Page 85 of Curse of Thorns
Rev
My eyes grow wide asa huge beastly creature roars, charging straight at me.
The pathway was so open, wide, and clear, I thought...shit.Obviously, I thought wrong.
A bear made of bone and rotting flesh, at least thirty feet tall charges straight at me. I’m alone with nowhere to hide.
I slide my sharp obsidian sword out of its sheath, gripping it tightly in one hand and my iron dagger in the other. I widen my stance ready to take on the monster. My light magic will draw a lot of attention to me, and here in the middle of an open plain miles long, with wraiths lining the edges, is a really bad place to attract attention.
This fight is going to have to be magicless.
I said I’d rather take on an impossible opponent face to face than creatures clawing at me from where I can’t see them.
Well, I meant it.
And when the bear reaches me, teeth bared and dripping with green slime, I spin and slice in one fluid motion. The beast roars, more in anger than pain, and whips around much faster than I’d anticipated, and his talon clips my thigh, slicing through the skin.
I leap to my feet, ignoring the raging pain in my leg and the trickle of warm blood seeping through my pants. There will be time to heal it later.
The monster bear stops a dozen feet from me, heaving in breaths and snorting. But he doesn’t move. He just watches me with black pits where there should be eyes.
He lifts his chin, strings of bloody flesh hanging off awkwardly. I suppress a gag and then sprint straight at him. He returns the gesture and runs for me, his roar echoing over the open field, reverberating off the mountains in the distance.
The moment I’m within range of his mangy paws, I fall to my hip and slide beneath him. I shove up with the iron blade through bone and pieces of flesh. But before I carve his heart, he twists, his massive boney paw slamming down, and I roll out of the way just before he crushes me.
My arm is covered in oozing flesh tinged with green and red, but the beast is still quite lively.
Another shadow comes into focus, pulling my attention from the bear for just a moment, and that instant of distraction costs me. He lands another swipe with his razor-sharp claws—right over my torso.
I scream body tossed to the ground. My vision turns black for only a moment, then I leap back to my feet. Caelynn is beneath the beast, carving at his leg. She manages to remove a large piece of bone before he reaches her with his powerful jaws.
For a moment, I’m angry with her. Can’t she just leave me be? Doesn’t she believe I’m strong enough to do this on my own?
But then, her body is swept up into the monster’s massive mouth. She screams, and panic fills my every limb.
No.
Without even thinking, a blast of white-hot power explodes from my palm toward the beast. Caelynn’s limp body falls to the ground with a crunch. The bear whines, high pitched and pathetic, clawing at his eyes.
Curling my hands into a circle, I build a sphere of magic. “Move,” I yell at Caelynn, praying she’s able. Secretly begging her to be okay.
