Page 141 of A Dance With Fire
Shula stared at the burning embers of the dying fire, feeling tears sting behind her eyelids. She felt the swords pointed in her direction, and even if they weren’t so close as to cut her, she still felt the threat radiating through her body.
“Their safe house isn’t far from here. If we surround ourselves with enough iron, we’ll catch them unawares.”
The words from one of the human’s had Shula’s body stiffening with awareness. She blew out a deep breath, lifting the strands of dark hair fallen against her face.
Awareness slowly came back to her, as if she’d been experiencing this outside of her own body the entire time. Living in the fear, the uncertainty, even her own memories. But it was those words that pulled her back to the moment and made her realize her position.
She was laying on the ground on her side, arms twisted at her back, one shoulder screaming in pain. Her ears were exposed, her hair curtaining her vision. Pushing it away, she cast her gaze around and got a good look at the soldiers when she hadn’t before.
There were about a dozen or more of them, the dying embers of their fire and the packs secured on the sides of their horses was an indication that they’d been about to head out.
To the safe house.
She swallowed the rising lump in her throat and steadied her breathing.
“The key in any fight is to breathe,”Julius had said.“Control your emotions, your breath, and you can control your body’s reaction.”
So Shula breathed, letting the words Julius had spoken so long ago take hold of her mind and eventually, her body. She breathed in and out until her whole body was no longer taut with tension, but relaxed. Then she could see clearer.
Only then would she be able to fight her way out of this. Perhaps not with magic, but somehow.
“Watch her while we go chop off some Esses heads.” One of the human’s slapped a hand down against his horse. No. Not a horse. Shula’s vision homed in on it, realizing that it was much bigger, taller, wider. A structure that Shula hadn’t noticed at first and wondered how she’d even missed it. But something about it screamed with familiarity in a way that sent shivers down her spine.
Probably because it was made entirely of iron.
But…
She swept her gaze around. There were more of those things in all varying degrees of sizes, each bigger than the last.
The human used a ladder built in on the side of the metal device and climbed, straddling the back of the machine like a horse. He started pulling at various levers, and then Shula watched as the thing sprang to life and became something she was intimately familiar with.
An iron monster.
She jerked against her bonds and fought to sit up.
“No!” The word croaked from her throat, and she regretted speaking immediately.
A steel toed boot came crashing against her side, knocking the air right out of her. Even as she tried gasping for breath, it didn’t come. Her lungs constricted painfully, and she turned to her back, staring up at the black sky and streaks of stars until her vision started to blur.
“See what you fucking did? Don’t kill her before we get her to the emperor!”
It was a slow process, inhaling grateful breaths of air.
“Just fucking watch her while we go get the Esses scum. These iron monsters are hungry for a taste of Fae blood.”
The ground vibrated as the monster moved. One, then another, and another. Shula couldn’t pull her gaze away from the sky to turn and look, but she’d counted at least four.
Four iron monsters against six Fae, maybe more, if the safe house was occupied.
“No…” The word was weak coming out of her mouth.
Ryker, Julius, Clay, Valerio, Weylyn, Uric…
They were at the safe house.
Somehow, the humans had discovered where it was and were going after them.
After her friends.
