Page 15 of Spirit Rites
I wipe the sweat off my own face. “I’m trying.”
He comes back towards me. “Is it the snakes?”
“You have to understand. I am terrified of snakes.Terrified.”He grimaces and looks away. I watch him closely, and I just know. “You have lots of snakes in the Jaguar Kingdom, don’t you?”
He turns back, and his bright green eyes meet mine. “I’m not going to answer that yet. Let's keep moving.” He glances at the underbrush and then at me. “Do you want to ride on my back, so you don’t step on anything.” I laugh out loud. “What?”
“I am not going to make you carry all my weight. Besides, it’s a thousand degrees.”
He frowns. “All your weight? You make it sound like it’s a lot.”
“Well, it’s certainly not nothing; and I’m not going to do that to you, especially in this heat. I’ll be brave in a moment. It will come.”
Kaldar studies me. “Will it?”
I frown. “Yes.” And then I see his slight smile. My heart speeds up, and I want to roll my eyes at myself.This is not the time, traitorous heart. We are focused on not dying.Something rustles in the trees behind us, and it’s officially time to move. “Let’s go.” Something growls, and now, I’m shoving Kaldar forward. He cuts down anything in front of us, and I join in, using the knife he gave me. Another growl sounds, closer this time.
Kaldar pushes me forward. “Stay in front of me.”
I push forward, but it’s nearly impossible. We have to cut down everything in our path to be able to move. The thing following us doesn’t seem to be having any such problems. I’ve been focused on moving forward, but when I glance back, a scream lodges in my throat. I have no idea what that creature is, but it’s terrifying. It’s huge and has more sharp and jagged teeth than any one creature should have. “Go, Kinsley!”
Kaldar’s shout gets me moving once again. Snakes forgotten, I charge through the underbrush, trying to cut our way through. I hear a rattling sound that makes my blood run cold. I have no idea what it is, but it sounds terrifying. I glance behind me and watch as it darts out a wicked long tongue. I have no idea what will happen if it touches Kaldar, but I have a feeling it’s nothing good. It reaches out his disgusting tongue towards him, and I don’t think. I run towards it and swipe at its tongue.
Chapter 7
The creature rears back and makes a hideous sound. But we don’t stick around to see what happens. We keep moving, cutting down the brush as we go. I finally take a second to look behind us. “It’s no longer chasing us,” Kaldar says. He's taken the lead again. “Thanks for that.” He glances over his shoulder at me. “I’m glad I gave you a weapon.”
“Rysden’s going to kill me for not having a weapon on me.”
“Rysden’s been doing your training?” he asks casually.
“He has as well as Lox, Jamik, and Hector. And they’d all be furious that I didn’t have any weapons on me.”
He’s quiet a moment. “If it helps, I’m furious at myself for not being prepared. In my defense, I had no idea when I came to get you and Harper that I’d be in the Rites again. But even then, I should have prepared immediately once I met you.”
I sigh. “It’s fine. I wish you would have told me not to touch you.”
He turns around and faces me. “I didn’t know it was going to be an issue.” He has a smirk playing at the corners of his mouth.
“If you remember, I tripped and fell into you.”
“Did you? Or were you already falling for me?”
“I...that’s not...” Then I see his smirk. I shake my head at him. I try to redirect the conversation. “How come you still came anyway? I thought you weren’t coming because we can stay now.”
He turns to me. “Rysden changed the law?”
“He did.”
He gives an impressed nod. “That’s good. I didn’t think he’d be able to change it that fast.”
“Have you met Rysden?” I ask dryly.
He chuckles. “Yeah, I guess it shouldn’t surprise me. I’m just surprised the law passed that quickly.”
“I don’t know how it all works. Do laws not pass quickly in your kingdom?”
“In the Jaguar Kingdom? That would be a no. Everything in our kingdom is slowed down with customs and traditions.”
