Page 71
Clarissa
I went ten hours before catching a single sign of the blood stag.
But then, I found tracks.
At the base of an enormous tree several miles from where I started were two faded hoof marks in the clumpy, wet dirt. I followed them through the underbrush until they disappeared into a thin flow of water in between bushes.
With a groan, I leaned against a nearby tree and took out a piece of dried meat from my rucksack, allowing myself a small capful of water. The sun was beginning to set behind me, highlighting the upcoming mountains in a dark golden glow.
I’d need to find shelter for the night soon. Without my ability to see in the dark, I’d be useless in the next hour or so.
As the sun continued its descent and the stars winked into existence, so did the evening creatures of the island.
The cheerful swishing of animals through the leaves became more sinister in the fading light.
Each snap of a twig made my muscles jolt; each brush of some unidentifiable object made me suck in a breath.
My fox would be laughing at me right now. Half of me was nocturnal, and here I was, afraid of the dark.
Or what could be hidden in the dark .
The wind carried whispers of rustling leaves and trickling water. The sound morphed as it flowed around my ears, a faint, breathy chant echoing in my mind.
Bring us blood.
Bring us blood.
Bring us blood.
A disembodied howl ripped through the air.
I jumped back, and my heel caught the end of a log. My ankle buckled, sending me to the damp ground. A grunt of pain escaped me as I tried to calm my racing heart. I reached out to grip the edge of the log and haul myself forward when my fingers closed around smooth, wet scales.
A snake darted away from my touch. I scrambled backward on my hands, letting out a string of curses.
It wasn’t alone.
At the base of the log swarmed a nest of snakes, their tan and dark brown speckled scales gliding over one another, squirming in unrest. I froze, still leaning on the palms of my hands as my eyes darted across the scene.
Letting out a breath, I leaned forward with painstaking slowness to crouch on my heels. When the snakes stayed in their nest, I rose and took a single step back.
Then another.
And another.
The adrenaline racing through my veins evened out as I put several feet of distance between us. My eyes shut in relief when I felt for both my packs and the arrow, finding them all intact.
Something brushed against my knee.
I opened my eyes and glanced down to see a brown, scaled tail winding up my thigh.
Before I could blink, the snake lunged.
Sharp fangs sank into my neck. An ear-splitting scream flew from my lips as I wrenched it off my body by the head, but its lower half was still wrapped around my leg. It thrashed and writhed, coiling even tighter in defense, and my thigh throbbed with loss of circulation.
With a shaking hand, I yanked a dagger free from its sheath and plunged it through the snake’s neck. Its body went limp. I flung the head as far from me as I could, and with a frightened sob, I unwound its lower half from my leg and kicked it aside.
Blood trickled from my wound and darkened the front of my leathers. I lifted a hand to my neck, pulling back fingers coated in blood.
My breaths came out in short spurts. I had no clue what kind of snake it was—what kinds of snakes even inhabited this foreign island. Was it poisonous? Had it nicked something vital? How deep had it bitten?
The sun had completely vanished. Moonlight filtered in overhead, giving barely enough light for me to see the trees in front of me. I turned, searching for any sort of shelter to stop for the night.
To my right was a slow stream, its water lapping gently as it flowed toward the coast.
Up ahead was the shadowed outline of the mountain range.
To my left was a pair of bright yellow eyes.
I screamed and launched myself backward, only to realize it was an owl resting on a low branch.
Gazing up at the tree, I saw several nearby branches and one thick, sturdy one several yards above my head.
My limbs were shaking, but I gripped the first branch as tightly as I could and pulled myself up.
I took it one branch at a time until I reached the largest one, then dragged my legs over the curve of the rough bark.
I was panting by the time I straightened my back against the thick trunk. Either I was woefully out of shape, or that snake bite was getting to me.
I gingerly felt for the two small holes in my neck, wincing at the stab of pain that shot through me. The wound had begun to clot at least, which I told myself was a good sign.
Taking the rope from my bag, I tied myself to the branch so I wouldn’t slip off in the middle of the night, then tugged my weapons close to my chest.
Exhaustion and adrenaline warred inside every crevice of my body, making my head swim and throb. Pain pulsed from my neck with each heartbeat.
I hope I’m not dead by morning .
With that bright thought, my exhaustion won out, and I slipped into a restless sleep.
Well, I was still alive.
But when my eyes opened to the balmy island morning, my entire body was racked with shivers. A sweat had broken out on my forehead, and my temples, chest, and neck pounded like someone was hitting them with a boulder.
I winced as I turned my neck to undo the rope around my waist. When I reached up to feel the snake bite, raised, bumpy flesh met my fingertips. I pulled them back and grimaced at the pus and dried blood.
A wave of nausea hit me. I swallowed hard, shoving back the fear and panic that threatened to overwhelm me.
I probably had a fever, but I could still move.
I definitely had an infection, but if I could get back to the Base within the next few hours, a healer could help.
The sun was rising from the east, so I made my way down the tree with my supplies and faced west, back toward the waterfall I was dropped off at.
With each passing step, sweat dripped from my neck and head, the sunlight searing my eyes while chills continued to travel down my back.
After a few minutes, my legs were trembling so badly, I had to use a broken branch as a walking stick.
“I hate this island,” I muttered in an effort to distract myself from my hazy vision. “And I hate snakes.” I kicked aside a large rock.
My mind wandered to the story Thorne had told me about his father feeding his rabbit to the snake. Thinking about him helped to keep me from spiraling. He grounded me, even when he wasn’t here.
I thought back to that night in the hedge maze. I’d barely known him and had no reason to trust him. But he’d trusted me. He went against his king’s wishes to tell me about the curse. He knew I deserved more than to be left with half-truths, something I wasn’t sure I ever truly thanked him for.
He saw my panic attacks. He saw the side of me others ran from in disgust. He saw my uncertainty when all I gave others was their idea of perfection. He saw my anger, my fear, my clumsiness, my desires, my pain…even when I tried to force him to stop.
He had always seen me.
Without even knowing, without trying , he’d helped me stop fighting the idea of needing someone. Of leaning on them. I’d always thought that to be a good leader—a powerful woman—I couldn’t show vulnerability.
He was right—that wasn’t true at all. My emotions weren’t a weakness.
I hated it when he was right. I hated that I couldn’t stop thinking about him.
And I hated that I had to leave him.
I let out a sigh, blinking hard against the sun as I made my way through the jungle.
“This is why we don’t talk to handsome men”—I swiped a vine away from my face—“with handsome hair”—I kicked a rock out of the path—“and handsome teeth.” I stomped through the thick grass and leaves, ignoring the dull ache in my neck and the way the ground swayed before me.
“It doesn’t matter if I’m in love with him, I have to?—”
I stopped in my tracks.
Oh, Fates.
I was in love with him.
A twig snapped behind me.
I whirled around, but there was nothing there. The bushes to the right rustled as the sound of steps padding against dirt reached my ears.
“I don’t have time for this,” I mumbled, cupping my hand around my neck to feel pus slowly oozing from the wound. I gripped my dagger in my other hand. “If you want to be the first thing to try and kill me this morning, come on out,” I called.
The jungle stilled, with nothing but the sound of my ragged breaths to break the silence.
When nothing moved, I took a step forward.
A blade swished through the trees, narrowly avoiding my left ear.
“You missed,” I shouted, then grabbed the other blade at my thigh.
A masked figure in all black came lunging from the bush. I staggered out of the way before they could crash into me, the sudden movement making my stomach lurch.
Fight it. You have to fight it, Rissa , I screamed at myself, willing my muscles to work. Adrenaline kicked in and fought against the sluggish fever, but my motions were still choppy.
My assailant came at me again with another knife.
They threw a punch at my head with one hand and swiped at my waist with the other.
I ducked and blocked their arm, slicing a thin line at their wrist with one of my twin daggers.
They let out a low hiss and snatched their hand back.
I aimed a kick at their stomach, but my balance was so off that I barely nicked their side.
With a grunt, they grabbed my extended foot and yanked me forward until I was sprawled on my stomach in the dirt.
The force rocked a gasp from me. Get up!
I ordered myself, blinking away the fog from my mind.
I quickly flipped onto my back as my attacker jumped on top of me, straddling my waist. They wrapped their hands around my throat, and I let out a strangled cry at the pain that reverberated from my wound.
From this close, I could tell it was a man. While the rest of his face was hidden by the mask, gray-blue eyes stared down at me from beneath bushy brows. They narrowed as he pushed harder, causing my vision to go in and out of focus.
I thrashed against his hold and brought my knees up to shove into his back, but that only made him press his fingers deeper into my neck. Searing pain shot through my chest when I tried to draw a breath. My shouts came in croaked bursts as the fight swiftly faded from my limbs.
I should be wondering how the assassin got here when we’d been so careful. I should be thinking through his motives and his weak points, searching for clues on how to read him.
But all I could think about was how tired I was. How every part of me begged to rest.
And of course, I thought about Thorne. Always him .
How I’d never get to see him again. How I’d never get to tell him I loved him.
Not that it made any difference in the end, but still…
he deserved to know. He deserved to know he was more than enough, and he didn’t have to live in the shadow his father cast over him.
Fight for me, Empress .
His voice wafted through my mind, caressing me, filling the painful spaces that hurt too much to lift on my own.
Come back to me .
I let out a whimper and flexed my outstretched hand. My fingers dug into the dirt at my side. As the man leaned in closer, I wrenched my arm up and threw a handful of sand into his eyes.
He fell backward with a howl. I sucked in as much air as I could, tears stinging my eyes and lungs burning in my chest. Wiggling out from beneath him, I snatched his dagger along with mine and kicked him in the head, sending him to his back.
My vision swam as I tried to right myself and took off in the opposite direction.
Find the waterfall. Find the waterfall. I could hardly keep one foot in front of the other, but I thought I was heading west. Just keep going . He had to have gotten here somehow. Maybe he’d left a horse somewhere nearby I could use.
I tripped over a log and caught myself before bashing my head on a rock. I wiped away the hair from my face with shaking, sweaty hands.
Focus. You’re not dying. You’re just tired .
Sure, Rissa. Let’s go with that.
Fates, now I was talking to myself.
Footsteps sounded behind me. I let out a weak growl and cursed myself for not killing the bastard.
The man let out a sharp cry.
With a wince, I craned my neck back to find him. This time when I stumbled, I fell straight to my knees.
I saw death.
Rotted, blackened death. And it was moving. Just like the hill in the Mid Territory.
The curse crawled like a slow tide across the jungle floor. The once vibrant, green, leafy trees that hovered above me were now sucked into its path, instantly rotting before my eyes. Black rot overtook the trunks from the roots upward, as if someone were twisting their branches into gnarled lumps.
Small streams dried up, birds and snakes and other animals fell dead from the branches, and green grass crumpled to dirt. The magic pulsing from its depths was a hundred times stronger than the rotted fields and rivers I’d healed before.
It was still many yards behind me, but my attacker was mere feet from its edge.
“Help me!” the man pleaded, eyes locked on me. He pumped his legs and stretched out his hand, his arm straining for rescue.
It was too late.
The black edge of the curse brushed against his heel, and in a single breath, his body went still.
He crashed to the ground as the rot spread from his ankles to his head.
The small space of skin around his eyes was the only thing I could see before it went ashen, pieces of him flaking off and drifting in the wind.
I blinked back my disgust and took a few unsteady steps forward until my hands crossed over the curse. My magic swept through my body, filling me with relief and strength as it immediately worked to fight against the poison.
I expected the edges of the curse to stop, to disappear and heal as it had back in the Mid Territory.
But…it wasn’t stopping.
It was slow, but still, it kept moving past me, covering anything in its path and killing it instantly.
Fear barreled into me, mixing with my flood of magic. I had to get back to the village. I had to warn the others.
If we couldn’t stop it, it was going to take over the entire island.
I squared my shoulders and shifted.
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