Page 53 of A Broken Promise (the Freckled Fate #1)

53

I woke up from a sudden sensation of falling. One blink and I was no longer buried in the light clouds far in the sky, deep within my dream. Instead, I was slumped against the ground. One glance and I realized the Destroyer was gone. His spot by the tree empty. My eyes raced through my surroundings.

Not a single trace of him.

Anger flooded me but not even at him. Gods, I would do the same. I did the same.

No, I was pissed at myself. I took another look; he couldn’t have gotten far…unless he walked all night.

Gods. I had to have been out for hours. I bit my lip in frustration.

No amount of Fate or luck could make up for this lack of competence.

“Shit,” I angrily mumbled. I was alive, so there was some upside to this but now I was stranded deep in the forest with no sense of where to go. “Shit!” This time I yelled kicking the frosted leaves around me.

“Good morning, mage. ” I jumped at his voice, which sounded as though it were just a step behind me. He snuck up so quickly. Too quickly.

“Where the fuck were you?” I asked, choking out the anger within me, suspiciously assessing him. My dagger was already out. My eyes instinctively scanned his shoulder, analyzing the bandage. Still intact with the same bloodied knot that I tied. Basalt Glass still deep inside the wound. Good.

“I needed to use the bathroom, or shall I relieve myself in front of you?” he asked, raising his brow, tilting his head slightly to the side as he leaned against the large tree.

“Actually yes, do that. I will kill you if you leave my sight again.”

He raised his brows in amusement just for a second, and then narrowed his eyes with a challenge. He lowered his body until his nose almost touched mine. My drawn dagger pressed into his chest. He lowered his voice until it was a sultry whisper. “Swear it?”

I didn’t back down, my eyes confidently staring back at him. He was just a man, I reminded myself. A part of me was unaware that instead of fear and panic, my mind was distracted with his strong pine and campfire smell.

He moved then, walking past me, leaving me standing there, dumbfounded, still rifled by a complete mix of feelings within me. I turned to follow him.

We continued our journey for hours. Quietly.

I thought about asking so many things, saying so many things. Telling him just how much I despised him, telling him how I would kill him for everything he had done. Carve him up into pieces. But I realized that no words would express my feelings enough for him to understand because no matter how long the dog barked, the cat wouldn’t understand it.

He stayed quiet too. His limp was getting better, I realized, when he didn’t take as long to overstep a fallen young tree. Priya mentioned that Destroyers healed faster but it had been barely two days. I thought about shooting him again and though my crossbow was now always loaded, I didn’t pull the trigger. Maybe tomorrow.

The loud raven’s screech yanked me into the present, away from the abyss of my thoughts. Both of our heads turned as we saw a large black bird flying over us. A little note of excitement ran through me as I watched the bird fly away. We had to be approaching the end of the forest now. Maybe we would see more animals or life.

I turned my head back just as the Destroyer General slammed into me with full force of his body. My dagger fell a few feet away from me. Even with his hands tied, the sheer mass of his body was suffocating me underneath. I didn’t even have the chance blink as a cloud of black shadows and bones appeared out of nowhere and sunk claws into his back.

He groaned from the pain as the creature took a chunk of his flesh, ripping his cloak apart. The creature shrieked and recoiled only after a minute. I pushed the General off and rolled to the side, quickly getting up to my feet. The shadow moved again, this time shaping, becoming more of a physical creature. I shot my arrow at it, but it went through it like a cloud, landing far behind it. The creature screeched again, almost busting my ear drums. Adrenaline shot through my veins.

“Give me the sword!” the Destroyer yelled, his eyes still on the creature.

“No!” I shouted back. Whatever this was, I knew the true monster was the one right next to me.

The creature lunged for me again. I jumped, but the being was faster. The Destroyer shoved me back again, shielding me with his body. Both the creature and the Destroyer roared as his chest was shredded with claws.

“Burn it!” he yelled at me from the ground. A General commanding his soldier. The creature within me tugged on its leash, eager to be freed but I willed myself to not panic.

Breathe.

But that breath cost me. The creature, as if feeding on the Destroyer's flesh, became more visible. Its claws became more deadly as it lunged for my chest, I twisted but not fast enough as the curved claws scraped my chest, ripping to shreds my leathers until they were nothing but ribbons.

“BURN IT!” he yelled at me again. I dodged the creature again as it leapt for us .

“I would rather die than let you summon fire!” I yelled back as I dodged another claw.

“We will both die, if you don’t burn him right now!” He turned to face me just for a second as he yanked my body to the ground, letting the creature tear into him again. He dropped to his knees in agony. His back soaked in blood; the remaining threads of his cloak mixed with his flesh. “Use the sword,” he roared, as I glanced at the platinum piece of metal shining against the darkness.

I lost whatever control I had over my panic. Immobile, I watched the creature gather its shadows and lunge for another attack.

“The SWORD, FINN!” he yelled at me again. The creature, now as if on wings, flew down to me with its bear-like claws opened wide. “GRAB THE FUCKING SWORD, FINN!” The General shouted.

Those words. My name…it was as if a bucket of ice water poured over me, pulling me out of the sheer terror. I grabbed the sword and sunk it deep into the creature, but I was too slow. The creature sunk its claws into my leg, shredding it to pieces. I screamed in agony. My eyes darkened just a bit, but I didn’t let go of the sword, holding it tight with both of my arms, twisting it deeper.

Another large sword went through the creature, decapitating it, slicing it to pieces, until there was nothing left. The being dissolved into thin air just as quickly as it had appeared.

I dropped my head to the ground, panting. Still clenching tight to the sword. I glanced at the Destroyer. He was on his feet, warily looking around us, his sword out as if expecting another attack. When it didn’t happen, he lowered his sword, resting against it just for a blink. His body was covered in blood. Soaked. His breaths were long and inconsistent. But it wasn’t the blood or the gore that made my heart plummet. It was anger.

Rage laced his face.

I glanced over to the loose ropes on the ground, too far from my reach.

I attempted to rise but winced from pain. My leg was grated. Just as shredded as my leathers, exposing my chest down to my bra.

Though the monster was gone, another was freed and now stood in front of me, sword in his hand. Rage didn’t leave his face, though he dropped the sword. His eyes stuck on my wounded leg.

“Where are the bandages?” he asked, dropping to his knees beside me. I wasn’t sure how he was still moving. His wounds were much worse than mine. And mine hurt like hell.

“You are hurt, where are the bandages, Finn.” Not a question, but a command.

“I am fine. What was that?” I asked, pulling on those last threads of adrenaline blocking away the pool of tears ready to spill.

He ignored my words as he ripped the leg of my pants open.

“ Do not touch me or I will kill you.” I glared at him, aware of just how empty the threat was. The muscles at his temples twitched, but he moved his hands off my bleeding leg.

His eyes moved up from my leg, scanning each inch of my body, pausing on my chest, on the ripped leathers, and the bloodied up exposed skin.

“What is that?” he asked, staring straight at my breasts, his tone changing completely.

“Take a step away, Destroyer .” But this time he didn’t move; his eyes didn’t move. I clenched my jaw. “ Move back ,” I commanded, standing up, wincing as pain shot through my body. He still didn’t move. My blood boiled at his defiance.

“Where did you get that ring?” he asked, his tone low, guttural. Only now it dawned on me that Tuluma’s amulet and Kaius’s ring were no longer hidden, hanging between my barely covered breasts. “You only have one chance to answer me and you better make it count, mage . Where. Did. You. Get. That. Ring?” He no longer had the smirk or the mocking tone.

No. Now stood the General I remembered. The bloodthirsty, death loving devil.

He might not have been able to summon fire, but his eyes, gods, they burned. I snarled like a wounded animal.

“I found it.”

“ Liar .”

He moved faster than a panther in the night, closing the distance between us within a blink, shoving me against a tree. I slapped him hard against his cheek. He flinched, grabbing my wrist tight. Muscles in his jaw tensed. “Let me ask you one last time. Where did you get this ring?”

“I’ll tell you once we get to the Rebels.”

He grumbled, not liking my answer.

Pitted against the tree, my feet dangled in the air. I tried kneeing him in his groin with my other leg, but he just pinned me harder until I couldn’t move at all.

I had run out of moves or any kind of options.

This was it.

“It’s time we stopped playing games, don’t you think, mage ?” he whispered in my ear.

Then he headbutted me so hard that I blacked out.