Page 25 of Fires of the Forsaken
Sacrifice had moved her leg. Kinda.
Okay, she bobbed her head.
But I thought she was getting ready to bolt (spoiler alert: she wasn’t) so I did a panic-snatch of the reins. Which she didn’t appreciate. At all.
“Whoa, whoa!” I shouted as she flung her head up, ears lying flat against her skull. She felt like a coiled spring beneath me, ready to explode. My knees dug into the saddle, sending pain shooting down my joints. “I don’t—seriously, Icannotride a horse. This won’t end well.”
“Be still, Addie,” Cheriour droned. “And let go of the reins.”
“But—then how do I stop her?” I asked.
“You don’t have to.” Cheriour pried the reins out of my hands and twined them around Sacrifice’s neck, wrapping the ends in a knot. Making it so I couldn’t use them. “She knows her job. Let her do it. If you feel unsteady, hold on to the saddle.”
My hands shook as I clutched the pommel of the saddle. My knuckles popped. But Sacrifice quieted almost immediately. She exhaled, lowered her head, and turned to level me with a haughty stare. “Bitch,” I mumbled.
She seemed to think the same thing about me.
“Are you calm now?” Cheriour asked me.
“Not really.”
“Well, I still need to get my horse saddled,” he continued. “Stay here. Don’t touch her reins.” The bastard had the audacity to raise his finger at me. Like a teacher scolding a disobedient student.
“How ‘bout you stop being a prick?” I grumbled under my breath. Although I was sure he heard me, he said nothing as he walked away.
My heart pounded. Like,ready to burst out of my chest, Alien-stylekind of pounding. I couldn’t breathe. Red blotches tinted the edges of my vision. Pressure built behind my eyeballs.
I focused on taking deep inhales as I stared at the crowd around me, really looking at them for the first time.
There were atonof people. Two-sixty-four, according to Belanna (fivewith me added in). It hadn’t seemed like a lot, but staring at them now, all clustered together with their horses...
My stomach curdled. These people looked like they’d climbed to the top of Mount Doom and took a detour through Oogie Boogie’s casino on their way back down. So many were injured, and those injuries ranged from broken bones and head contusions to truly gruesome stuff. I mean...shit.One guy had a chunk of flesh missing from the side of his neck. As though something had taken a bite out of him.
I thought of the skeletal rider (a Wraith? Or some other awful monster?) who’d called me a“meal”and shuddered.
Another woman had lost her lower leg. The stump was wrapped in multiple layers of bandages, and already bleeding through. The woman screamed when a man put her on a horse. He got in the saddle behind her, holding her steady while she buried her pale, sweaty face in her hands and cursed.
Was she really going to ride like that?Jesus.
“Oi!” Belanna’s voice carried over the crowd. Which was impressive, considering she was at the other end of the clearing. “Three minutes!” She stood beside a massive black stallion, holding him still as he pawed at the ground.
The flurry of activity increased.
Apparently horses required a lot of last-minute adjustments. Cinches had to be tightened and the saddle bags secured. Horseshoes had to be checked—one kid was using the blunt end of aswordto hammer a nail into his horse’s hoof. The blade waved dangerously close to the kid’s face.
I looked away. The last thing I wanted to see was that boy poking his own eye out.
As people mounted up, most horses ended up carrying two riders: one who was severely wounded and one who was slightly less injured.
These people weren't LARPers. They were real-life soldiers. Warriors. And they’d survived a battle that, judging by the field I’d woken up in, had beensavage.
Did fights like that happen often around here? How many people had died? How many more would end up perishing from infection or blood loss? Andno onewore helmets, so death from head trauma after falling off a horse was a real threat too.
That was likely the fate that awaited me.
I pictured myself nose-diving into the ground, my skull splitting on a rock, brains splattering…
I swallowed.
