Page 3 of Stalk the Dark
The principles had to be the same, right?
The horses seemed to have the right idea, though, running as if the hounds of hell were after them and taking us along for the ride.
If we kept this pace, we’d see the town soon, right? Surely the bats wouldn’t follow us into town.
We’d be fine.
I’d take us straight to the nearest tavern. Anywhere occupied by people and?—
A shadow blocked out the moon. The horses reared up to paw at the air with their hooves as a figure landed on the path ahead.
Humanoid but not human, with the face of a bat, wings flexing to test the air, the creature spawned primal fear in the pit of my belly.
I’d been trained to master fear, but I wasn’t sticking around to try reasoning with a monster when I had humans to protect. I pulled the reins, urging the horses off the road and into the forest.
Darkness closed in, the canopy above blocking out the moon from shining on a trail so slender I was shocked the horses could follow it.
If the fuckers wanted to get to us now, they’d have to land and attack on foot. It should slow them down.
The carriage rocked, the mechanism tethering us to the horses creaking. “What are you doing?” Jeremey bellowed out the window. “This is the silverwood It’s filled with wolves. Get us out of here!”
Wolves or humanoid bats? I knew which one I’d take my chances with.
Trails led to roads which led to civilization, so as long as we?—
The wheels bumped and snagged.A loud crack shocked my ears, and in the next moment, the reins were torn from my grip as the horses ran free.
Mary’s scream was followed by silence then the distinct, ominous howl of wolves.
With the horses gone,the carriage was useless, and with bat people overhead and wolves closing in, we needed to move fast. We did just that.
“The trail’s gone. Where is it? Miss Lighthart?” Mary’s voice was thready with panic, but to give her credit, she was holding it together. Her outer skirt was gone, and Jeremy had ripped her petticoats, making her faster on her feet.
“Call me Orina. Please.”
That earned me a tremulous smile. “We’re going to be all right, aren’t we, Orina?”
The Walkers had been married for twenty-five years. They had children and, just recently, a grandchild. I’d make sure they lived to see them again. “You’re going to be fine.”
Everyone was going to be fine, because as the new head of the local chapter I was going to make sure we worked harder to keep the streets safe after dark.
Mary stumbled on a root, and I grabbed her arm to steady her. It was dark, even with my excellent nightvision, so I was impressed at how well my companions were coping.
Another howl, farther away this time. Good. We were putting distance between them and us.
“I can’t hear wings,” Jeremy said.
Neither could I. “They’ve hopefully given up. Now all we need to do is get to a main road.”
Jeremy consulted his compass again. Yeah, the guy had a compass attached to his pocket watch, and it made me like him even more.
“We’re on the right track,” he said. “There should be a road coming up soon.”
Soon needed to come quickly before the beasts in this wood found us and I had a fight on my hands.
I was adept with a dagger, but it wasn’t ideal when taking down wulven beasts, all teeth and jaws. Having to get into close range increased the risk of getting bitten. And that always sucked.
Trees rushed past, silvery trunks gleaming here and there where moonlight managed to break through the dense canopy to rake its fingers along the bark.
