Page 10 of The Gods We Defy (All Gods Must Die #2)
CHAPTER 10
S lowly turning, my eyes meet with a pair of narrowed, onyx orbs, lit with an eerie green glow. The beast has a long, snarling jaw, revealing a set of savagely sharp white teeth and a hulking body at least twice my size. And with only a few feet between us, I can tell its coat is not soft like the beasts I’m used to, but sharp and thin, like pointed black blades. Green smoke curls out from its body, shifting and swirling with its every breath.
I take a small, measured step to the side while holding eye contact, hoping I can draw the beast away from the girl, but it growls in warning, its glowing eyes daring me to run.
“Shit,” a small voice says from behind me.
I peek over my shoulder to find the girl sitting up; her horrified gaze finding the beast a few feet in front of us. She glances up at me out of the corner of her eye, not risking turning her head from the beast. “Thank you,” she says softly under her breath. “I know you must have saved me.”
“Don’t thank me yet. We still have to make it past this beast and back to the main building before dawn,” I remind her, while trying to figure out how I can get both of us out of here alive.
“You’re a Sidus?” I ask her, remembering the other chosen mentioned me being another weak Sidus.
“Yes,” she whispers. “You?”
I nod my head but keep my eyes on the beast as its green flames grow higher over its body.
“If we can distract it long enough for me to get around it, I might be able to injure it enough to get away,” I tell her, hoping it's true.
Her eyes widen. “I’m not a good fighter, so I guess it’s our best option.” She swallows hard and slowly gets to her feet.
We move slowly and steadily in opposite directions. When the beast starts to follow her, I bring its attention back to me and when it focuses on me, she does the same, drawing its attention back to her.
Without warning, it rushes her, faster than anything I’ve seen before. The girl quickly forms a Sidus net in front of her, trying to block its attack. Realizing I won’t make it, I reach out and weave a net to join hers blocking the beast or at least slowing it down until I get closer. It rushes through the net as if it’s nothing but air and slashes its mighty claws across her chest. With the force of the hit, she’s shoved back several feet.
I raise my sword and throw it with as much force as I can toward the beast. Its head whips around and it disappears into a puff of green smoke.
The sword slams into a tree and I glance around for where the beast went.
“Indira!” someone shouts before sprinting through the forest towards us. I move in front of the Sidus girl just as dark shadows form in front of us and another masked Caligo with a silver mask and leaf design steps out.
“Yasmin?” the Sidus girl, who must be Indira, says weakly from behind me. “I’m okay,” she rasps, trying to get up but struggling to do so. I turn to move to help her when the girl, Yasmin, growls at me.
“Don’t go near her,” she warns.
“It’s okay,” Indira replies. “She won’t hurt us.”
Yasmin moves around me, her ice-blue eyes narrowed, her body tense as she heads straight to Indira. I step away from them and toward the tree to get my sword while scanning for the beast. When I turn back Yasmin has Indira in her arms and is using her cloak to stop the bleeding across her stomach.
“Where’s your mask?” she asks her.
“Long story. But quick version. She saved me. I owe her one.” Indira glances at me with a pain smiled, her eyes softer now.
“Saved you?” Yasmin looks down at the slash of claws across her stomach with wide eyes. Indira waves her hand at her. “Before this. The ice… Let’s just say I’m not cut out for this and leave it at that.” Indira’s eyes grow sad as she stares up at Yasmin. “I don’t think I’m going to make it through this, Yasmin.”
Yasmin narrows her eyes. “Don’t start.”
Indira frowns. “This isn’t even a trial. This is a stupid game those fae have created. How am I supposed to make it through the trials when I can’t even make it through the first purge?”
“We’ll figure it out,” she tells her, her voice insistent.
“But Yasmin?—”
“ No buts. We’ll make it through this together,” she promises.
An eerie feeling washes over me as I continue to scan the area for the beast.
“You should get her out of here,” I tell Yasmin. “She needs to see a healer, and soon.”
I turn as Indira’s hazel eyes veer over to me.
“No… We can’t leave… you,” she says but her voice slurs and her eyelids droop, as if she can’t help it.
Yasmin frowns down at her. “I can’t shadow two people, Indira. You know that.”
“I can take care of myself. Go. Now,” I tell them. Yasmin looks at me, losing some of the sharpness from her eyes. “Indira is like a sister to me. You saved her life and for that I am grateful. But if you disclose her identity to anyone or tell them she was without her mask, I will make you regret it.” She peers down at Indira with worry in her eyes.
A smile tugs at the corner of my lips upon hearing the vicious, sharp tone of her voice.
With a friend like her, I’m sure Indira will be fine.
I dip my head and shadows form around them both, but before they disappear, she looks over at me.
“There’re half a dozen chosen near the edge of the forest, blocking your path out of here. Look along the tree line and rocks. That’s where they will be hiding. I’ll take out who I can on my way. Good luck,” she says before disappearing into a world of dark smoke.
With my sword in hand, I turn and look for the beast, only to find the two chosen I knocked out earlier have awoken and are glaring at me as they get to their feet.
Just as they make a move toward me, the beast appears between us, its mouth dripping with blood, back from a kill.
An icy shiver rolls down my spine as it stares at me. It raises a massive paw to take a step forward when it catches a scent, its nose twitching. The beast pauses for a moment before it whips around to the female Caligo I injured. Her eyes widen in fear as the beast zeros in on her and starts prowling towards her instead.
I take a step to the side and when it doesn’t notice, I take another and another until I’m running as fast as I can in the opposite direction, deeper into the forest.
The surrounding air changes, becoming wilder and opening up around me. I realize I must be coming to the edge of the forest. Hopefully I’ll be able to figure out a way back from here. I just have to get far enough away from the beast that it no longer scents my blood.
Holding onto the sliver of hope of escaping this twisted game, I push my legs harder, running faster than I was a moment ago. But as soon as the exit of the forest is revealed my eyes widen and I slam to a stop.
Any hope I had for an early escape plummets as my knees hit the ground, my breathing heavy as I glance around.
It’s a cliff.
Damn it. Of course it is. They built the entire training building and town into the mountain itself.
Not willing to give up just yet, I search for another way around.
On shaky legs, I stand and inch closer to the edge, peering over. I shrink back when I see the jagged, rocky end I’d meet if I fell. There is no way to climb down, the cliff-side is too steep. Further investigation reveals no other way out.
I will have to go back through the forest.
Lost in thought, trying to come up with a plan, I’m jolted by a deep rumbling growl and I freeze. My body tenses as I lock eyes with the beast who has caught up with me.
My eyes instinctively flicker to the line of large trees behind it. If I can make it past, I can climb one and hope it will get bored with me long enough for me to come up with another plan to escape it.
Getting into position and bending low, I ready myself to dart sideways. My movement immediately elicits a ferocious growl from the beast, but I continue to make my move as the beast charges me.
When it’s close, I dart in the opposite direction and because it lunged forward with power, the beast must slam to a stop before turning back for me. It buys me enough time to get to a tree with large enough branches to climb.
Just as I find leverage and start to climb, something slams into me from behind, the impact forcing me back to the ground.
Rolling on impact, I stop myself and push up to my feet, ignoring the sharp pain in my side, but that’s when I feel it move closer.
I don’t get the chance to turn around before a scream rips from my throat when its sharp teeth clamp down on my left shoulder. A stabbing pain that is a searing pit of flames blazes through each sharp puncture.
Biting back another scream, I clench my fist with my right hand and use it to punch hard, swift jabs into its side to get it to release its painful grip. But it doesn’t let up or disengage its jaw, instead it clamps down harder, making me gasp in pain.
The agony that rushes up and down my left arm and across my shoulder chokes me, stealing my breath.
My legs shake and dark spots fill my vision with a whimper. The beast freezes as it hears something. Another moment of agony passes before it slowly unlatches its jaw from my shoulder and takes a cautious step back.
The cool night air stings the wound in my shoulder and the black spots in my vision multiply as my body sways.
I swallow back the bile and try to focus when a large figure moves into my line of sight and slams into the beast.
When the dark spots clear from my vision, I spot another beast—this one smaller—roll the larger beast onto its back before aggressively slashing at it.
Using the distraction to my advantage, I force my body to move and inch past them, trying to stay as silent as possible. But the beast that attacked me manages to get out from under the smaller one, and its focus locks on me once again.
Before I can think, the smaller beast lunges and latches onto its neck, snapping it and killing it instantly. A moment of relief fills me before I realize the new beast is now moving toward me, not stopping until it’s right in front of me.
I try to bring my Sidus light to the surface, but I’m so weak it just drains me further, forcing me to my knees.
The beast moves around me, sniffing, and I freeze, thinking it’s about to finish the job the other one started. But all it does is nudge my side with its nose and growl as though telling me to get moving.
My eyes find the beast’s and I wait a moment, wondering if I’m delirious from the bite. But it doesn’t move. It just waits and after a moment it gives me another nudge, a little gentler this time.
Shaking off my shock, I use my good arm and push to my feet, waiting a moment for the nausea and swaying to pass.
My left arm hangs limp by my side. The pull of gravity dragging it to the ground is a painful reminder of how easily I was taken down. I swallow hard and look away from the mangled mess of it before reaching out with my other trembling hand to put some pressure on the deepest part of the wound.
I stop for a moment, waiting for the dizziness to pass, but it earns me a warning growl that gets me moving once more. I feel the beast behind me, its eerie presence stalking my every move.
Slow, measured steps lead me forward, my entire focus on the searing burn that works its way through my shoulder and arm.
Before I realize it, we reach the clearing where we all entered with Vidarr.
The beast steps forward and sniffs my arm. I hold still and wait, hoping it hasn’t decided to kill me after all.
Warm wetness slides over my wound. Once and twice, making me wince. And then the beast dips his head to mine before turning and disappearing into the forest.
The warmth in my shoulder grows, filling it until I watch on in awe as the wound closes over and heals completely, leaving nothing but dried blood behind.
Rotating my shoulder, I test its movement but only feel a twinge of pain.
The beast healed me. But not only did it heal me, I’m slowly feeling energized, too.
I shake my head in shock at my good fortune before my gaze finds the edge of the courtyard and narrows in on my fellow chosen.
There are two pacing back and forth, guarding, ensuring none of us passes the threshold before dawn. But I am no longer playing their games.
One is farther in, hidden closer to the rocky entrance while another hides among the small snow hills and bushes.
Glancing around, my eyes fall on a pool of blood in the snow. I make my way closer and find a man lying face first in the bloody snow with three large claw marks down his back.
This could have been me. An icy shiver runs down my back at the thought. I close his eyes and wish him a safe passage home before bending forward and taking his sword.
Glancing down at the sword in my hand, a small smile tilts my lips.
Looks like I am going hunting.
Gathering some sticks and rocks, I walk along the tree line and move as close as I can to the other chosen before calling on my Sidus light and creating a slingshot.
Placing the rock in it, I use my Sidus string as a springy rope and aim at the male near the snow-covered bush.
It hits him in the back, making him whip around. He darts into the trees, his eyes narrowed, sword in hand.
I step back into the shadows and wait for him to come closer. As soon as he passes my tree, I push my strings of light around him, wrapping him up before hitting him in the back of the head with the hilt of my blade, knocking him out.
I aim next for the two nearest the courtyard and once my rocks gain their attention with a hit to the head, they both move forward with purpose toward the forest.
The male with a black and silver mask reaches me first. I stay hidden behind the tree and twist my blade. As soon as he’s close enough, I throw another stone in the opposite direction. When he whips around, I slam the hilt of my blade into the back of his head. He crumples to the ground just as the second chosen reaches me.
Energy slams into my body, forcing me back. Fae.
Catching my breath, I scramble to my feet and push my Sidus light out toward him.
When he raises his arms to block the light, I grab my sword from the ground and stab him in the shoulder. He barely releases a gasp before I punch him directly in the face, knocking him out.
Sliding my sword from his shoulder, I let him slump to the ground before returning to the courtyard.
Instead of luring the last one over to me, I move as stealthily as possible and sneak up on him. Once his back is turned, I rush forward and use a heavy rock to knock him out.
I glance around to make sure no one else is around before dragging his body behind the nearest bush to conceal him.
Keeping my guard up and eyes open, I slip back through the courtyard and up into the building.
Relief doesn’t hit me until I’m back in my room, collapsing with exhaustion straight onto my bed.