.
The thing collapsed face-first into the ground, coming to a skidding halt only five feet away from us.
The man relaxed his stance and strode up to the thing.
The creature lifted its horrible yellow eyes to him and hissed.
He rolled up his left sleeve and pressed his right hand against his arm.
His fingers seemed to toy with the flesh, and my mouth dropped open as I watched him draw forth a large shell as a magician draws a rabbit out of a hat.
The strange object shimmered in the bright sun, and the creature shrank away from that glowing light.
The man grasped the shell like a knife and swung the weapon down.
The shell sank into the creature’s neck and severed its head from its body.
The cranium dropped onto the ground and rolled a few feet across the grass before coming to a stop a yard from me.
Those hate-filled yellow eyes glared at me even as the light inside them faded.
I gasped when the head rotted away like someone was dousing it in acid, sinking into a black puddle of its own making.
Even that vanished, leaving nothing but flattened grass.
The rest of the body didn’t fare any better. The torso and legs oozed into oblivion, leaving nothing but the strange shells where it had fallen. The peculiar man scooped up the shells and stood, tucking them somewhere before he turned to me.
The rest of the party rode up, and the young man who had shouted dismounted before his horse had come to a complete stop.
He was shorter than all the other men and had short sandy hair tucked under a feathered cap.
The man was decked out in tan pants with a brown waistcoat, and a long sword was sheathed at his hip.
“That was reckless, Your Highness, even for you,” he scolded his majesty as he grasped the reins in one hand and set his other hand over the flashy hilt of his sword.
The man referred to by the royal title strolled up to me and inspected my person. “Are you unharmed?”
“I-I think so,” I replied as I pushed off the ground. I managed to stand before my shaky legs crumpled underneath me.
The man slipped up to me and caught me in one arm, drawing me against him. I blushed under such closeness, especially with him being so handsome.
A smile teased the corners of his lips. “You appear not to be as well as you presume.”
One of the saddled riders, a man over fifty with whitening shoulder-length hair, leaned over his horn and studied me. “How came you to be so far in these woods, miss?”
“I’m not really sure,” I answered as my mind tried to think up some excuse to give to these men.
Their Middle Ages-like attire and speech patterns told me I’d either wandered into a Renaissance Faire or the duststorm had sent me somewhere very, very far from my home.
The ugly creature and the man’s ability to draw weapons from his flesh sealed the deal: I needed to tread lightly and not tell them where I was from.
One mention of a car would probably have me burned at the stake.
“You have strange attire,” the man continued as he nodded at my pants and shirt. “Do you not have the decency to wear a dress?”
I snorted. “A dress wouldn’t have helped me run from that thing.”
The young man laughed. “She has you there, Lord Secundus!”
The lord’s bushy eyebrows crashed down. “That is beside the point, Sir Carus. We shall have to fetch her a dress immediately. Perhaps one of my servants has one to spare.”
The man who held me leaned back to look me over. “She requires bedclothes before a dress, Lord Secundus. Have you a horse?”
The question was directed at me. “No, I, um, I walked here.”
“Then you should ride with me,” he offered as he guided me over to his steed.
“Wait a moment, Your Majesty,” Secundus protested as he trotted his horse over to us, partially blocking our path, or at least, my path. His sharp eyes and sharper eyebrows examined me. “How do we know this woman is no sorceress?”
My heart skipped a beat. Images of pyres resurfaced in my mind.
Carus laughed. “Would a sorceress allow herself to be nearly eaten by an ira? And not a large one, at that.”
Secundus nodded at me. “But her strange attire speaks of something more than an ordinary woman lost in the woods. I believe we should test her, just to be cautious, particularly as she will be coming with us, and we are four days’ ride from the capital.”
“This surely isn’t necessary,” Carus insisted as he crossed his arms over his saddle horn and leaned forward. His blue eyes twinkled as he smiled at me. “How could one so beautiful be such a creature?”
“Those most beautiful are the most dangerous,” the lord persisted.
“Then My Lord’s wife must be very dangerous indeed.”
The lord’s eyes flashed with ire, but he turned them upon the rest of the group.
“Surely you all would advise the king to be wary of strangers, especially during these dark times, when one cannot tell the true intentions of any other.” A few of the men bobbed their heads and murmured among themselves. “Then I insist on a test.”
“Alright, what kind of test do you suggest for someone who professes not to be a sorceress?” Carus challenged him. “One can easily prove they are, but disproving is quite a different tale, especially as they have shown they are not willing to use their powers even when under threat of death.”
Secundus lifted his patrician nose, and a smile curled onto his lips. “I will test her myself.”
Something in his voice made me shudder. The king squeezed my arms and offered me a warm smile before he turned a more stoic expression to his subject. “Very well, but no harm must come to her.”
The old gentleman bowed his head. “Of course, Your Majesty.”
I whipped my head about to look at the man who held me, and lowered my voice to a hushed whisper. “What’s going on?”
“Your blood will be tested to see if you have the gift of the magi.”
My face drooped. “And how’s he going to get it out of me?”
Carus dismounted and grinned at me. “By the prick of one of my knives.”