Page 149 of Fires of the Forsaken
A dead pig lay in the center of the pen (aka, her breakfast) but she’d taken one whiff of it, roared in disgust, and started her angry sprinting. An hour later, she was still going. Her scaly body didn’t sweat, but white lather foamed around her mouth and between her back legs.
I couldn’t even open the gate to let her out. I wanted to. It would’ve been easy: undo the latch, swing it open, and watch her sail off into the sunset. The problem? She was being kept several hundred yards from the stables, but well within sight of the barn, the castle,andthe city. If anyone saw her running loose, she’d be shot down. Instantly.
“I’m sorry!” I said as she thundered by. “You’ll never save my ass again, huh?”
In response, she skidded to a halt in front of me, spraying grass and mud through the fence, before she pivoted and zoomed off in the other direction.
“I guess I deserved that,” I mumbled as I wiped the gunk off my pants. My nose itched and my eyes blurred. I was crying because my horse was being mean to me. Could I get any more ridiculous?
But Abby Normal had been nice to me at first. She’d let me comb my fingers through her wiry mane and smooth my hand over her scaly body. Truthfully, she’d felt like the only friend I had left. And now she hated my guts.
Quinn may not have had guards on my ass 24/7 anymore, but the people of Niall gave me a wide berth. Probably because I’d been the one to bring the demon horse into their town.
Or because they believed I put Cheriour on his deathbed.
As for myhumanfriends…
Braxton barely spent any time at Niall, preferring to use his days searching for survivors. I didn’t blame him. There’d been a few times I’d thought about joining. But, y’know, I was a shit fighter and would’ve done more harm than help.
And thereweresurvivors. They’d trickled into the city over the last couple of days. But their arrivals weren’t always cause for celebration.
Belanna had brought a large group back with her two days ago. A hundred people, or close to it.
When I’d seen them heading toward the castle, I’drunto greet them. Me. Running. A rare freaking sight. But I’d been sohappyto spot some familiar faces.
Belanna had turned to look at me as I skidded to a halt, wheezing, beside her group. She’d tried to grin, but it had looked more like a pained grimace. “It was Elion,” she’d told Quinn.
“Braxton told me about the birds.” Quinn hadn’t even noticed me; his eyes too busy scanning the somber, petrified faces of the soldiers in Belanna’s group.
“Aye. He tortured those precious…” Her lip had trembled. “But he also found our group.”
Quinn’s shoulders had sagged. “H-how many?”
“I can’ say. He hides himself too well. Perhaps all of us.”
So, yeah, that entire group of people now waited to see who’d get sick. The incubation period took up to a week. And once the symptoms started….
Well, I’d already seen what that disease did to people. It was a horrible fucking way to die.
Poor Kaelan returned the very next day with burns coating over half his body. Apparently he’d been partially cooked over a spit. And he wasnota fireproof hybrid. His group had barely gotten him out alive.
I’d watched him get carted through the city, flopped over Sacrifice’s back (nothingtook that tough little cookie down). And the sight of those boils and blisters covering his once-handsome face…I’d cried. A lot. The poor kid didn’t deserve that kind of pain.
All in all, we had less than a thousand soldiers return to Niall.
Two weeks ago, nearlytwothousand soldiers had left on our ill-fated rescue mission.
It had been a shitty couple of weeks. A shitty month, really.
Abby Normal had been the onlygoodthing in my life. So her sudden rejection stung. A lot.
I sighed as Abby Normal came to a halt on the other end of the pen, panting.
“You done?” I reached my hand through the slats in the fence.
She squealed and turned her back to me. Horse language for, “fuck you.”
I sighed and turned my back to her, sinking to the ground and leaning against the fence. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. But why should she believe me? I was the one who’d led her into this pen.
