Page 79 of A Light So Blinding
He let her and watched as words fell from her lips. Words that were said in the black tongue, a language she still did not know. They came from him. From deep inside his soul, because he had heard them said so many times when he’d been a child, even if he hadn’t spoken them himself.
Their combined magic ripped at the men who held on to her arms. Each of them yelled in response, dropping their hold on her and clutching their chests. Astrid wasn’t just peering into the weight of their souls as many blood witches did. She was doing exactly what his mother, and the others had said she would do.
A pale white mist emerged from the men’s chests. They were all frantically trying to stuff it back into themselves, unsure of what she was doing, but certain that it was dangerous. That mist seemed to glow in the moonlight, glittering with tiny sparks inside of them until they converged into something alive. One of the men had a white wolf that was meant to be his spirit guide.It turned on him with a snarl, teeth gnashing at the air around him. Another had an eagle that took off into the sky. The last, a snake that slithered toward him, hissing and snapping at the air.
“Parlor tricks,” one of the humans said, who still held on to the ropes binding him.
The wolf lunged, grabbing onto the man’s arm and twisting it back and forth. He screamed, blood spurting in the air as the creature bit through the muscle there all the way down to the bone. The sound of it breaking crunched through the sudden silence as everyone watched what was happening.
The soldier took off running the moment the wolf released him. It licked its lips, blood covering its white fur before it gave chase.
The other two men ran as well. That left Astrid on the ground, her hands pressed against the stone as she breathed hard. But then she pulled herself together. He watched it happening. The wool dress she had thrown on was loose over one shoulder, falling down to reveal the red marks left by those soldiers' hands. But she stood, anger and rage sparking in those pretty blue eyes as she headed toward them.
“Get her,” one of the soldiers said, tugging on his rope so hard that Bjorn’s head was jerked back. “Someone grab her! Don’t let her get close to all of us.”
But no one moved. Perhaps no one dared to when Astrid suddenly spoke.
“I don’t need to be close to pull those out of you,” she said. “I would tell you to run, but I have no mercy for men like you.”
An explosion of smoke shaded his vision. Bjorn couldn’t see anything that was happening around him as the humans started screaming. One by one, the ropes fell. He freed his arms first, cursing the men who still held on to his legs and jerked him left and right as they tried to fight off the beasts who were supposed to help guide them.
He supposed they were. Punishment was guidance as much as anything else.
A snake suddenly leapt past him, and he hissed out a breath at how close it had been to biting his face. Then a mountain lion used his back as a spring board, slamming him against the ground.
Damned animals. They needed to give him enough clearance so that he could... could...
Finally. He wrenched a knife free and sawed through the remaining cords attached to his legs. Once he untangled himself, he ran in the direction he’d last seen her. The smoke made it hard enough for him to see, but his feet were sure and true as he burst through the heavy weight of magic and out into the fresh air where she stood.
Astrid’s hands were lifted, the black tongue dropping from her lips like she had spoken it her entire life.
And her eyes were completely white.
He’d never seen them look like that before and fear speared through him. She needed to stop using that much magic, or she’d deplete herself. There was only so much anyone could use before that magic would overtake them.
They didn’t have time to rest. Not when he now knew King James himself was sending more scouting parties up the mountain.
“Astrid,” he said as he approached her. “Astrid, we have to go.”
“I can still hear them screaming,” she whispered. “I can’t stop until they stop.”
Oh, his poor, broken creature. Fear was what made her say such a thing, and he needed her to understand that. Carefully, he reached out and grabbed onto her hand. Holding it close to his heart, he hoped she didn’t call out his own spirit guide to berate him for not keeping her safe.
“I’m here,” he said. “I’m here with you, Astrid. Nothing is going to happen now.”
“They came into the tent.”
“And that was my mistake for leaving you. One I will not make again. We must go now, bright one, so they do not know where we run to.”
“Where are we going?” Those white eyes moved in her skull, and he had the strange sense that she was looking at him. “There is nowhere to go but up. They will see us.”
“Trolls are more resourceful than that. I had hoped to go into the mountain taking the usual route, not...” He swallowed. “Trolls have other ways, Astrid. You and I will go in one of the old ways. It is not the safest path, but no one will see us.”
She blinked and he saw the white haze over her eyes was more of a film than entirely white. “They won’t know where we are?”
“We’ll be entirely safe. They won’t be able to follow us.” He reached for her waist, gripping her side with a strong, sure hand. “Come with me. We’ll hide where they cannot follow. Let me take you to the heart of our mountain, Astrid.”
She nodded. Once, twice, three times, and then all Bjorn could see were those sky blue eyes once more. “We had better be quick.”
