Page 78 of The Blade in the Ashes
I followed the line of his finger with narrowed eyes, unsheathing my sword as I did. I’d been periodically scanning the tree lines, an old habit,and had seen nothing myself, but I’d learned a long time ago to trust my brother’s instincts. If Elaijah suspected that danger was imminent, then it was.
Guess it was time already to add a new nightmare to my collection.
I glanced toward Kent, and we nodded in time with one another, both understanding our given roles. Pulling on his reins, he broke away, quickly gathering Antoni, Michone, and Patrek into a formation in front of his sisters.
“Get back with the twins,” I ordered Elaijah, moving ahead of him.
Sure enough, a body emerged from the woods, crawling towards us on all fours at an impossible pace.
It was a gruesome-looking thing. Even from this distance, I could make out the splattering of dark, decaying flesh across its brow. Torn clothes exposed bits of its chest and thigh. My upper lip curled back in disgust as I watched it open its jaw in an inhuman scream.
Elaijah grumbled something in response to my command, but I didn’t bother listening. I had already focused on the enemy. Adrenaline coursed through me, racing through my eager muscles as I pushed myself off my horse and adjusted my grip on my weapon.
Behind me, Michone unsheathed one of the two blades she kept across her back while Antoni brought two balls of burning flames to his fingertips.
“I really don’t like the look of these things,” Patrek grumbled, pulling a long, feathered arrow from the quiver strapped behind him.
Michone fell back a few paces, keeping the twins and Elaijah behind her while Antoni moved to flank my side, his eyes as carefully trained on the tree line as my own.
“You got this?” Kent asked on my left.
A loud pop sounded as I eagerly cracked my knuckles, a happy grin spreading on my features.
These creatures might be ugly and dangerous, but at least they helped break up the monotony of this trip and temporarily quieted the existential dread in my mind.
“Oh, yeah.” I bounced onto the balls of my feet, feeling almost giddy. “I got this.”
I didn’t hesitate. Sending energy down through the muscles in my thighs and calves, I pulled on the magical strength from my Godly ancestor to push me into an unforgiving sprint. Wind ripped past me, pulling my long hair out from where I had tied it back. I took measured breaths, in through my nose, out through my mouth as I forced myself faster and faster, building momentum to—
Another creature emerged from the trees.
Then another.
My steps slowed.
Shit, there were even more waiting in the shadows.
I groaned as I took in each and every pair of hungry eyes that simultaneously locked onto me from within the woods.
For a moment, everything stilled as I skidded to a halt.
And then, before I could even look back to warn the others, they pounced.
Dozens of monsters rushed forward towards me, hands outstretched like needy claws as the roar of their hungry cries sounded out in a deafening roar.
Fuck me.
I turned on my heels, arms flailing as I sprinted back in the direction I came from.
“I don’t got this!”
ChapterTwenty-Two
Kent
They emerged from the woods like a plague, slow-moving, eerie, and yet entirely deadly. Rankor sprinted towards us, muscled legs pumping as he shouted warnings while leaping over boulders and fallen branches.
“You three stay back,” I commanded Elaijah and the twins. “Patrek, be ready to blast them. Antoni—”
