Page 34 of Wicked Prince of Shadows (Wicked Princes #2)

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Osric’s scream tore through me as his hand slid from mine. I lunged, fingers snaring around his wrist just as black vines coiled around his ankles and yanked him toward the gap in the outer wall.

“No!” My voice came out raw and feral. I dove for him, arms closing around his waist as more vines erupted from the rubble, thick as my arm and glistening with some dark secretion. They slithered higher, wrapping his legs, his hips, his torso.

“Sabine!” His terror cracked like glass. He clawed at the vines with bleeding fingers. “They’ve got me! They’re going to pull me into the chasm! Don’t let the monsters eat me!”

“I’ve got you!" Feet skidding on loose stone, I fought against the pull. I slammed my heels down, dragging him into my arms, wrapping myself around him tight.

“Vetle!” I screamed into the storm.

The wind shrieked back, howling through the ruined walls. Dust and grit lashed my face, burning my eyes.

Osric’s arms locked around my neck, crushing. “Don’t let go,” he sobbed. “Please, don’t let go!”

The eels dove at the vines, biting and snapping. But the vines didn’t respond; they just kept pulling.

I shook my head, gasping as the vines wrapped tighter around Osric but ignored me. The wind picked up suddenly, whipping dust and debris into a frenzy. It screamed through the broken walls, making my eyes burn. “Vetle!”

Osric struggled to scream and gasp as the vines wrapped up higher around him and dragged us forward, his panicked breaths rushing against my neck. The vines pulled harder, and the world tilted.

I hit the ground hard, pain lancing through my ribs as we were dragged across the broken terrain. I curled around Osric, shielding him with my body as stone tore into me.

"No! No, no, no!" I roared, legs kicking, scrabbling for purchase, for anything to slow us down and keep us from being dragged into the chasm. Nothing—just dust and debris.

We slammed through the outer wall’s gap, stone slicing across my shoulders. I twisted mid-drag, taking the impact across my spine to keep Osric safe. Blood ran hot down my back, the wrap ripping off and falling behind us.

The eels shrieked above us and dove. One wrapped around my ankle, struggling to anchor us. For a heartbeat, it almost held as the pressure and strain of the vines intensified as the eel’s smoky form solidified and clamped tighter on me. Osric grunted in pain, clutching onto me tighter. “I—I can’t.”

“It’s all right, sweetheart, it’s all right.” I tried to twist the vines free without letting him go, but they snapped tauter than ever. The eel slipped, losing its grip on the ground though maintaining its coil around me.

A scream tore out of me as we hurtled forward at a terrifying place, faster than I could ever hope to run, faster than the eels could fly. The eel at my ankle wrapped itself around me, its ethereal body cold and smoky but protecting me as I shielded Osric.

The world blurred into streaks of grey and white as we were dragged across the salt flats and toward the chasm. My arms ached from holding Osric, every muscle screaming in protest, but I couldn't let go. Wouldn't let go.

One of the eels wrapped tight around us both, its cold presence the only thing keeping us from being shredded against the jagged earth and small rocks jutting up from the ground. The other eels had fallen behind. But that was the only good news.

"Sabine!" Osric's voice cracked.

My entire body went rigid. There—up ahead—the chasm, that massive black wound in the earth, its depths swirling with shadow and hunger. Less than a hundred feet away.

The trio of tablets jutted up ahead and to our right, dust swirling around them. Large clumps of grey-and-black-leafed plants clustered in front of them.

All downhill now with nothing but dry earth and a few boulders between us and the abyss.

My cheek pressed against his white hair as I held him tight.

"I've got you," I gasped. "I've got you, sweetheart. I won't let go." I had to find something. We had a minute at most.

I hooked one arm around him tighter and reached with the other for the earth, groping for anything—a rock, a root, a miracle.

Jagged stone tore my fingertips open.

The flats gave way to rubble, bouncing us with sickening force. Each impact knocked the breath from my lungs. I gritted my teeth and curled tighter, my body screaming from the punishment.

"KRAK-KRAK-KRAK!"

My muscles locked into place. I looked up.

Deathbeaks. At least four of them, circling overhead like vultures. Their massive wingspans blotted out sections of the storm-dark sky, and their steel-grey beaks gleamed even in the dim light.

I stretched for another rock—useless. “Not now,” I breathed. “Please, not now.” The stone tore under my fingers. With a pained shriek, I curled back in tighter and tried once more to thrash.

The first deathbeak dove.

I barely had time to tuck Osric's head against my chest before the deathbeak struck. Its talons ripped into the vine in front of us. One strand snapped, and the deathbeak fell to the side, neck snapping and its body toppling.

The second deathbeak shrieked and dove at the vines as well, its massive beak snapping. Another vine severed, and our momentum slowed fractionally. But not enough. Not nearly enough.

The third went for my head. I flinched, and its talons raked past my face, slamming into the salt with a sickening crunch.

“Get away!” I screamed.

Osric sobbed into my shoulder, struggling to break free. "Sabine!" Osric sobbed against my chest. His voice dissolved into ragged sobs.

I clenched around him and tried again to slow our pace.

The ground fell away in front of us. The crumbling lip of the chasm loomed barely twenty feet ahead—sharp, jagged, and hungry. One more pull and we’d be gone.

CRACK.

A deathbeak landed hard on the vine coiled around Osric’s legs, its massive talons driving deep into the slick black vine. The vine tore and shriveled, then snarled around and snared the deathbeak, dragging it into the chasm with only one strand.

Another deathbeak crashed down beside it, wings flaring wide, beak snapping as it clawed into another strand. The pull on us slackened.

“Now!” I cried, uncoiling my arm from Osric. I yanked the loosened vines off his legs, my fingers trembling and shredded. “GO! Up the hill—run!”

I shoved him up toward the shallow slope of fractured earth leading away from the chasm before he could protest. His limbs scrambled for balance, hands scraping, feet sliding on grey earth and grit as he staggered forward.

Another vine lunged for his ankle—

I caught it mid-snap, slamming my elbow into it with a crunch. It recoiled.

Then fire exploded in my thigh.

I screamed and twisted back in time to see the deathbeak standing over me, its vicious beak puncturing my leg right above the knee joint like a steel spike.

My body arched as I struggled to hold myself up, blood spraying hot across the soil and rock.

The deathbeak shrieked again, beak yanking free with a sickening pop of torn flesh. Pain tore up my spine, dizzying and sharp, the sudden absence of pressure and openness almost worse than the actual blow.

The artery. Had it hit my artery?

I crawled forward, dragging my wounded leg behind me, arm outstretched toward the incline.

Osric turned halfway up, his face pale and wild. “Sabine—!”

“GO!” My hands clawed at the earth, nails breaking as I tried to drag myself free. It placed its taloned foot on my back, crushing me against the earth.

Minutes. I had minutes at most before I blacked out at best.

Black dots circled my vision, the pain coming in waves so strong I could barely breathe. My blood spilled out onto the parched earth, hot and gushing. Already my head spun.

Osric grabbed a rock and chucked it at the deathbeak, his back to the tablets.

I shook my head, blood filling my mouth. “Osric!” I croaked. “Get back to the palace. GO!”

"KRUKK!" The deathbeak leaned forward and tilted its armored head in front of me. It clattered its armored beak in warning as its talons pressed deeper into my flesh. “DHRRUUUMM-THA-KRAAAK-KRRRUUMMM—”

The deathbeak's shriek cut off mid-note, strangled into a wet gurgle.

A shadow slammed into it from above. The weight on my back vanished as the creature was torn away, hurled sideways across the salt flats. It tumbled twice before going still, its neck twisted at an unnatural angle. Two vines groped up, wrapped around the corpse, and dragged it in.

My head spun, another wave of nausea twisting through me. I didn’t even have the strength to push myself up.

Vetle landed between me and the chasm in a crouch, his skeletal wings flared wide, shadows pouring from him like smoke. "Sabine,” he rasped. He was at my side before I could blink, dropping to his knees. His hands hovered over me, trembling. "Don't move. Don't fade."

“Osric—” I tried to speak, but my mouth filled with blood. I choked. The world tilted sideways, grey earth and dark sky blending together.

"He’s safe. My guard is here too. You focus on breathing. Stay with me." His command was steel wrapped in terror. "Look at me. Sabine, look at me."

I tried. My vision swam, his face blurring into streaks of grey and shadow. Behind him, the storm-dark sky churned, lightning forking through the clouds in jagged white veins.

The thunder of wings filled the air—heavy, powerful beats that sent dust swirling around us.

I turned my head just enough to see them: a dozen winged guards descending in formation, their dark wings cutting through the ash-grey sky.

They landed in a protective circle around us, weapons drawn, eyes scanning for threats.

"Fahlda!" Osric's voice pierced through the haze. His feet pounded across the earth as he skidded to a stop beside us.

I gasped, each breath a knife in my lungs. The cold spread through my thigh, numbing and sharp at the same time. My teeth chattered so hard I thought they'd crack.

"Osric, stay back—" Vetle started.