Page 59 of The Devil In Blue
I hoisted my skirts off the floor and I sprinted up the steps, dizzy with emotions. When I came to the foyer, I ran for the heavy doors and gripped the thick handle.
“Do not go outside like this,” Rune demanded. “Briar.”
Vision blurred behind tears, I hauled the door open a crack and squeezed through to the outside. Where I was going, I didn’t know. All I knew was that I needed to leave. I needed to get away and free myself from the cage. All of the cages.
The moment my feet hit the cobblestone, the chill of the outside devoured me. I didn’t care. I retreated down the path, through a vast garden, past the maze entrance, and into the darkness. I didn’t know how far the darkness went, but I was certain it wasn’t far enough.
The cobblestone disappeared and my bare feet hit damp soil. Moss. Sticks and dried leaves. Black trees came into view and I ran straight toward them, careless of the increasingly cold air. I was breathing heavily. So heavy that my head was spinning. I felt nausea bubbling in my stomach and swallowed it down. I wouldnotlet Father Eli’s death make me sick.
But maybe it wasn’t the burnt flesh and blood that made me ill. It was all the things he said. All the things I already knew and foolishly denied.
Stupid girl. Stupid, stupid girl.
Something was behind me. Heavy footfalls quickly rose up in my wake followed by the eerie, growling breath of something in pursuit. The demon of my insanity perhaps… or something else. I didn’t care. It could eat me alive and I would thank it for doing what I could not.
Branches grabbed at my hair and dress. Stones and roots dug into my heels. The air chilled my lungs and chapped my lips but I just kept going, begging the darkness to swallow me whole. But then I reached a clearing and my foot snagged on a log. I went tumbling forward and rolled across a mossy knoll. Once I was on my back, the massive shadow of a winged creature rose into view, silhouetted against the full, bright moon. Claws and teeth glinted in the light as fleshy white wings beat to lift the creature into the air. A spine-wrenching growl flooded my ears and red eyes bore down on me like two glowing drops of blood.
Fear shoved me out of my stupor, reminding me that my heart was still beating and some twisted sliver of me desired that it kept doing so. I leapt up, grabbing a big rock on my way to my feet. I lifted it and threw it at the beast with all my strength, hitting it in its ugly snout. It hunched forward in anger, its jaw unhinging to open wide and bear its long teeth. It was so pale that I could see every vein and bone through almost transparent skin. Its spine was too long for its limbs, curving in a way that made every vertebra protrude.
Fury and frustration and sadness over my own existence burst out of me in an ear-piercing scream as the creature lunged, its open jaw showing more rows of teeth. The eyes rounded with madness, bugging out of its head. It rose on two legs, stalking toward me and audibly snapping its teeth over and over again. Strings of drool slid from its lips and I braced, bearing my own blunt teeth at the monster in response.
At least this creature did not pretend to be anything more than a hungry, nightmarish fiend.
It raised its hand, uncurling long, bony fingers. I silently begged it to aim for the heart when a symphony of howls rose up all around the clearing. The creature paused, its nostrils flaring wide as dozens of padded feet sprinted toward the clearing.
Would I be torn to bits by wild hounds, too? I couldn’t even be surprised by that luck.
Just as I thought the worst, I saw a large animal appear from the shadows. It was a hound, yes, but not one I’d ever seen. Its body was rippling with lean muscle hugged in short, shiny black hair. A long snout was wrinkled into a snarl as it shot forth on four legs with feet that had long, almost finger-like toes. On its head were two ram’s horns that coiled back from its face and glowing red eyes stared straight forward. I was certain the beast was going to lunge right for me and fight over the spoils of my death, but it didn’t.
The hound raced toward the pale, winged creature, its jaws clamping down on its wrist. More hounds darted from the trees and attacked ferociously, scratching and biting. I watched in horror as they fought, but the creature flung its attackers off one by one. The six of them could only slow it down, but they couldn’t take it to the ground. I needed to move away, but I couldn’t find my balance.
A break in the hounds’ attack made the beast turn its voracious attention back on me. It reared its head back with a screech that could have broken glass and then stilled, its eyes widening again with shock. I pressed my palms over my ears, my eyes focusing on the bloody tip of a sword through the creature’s stomach. It stumbled backward and as it did, two giant black wings spread from behind it. Wings that were not its own.
With one beat, Rune was in the air, yanking the sword from the beast’s belly. Guts and entrails spilled from the cavity sounding like dead fish flopping onto a deck. The smell was like meat that had been sitting in the summer sun for five days. I backed away as Rune landed on the ground between me and the creature, fury burnt across his perfect features. He marched toward me, bloody sword in hand, and took my wrist.
He was going to take me back.
Flashes my many attempts to escape the asylum ravaged my mind. The beating. The dragging. The tears. The feeling of hope being ripped away, layer by agonizing layer.
I tried to free myself from Rune the same as I had those burly guards at Southminster, but he was unyielding. His grip was so harsh that I nearly felt my bone break. Just when he turned around, the beast had recovered, barely aware that its entrails were tangling around its feet as it walked. Its horrifying, toothy grin returned. Like a hellish hyena, it laughed, the sound sending needles through my insides until the nausea returned. It swiped at Rune, but he blocked, slicing the creature’s hand clean off with his blade. The severed appendage flopped to the ground, long fingers twitching.
Unfolding its wings, the creature opened its jaws again and stretched to its full height, towering over Rune. It could have swallowed his whole head. With its other hand, it swung and Rune cleaved that one off too, but not cleanly. It dangled on tendons, the sharp bone shard exposed. It bit down on Rune’s sword and ripped it from his hand, cutting its cheeks on the blade, but it didn’t care. It tossed the sword aside and before I knew it, Rune was spinning around and using his body as a barrier between the beast and me. He jolted, letting out a loud growl through clenched teeth.
Rune turned around again, pulling his shoulder off of the creature’s sharp wrist bone. He’d been impaled. Blood soaked his tunic, but he paid it no mind. His wings fanned out and he leaped into the air again, coming down on the beast’s back. I watched as Rune took the creature’s smiling head in his hands and twisted it to one side at such a sharp angle that the spine audibly snapped in two. The creature went silent. Its big eyes rolled back in its skull. Its jaw dropped open and one last wheezing breath sighed from its corpse.
Rune released the creature’s jaw and let the body droop to the ground in a heap of white flesh, blood, and guts. His wings folded back but one of them looked a bit limp. I watched him stretch his shoulders and wince, hissing as three crows sored into the clearing. They dropped to the ground like black droplets of smoke and landed, appearing as three beautiful women.
Lura was immediately at Rune’s side, babying him and pouting like seeing him hurt could bring her to tears. Naeve glimpsed the corpse, her eyes widening when she realized I was standing on the other side of it. When she saw a couple of the horned hounds limping and licking at their wounds, she moved to beckon them to her side. She began petting them and examining the minor damage with love. Elanor, however, regarded everything with her chin high and her hands rested by her sides like nothing about it fazed her.
“Take our king back,” she said, her eyes piercing into me.
“Come, my king,” Lura said.
“What about the kelpher?” Naeve asked, pointing at the carcass. “It will attract more shades.”
“Disgusting thing,” Lura grimaced.
“And… what happened to you, sweet?” Naeve asked me.
