Page 72 of The Huntsman's Heart
I dodge a bolt of sticky web and duck under a low branch, thrusting my sword again, but the creature backs away too quickly. It scurries away only to jump at me from another tree the moment I think it’s gone, snapping its fangs angrily.
This time my blow connects, swiping off a front leg, and the creature screams. It redoubles its efforts, darting in, nearly catching my arm before I jump back. My heel slips on a patch of leaves and I nearly tumble over, but I right myself and duck as the spider snatches at thin air with its remaining foreleg. As it misses me, I spot my chance. I thrust my sword upward, stabbing into the soft underbelly of the monster, grimacingwhen thick black blood spurts out, nearly coating my arm. The blood hisses as it hits the ground, eating away at the leaves and plants it lands on. The spider lands heavily in the dirt, twitching.
It takes me far too long to realize the chittering has not ceased.
A moment later I jump to my feet and dodge out of the way when another long furry leg swipes at me. I sprint between trees, putting space between me and the second spider, only to come face to face with a third. The monster hisses, opening its fangs. I throw myself to the side, into a thorny bush but out of the way of its venomous bite. The second spider rears back, raising two legs in the air. I have one moment to focus my mind and call to whatever lies just beneath the ground. Then I’m running again, sprinting to keep ahead of the monsters who are both chasing me.
If Alaric was here, I’m certain he would have made short work of the spiders. He would already have been wiping his blade clean and smirking at me. I have a pang of wishing I had brought him before I remember the reason I did not.
There’s a skeleton nearby, a wolf’s carcass, mostly rotten, the bone exposed in many places. As I call to it, it rises, jaws hanging open, lumbering toward the spiders.
They hiss, rearing back to stare at the zombie wolf. Then they dart for it, and it waits patiently, enduring their bites and swipes.
That’s my chance. I plunge my sword into the spider on the right, aiming between one of its four sets of eyes. Too late it raises a foreleg, and my blade sinks deep.
The other one is coming, though, having realized the wolf poses no threat. I tug at my sword, but it won’t budge. Stubbornly, I refuse to give up. With a final yank, it pulls most of the way out and the creature drops to the ground, dragging my sword down too.
The third spider screeches, about to strike.
I push the wolf to latch on with its jaws around a hind leg, dragging on the spider, holding it back just long enough for me. With a yell, I haul my sword from the head of the dead spider and drive it straight into the abdomen of the other.
It pauses, pinned on my weapon. It blinks slowly, all its eyes out of time with the others.
Then it gurgles, curls up, and drops dead on the dirt.
I pull my sword free, grimacing at the black sticky blood that coats it. I wipe it, stowing it away again and continuing on. My task calls me on even as my heart calls me back to Havenrock.
Guinevere
I make it to the edge of the woods just before dawn on the second day. Pausing for a moment, I survey the area, watching for the guards on the gate, planning my next move. I creep a little closer, beneath a half-fallen tree where I can get a good vantage point. A tiny bird flutters boldly from the branches of a tree and alights on my shoulder, and it’s only when I look around in surprise that I see its body is half eaten and all the feathers on its head have fallen out revealing white skull.
Unnerved, I look around to see if Alaric has followed me after all, but there’s no sign of him. I didn’t call to the bird, but it stays fixed on my shoulder nonetheless. When I look back to the walls, I almost gasp aloud. Movement near the gate draws my gaze, and I squint to discover a host of bones gathering themselves together into unnatural shapes and lurching to their feet. The bones are burned and blackened in places and none of them fit together properly. A man’s skeleton is topped with a horse’s head and the ghoul lumbers awkwardly in my direction. There’s a shout from the walls and a guard leans over, pointing at the skeleton.
Another rears up, just as unnatural as the first. This one has a human skull, a dog’s body, and a pair of wings like a goose. With no feathers left, they look like spindly fingers stretching backward off the dog’s back.
As it, too, drags itself toward me, I begin to worry. If the guards haven’t spotted me yet, they soon will with my undead stalkers to give me away. I need to move now.
I’ve just made the decision when something hard and boney nudges me from behind. I whirl around. The dead wolf grins at me with its bare skull. It must have followed me through the forest, though I thought I had released it a day ago.
I do not have time to figure out what is going on. I wish for a moment that Alaric were here to ask, but I force that wish down again quickly. Instead I act.
Calling again to the wolf, I send it running out into the open to meet the others. I’m almost jolted from its body when I look for a moment through its eyes and realize there are five of the strange creatures lumbering this way now.
Shutting that out too, I duck low and run through the undergrowth, keeping out of sight of the guards as best I can. I hope they are too distracted to notice me scurrying in the shadows.
As I run, the ghouls turn toward me and I curse, hoping the guards do not identify the source of their fixation. The little bird is still on my shoulder, so with a silent thought, I send it flying off up above the wall to dive at the nearest guard.
There’s a shout and a curse. The guard disappears for a moment. Then more shouts come from below.
This is getting out of hand. I decide to risk scaling the wall. My distractions will not last forever. I have no control over the ghouls. I cannot seem to fix on their location when I search with my mind. They are everywhere and nowhere at once.
I run straight to where the top of the arched gate overhangs the entrance and climb the grid-like pattern of the portcullis. Once I get to the top, the climb becomes more difficult. I have to leap and grasp for a handhold to pull myself up. I almost miss.
My feet swing wildly for a moment, and my fingers begin to slip. I ignore the pain in my fingertips. Grazed skin will heal quickly enough. Even a fall from this height won’t stop me. I have no wish to feel the impact of it, though.
Thankfully I gain purchase on the stone and sling a leg over the edge, happy I wore the prince’s hose rather than a dress with heavy skirts.
I make it halfway over the edge of the wall before a shout tells me I’ve been spotted. “Intruder! Intr—” I cut off the guard’s cry with a blow of my sword hilt to his temple, and he crumples to the floor of the guard tower.
