Page 20 of Gyft

A horrific howl sounds behind me and something ice-cold sluices through my back, reaching inside my flesh, feels around in there like it can touch my kidneys, my lungs, whatever it can grab. It squeezes, almost like it’s gripping my organs about to yank me back—

And then the world pops, like we’ve stepped into another reality. We’re in the forest—the living forest with giant trees, not the dead one with skeletal trunks—and the world where the air moves. The trees rustle; the color is different. Like shades have been lifted from my eyes and suddenly I see blues, reds, purples instead of black and white and gray.

There’s screaming up ahead as the farmer and his wife run to reach us, my bodyguard way ahead of them. The farmer grabs his kids first, then the wife does, and my bodyguard comes to my side.

“Brmph makaide marq? Abrre mishti mohay?”

“Whoa. Not sure if you know what happened just over there”—my finger shakes as I point toward where the invisible barrier to the Valley of Death lies— “but there are mud-monsters! And one wanted to eat the monster children! And one tried to eat me.” I turn around sohe can see where the creature grabbed me... which is still kind of numb, now that I think about it.

My bodyguard puts his hands on my shoulders, holding me still as he looks at my back and I hear his swift inhale of breath.

But when he turns me around, I see the farm-wife sobbing and touching the rope-like hair that used to match hers... and it’s completely white. On both of the kids.

“Huh? When did that happen?” I mutter.

I’m spun back around and before I can ask my guard, I’m locked into a bone-crushing hug. He’s babbling something, over and over, and rocking me. Aww. I guess the big guy is glad the mud-monster didn’t eat me.

“It’s okay. You won’t lose your job.” I try to console him, even though he can’t understand me. “It’s all good. You would have found me in time. Probably the kids would have been the appetizer and he wouldn’t have been able to eat me.”

Chapter Ten

GYFT:

SHE HAS NO idea what’s about to happen to her.

The middle of her back is slashed, right through the atrocious traveling gown that she wears. The scar looks aged and worn, but that’s because the skin wasn’t physically broken. It was invaded by a death keeper, its touch sinking in to feel for her soul. And cascading in the same direction as the monster’s touch, there is a streak of white that goes up to where her human freelig grows from the top of her head.

But she’s stuck staring at the twin souls, whosefreelighave turned white with the kiss of death. The idea of which makes me hug my bride to my chest again, trying to calm the pounding of my heart. The adrenaline racing down my limbs, the helplessness deep inside my soul. Does she realize how close she was to leaving this plane of existence?

“Whoa, big guy. I know you’re happy to see me... probably saves your job to bring me to Gyft in one piece, eh?”

“Gyft,” I murmur against top of her head. What is she going through that she can’t even remember my name? “It is me, poor baffled bride. It is your husband. I will care for your injuries, don’t you worry.”

In the kitchen this morning, I should have stopped my discussion with Minstrel and Monesse M’irshlak and figured out what it was Bride wanted. But they were apologizing for the slight toward my bride by their seedlings last night, and I didn’t want Bride to forgive the householdso easily. We need others to respect her. So instead, I shooed her off and she went to rescue the twin souls by herself.

By herself.

She could have been slaughtered so easily. She has no idea what creatures walk between this plane and the next, but she was fearless. It’s my job to protect her. To keep her safe.

I have never seen a braver soul. Not many would cross the deadland barrier, especially not for seedlings who behaved atrociously toward her. But my bride, brave and kind, rescued them despite gaining the marking from death.

I cup her delicate face between my palms. “I will fix you, my bride. No matter what happens now, I will stand by your side. In sickness and in health.”

A shudder runs through me. I could have lost her. This brave, remarkable creature.

“Hey, big guy, you okay?” Bride looks up at me with her dark green eyes, the color of the night sky, and I try to smile, showing fang in the process.

For once, she doesn’t balk.

And her arms are around my middle, she’s not pushing me away. My heart skips a beat. This shouldn’t feel so good but it does. I love the feel of her up against me.

The four of us make our way back to the farmhouse, the couple walking their twin souls between them and my bride with me, our arms around each other, my freelig spiked for protection, tail flicking the air to sense any danger.

As soon as we enter the front door of their home, Minstrel M’irshlak turns to us. “Please convey my deepest gratitude to your bride when she receives the language download. We are forever in her debt.”

I nod. “I will do so.”

With that, I bend and take the bride up into my arms. She giggles as I climb the stairs to our suite.

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