Page 28 of Fractured
The sunlight lost most of its strength when the large trees that could have been poplars shielded us from the sky. The dogs ran with us and Merenith led the way once more, without a light burning over her head this time. We could see just fine.
When I looked back, I could see a little of the mountain towering behind us, too, dark grey, pointy rocks against the pale blue of the sky. It lookedwrong,that mountain, but the farther we ran, the less of it I saw.
Trees, trees, and more trees. Salt in the air, against my tongue, and it was hot outside, so hot my dress was sticking uncomfortably to my back from sweat.
“Keep going,” Merenith called from ahead. “Keep moving, keep moving!”
“Where?” I asked as we went, and Rune had deliberately slowed us down until all the others were ahead, and he and I were the last ones of the group, with Hessa right in front of us. “Where are we going?” Because all I saw ahead were trees.
Hessa looked at me for a second but didn’t answer.
Rune said, “Away. As far away from here as we can.”
Which basically meant that there was no plan, and we had no direction.
We were screwed.
nine
The cold came backwith twice as much intensity. My knees shook but I didn’t slow down. Because even if common sense said that the Seelie soldiers would have horses and could probably track us now that we were out in the open, I somehow still had hope. I somehow still expected we’d make it to another place, this onesafefor real, and we would be okay.
Of course, hoping didn’t magically make things into reality. And we weren’tcaughtby the soldiers who were surely coming after us, no.
We were ambushed by another big group of them from ahead—and the dogs warned us first.
Their howls pierced through the forest. I’d thought we’d have at least another few minutes of running before we got to the edge, but no. The trees ended about thirty feet away, and the golden plaques of their armors caught the sun rays and threw them at us like fucking magic.
My stomach turned. We all came to a halt. Every single person in this forest had weapons in their hands—except for me.
“Attack!” someone shouted, but I couldn’t tell you whether it was someone from our side or theirs. I just knew that Rune gave me a single look, and in his dark eyes I saw the fear. The panic. The hopelessness that mirrored my own.
Yes, we were most definitely screwed—and more soldiers were coming toward us from behind.
We didn’t turn to look at all because what was the point? We could hear them just fine as they came. We could hear the sound of their armors as they got closer and closer.
Rune moved to the side, let go of my hand and with his other put something else in it—a knife with a dark blade and leather wrapped around the handle.
Then his hand was on my cheek and he pulled me closer, kissed my lips for barely a second. “Run the second you get the chance.”
There was no time to tell him that I loved him once more. He let go of me and shot forward, and I followed only because I had no clue what the hell else to do.
A thought occurred to me—I was not fit to fight in a battle, not with weapons or with magic or with anything at all. Yet here I was, running with fae and dogs toward armed soldiers like I knew exactly what the hell to expect.
It was the second most intense out-of-body experience I’d ever had. Everything happened so fast, and in slow motion at the same time.
Shadows peeled from the trees, from the ground, and spun around us. Bright golden lights flashed past the trees and the leaves, like rain moving horizontally. They slammed against wood and fae and dogs at such an incredible speed that I couldn’t move a single inch.
All I could do was watch.
Stabs at my gut coming from the inside.
Shadows and light, blood and metal, bodies on the ground and deafening howls in my ears. Rune was fighting, moving so fast his limbs were a blur, and so were the others. Hessa and Ergen and Acul and Merenith—and all their friends.
Then a golden light hit Merenith on the side of her head and she moved,flewoff the ground and then a tree took my view of her. I had no idea where she ended up, if she fell, if she got back on her feet.
I had no idea if anybody was going to survive.
My hands froze and my feet froze and my fingers were no longer able to hold the knife Rune had given me. It moved in slow motion, I swear, so I saw it in perfect clarity as it slipped from my fingers then fell on the patch of dry grass at the side of my feet.
