Page 113 of The Kingdom of Eternal Ice
Two down, only two more standing. I don’t have any strength left. Looking to the side, I can see Francis wavering too, his body trembling slightly.
We don’t have much to lose anymore, Ros.
“Princess, run and save yourself,” Francis begs, running towards me to push me back.
“Where to?” I despair.
“Huh?”
“Run… where to? There is nowhere to run,” I breathe out. This is not a normal creature. Where we go, it will follow. It didn’t even get tired. If I run, it will easily follow and rip me apart.
“You fought well,” Francis says quietly. “Better than any other rookie warrior I’ve ever had with me. You should be proud of yourself.” He pauses. “Before we go down, we shift and let our wolves fight.” I nod, focusing on Ros. She is ready, too.
Francis and I watch how the massive bear roars again, before turning towards us. We exchange one last gaze, ready to jump to an attack, when-
“Alana! Get down!” Ita yells. She pushes past me, knocking me and Francis to the side and throwing herself in front of the bear, taking the blow that was supposed to hit us.
I feel the blood in my veins freeze. “NO!”
thirty-seven
Despair
*ALANA*
Ithought the bear might have smacked Ita away like he did with the warriors, but to my shock I see Ita clinging to the bear’s arm instead, stabbing it over and over again with her knife, until a pained roar fills the surroundings. Ita drops down into the snow, having successfully separated a part of the paw from the creature’s body.
“Ita, Alana!” Tynan yells, suddenly appearing too.
I’m so relieved to see him. So relieved!
Behind him, there are more warriors and a woman I haven’t seen yet. Probably the witch. I’m so tired, I drop down to my knees, crawling towards Ita. She is lying in the snow, blood oozing from the wound the bear’s claws left. There is still one piece of the claw stuck in her.
“Ita,” I whisper, grabbing her hand and trying to tug her away from the battlefield. Some of the warriors try to save the men that fought with me, the others are fighting the creature. Out of the corner of my eyes I can see that Francis has collapsed onto the ground too.
“This bear,” the witch pants. “I haven’t seen anything like it before!”
“Can you lift the spell?” Tynan yells.
“I can try.”
“THEN TRY!” Tynan commands.
“Ita, talk to me,” I beg.
“I… I am fine,” she gurgles.
She doesn’t look fine though, she doesn’t look fine at all. I press my hand against her wound, turning around to look for help. My heart sinks at the picture in front of me. The creature is still going strong, and even with so much backup, we don’t seem to be able to fend it off.
It easily breaks through a group of soldiers, turning towards the witch. She reacts fast though and dashes to the other side before the creature can attack. An angry roar fills the surroundings again before it lunges once more into my direction.
“Get away from there, Alana!” Tynan yells.
Not without Ita. I grab her arm, trying to pull her away with me. She saved me, and I’m not just going to leave her here for this thing to rip her apart.
“Alana!” Tynan screams.
He keeps yelling something towards me, but it mixes with the roar of the bear. Then however, the ground starts to shake, making it stop in its track. A screech echoes through the sky. I can see the shadow of wings on the ground. It’s only then that I notice that the sun is rising. The wings come closer, and with it a beautiful blue dragon. Large and majestic.
