Page 134 of A Touch of Poison
There was nothing else here—no route out.
The gates rattled in their hinges. The bar holding them groaned.
The Horror slammed into them again. They wouldn’t last long.
Why bother climbing over when you could go through?
It almost made me laugh, but my pulse throbbed in my throat, constricting like a tight grip.
Behind a saddle stand, I spotted a door handle. A way out?
But inside there was only the scent of saddle soap and leather. A cupboard.
I had no other option—I darted inside and shut the door as the gates crashed open.
In the darkness, I found a leather strap—an old halter perhaps? Trying to keep my breaths quiet, I tied it around the inside handle and a hook on the wall.
The yard erupted with throaty bellows from the deer and the Horror’s echoing clicks.
Trembling in the cramped space, I managed to get the bow off my back, tighten the string with a whisper, and nock an arrow. If the monster opened the cupboard, I would fire off a shot and surprise it. Then I might manage to slip past it. Or I might die.
Not the most comforting set of options, but I didn’t have any others.
Outside, the bellows turned to screams and the sound of rending flesh.
I covered my mouth, holding in my fear as tears streaked down my cheeks. Those poor creatures. I couldn’t help picturing Vespera in their place. I thought Horrors only fed on magic, but…
My chest grew tighter and tighter with each cry.
Then there were no more.
I had no idea how long it took. The darkness of the cupboard felt like the darkness of eternity.
More crashing and a grunting sniff that came closer.
Breath stilling, I drew my bowstring taut. The leather shoulder pieces of my cloak dug in, but I was firing this arrow the instant that door opened.
Scratching and scraping, then the sucking sound of it feeding.
Then silence.
Gone, or…?
I let the bowstring slacken and pressed my ear to the door.
It could be waiting out there. Or maybe it had forgotten about me.
Waiting this whole thing out in a cupboard might’ve been an option if not for one inconvenient truth.
I needed my antidote before sunset. And a wonderful bonus of the Winter Solstice was that sunset cameveryearly.
To surviving the dark, indeed.
I counted to a hundred like this was nothing more than a game of hide and sneak.
Still no noise.
Heart in my throat, I untied the broken halter and readied my bow. When I nudged open the door and peered out, there was no sign of the Horror, though upturned saddle stands blocked some of my view.
