Page 11 of The Tracker's Dawn: Sunderverse

CHAPTER 4

“Oi!” The Fae guardyelled, swiftly nocking an arrow and shooting it down at the wolf.

Jake’s leap took him as high as the middle of the wall. He hit it with his front paws, then bounced back just in time to avoid the arrow.

I cried out a warning, my heart jumping into my throat. “What are you doing?!” I demanded. “You’re going to get yourself killed, you idiot.”

Another arrow flew in his direction as he flipped in midair and hit the ground. It whizzed by his tail, shaving a few hairs off.

“Don’t shoot him, please,” I begged. “He means no harm.”

This time one of the arrows came at me, missing my head by a mere inch as I ducked out of the way.

“Dammit, Jake!” I ran to the left and hid behind a sparse bush that offered little protection.

The hubbub quickly attracted more guards, who came running along the parapet with their arrows nocked and ready to shoot. Jake, for his part, was running in crazy eight shapes, weaving in and out of the way of the many projectiles that started raining down.

The guards shouted at each other in their language. I had no idea what they were saying, but I was sure more than one had cursed Jake’s mother and all his descendants.

“Jake, stop!” I cried out, unable to see the point of all this nonsense.

Just as I said this, he leaped out of the way of one arrow but fell limp to the ground as another one struck him.

“No!” I ran from behind the bush, waving my arms. “Peace, peace!” I demanded. The arrows stopped, I knelt at his side. “Jake!”

An arrow was stuck to his side. My hands hovered over it as I tried to decide what to do. I searched for a wound, for blood, but there was nothing.

“I’m fine, Toni,”his voice broke into my thoughts.

He opened one silver eye and winked at me.

What the hell?

On closer inspection, I could see that the arrow was tucked in between Jake's side and the top of his front leg, where he was squeezing it in place.

“Make a scene,”Jake spoke inside my head again.

I didn’t see how making a scene could help, but at this point, I guessed we had to see where this craziness would lead. Most likely to the dungeon somewhere, but he had gotten this ball rolling, and I had no choice but to play along.

Squeezing my eyes together and scrunching up my face, I did my best to muster tears and began fake-wailing.

“Oh, what have you done? You killed him. You awful, awful people.” I leaned forward and pressed my forehead to his fur. “Oh, Jake. What am I going to do without you?”

Exaggerated sobs racked my body. A few reluctant tears made it out of my mostly dry eyes. I blubbered for several seconds until I heard the rustling of plants behind me. Pulling away from Jake, I blinked at the top of the wall and found several of the guards lithely climbing down the vines. They all wore tunics with the royal seal on their chests. Bows and arrows still in hand, they stared at us with distrust.

“Look what you’ve done,” I wailed at the top of my lungs. “You killed my mate. He was only playing. He wasn’t going to hurt anyone.” I beat my chest, working up a few more tears.

“Wow, I didn’t know you had acting in your veins,”Jake spoke inside my head.

I almost busted out laughing and disguised the impulse with another huge sob.

Rushed steps sounded to the side. I glanced over as a group of about ten guards approached from an adjacent street. I blinked up at them, searching each face, hoping to see Prince Kalyll among them, but to my dismay, he wasn’t there.

There was another face I recognized, however.

Swatting the tears off my face, I jumped to my feet. “I know you!” I pointed at a female with blond hair and green, feline-looking eyes. “And you,” I pointed at another one that looked like her doppelgänger. I had met them the first time I’d been here with Damien. They were the guards who ambushed us as we rode Glimlock’s ponies in search of Prince Kalyll. They shrank as all the other guards turned to look at them.