6
I hear the King call my name and see his head whip in my direction, when a blur of a figure rushes past me and knocks the King off his horse.
It all happens so fast that I barely have any time to process.
Our horse stops suddenly and I feel Cole jump off. He takes a single step to cross the narrow path and grabs Xander to pull him up.
I can’t see clearly because it’s so damn dark.
But as I look over to the King, I can just make out a darkness that starts to pool around his chest.
A gasp escapes me and I cover my hand with my mouth.
“Can you ride?” Cole asks quickly. His voice getting drowned out by the noises all around us.
The creature is so fast. It’s ripping up the terrain from all sides, causing rustles, twigs snapping and heavy stomps.
I watch the King and Cole from atop the horse. The temptation to ride on is so strong but I can’t leave.
I look frantically around me, the King’s guards up ahead are waiting on their horses, waiting for orders.
I’m getting ready for the creature to attack again.
Well as much as I can with these fucking ropes around my wrists. But all I see is dark blurs of a shape or figure and feel the wind rushing past me, blowing my hair in all directions.
This is the first time in years that I’ve genuinely been scared for my life.
“Yes…” Xander groans, “yes I can ride- quick– we have to move now.” He breathes out, clutching at his chest as he starts to get up.
Cole reaches down and grabs the King to help pull him up onto his horse.
Another blur comes out of nowhere and knocks them apart.
Cole stumbles back and falls over, clutching his arm.
Xander buckles over in pain, falling to the ground once again.
Before I know what I’m doing, I jump off the horse and go to help them. My hands are tied but I do my best to support the King and help get him up.
His eyes flare as he stares at me but he isn’t stupid enough to not accept my help.
I finally get him up and on his horse, the blood from his chest now coating my fingers and the ropes.
“Run now, it’s only after you!” I hear Cole yell from behind me as he’s pulled himself back up. His arm bleeding from being caught in the cross fire.
“I’m not leaving you guys—” The King pants out, one hand clutching the reins and the other clutching his chest.
The dark liquid coats his fingers. Pouring across them, too much, too fast.
“You’re not doing us any favours staying here.” The commander says to the King, then he turns to me.
“Get back on the horse now.” Cole orders.
A terrifying high pitched laughter sounds to my right but I’m careful not to look at it. No matter how tempting it is. Goosebumps rise on my skin and shivers run down my spine as I hear the high pitched laugh again.
I stop in my place. There’s something so terrifying about hearing these noises and feeling someone rush past you, but never being able to look.
I hear deep heavy breathing in my left ear, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
I’m frozen in place.
I can’t run, can’t look and can hardly breathe.
Cole grabs me and heaves me onto the horse as I look over to the King and see another blur rush straight towards him.
He must have sensed it this time as he ducks and the Sentirex only grazes his head but that still leaves its mark.
I watch as the King clutches his head before screaming at us to go.
We take off in a hurry, slamming me back into Cole, as the King follows behind us. I hear shrieks and cries all around us and we push harder to make a break for the clearing.
The Kings guards, having got the message, are riding off ahead of us.
The King screams behind me but I don’t dare look, that’s what it did before. It mimicked my scream to make him think it already had me.
We keep going forward and I can feel Cole tensing behind me. I know he wants to look, to help his friend and his King but he knows he can’t risk it. We can hear his horse still running behind us, that has to be enough for now.
I thank the gods as I see the clearing come into view ahead, finally.
“Faster!” I hear the King call from behind us and Cole picks up his pace. There’s wooshes of wind all around us and I squeeze my eyes shut to block out the temptation.
The manic laughter starts again and I hear it from my left, followed by another breath at my ear.
We’re almost there. I tell myself, I just need to keep my eyes shut.
My eyes stay closed until I feel the sunlight on my face and the horse slow down. I slowly open them to find a clearing in front of me. I draw in a deep breath.
We made it.
The bright sun pierces my eyes and my vision flashes red. I struggle to keep them open, squinting against the harsh light.
I feel Cole jump off the horse in record speed, almost bumping me off in the process. I swear under my breath.
Tilting my head down, I try to force my eyes to stay open, shielding them from the sun with my hand.
I hear a manly grunt and turn back around to watch as the commander runs towards the King who has jumped off his horse.
Xander clutches his stomach and shoulder. Bright red blood pours from his gaping torso, covering his hands that no longer show the colour of his skin.
Instinct takes over and I jump off the horse to race over and help him.
The King looks up at me in surprise as I crouch down next to him, he’s holding it together but I can see he’s in a lot of pain. With his brows twisted and sweat running down his face. He’s growing much more pale by the second and his breathing is hitching.
I grab the King’s hands and push them harder against his chest to apply pressure, earning another groan from him.
“Healer!” Cole bellows out. I look over towards where he’s shouting and see one of the guards jump off his horse and rush over.
When Mannuel makes it to us, Cole takes his hands away from the King’s shoulder and grabs me. Tugging me away so that the healer has some room.
“Don’t even think about running.” Cole spits at me and holds his hand around my arm to keep me by his side.
It’s strange because for the first time in a while, I didn’t think about running at all.
I watch as the healer puts the King on his back and starts mending his wounds. Healing magic is normally extremely painful but with the condition the King is in, I doubt he would even feel it or notice the difference.
I see the white light pour from Mannuel’s hands and run over the King's body. Stitching him back together in a way that also heals him internally.
I should have known the King would have a healer with him, as one of his royal guards. Healers are getting rare but all Kingdoms have at least one at their disposal, they’re heavily protected.
When Mannuel has finished his work, he gives the King a tonic that knocks him out so he can rest.
“Set up camp here.” Cole orders the rest of the guards, “we’ll move in the morning.”
Then Cole looks at me suddenly and points to a lush grass area just behind us.
“You and me, go there.”
“Cosy.” I reply and follow him, to set up our sleeping gear.
The bed roll doesn’t offer much in the way of support, but I’ve definitely had worse.
We sit for a while, mostly in silence. Save for a few of the guards talking amongst each other while they set up the rest of the gear and get ready to start a fire.
Finch and Fray seem to be bickering with each other.
Alistair, the blonde one, looks like he’s egging them on.
Mannuel just sits by himself, silently. He looks up when he catches me staring and I meet his dark brown eyes.
He gives me a soft smile before looking away.
I remember there was another one, Desmond. My brows knot as I look around. He’s nowhere to be seen at the moment.
As it starts to cool off, I become all too aware that I’m not wearing the appropriate clothes for this weather and start to shiver. This top does nothing against the chilly night air. Even with its sleeves, it’s really light and doesn't offer much in the way of warmth.
I start to get up and move closer to the fire that Fray and Finch finally started, when Cole grabs my arm to stop me.
I roll my eyes at him. “I’m not going anywhere, I just want to be closer to the fire.”
“Fine.” He says and unhands me while getting up to follow.
“I’m sitting directly in front of you, you don’t need to follow me.” I say, my voice exasperated.
“I saw you fighting and I’ve heard of your reputation, I’m not taking any chances.”
“Suit yourself.” I say as I sit down and watch as he takes a seat next to me.
The fire helps but gods it’s still so cold. I’m shivering and my teeth are chattering like crazy as I fold my arms across my knees to help keep me warm.
“Desmond.” Cole says suddenly.
“Yes sir.” He replies and I look up to see him glaring at us from across the fire. I hadn’t noticed him return.
“Grab one of our spare packs and bring it over.” Cole orders.
Desmond chucks a pack to Cole and he catches and opens it. I watch Cole carefully as he pulls out a coat before throwing the slightly lighter pack back at Desmond.
“Here.” He says and chucks it across to me.
I pick up the coat, it’s a simple dark grey but its insides are lined with fur. I slip it on over my shoulders and use my hands to bring it in tight. Wishing I could put it on properly, if it weren’t for my wrists in the blood covered ropes.
I take a deep breath, despite the jacket only hanging over my shoulders, I instantly feel much warmer.
“I suppose I should say thank you?” I say to Cole, almost sarcastically.
Cole scoffs. “You should thank yourself, that’s the pack of one of our men that you killed two days ago.”
Suddenly I’m shivering again but not because of the cold. I don’t often make a habit of wearing my victims clothes.
“Why do I get the feeling that bringing me along is more of the King's idea than yours?” I question him.
He rests his forearms on his knees and sighs. “I won’t lie, I don’t trust you and I told Xander it would be a bad idea to involve you.”
The fire lights up the side of Cole’s face as he turns to look towards me. Highlighting his sharp features and brown eyes.
“However, I trust his judgement and you do have a certain skill set that could be useful.” Cole adds.
“Hmm.” Is all I say as I look back towards the fire, appreciating the warmth that hits my face slowly after.
“Has the King ever been attacked by the Sentirex?” I ask Cole suddenly, after a few moments. Turning my gaze back towards him.
“Never.” Cole says with a stern look on his face.
I nod my reply.
“Any more surprises like that for the rest of the journey?”
He smirks. “Scared, assassin?”
I look over at him, narrowing my gaze. “Never, sometimes it’s just nice to be prepared– especially if I have to fight something with no hands.” I say holding my hands up and displaying the rope that’s been there for much too long.
“I’m sure you’ve had plenty of practice over the years.” Cole replies in a condescending tone.
I shrug, refusing to give him the satisfaction of getting a rise out of me.
“That's true but it’s not my preferred way to fight.”
“What is your preferred way to fight?” He asks curiously.
“With my powers.” I say simply, “when I’m invisible it’s quick and easy, in and out, done in a second.”
Cole laughs softly. “You miss out on all the action that way.”
I consider him for a moment. “I do sometimes enjoy fighting but for the most part, I’d rather it be quick.”
I don’t have to see my victims for as long is what I don’t say.
Cole remains quiet but doesn’t show anymore emotions on his face that gives away what he’s thinking. We sit like that for a while, just looking into the fire, it’s peaceful.
I yawn softly, just now realising how tired I am. But this is the first night with them while I’m not unconscious.
I'm starting to believe that they don’t want to kill me but I can’t let my guard down. I’ve had a few nights without sleep on past missions anyway, I’m used to it.
I lay back and just watch the stars for the rest of the night and think about what I’m going to do.
I don’t know if I want to work with them but I do want more freedom and the army can’t give me that.
I sit up as the sun rises, there’s beautiful mountains in the distance that I couldn’t see last night. I watch as the sun finally moves above the peak, casting a warm glow over the land.
The King starts to stir as he wakes up from his tonic induced sleep. He was laying next to Cole last night, who didn’t sleep until Finch woke up to take watch.
I look over as the King slowly starts to sit up. He grunts seemingly still in a bit of pain but at this stage with the healer's work, it should just be a dull ache.
The King looks over to find me watching him and I turn my attention quickly back towards the sunrise. Allowing my skin to soak up the slight warmth from the early sun.
Out of the corner of my eye I see him get up slowly and make his way over to my left side.
“Good morning Maeve.” He says as he sits next to me.
I startle at the sudden use of my name and remember how he knows it.
“How did that thing know my name?” I ask the King, my voice soft.
“What?” He replies, furrowing his brows and narrowing his eyes.
“The Sentirex, it knew my name, very few people in this land know my name.”
“I don’t know.” The King answers with a shrug as he looks back towards the sunrise.
“They’re very intelligent creatures, there’s not much study on them but sometimes I think they have mind reading abilities, like they can read your deepest fears, like that’s what they mimic.”
I’m quiet for a moment and just continue to look straight ahead, while fidgeting slightly with my hands.
Hating the blood that is still coating them.
“You didn’t run.” The King says suddenly.
“What do you mean?” I ask, pretending I have no idea what he’s talking about.
“Last night, while I was injured– you could have ran, we were all distracted.”
I say nothing in response.
He’s right, I could have ran and I don’t know why I didn’t. It’s like my instincts didn’t kick in like they normally would. Maybe part of me wants to see this through, visit a new part of the land and see what the King has to offer.
I feel a soft breeze on my face as I watch the sun rays expand over the land below, the beautiful greens and browns of nature finally coming to light.
“Have you made your decision?” He asks after a moment.
“I wasn’t aware that I had a choice.”
“Of course you do.” He breathes out, looking at me incredulously. “I want you on our side and I will try and convince you. But you could always choose to try and run away.” He smiles softly, “I’m just wondering how on guard we have to be.”
I smile at him. “You should never let your guard down, especially when there is an assassin involved.”
“Noted.” He replies brightly.
I hear a grunt from next to me and rustling against the bed rolls.
“Alright, let’s go.” Cole says, voice husky from sleep.
I hadn’t even realised he had woken up.