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CHAPTER ELEVEN
I ’d always found the wilds to be a particularly cold place. It wasn’t just the temperature but something in the air itself. There was a loneliness that clung to the jagged rock clusters and crumbling stones beneath my feet, a heart-wrenching kind of emptiness which was only ever pierced by-
A distant howl set the hairs along the back of my neck on end and I stilled, my eyes scanning the vast expanse of dark grey rocks and sparkling ice which surrounded me in all directions.
That was the thing about the beasts which roamed these untamed places; they were never alone.
I’d crossed through the wilds unAwakened enough times to be familiar with the dangers that lurked here, but that didn’t mean I was dumb enough to think this place was anything besides deadly.
I unleashed a dagger from my belt, wondering if I’d been a fool to come here without a bow.
Close combat had always been my preferred form of bloodshed but that didn’t mean it was the wisest choice in all scenarios.
A bow was bulky to carry but its benefits of long range firepower often outweighed the inconvenience.
I’d set out with haste in mind but a month on this endless hunt had proven that plan pointless by now and I was beginning to rethink some of the choices I’d made when selecting my equipment for this journey.
Another distant howl daggered through the silence, this time coming from my right and further away.
I snatched a blade into my grasp and broke into a run, adrenaline scoring a passage through my veins.
My boots pounded the ground, my breaths coming in long drags and whooshing out of me in clouds of swirling vapour.
A hacking bark sounded ahead of me from within a low cluster of rocks and I pivoted – not away from it but towards the sound.
Thundering hoofbeats filled the air and strands of pale pink hair swept across my eyes as I listened to the movements of the beast that was hunting me.
Five strides from the cluster of rocks, I turned, twisting on my heel and leaping to the left just as the beast crouching among them pounced.
The thing looked like it had once been part cat, though its size resembled that of a horse with a metallic helm covering its skull and plates of bronze armour coating its body like an armadillo shell.
My dagger flew from my fingers, piercing it in the eyes and causing it to shriek wildly as it spun on the icy ground, scrambling to realign itself with me.
I kicked off of a rock as I turned too, drawing my sword and gripping it tightly between both fists as I threw myself at the beast.
It swiped for me, claws tipped in iron barely missing my side as I twisted around them and swung my sword with all my strength, aiming for the thin gap between the armour which covered its neck.
Sparks flew as metal collided with metal, the shock of the impact jarring through my arms, and the beast shrieked in pain.
The monstrous creation bellowed as it fell back, my sword catching in bone and ripping from my grip as it crashed down onto its side.
It wasn’t dead, the thing thrashing wildly as the howls of its beastly companions drew closer, the thundering of hooves making the ground tremble with their proximity.
I lunged for my sword, grasping the hilt and catching a savage kick from the beast’s back legs for my efforts. The blow caught me in the gut, launching me away from it, but I managed to keep hold of my sword, ripping it free as I went.
I landed hard and rolled on the rough ground, grit scraping against my leathers, scoring the side of my cheek before I managed to stop my roll and scramble upright again.
My eyes widened at the sight of the huge bull which was racing for me, silver-pointed horns lowered in my direction, its body size rivalling that of the Dragon I was hunting.
I glanced at the thrashing creature I’d half decapitated which was fighting to get to its feet, the scent of its blood staining the air, but the bull wasn’t going for it the way it should have done.
This was the tactic we’d always employed in the wilds before now.
Down one beast and run while the rest feasted on it.
“For the love of the stars,” I cursed, abandoning the dagger which was still lodged in the eye of the dying creature and turning to run.
The wilds were barren and lifeless but there were plenty of rocks filling them here, some bigger than houses, the gaps between them narrow and twisting.
I sprinted for the closest gap between two smaller stones; not big enough to stop the creature which pursued me but enough to slow it down.
My boots slipped on the crumbling gravel between them, making my path harder but I couldn’t waste time cursing them.
I turned right, racing for the closest range of stone monoliths that were big enough to stop the beast if only I could find a path between them.
Magic burned in my chest but I ignored it, knowing I needed to save what little I had left unless I had absolutely no choice but to make use of it.
Yet, unlike most Fae, I had more than one form of magic available to me.
I tossed a look over my shoulder, cursing as I found the bull closing the distance between us far too swiftly. I turned the sword in my grip, swiping my fingers through the sticky blood which was smeared along it and sucking in a sharp breath as I submitted to the call of ether.
The potency I needed wasn’t there though. The blood I’d spilled wasn’t worth much in the grand scheme of everything, the beast I’d wounded not alive in a real enough way to offer me much power and not dead enough to be considered a true sacrifice.
Still, it was better than nothing.
I focused on my link to the creature, tugging on it, urging it to take chase and fall to my command. Any normal beast would have succumbed to the wounds I’d inflicted upon it already, but I felt the lurch of motion as the wild cat succumbed to my control over its blood.
My head spun with the effort of the blood magic, my heart hammering wildly in my chest as I forced my body on.
I couldn’t maintain my hold on the blood magic for much longer, but I urged the creature to lurch after me, drawing it closer, pumping its blood through its limbs.
As the big cat pounced, my connection to it shattered, the taste of blood coating my tongue for having pushed too far but it didn’t matter.
The bull bellowed as it was forced into battle with the other monstrous creation, and I wasted no time in racing on, putting more distance between myself and it.
The pillars of reddish stone which I’d been aiming for drew closer and I fixed my gaze on one of the smaller gaps between the biggest of the stones.
A howl sounded somewhere off to my right, movement pulling my attention to my periphery and I gritted my teeth as I found another beast closing in on me, this one a little smaller and more dog-like yet still lethal enough to make quick work of devouring me should it get the chance.
I couldn’t waste my energy on the creature, my time already running thin as I sprinted for cover. The scent of blood was thick in the air as the bull feasted on its kill. The other monsters would be drawn to it too. I just had to get out of sight. I only had to make it through that gap-
The bull bellowed, a braying moo breaking from it at a thunderous volume which set the air trembling around me. It wasn’t staying with the bait. And that meant I was fucked.
I threw a look over my shoulder as the sound of its pounding hoofbeats started up once more, the sight of its bloody jaw and horns sending a spike of dread through my flesh.
The beast which had been taking chase on my right turned sharply, its canine form retreating as it beat a path back to the corpse abandoned by the bull.
But it didn’t matter if every monster in this stretch of the wilds took to feasting because the biggest bastard of them all had fixed its attention on me.
Magic burned in my chest but I continued to fight the urge to use it. My reserves were low and I was going to need them when I caught up to the Dragon. Assuming I ever made it out of this death valley of course.
The bull charged but I was faster…just. I threw myself into the gap between the stone monoliths a heartbeat before the bull collided with them, its horns driving into the rock and making the whole thing shudder.
Dust and debris rained down on me as I sprinted deeper into the tightening space, the light dimming as the rocks closed in overhead.
I glanced back at the bull, my gaze locking with its piercing red eye as it turned its head so that it could glare in at me, steam billowing from flaring nostrils while its metal-clad hoof pawed at the dirt.
The crevice I’d taken refuge in continued to narrow ahead of me, no light glimmering to signal any likelihood of the gap opening up again further on.
I sheathed my sword with a curse, tilting my head back to assess the rocks either side of me before taking a running jump to my left and grabbing a protruding handhold to heave myself up.
The bull bellowed again, the stench of its hot breath clogging the air in my narrow point of refuge before it slammed its horns into the stone another time, pawing at the ground furiously, its ravenous gaze still locked on me.
I ignored the beast with a force of will, pretending I didn’t notice the repeated vibrations tremoring through the stone while I climbed it, signalling every impact of the beast’s horns.
I scaled the rock fast, heaving myself up ten, twenty, thirty feet before finally hauling my body on top of it and emerging into the wan sunlight once more.
The bull slammed its horns into the rock again, bellowing furiously while I stole a moment to take in my surroundings.
The magical barrier which stood in place along the boundary of Pyros’s lands was ahead of me, though I could discern no glimmer of torn magic to suggest where my Dragon might have broken through it nor could I easily spot any footprints from my vantage point to be certain I was still on the right trail.
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