“My chest.”
“Difficulty breathing?” Timothy asked.
“Yeah,” Liana said.
He stepped closer. “May I?”
She nodded.
He spent a few seconds prodding the sides of her torso, and she cried out again.
“Can I see?”
“My clothes are torn,” she said.
“I won’t look at…You know?” Timothy said with a shy smile. “I just need to check for bruising.”
Liana nodded and allowed him to lift her leather vest out of the way and examine her.
“I think you have a fractured rib or two,” Timothy said. “I have bandages. We just need to sling your arm, and it should alleviate the pain. But you need to take it slow.”
“Yeah, that’s not happening,” she said.
Timothy pulled out the first aid kit he’d picked up back in central Middale and set to work on the sling. Once Liana was all trussed up, he pulled a tub of pills from the kit.
“Pain meds.” He gave her two.
She swallowed them and grimaced. “Urgh. Fuckers took my pack.”
“Here.” Timothy gave her his flask. “Drink.”
She smiled gratefully. “Thanks.”
The world rumbled again. I strode over to the nearest tree and etched in the number one with my penknife.
“Time to move.”
We trudged in silence, stopping every few minutes to mark a tree. I kept checking the compass. Two rumbles passed, but we didn’t come across any marked trees. We were doing it. I could feel that we were getting closer to the sky wall.
“What do we do when we get there?” Timothy asked, as if reading my mind.
“I don’t know. I just feel we have to get there.”
Neither of them argued. I guess a plan based on a gut feeling was better than no plan at all.
The horn sounded far to the right this time. We ignored it and kept walking, and then it came again. Behind us.
I stopped.
“What is it?” Timothy asked. “It’s behind us. We’re okay.”
Liana and I exchanged glances. We hadn’t shared our theory about the horns with him yet.
If we went backward, we’d be losing time. If we went back, we’d miss an opening. I just knew it, even though I didn’t know how.
The horn sounded again, closer at our back now. Too close. I turned toward it.
“Are you sure?” Liana asked.
“What are you doing?” Timothy looked panicked.
Damn it, Killion, I need you right now. But I was on my own. We were on our own.
I gave Timothy what I hoped was a reassuring smile. “You guys hang back. I’ll scope it out.”
“But the horns—”
“I’ll explain,” Liana said, cutting him off.
I ran back the way we’d come.
The horn blared again, way too close now as if I was surrounded by it. The sound came from the very air, and then silence followed in an empty beat that seemed to echo around me. Our theory was correct. The horn was a decoy.
I slowed my pace, allowing Timothy and Liana to catch up to me.
“You were right…” Liana looked over her shoulder. “What now?”
“We wait for the next horn, make sure it doesn’t interfere with our path, and then we set off.” I pulled the tarp out of my bag and spread it on the ground. “Have a seat.”
Timothy helped Liana to the ground, but I stayed standing, daggers in hand, just in case.
“You think Vala and Karl are okay?” Timothy asked.
“I hope so.” I scanned the trees, alert to any movement or sound.
“What about your team?” Timothy asked Liana.
She shook her head. “I haven’t seen them. I have no idea if they’re all right.”
“This place can’t be that big,” Timothy said softly.
“No.” I looked down at him. “But the fact it keeps moving probably isn’t making it easy on us.”
The world rumbled again, and the ground beneath us trembled. My stomach lurched. Shit, had we just moved?
The horn… We needed the horn to sound so we could know which way was safest to go.
Nothing happened.
My feet itched to move. Because staying still for too long was dangerous. I checked the compass and found north. Yeah, we’d definitely moved.
“The horn should have sounded by now,” Liana said.
Why did I get the impression the rules were changing? “Let’s go. We shouldn’t stay here for too long, especially now that we’ve moved.”
I gathered the tarp, and we set off. We’d barely been walking for two minutes when Timothy veered toward a tree and slapped the bark with a curse.
“What?” I joined him. “Fucking hell.”
He touched the number one etched into the bark. “This is fucked up. We’re right back at the beginning.”
My heart sank. “So, we keep going.”
“What’s the point?” He turned to me, lips tight with frustration. “This place is designed to keep us trapped.”
“What other option do we have?” I strode back onto the path. “We keep moving.”
“Wait.” Liana grabbed my arm. “Do you hear that?”
We froze in our tracks and listened. The lilting notes of a haunting melody drifted through the frozen forest.
“Is that the new horn?” Timothy asked.
I honestly had no idea. It could be, and if it was, did we go toward it, or run away? Had the rules changed?
“It doesn’t matter,” Liana said. “It’s east, right? So, we continue north.”
“Right.” We set off again, but the melody followed alongside us, tracking us. It was eerie and fucking creepy.
“Two,” Timothy said a moment later, pointing to another marked tree.
We were on track for sure now. A few minutes later we came to tree three. We were almost at the spot we’d been when the horn had sounded. The knot in my chest tightened, anxiety gripping me as I listened for the damn horn. Would it come again? Stop us in our tracks and force us back?
But nothing happened. We hit tree four a few minutes later. We were doing it. How much farther was the sky wall? It couldn’t be too much farther. We hit a clearing and trudged through the fresh, crisp snow. We were almost across when the rumble of voices drifted through the trees.
We exchanged glances. Friend or foe?
Something snarled and yipped.
Well, that answered that question. Only Tuatha hung out with creatures that made those sounds.
I grabbed Liana’s arm and hauled her across the rest of the clearing and into the cover of trees. Liana stifled a cry of pain, and then I had her pressed to a tree, my hand over her mouth.
Her eyes filled with tears of pain, but she didn’t try to push me away. She knew the score.
The clearing exploded with sound and the snorts and pants of a baku.
Timothy was right beside us, hidden by another tree. I met his gaze. Running wasn’t an option, not for Liana. But Timothy and I, we could make a break for it, leave her here…
Fuck.
Timothy shook his head, echoing my resolution.
No one got left behind.
“They’re wily,” a male voice said.
“I’m bored.” This voice was female.
“You’re always bored.”
“No, you can’t eat that!” the female snapped. There was a slap and then a whimper.
I needed to see what we were up against. I pressed a finger to my lips, and Liana nodded. I carefully removed my hand from her mouth and then leaned around her to peer into the clearing. Two Tuatha stood in the open, wearing the mossy colors of Spring. The male was tall and lithe with dark hair and sharp features; the woman was also tall and willowy with silver hair bound back from her heart-shaped face. She was beautiful, but her eyes were flat and dead. There was a sack on the ground, and a baku lying not too far away from it, eyes closed.
“We can rest here for a while,” th
e male said. He pulled something from the sheath at his waist—a sword made from night, etched in silver markings that gleamed as they hit the light. “I have to say, I’m impressed with the workmanship on this thing.”
“The weapons of the conquered belong to the Regency,” the woman said.
“Which will soon be Spring.”
She smiled, cold and calculating. “Of course. I’m sure we’re in the lead.”
He glanced at the sack. “I believe you may be right.”
He turned the sword over in his hand. “I do wish you could experience its fine balance.”
“Do you?”
“Your tone is almost insolent.” He looked impressed.
That cool smile, once again. “Thank you. And yours was insincere. All you need to do to make your wish true is to loan me the bracelet.”
He tapped his wrist, where a dark metallic bracelet winked in the light. “I suppose I was insincere.” He sighed. “Autumn was given the ax. I would have preferred to wield the ax. I’m sure its blade isn’t as dull as this one.”
“Once we take Auren’s head, you will have the ax and the sword, my prince.”
“I do like it when you call me that.”
“It is your title, after all,” she said. The baku lifted its head and sniffed the bag.
The woman reacted in an instant, kicking out to connect with the beast’s head. It whined and whimpered, curling in on itself.
I’d never seen a baku act like that. Come to think of it, it was smaller than the usual beasts.
“Be nice,” the male said.
“I don’t know why you keep that runt around.”
“I do believe I’ve become fond of it.” The prince walked up to the hound and reached out to stroke its head. The beast shied away, eyes rolling in fear.
“You play the emotion game well,” the woman said.
“How do you know I’m playing?”
“I know you, my prince. I know you well.”
She walked up to him and pressed her palm to his chest. “I could show you how well.”
Urgh, was she propositioning him? Maybe they’d start having sex, and we could make a run for it.
He looked down at her coolly. “Not now.”
Or maybe not. We couldn’t just stay here. The shining ones worked in groups of three, which meant another would be along shortly and might spot us. We needed to put some distance between us and them. Even if it meant splitting up.
We needed a distraction.
And that distraction would have to be me.
I caught Timothy’s eye and pointed to Liana and then made a running motion with my fingers.
He frowned. I pointed to myself and to the left and made a circling motion. I pointed to him and Liana and made a running motion with my fingers again.
His frown cleared, and he shook his head and jabbed at his chest. He wanted to be the decoy.
No, I mouthed, and pointed at him before cocking my arm to indicate strength. He was stronger than me and would be able to carry Liana farther than I could, faster than I could.
His shoulders sagged, and he nodded.
I backed up carefully from Liana, and she grabbed my arm, her eyes wide with horror.
I gave her a quick smile, took a deep breath, and broke into a run, cutting across the edge of the clearing, not stopping to see if they spotted me, not needing to because the growl of the baku told me my ploy had worked.
I ran, weaving between the trees, knowing they were at my back. But I was fast. Not Killion fast, but fast. The howl of the hound and the crunch of frozen bracken grew fainter as I left the baku behind, but I needed to be sure. Using my daggers for purchase, I climbed the nearest tree, high enough to be out of sight but low enough to have a view of the ground below. Long minutes passed and then the baku dashed past. Another minute, and a long, low whistle filled the air. Seconds passed, and then the baku dashed past the tree again, this time headed back the way he’d come.
I wasn’t taking any chances, though. I needed to wait for a few more minutes. The others would have put enough distance between themselves and the clearing by now. They’d be safe.
My pulse slowed to resting pace. I checked my compass for north and then swung out of the tree, landing soundlessly in the snow.
An arrow whizzed past my face and landed in the tree behind me with a thunk, and then a hulking, cloaked figure in moss-colored clothes stepped out from behind another tree.
“Hello, human.”
Oh, shit.
22
The monstrous Danaan dragged me into the clearing I’d just escaped. My hands were bound behind my back, so even if I did make a break for it, I wouldn’t get far without my arms for balance.
The Spring prince looked down his nose at me. “Ah, our decoy.”
Decoy? They knew?
Hulk Danaan shoved me onto the ground. “I want to do this one.”
“We’ll see,” the prince said.
A yelp had my head whipping up, and then my heart sank as the female Tuatha appeared, dragging Liana by the hair. The guard’s face was red and wet with tears. Timothy was nowhere to be seen.
Had he abandoned Liana to save his skin? No, that wasn’t like Timothy. But then, what did I know? People did awful things when faced with life-or-death situations, and this philosophical line of thinking wasn’t going to help me get out of this mess. The bounds of the rope were tight, but there was enough room for maneuvering. The hulking Danaan obviously didn’t know his knots. This one could be slipped. I just needed a little time.
Timothy staggered into the clearing a moment later, baku at his back. His hands were bound, and the left side of his face was swollen and bloody. He caught sight of me and let out a soft sob before buckling to his knees. My gaze dropped to his torso, to the bloody tear in his vest.
I’m sorry, he mouthed.
The female Tuatha held Liana out to the prince like an offering.
Shit, come on. I tugged on the rope, twisting my wrist to create more leverage.
“Please,” Liana blubbered. “I’m one of yours. One of your guards. You can save me and stop the other courts from getting me. You can stop them from winning. I can help you hunt.”
The prince gripped her chin and angled it up so he could look down at her. “Really? You would kill humans for me?”
Shit, so close. Come on, rope, let me go.
“Yes. Yes, please don’t kill me.” Liana sobbed through her words.
Gone was the tough woman with venom in her voice, ordering me to kill the Summer prince. Liana was a gibbering mess, and I got it because my bowels were quivering with terror. Something bad was about to happen, and I needed to get free before it was too late.
The prince’s mouth turned down, and he canted his head. “Aw, such a shame you’re injured. I might have taken you up on your offer otherwise.”
He shoved her toward the female, who caught Liana by the shoulders before pushing her onto the ground so that she was face down.
“No, please, let me go.” Liana turned her head and locked gazes with me. “Help me. Dani, help me.”
“Stop!” Timothy cried out. “Just let her go, please.”
I struggled with my bonds, impotence a hot band around my chest. I was almost there, but even as I undid the second to last knot, I knew it was too late for her.
The Danaan stepped closer to the prince, shoulders heaving, as if eager for what was to come. My breath stuck in my throat as the prince drew his sword and raised it above his head.
No.
Liana continued to thrash and scream.
“Hold still, and it will be quick,” the prince said calmly.
No. They couldn’t.
They—
The sword swept across in an arc, cutting off Liana’s scream while mine remained locked in my throat. Timothy’s sobs replaced Liana’s while my heart expanded painfully in my chest, and pressure built inside my head. Liana’s head stared at me with horror-filled eyes that slowly dimmed of lif
e.
Blood seeped into the snow, bright crimson against her alabaster cheek.
Her blood.
Dead.
The female Tuatha picked up the head. Just a head now. Not Liana. I couldn’t think of it as Liana. Liana was dead. Gone. That was just a head. A head she was putting in the sack. The sack that contained other heads. Human heads. Trophies. A headcount. Laughter bubbled up my throat, and I choked it off.
Even as my mind began to shut down, even as my emotions struggled to go offline, my hands worked on the final knot, beating back the numbness that wanted to take over my mind.
The Danaan was heaving now, crouching by the body, his hands clenching and unclenching.
The prince sighed. “Yes, you can have the rest.”
The Danaan shoved back the hood of his cloak to reveal a face of horror: a wide mouth filled with teeth and crimson slits for eyes. He opened his maw and attacked Liana’s body.
“Not here. Take it somewhere else,” the prince snapped.
The Danaan lifted his head, mouth bloody and smeared with gore, and then slung the body over his shoulder and strode out of the clearing.
“Now,” the prince said. “Who will be next?” He looked from Timothy to me.
“Let me,” the female said. “There’s a game humans play that I would like to try.”
“By all means.”
“Eeny, meeny, miney, mo.” She waved a finger from Timothy to me. “Catch a tiger by its toe.” She landed on me and smiled. “If it growls, let it go.” Me again. I knew what was coming, and the rope was almost off. “Eeny meeny, miney, mo!”
Me.
“No!” Timothy’s cry ended in a wet cough. “Not her. Take me first.”
What was he doing? “What the hell, Timothy?”
The female looked at Timothy in confusion. “You want me to kill you first?”
“Yes. Me first.” He coughed again, and blood seeped from his mouth.
Oh, fuck, he was hurt bad.
“Timothy, no.” I shook my head, desperately working the last knot in the rope.
If I could get free, I might be able to fight them off. I might be able to get to Timothy and cut him free. But even as the thoughts went through my mind, a pit of devastation opened up inside me because the logical part of me recognized how futile my plan was.
Taste My Wrath (The Iron Fae Book 1) Page 13
