Page 3 of Dragon Unbound (Dragon Kings 3)
“We’re going to be moving fast,” she told him. “Keep a hold of my hand. No matter what, stay with me. When I stop, you stop. When I go, you go. Don’t look back, and don’t hesitate. And don’t make a sound.”
He met her gaze and nodded.
She held out her hand. When he placed his in hers, she ran toward the woods.
Tamlyn wanted to use the easy path, but the soldiers were there. She was forced to retrace her steps from earlier. The thought of the brineling made her hesitate a bit, but she didn’t have another option. They moved slower since the boy jumped at every sound. Eventually, he blocked out the night sounds and focused on her.
Every step got her closer to freedom. She was hypervigilant. That’s what allowed her to spot the brineling. She didn’t know if it was the same one from earlier or not. The safe thing to do would be to stay put and wait for it to walk away. She was about to tell the boy that when the toll of alarm bells sounded from Stonemore.
Shit. They knew the boy was gone. She couldn’t see the city from the woods, but she didn’t need to in order to know that they were rallying the army. They would track her and the boy. Hiding from a few soldiers in the forest was one thing. Being tracked by them was another.
The boy’s breathing grew erratic as he looked back at the city. She touched her finger to her lips as she looked at him. The brineling might just save them. If it wasn’t there, they would be cornered quickly enough, but the beast would be drawn to the noise of the soldiers.
Already, the beast’s head turned in the direction of Stonemore. Tamlyn heard the clang of weapons as the soldiers rushed into the forest. She watched the brineling, waiting to see when it would attack. The warriors had fanned out, but there wasn’t enough of them to cover the entire woods. She’d head to the left if she thought she could get away, but her best chance was to go straight through.
When the brineling crouched, she tightened her hand on the boy’s. “Get ready,” she whispered.
The soldiers walked slowly through the forest, thrusting their swords into bushes in case someone was hiding. Animals scattered from them and their noise. The brineling had gone still as stone. It waited for them to get closer. Tamlyn spotted soldiers coming near. She wanted to bolt, but she knew that timing was everything.
When the brineling leapt to attack, she jumped and pulled the boy with her. The soldiers’ shouts joined the creature’s bellows as the men rushed to help their comrades. Tamlyn didn’t look back. She ran, half dragging, half pulling the boy with her. Their only chance was making it out of the forest.
