Page 106 of Trial of Thorns
If only I had known. If only I had known. If only I had known,it continues, gaining speed, gaining urgency, gaining power.If only I had known. If only I had known. If only I had known.
I press my palms over my ears, and the whisper grows into a crescendo, into a roaring so painful I scream to block it out, and even that isn’t enough.
If only I had known. IF ONLY I HAD KNOWN. IF ONLY I HAD KNOWN. IF ONLY I HAD KNOWN.
Suddenly, a hand grips my lapel and rips me from the pain and back to solid ground. I hardly have time to register my surroundings before Caelynn screams, pushing my body down, and hers in front of mine as a flaming arrow pierces her chest.
Rev
Holy shit, is my only thought. I leap to my feet, steadying Caelynn as blood spurts from the wound in the middle of her torso. It didn’t hit her heart.
Though maybe I shouldn’t be relieved by that.
We both made it through the gates. Drake and Brielle are right behind us. Where is Ty? I only have an instant to search for him, but the dwarf has disappeared. Hopefully he fled before they came. Either way, that’s now my only choice.
With Caelynn injured, and Ty gone, I’m not sure I can defeat those two alone. We’re dead if we don’t use the advantage of having a massive and powerfully-magical obstacle between us.
I blast a circle of light around us, blinding our foes just long enough to grab Caelynn by the waist and fly off the path and into the brush. I carry her, ignoring her whimpering, and rush through the thorn bushes into a forest I don’t know the first thing about.
This way, a whisper tells me.
Dammit, I’ve had enough magical whispering for one day! But I know these whispers are friendly sprites—well, at least friendly to Caelynn—and not the same as the whispering that nearly undid me in the magic of the Black Gates.
This way, this way, this way.
I follow the tiny whispers through the brush until I find a small pathway and follow it south, the general direction Caelynn said the caves were. In less than five hundred feet, I see a stone drop off.
This way, this way.
I follow them more slowly, hopping off the overhang to a ledge, until I see an opening I assume is a cave. Perfect.
The moment we’re shaded by stone, I place Caelynn down. Surprisingly, she’s able to hold her own weight, but she presses her shoulders to the cave wall behind her, arching her back, face in a grimace of pain. “Shit.”
I press my hand to the wound just below her breast. She groans, and I have to stop my mind from spinning, desire mingling with the panic.
Everything in my body screams at me to save her. Help her. The sprites whisper in my ears, begging me to do the same.
