Chapter 25
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Briar
A nudge against my side woke me the next morning. I blinked as I tried to ascertain where I was, but another nudge drew my attention to the tiny creature poking at my pocket.
I frowned as a pair of big brown eyes lifted and a tiny face peered imploringly at me. When the events of yesterday crashed over me, I suppressed a groan and closed my eyes against the pain in my body and heart.
Things weren’t going to get any better today; they’d probably be far worse once I was in with all the other shifters.
And just like at home, I had no one to protect or stand up for me.
Loneliness filled me, but another nudge from the creature eased some of it.
Sure, it only wanted me for food, but at least it seemed to like me.
With a smile, I dipped a hand into my pocket and removed a piece of the dried fruit. The creature sniffed it before slipping it from my fingers and scurrying back into the woods. He could have found the fruit himself, but he liked having me give him the treats.
Maybe he’s as lonely as me. That possibility only made me sadder. Nothing should be this forlorn in life.
When I pushed myself up, my still sore arms, legs, and back protested the movement. Eternals healed fast, some faster than others, but I was still young and weaker than most. Unfortunately, this was when I needed to be at my strongest; thankfully, I was at least better than yesterday.
A few feet away, Seth lay on his back with his hands folded on his belly and his head propped on his saddle. His eyes were closed and his breathing steady, but something told me he wasn’t asleep.
Dromon stood in the shadows of the trees, looking away from me as he kept watch over us. Lyra and Pierce also lay with their heads on their saddles and thin blankets tossed over them. While I was certain Seth was awake, it was clear they slept.
The sky was lightening toward a paler shade of gray as dawn approached. My bladder was full again, and when I rose, Dromon turned toward me. I hadn’t made a sound, but he’d detected my movement somehow.
“Bathroom,” I whispered.
He didn’t acknowledge me before turning to study the woods again. With careful steps, I made my way further into the forest. I traversed a few hundred feet before stopping.
I stared at the thick, giant trees draped with vines and moss.
Their rooted branches created a wall I could slip around before fleeing into the forest. I’d been a second-class citizen since birth when compared to my perfect older sister.
Then I became a disgraced embarrassment, and now I was with eternals who despised me for something I didn’t do.
My feet itched to run into the woods and never look back, but even if I could evade the shifters, I had nowhere to go. I’d never return to my mother; she’d only take me back to punish me further, or perhaps kill me.
I had no friends in the kingdoms. Since I hadn’t completed my time in the harem and gone through the ritual, I couldn’t go to the day casters either.
I pondered Devnair’s words, but how far would the elf go to help me? Would he hide me from my mother?
I’d freed him, but he might consider that too great an ask in return. However, he loathed my mother and all other casters and might enjoy hiding me from her. At the very least, maybe if he wouldn’t hide me, he’d provide me with some supplies and tell me about somewhere safe to go.
Could I make it to Terra from here? And do I really want to leave him?
They were both very good questions, and the answer to both was no. I didn’t know which way to go to find the elf kingdom. It could be only a few miles away or hundreds. I knew, from maps, that Terra and Wildwood abutted each other, but that could be anywhere.
Even if I had an idea of where to go, I’d never make it there before Seth hunted me down. It wouldn’t be the others who came for me; it would be him, and he’d make me pay for running.
I didn’t stand a chance of evading a shifter. Their sense of smell was far superior to mine, and their instincts were those of the animals they shifted into. They were hunters who were adept at tracking… and killing.
Besides, I wasn’t ready to part with Seth. While the idea of running was very appealing, the idea of fleeing him made my soul wilt.
I trudged a few feet further into the woods before finding a suitable tree to lean against. When I finished going to the bathroom, I rose and was about to turn away when I spotted something growing out of the top of a boulder twenty feet away.
What is that?
Curiosity propelled me further into the forest and on toward the rock. When I was ten feet away, I stopped and gazed at it in disbelief. That can’t be possible.
I froze when I realized it was possible, and there was a rosebush growing out of the middle of the boulder. “How?” I whispered to myself.
I gripped the cool rock and used its jagged edges to climb to the top, where I perched beside the single rosebush that had defied all the odds stacked against it.
As much as I despised the flower and its scent, I marveled at this one’s perseverance as it grew from a location offering no nourishment.
Looking up, I blinked at the canopy of branches when I realized they didn’t have any leaves yet. It was still early spring, but most trees were unfurling their leaves already; these only had tiny buds that weren’t anywhere close to opening.
Last night, the thick canopy of branches blocked the moon, and today, gray clouds obscured the sky. Only glimpses of that sky poked through the branches, but little sun would have filtered through them anyway, especially if there were leaves.
I shifted my attention back to the rose whose roots disappeared into a crack in the boulder. Despite finding a way to live under these conditions, the rose’s leaves drooped, and the single, wilting red rose in the center was turning black.
It had found a way to survive, but it wasn’t thriving. As much as I hated roses, I sympathized with this one; I knew exactly how it felt.
A rustling drew my gaze a second before the tiny creature from yesterday dashed out of the underbrush, scampered up the boulder, and flung himself at me. Unprepared for his lunge, I almost toppled off the boulder when he hit me in the chest.
A scream caught in my lungs as I reached to pull the creature away. I had no idea what had turned it from the innocent little angel of yesterday to a demonic murderer, but I wasn’t about to be killed by an animal a fraction of my size.
I missed grabbing it and somehow kept myself upright enough to discover why the creature had scampered down Seth’s coat to burrow into a pocket. From around a tangled tree root system, a goblin rushed out.
Its tattered loincloth barely covered its groin as it looked frantically around with a raised club.
Its two large, pointy ears bent to the side, and small warts covered its face.
I’d seen pictures of goblins before, and while there were differences between them, they were all smaller than three feet, completely green, had claws on their fingers and toes, and they were all ugly.
The goblin waved its club as it searched for the creature. When it spotted me, it started jumping up and down. I didn’t speak goblin, but judging by the angry sound of its gibberish, the thing was hungry or pissed.
I rose from my spot on the boulder and, keeping an eye on the irate creature, slid down to the ground. I had over two feet and at least fifty pounds on this thing, but it had a club and claws.
As the goblin stepped toward me, I held my ground. Turning and running would only incite it to chase me, and that wasn’t the way I planned to spend my morning.
When it jumped up and down and waved its club at me again, I tried not to laugh. While I wasn’t afraid of the goblin, I didn’t want to instigate it further.
The goblin jumped up once more, but this time its feet didn’t touch the ground as a large, black beast burst out of the woods.
With its mouth wide and its huge, hooked fangs dripping venom, the basilisk swallowed the goblin whole.
The basilisk lifted its head to reveal the goblin lump sliding its way down the twenty-five-foot snake’s throat.
Oh shit. Oh no. This is bad. This is very, very bad.
I could have taken a goblin. I might have gotten hit with its club, but I could have fought it off. There was no way I was fighting off this monstrosity.
The snake’s head swiveled down, and the slitted pupils of its yellow eyes spun toward me; I looked away before I accidentally met its lethal gaze. When it opened its mouth again, the goblin’s feet were still barely visible in its throat.
My foot edged back, but I didn’t turn and flee; I couldn’t outrun this thing. Its forked tongue flicked out. The thing was at least fifteen feet away, but its tongue nearly lashed me.
I gulped as the snake’s head rose and the bump of the goblin slid further down its throat. I couldn’t become this thing’s dinner, but if I wasn’t careful, I would.