Page 88 of Broken Shadows

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Lorcan

It’s too quiet.

My ears ring as I note the absence of sound, other than the ones created naturally by my body moving through the wood. This section of trees looks just like any other. Aside from the mild upward slope to the ground, it's impossible to tell one section of the woods from another.

I freeze as a dark, blurred shape, creeps over the leaf strewn ground.

I have had enough of these fucking trials.

Fuck me.

I take a step back, a fallen branch snapping under my heel, and the snake launches itself at me. A snarl tears from me as I kick out my foot and extend my claws, but it doesn’t veer from its path.

Fine, have it your way.

I slice my claws along its disgusting, scaled belly and breathe hard through my nose as I struggle to regulate my heartbeat.

Leaves crinkle and move as I rotate in a tight circle. No, those aren't leaves, they’re snakes, hundreds of them in all shapes and colors.

No. Absolutely not. This will not be how I go down.

I growl and rush the oncoming hoard, claw tipped hands swinging like a metronome of death. Vile black blood sprays into the air, drops of it sticking to my face. This is a fucking nightmare. I curse and continue cutting my way through the snakes, leaving a trail of their mutilated corpses in my wake.

Shit, I hope the snakes haven't found my witch too. I swear to fuck, if any of them bit her, I will commit far worse atrocities than murdering Samuel. No, I’ll keep him alive, drawing out his death for centuries and inventing new methods of torture.

Every.

Single.

Day.

There are no limits to my depraved creativity.

I fall back into the present and bare my teeth in a snarl as pain rips into my forearms, dark blue blood joining the gore already splattered all over me. Oxygen saws in and out of my lungs as I fight to control the panic seizing up my muscles.

Fuck. I can't afford to be distracted.

My feet run faster, Hell dirt flying out behind me with every step, and I’m still cutting down the slithering bastards blocking my way to freedom. A flood of relief washes over me as I spot clear ground beyond the line of snakes. I just have to make it, then I’ll find the others.

I cut through the last of the snakes and sprint up the boulder strewn slope, slamming my back against a wall of rock. My hips hinge and I plant my hands on my knees. It’s fine now. They're dead. I eviscerated them all. I slide my body sideways, keeping the rock at my back as I reassure myself.

My neck pops and I hiss as I dart a glance around the blind edge to my left. Thank fucking Satan. I exhale and drop my shoulders, darting into a shallow cave. My lips flatten into a straight line. Does this qualify as a cave? While the natural space has two sides and a roof of sorts, solid impenetrable rock fills almost all the space. This doesn’t make any fucking sense. The outer edge I crept along is far longer. Thisshouldbe a cave, but it isn’t. Fuck it, no time to dwell on that thought now.

I cannot fathom why my mind and body are reacting this way. It’s not as if I fear snakes… but there is something abnormal about them I cannot put a name to.

I flinch and bolt upright as something thumps to the ground not five feet in front of me. My eyes darts overhead and my blood freezes solid as wave after wave of snakes slither over the top edge of the cave’s entrance.

My heart seizes and my guts twist painfully, the overwhelming panic returning worse than before. Then I whisper a stream of nonsense under my breath, madness rising within me. “No! No, no, no, no!”

The snakes form a loose semicircle, trapping me inside the shallow cave. My hands shake as I grip the sides of my head. For a moment, I'm at a loss.

What the fuck do I do?

The snakes hiss in unison, then one darts forward, snapping its fangs onto the toe of my boot. My vision blackens at the edges as a growl rips free and I jerk my foot away from my body, hoping to dislodge the scaly fucker. But it clings on. I inhale as a single rational thought scrolls across my mind's eye like writing on a wall, and I temporarily forget all the other snakes awaiting their turn.

If its fangs are stuck, kill it while it’s incapacitated.

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