Page 48 of Nightshade

Then came the screams.

The sound of sheer agony over the low chanting of voices. Its pitch sent a chill down her spine and she held her breath waiting for it to stop.

It didn’t.

Instead, the sound persisted, until its owner grew hoarse. Tears welled in her eyes, for it reminded her of the same screams she’d heard watching her own mother burn alive. Horrific screams whose pitch was only possible with infliction of merciless pain.

The guards chuckled again. One pressed his ear to the door, and it was then she realized the screams belonged to the baron.

16

Farryn

Through the gap in the trees overhead, black birds circled beneath the dark sky, seen only by the luminous bands of the moon that reached down for me. Round and round, the birds reminded me of vultures, waiting for the kill. Whispers reached my ear. So many at once, they overlapped in my head.

In the woods.

She’s alone.

Where the moon touches the grass.

Hurry. She sees us.

Still woozy and struggling to catch my breath, I rolled over onto my stomach, pausing for a moment to assess my condition. Wriggling my ankles and wrists proved no bones were broken, as I inhaled deeply to find no pain with the act. Somehow, I’d managed to fall from the sky with no more than a few scratches, and possibly a bruise where a thick branch had whacked my thigh and arm. An ache at my forehead told me I may have taken a small hit to my face, as well. I could definitely feel the throb of a growing knot there.

It was as I pushed up from the ground that I realized where I’d fallen. In the thick of the woods, nothing but brush and trees all around me, the fog so dense, I could see little else past their spectral white trunks. A gust of winter-cold air stole my breath, and I shuddered as the needling sensation settled deep in my bones.

So cold.

The surrounding darkness of night sent a tendril of fear down my spine. Pushing to my feet, I stumbled to the side in trying to get my footing. The effects of the tea still echoed with a dizzy sensation that rendered me unsteady. Thankfully, it seemed to be fading, though, as I didn’t feel the nausea or heavy sleepiness of before. For a brief moment, all had settled to an ominous quiet, while my senses returned from a lazy slumber.

Tugging my cellphone from my pocket, I found the screen completely black. Not a single drop of reception. Not that I’d have expected Purgatory to have cell towers. Although, a part of me still didn’t quite believe I’d crossed a plane to another world. Even if my surroundings were completely foreign to me, it still looked like the world I knew. Still had trees, and birds, and skies with stars, like any forest.

It was only the foreign sounds which chirped and buzzed and screeched, and the unbearable cold that left me questioning the possibility. An intense, penetrating cold that felt more like the chill of fear than something temperate.

On a huff of expelled steam from my mouth, I shoved the phone back into my pocket and made a quick scan over the tenebrous forest in search of a way out of the maze of trees.

The crackle of branches echoed somewhere in the distance, and I froze in place, peering through the ghostly mist dancing between silhouettes of trees.

Hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.

A growl rumbled from somewhere in the darkness, the sound innervating every nerve ending as it traveled across the back of my neck. A black shadow prowled between motionless pillars of white birch. Like the creaking wood of an old rocking chair, the growling persisted, patient in its drawl. With slow and careful steps, I backed myself out of the center of the clearing. At the edge of the trees, I could make out two glowing, red eyes.

A thrum of fear pounded through me with a relentless fury.

This is where I’ll die.

There wasn’t a doubt in my mind. Surely, whatever beast prowled the woods had honed its skills, and I was nothing but an enticing morsel of fresh meat on its hunting grounds.

And still, I had no intentions of going down without a fight.

I spun around on my heel and made a wild and desperate dash through the trees. The cold air burned my lungs, while dark skies above me made little effort to shine a light on my path. An obscure tree trunk slammed into my shoulder, knocking me off balance, but I kept on. Through the brush that grabbed for my ankles and beneath branches that hung low enough to tangle my hair. A scream tugged at the back of my throat, but I refused to make a noise.

The gallop of heavy feet trailed behind me. I could hear its coarse breathing. Closer suddenly. Closing in on me.

Chasing me.

Fire scorched my muscles, my legs on the verge of collapsing with fatigue. I pushed for more speed, ignoring the dry blaze in my lungs that felt as if it might explode any second.