Page 94 of Rook of Ruin
Calmly, as if it were just the two of us, I lower my voice into a growl, “I fucking see you.”
It opens its mouth wide in acknowledgement. I throw a small dagger into its furry flesh and bare my teeth. It howls. The sound makes my skin crawl—a mixture between an animal and man crying out. I scream back at it. The other monsters pause briefly to watch, and then they begin moving towards us.
“Orlaith!” Simon screams as the monsters turn from them and run for us.
I squat down and leap up as the leader twists its body to miss my blade. It lands gracefully and begins pacing, looking for a weakness. I have seen this before. When I was alone in that field. When Ossian left me behind to save his own life.
I’m not alone now.
“I will have your fucking head!” I fling another small dagger, and it lands in its leg.
The monster has the audacity to give me awhat the fucklook, and I loosen my shoulders. The two women behind me take on a Roggenwolf stupid enough to attack them. The large demon must think that, with our warriors distracted, I’m at a disadvantage. It runs at me again, and I run to meet it, if only to give it a false sense of hope. I skid to a stop and dodge to my right, surprising it with the dagger in my left hand. I use quick movements, letting it come to me each time, trying to tire it out. We clash, sword meeting fur, claws meeting leather. I dodge a claw and cut through its tail. It maneuvers its jaw, teeth grazing my arm. The black leather peels back, but the skin doesn’t break.
My crown falls to the ground, and I let it lie.
I glance to my left to see the rest of our warriors battling to meet their prince. In my distraction, jaws snap and narrowly miss my leg. Massive white fur leaps, knocking me off balance, the momentary lapse allowing for claws to rip down my side. The leather does not break.
“Fucker,” I shout. Its flank is left open, and I stab into it with my shortsword, managing to surge up onto its back like it’s a fucking horse. I stab the dagger into the alpha’s other side, holding on to it while it bucks and howls in pain. Its large jaws snap at my feet, and I kick it in the head, then, with all my might, I push my sword the rest of the way in, feeling it scrape against bone. Air greets me as it finally throws me off.
I hit the dirt below, the breath in my lungs punching out of my body as I gasp for air. The beast is angry, snapping its jaws. Closeto death, its black eyes are fixed on mine, desperate to take me down before it dies.
A lesser Roggenwolf bites down on my leg, trying to remove me from the fight. There’s only pressure rather than teeth ripping through my flesh. My two warriors come to my aid, their blades cutting easily through it, and we quickly reform our triangle, watching more movement as most of the demon creatures have made their way to us. They have come to protect their leader.
Around us, blades smash against claws, flesh is ripped apart accompanied by feral screams, grunts, and growls. I lower my chin, pulling out another small dagger for my left hand as my black-bladed dagger in my right drips with the blood of my enemy. The demons ready to fight the three of us, their leader charges, and I grip my small violent weapons tightly. Jaws wide with a desire for my death, the large monster uses its weight against me, shoving me to the side like I’m a rag doll.
I scramble to my feet, but it does it again, lifting my body into the air and allowing gravity to do the rest. Separating me from my pack. On the third push, I try to pivot, but it makes things worse. I crash into another beast, it’s claws missing my head but cutting off some of my hair. My braid loosens, hair falling down around my shoulders instead of down my back.
Ignoring the screams to my right—my name, as he calls for me—I ready myself. All I care about is this moment. With all the strength left in my body, I reach up with my black dagger as the colossal creature uses its body against me again. I cut into its mouth, slicing through its cheek and giving it a terrifying grin. A whine pulls from its throat as it turns back for a killing blow to my face.
Black blood drips down white fur as black leathers stand before me.Simon. His chest heaving, the violent fury in hisdark brown eyes is nothing I have ever beheld. He beheaded the beast.
We stare at each other. It’s like I’ve never truly seen Simon. The brutal warrior that he is. The man before me would strike fucking fear in the hearts of the bravest, and he’s the same gentle man who I love. Who loves me.
We crossed a battlefield for each other.
My two warriors come to my side as Simon nods. I pull my shortsword from the headless creature, and we move together as one towards the village. With their leader gone, each Roggenwolf fights harder. Simon pulls a spear from a white-furred corpse and launches it with vicious force into a charging monster, lifting it off the ground. Using my dagger, I slice up into a neck, bringing my shortsword down across the back of a Roggenwolf, its black blood pouring over me. We are met with the rest of our warriors and a lone Rook. Paul moves quickly to my side, and Simon moves slightly ahead, leading us.
Grim-faced Bethalian warriors, led by Isle, charge up to us from the village. She throws her spear into white fur among the grain, then swings her sword forward, meeting more white furry flesh, pushing her mare to us. Simon ducks to his right, narrowly missing giant claws, and we bring down our swords into the flesh together, easily taking the Roggenwolf’s life. Black blood covers our bodies, pieces of fur and flesh in our hair. Warriors surround us, willing to give their lives to save ours.
Isle dismounts and gives her horse to Simon, who hands it to me. “Go back, O.”
Shaking my head, I insist, “I will not leave you.” I turn to one of the women next to me. “Give it to a wounded who can still ride.”
Admiration shines through Simon’s face before Isle begins to speak low to Simon and another warrior with a tooth missing. I help a wounded warrior up onto a saddle, his head bleeding froma nasty bite, and watch him take off towards the woods as more wounded follow. Fifteen are able to ride back, twelve will have to be placed on stretchers. With the last visible Roggenwolf struck through by a spear, we collectively take a breath. Smiles start to appear, and a warrior holds up a furry-headed trophy to cheers.
Until black arrows pour through the sky.
What we thought was their defeat had merely been a diversion.
“Go!” Isle yells to the remaining warriors already on horseback.
Simon grabs me and hauls me up with him on a borrowed horse. A warrior hands him a black spear as we race towards the shouts. More black arrows pierce the sky and then white furry flesh. We see a churning of white fur moving closer to the tree line, but there is something more terrifying. A woman stands in the middle of the white furry demons with her arms raised. Simon curses, and the green light shines around her as the earth below her becomes shrouded in darkness.
“Wraith.” Fear coats my tongue.
Simon’s breath on the back of my neck. “Yes. Death.”
We watch as two warriors throw spears at her, but a Roggenwolf leaps into the air, taking both spears into its body.Sacrifice. Darkness curls under a Roggenwolf, and it screams in agony, its skin dissolving, and it becomes consumed. Power pulses from the Wraith, and a burst of what looks like dark snow fills the sky.Ash. She is scorching the earth.
