Page 45 of The Nightmare Queen

“But she's going to do it anyways.” I finish for him. “Eveera. Next time, include me on your fucking one whim plans. Don’t do anythingelsestupid. We need you.Ineed you.”The last part may have been a bit too much, but it’s the truth. Without her, her armies won’t answer to anyone else, and if her men lose her they'll cease to assist us. They made that very clear.

It’s been an hour with the eight of us staring at the edge of Hadar’s Guards encampment. We watched as she succeeded in flagging someone down but we haven’t had eyes on her since. I keep trying to get her attention down the seal but no response. “I’m going in there - Will get me my horse.”

“Absolutely not!” He shakes his head at me in disbelief. “Their queen and her stupid choice,theycan go after her.” He points to the line of her men, all standing with their arms folded across their chests and gazes still trained on the spot where she disappeared.

I glower at him, “I said get me my horse Will.” He’s ready to argue with me but Orem’s frantic pointing steals away my attention. Across the field where their camp should be is a large tangled mess of black tendrils; moving not unlike a pit of serpents coiling around its prey.

“Eveera? Are you okay?”Nothing but silence meets me.“Eveera?"

“Don’t worry princeling, everything is just dandy.”My shoulders relax slightly when her little form steps out from the sea of her slithering black magic with something gripped in her hands.

“ROR!” Bennett calls from behind me. I look back at him and see my horse’s reins in his hand.Well at least someone listened when I asked for my horse,I gripe to myself while tearing the reins from him and hoisting myself up on the animal as fast as I can. I spur my horse on into a full sprint out towards where she is.

By the time I get close to her, I notice her magic flowing back into her skin. “Can your horse run any faster than that?” Her voice echoes in my mind.

“Why?”I ask, signaling to my horse to increase in speed again.

“There were a lot of people and I may have pissed a few off.”

I roll my eyes.“So what are you saying?”

“That if we don’t move quickly—” GROAAANNNNN!!A loud and thunderous noise rumbles through the field. My head follows to what the sound was and that’s when I notice not one but three large apparatuses housing equally large spears.Apparently not everyone suffered the full brunt of her magic.

“ARE THOSE FUCKING BALLISTAS?”I scream down the seal.

She nods frantically catching up to where I’ve stopped my horse.“It would appear that way, yes. So does this horse go fast or…”She asks again. Our hands clasp together so that I can hoist her up. Much to my chagrin the close proximity has brought into view the odd object she brought back with her.

“Is that another head?!”I shout over the sound of the wind.

“General Thornbirk’s.”She leans down, throwing it into the saddle pack. The head makes a sickening wet noise when it lands.What is it with her and heads?

BAM!One of those spears embeds itself into the dirt a little too close for comfort as I jerk my horses reins to pull us out of the way.

“You going to shrink that one too?” I snap. She rolls her eyes while twisting around on the saddle. The new position makes it so that we’re chest to chest, legs straddling on top of mine. “Could you please stop wiggling?” In a few minutes if she keeps up this friction, dying isn’t going to be my only problem.

“Excuse me for trying to get into the best position here to handle this.” She grunts, wiggling her hips again, her thighs tightening around me. The scent of her is all consuming as the wind whips around us. My right hand secures against her, closing any gaps that are allowing her wiggle room.

“This is not my best position, Highness.”I snark.

Her hand connects with the back of my head.THWUMP! "You focus on riding,I’ll take care of loose ends. Unless you prefer to become fertilizer for this field?”The force of her Wield flows from her body and through where we’re connected. The Wield seeks out any vulnerable mark. In this case, thankfully, those marks are the men in charge of weapons set on annihilating us.

WHAM!Dust and dirt kick up, I look to the side to see a sinkhole forming with a circular boulder at the center. “That’s not the work of a ballista.”

“No it’s not. I don’t know what the fuck that’s from.” She grits out.

The moment we arebarelysafe and sound back behind our own lines she untangles herself from me.

“Don’t forget your friend.” I grumble down at her. Her eyes light up at the reminder as she turns back around. “Your eyesshouldn’t do that when you’re thinking of someone’s head you just decapitated.”The words come out in a snap and per usual she ignores me and snatches the whole pack off the saddle. Though, I don’t think I’ll be wanting it back afterwards anyways. She saunters right past her men heading for the tent we met my captains in earlier.

There is an air of uneasiness and tension circulating around her, the feeling worsening when she chucks the pack onto the briefing table. The general’s head rolls out, face up and eyes open wide. A gagging noise sounds from the corner, familiar enough to me that I know it’s Will who has broken the tension. He struggles to compose himself as he asks, “what in the gods isthat?”

"Whois that, is the better question." Bennett adds, his jaw dropped in shock.

Eveera gives them both an annoyed look while flicking her hand towards the remains. "It’s obviously a head.”A head indeed.

“Seriously? Another one?” Will whines.

Bennett looks at me from across the room, mouthing, “another?” I dismiss him, thinking that now’s probably not the best time to let them know our supposed savior shrunk a fellow comrade’s head down into a decorative saddle ornament.

---