Page 38 of Burn Bright
The men all drew sharpsteel.
"Cursed creepy trees," someonemuttered.
Indeed they were. The trees pressed in on all sides. Some of the horse's whickered and danced on the ends of their reinsnervously.
I could almost see the branches rustling, as if something moved along them. My chin tilted up and I stared into the canopy, seeing the shivering limbs. It could have been the wind. Ormaybe...
A face seemed to stare back atme.
I blinked, and I was staring at the knotted whorl of a hole where a branch had long ago broken off. My eyes were playing tricks onme.
Behind us, one of the men suddenly screamed, and a crashing soundechoed.
We whipped around, but all I saw was his startled face and clawing hands as he vanished up into the canopy. His sword hit the ground, and then crashing sounds echoed through the branches above, as if something whipped him throughthem.
"What was that?" Hussar demanded, his facepale.
It was the first time I'd seen anything other than a sneer on his face. Who knew? Hussar owned otheremotions.
"What's out there, girl?" he snarled atme.
"I don't know," I snapped, turning in slowcircles.
Was that branchmoving?
I blinked again, and there was a deer skull, pinned high in thetree.
What in theDarkness?
It was as though my vision suddenly shifted, putting a dozen puzzle pieces together so I could see the shapeemerging.
Not a tree. Notbranches.
Nothuman.
A monster, carved out of wood and tangled vines. The blood started draining from myface.
"Draugur!" I bellowed. "We're surrounded bydraugur!"
It stood almost twelve feet tall, its skin brown and its limbs longer than most humanoid creatures. Wearing a long deer skull over its face like a mask, complete with antlers, it turned those hollow eyes sockets toward us, and my breath caught in mythroat.
It wasn't just a skull, afterall.
"Vashta's tits!" a manbreathed.
Draugur. Trees given shape and life. Suddenly its lean sinews looked a little more like vines, and clay dripped from its skeletal ribs, beneath its skin of moss. More shapes emerged, moving slowly. Over a dozen. Maybe two dozen. Everywhere I looked, the trees seemed to be moving. Somewhere in these woods, we were dealing with awitch.
I wonder whothatcouldbe?
"Hold your formation!" Evaronbellowed.
The draugur swarmed the prince as though they intended to cut down our figurehead, and too late, I remembered what Galina had said about killinghim.
"To the prince!" Cas bellowed, steel screaming as he drew his sword and a dozen other men echoed him. "Protect theprince!"
Hussar screamed in rage, and began slashing wildly at the draugur, his teeth bared. Evaron worked at his side, darting in with his sword like quicksilver, then awayagain.
But swords were not meant for creatures likedraugur.
