Page 141 of A Touch of Poison
But its legs were still moving, even as its head slumped, like its body hadn’t quite caught up with the fact it was dead.
Five feet.
I ran.
Tripped.
Scrambled to my feet.
Then a terrible weight crashed into me.
My muscles jerked, burned, but… I couldn’t move. Cold stone pressed into my cheek, and something lay across my back. My bow sat several feet away, rocking on the ground.
When I looked over my shoulder, I understood.
The Horror lay across my back, pinning me to the ground.
And the sky deepened to twilight as a tingling began in my fingertips.
53
Bastian
Reports came in on our way south. Most of the Horrors were down, but my lookouts had lost sight of the two in the southern quarter after they’d stopped to help a family who’d become trapped.
Thankfully, I had Faolán and Rose. They picked up the foul stink of Horrors and followed the trail towards the palace. The closer we got, the harder my heart pounded. They couldn’t make it across the river. Couldn’t.
But a chill trickled down my spine.
And it grew worse as I blinked up at the darkening violet sky.
The sun had set.
Dread gripped my heart, and I spurred our group on. Elthea had said aconite took up to an hour to kill. How much time did Kat have left?
We hit a main road leading to the palace and found the way blocked. The bodies of two Horrors lay on the ground, and Rose huffed as if clearing the stink from her nose.
“Who took them down?” I turned my stag, searching for any sign of Cyrus and his guards.
Faolán shrugged. “The lookout said they’d lost them. The unit for this quarter was scouring the lower city. This couldn’t have been them. There’s an arrow in its eye. Could be a civilian?”
Rose lifted her head and sniffed the air. Frowning, she pulled ahead, approaching the fallen monsters.
I growled, strangling the reins. “I could’ve started searching for Kat twenty minutes ago if I’d known they were already down.” She might be at the palace or Ariadne’s shop. The Hall of Healing didn’t seem likely—not after what Elthea had done to her. I wheeled my stag around, ready to ride for the palace. “Check on the other patrols. I’m going after—”
“Wait.” Nostrils flaring, Faolán started after Rose. “Is that…?”
Picking her way between the Horrors’ limbs, she nodded. “I can smell her.”
I leapt from my stag just as Faolán sucked in a breath.
“The fletching on that arrow.” He nodded towards the ruined eye of the Horror facing us.
“Barn owl.” My heart leapt as my stomach dropped, like I didn’t know whether to be hopeful or horrified. “She shot it?” I hurried closer, trying to ascertain whether the shot to the eye was what had killed it.
Something pale stuck out from its mouth. A second arrow. Definitely Kat’s.
She’d killed it. But there was a second—had she taken them both down and continued to the palace searching for me?
