Page 101 of Fires of the Forsaken
My shivers intensified.
It wasn’toneperson dying. There had to behundreds. And the yells, the cries, the anguished bellows, and pleas for help only grew louder as we zoomed along the grassy field.
“Addie!” Cheriour reached over and rapped his knuckles against my shoulder. “Draw your weapon.”
I looked at him, vaguely wondering why he had so many flies buzzing around his face.
“Your poleaxe,” he said. “Take it out. Have it ready.”
More and more flies swirled around him.
I didn’t move.
“Addie!” He whacked my shoulder again.
I blinked.
The flies around his face disappeared.
Or…there hadn’t been any flies, had there? Just black vision spots. Because my system was on red alert, and my brain had its finger on the restart button.
“Addie.” Cheriour shoved his horse over, smashing into Sacrifice’s side. She tensed but didn’t kick out this time. “Look at me.” Cheriour gave my arm a hard shake.
I blinked again. Even if I wanted to talk, I couldn’t. My tongue had rooted to the roof of my mouth.
“Focus, Addie,” Cheriour said. “Draw your weapon.Now.We’re approaching from the east.”
As he spoke, clusters of riders broke away from the group and made a hard left.
Cheriour reached down, grasped Sacrifice’s bit, and pulled us to the right.
“We need to keep them away from the castle gates,” he continued. “If we succeed….”
My tongue stung when I ripped it free. “Let me guess: they’ll run away with their tales tucked between their legs? No plan B, C, or D for them. They’ll take one shot at getting into the castle. If it fails, they’ll pack up and go home.” No idea where this anger had come from, but I was seeing red. Probably because I was,literally, being ponied to my doom. “You know that kinda shit only happens in movies, right?”
“Addie…”
“Bad guys don’tgive upbecause the good guys threw them off their game.”
“Stop talking,” Cheriour said through clenched teeth, “andlistento me. Sanadrin’s riders are returning. Belanna says they’ll be here within an hour.Ifwe can keep the Wraiths away from Sanadrin, we’ll soon have reinforcement.”
A shaky breath rattled out of my lungs. “If,”I said. “Ifwe can hold them off? You don’t sound too positive.”
“It will be difficult,” he said.
“Well,” my throat clicked when I swallowed, “thanks for sugarcoating that. I feelsoooomuch better now.Not.”
29
Creepy Douchenozzle
Up the hill we went, the horses huffing and puffing as they struggled with the steep incline. I snatched Sacrifice’s mane to keep my upper body forward while gravity did its darndest to shove me the other way.
And then we reached the top.
Fuck.I should’ve let gravity do its job.
A sloping, rocky field stretched before us. It wascoveredin jagged stones. Looked like a freaking death trap.
