Page 29 of Fires of the Forsaken
We’d slowed from a trot to a walk, giving the horses a breather as we navigated through another dense section of forest. More trees. Yay!
I never wanted to see another fucking tree again.
Sacrifice picked her way through the underbrush, her sides heaving beneath my legs. Myverysore and cramped legs. Jesus. Muscles I didn’t even know I had ached.
I glanced over as Cheriour drew his strapping chestnut stallion alongside Sacrifice. He made a weirdtsssksound when Sacrifice turned and flashed her teeth at his horse. She glowered at Cheriour, flicked her tail, but faced forward again.
“We’ll be stopping soon,” Cheriour said.
The boy riding with Cheriour grunted, as though responding. Which was impossible because the kid was out cold. His mouth gaped open as his head lolled back onto Cheriour’s shoulder.
The kid wore the same Viking army uniform as the rest of the soldiers. Although his was saturated with blood. Likely because his body had more holes in it than Swiss cheese.
The boy wasmaybefourteen.
Anger frothed inside me. “Is that kid in your army?”
Silence.
“He is, isn’t he? For fuck’s sake, do you really force Teeny Boppers to fight?”
Cheriour tightened his grip on the boy’s shoulder. “Don’t comment on things you know nothing about.”
I huffed out a sigh. “Then how ‘bout you fill me in on some stuff? Because I’m flying blind. And, I’ll be honest, I’mnota happy camper right now. My ass is numb. I’ve got underwire digging into my boob, and a thorn stuck somewhere in my bra. My head hurts. I want to go home. But you’re telling me Ican’tand keep giving me half-assed answers for why I’m here.‘The Celestials sent you.’”I failed miserably at mimicking his droning accent, but he didn’t acknowledge it. “Well,why?” I pressed. “Who the fuck evenarethe Celestials? Why do they send people here? I just...” I sighed again, squeezing my eyes shut to stem the tears threatening to spill over. “Please,” I added. “I know you explained some things earlier. And I swear I was listening, butnothingmakes sense right now. Can you go into more detail? Or something? Help me out here.Please.”
I opened my eyes to see Cheriour staring off into the distance, totally not paying attention.
“Were you even listening?” I snapped.
“Of course,” he said in a bored tone.
“Oh, you’re a real—”
He whirled to face me again. “If you’d like an explanation, you’ll need to let me speak.”
I snapped my jaw shut, squashing the next thing I’d been about to say (“you’re a real sack of shit”).
Cheriour sighed and, when the boy in front of him groaned again, he ran a hand over the kid’s shoulder. It was a compassionate gesture. Almost tender. My heart clenched. Okay, so maybe the dude wasn’t acompletesack of shit. Didn’t mean I had to like him.
“I’m accustomed to giving this explanation to children.” Cheriour leveled me with an unreadable stare. “They are easier to teach than adults.”
“Why is everyone so shocked I’m an adult?” I grumbled.
“You don’t act like one,” Cheriour said softly. I almost didn’t catch it.Almost.
I shot him a glare. His mouth twitched, but I couldn’t tell if he was fighting a smile or warring with the desire to scream and smack me off the back of the horse.
Probably the latter.
“Har, har,” I said. “What am Isupposedto be? A toddler?”
“Yes. All the hybrids were children when they arrived here.” Cheriour touched the kid’s shoulder. “Liam was only three.”
I swallowed as I stared at the unconscious kid. He’d been trapped in this hellhole since he wasthree?
“We once had thousands of hybrids in the army, each pulled from a different world or timeline,” Cheriour continued.
“Pulled from different worldsandtimelines?”
