Page 40 of Wicked Thieves
Idris placed a hand upon his shoulder.
“Perhaps that had been why she’d done what she had, when she saw the fire in our eyes to fight. To protect us, she cast out her power and killed four of them with a single swipe of her hand, stopping their hearts as easy as breathing. Screaming as she told us to run. Then more Watchmen were upon her.”
Her eyes stung. The words…there were no words to say. No way to ease the pain that was so clearly written on their faces.
To think that so many had suffered for no reason,none. Meaningless deaths that could have been avoided if not for the greed of one man who wanted power above all else. TheWeaverand her greed.
“After that we spent a lot of time hiding in barns, stables, freezing ourselves in alleyways. We were orphans on the streets of Elvir for years. Hiding anywhere the Watchmen wouldn’t think to look. Until Henry found us searching for scraps behind his tavern one day. I can only imagine the sight of us then. He took us in, gave us a haven. If not for him and Zara, for the remaining Vedrans that refused to be torn down and erased, then I have no doubt in my mind that we would have been. Sooner or later.”
Adan turned to face her with an expression she had never seen before, and she tensed.
“Now you know. The price of refusing to fight is this. Survival is one thing, but don’t think that the Watchmen won’t come into the city and do as they did here twenty years ago, Anya. For them, it is as easy as breathing. And they will always go after the weak ones first. You. Your sister. Everyone. Thenthey’ll do as they did here and toss your bodies into a pit.” He made to walk past her, stopping only long enough to say, “Make your choice, but ensure it counts forsomething.”
Before she could say anything, the sound of rasping labored breathing filled her ears from somewhere down the road, among the abandoned homes. A chill ran down her spine as they all tensed. Then the scent of rotting flesh filled her nose, the air.
“Get behind me,” Aeric ordered as he suddenly stepped in front of her, his hand gripping her arm.
Doing as he said, she heard metal singing as Adan unsheathed his swords. Idris doing the same. Even Henry. All of them gathering around her as they waited, listened.
The sound of a distant shriek somewhere else made them all startle as they looked toward the shadows around them. Only to find empty streets. Silence suddenly fell, deafening in their anticipation to see what foul creature would emerge to devour them. Long seconds passed into slow crawling minutes.
Then, a shadowed figure dressed in torn clothes slowly emerged from the alley to their left. Looming over them, nearly as tall as one of the oak trees surrounding them. A grotesque hunched figure peered through long dark hair, revealing two gaping holes where once there had been eyes and a gaping maw, its teeth blackened by the rot. Its breathing was labored, making her eyes water as the smell became unbearable.
The Moroireleased a piercing shriek, stirring the wind around them like one great big gale before it lunged. Moving too fast. Aeric and the twins surged forward, swinging their swords at the creature as it shrieked on and on, a cry of rageand bloodlust. Slashing through flesh and bone, they managed only a few blows before the Moroi reached its long taloned fingers and slashed at Idris. He barely managed to dodge it before the Moroi was upon him, knocking him to the ground.
“Idris!” Adan yelled, cutting a line across his palm and calling upon the snow in a swirling storm of glimmering ice before shooting the sharpened edges toward the creature. It shrieked once more as Adan struck it and it shoved away from Idris, sparing his life if only to direct its ravenous face upon his brother.
Its movements were fluid. A contradiction to its size. An unnatural abomination fueled by the Weaver’s curse. The twins barely managed to fend off its attacks until the blade of Adan’s sword sliced across its arm, sending something black and viscous splattering to the ground.Blood.
His attack only seemed to send it into a frenzy as the Moroi surged toward Adan, its sharpened claws stretched out toward him. Aeric shoved him out of the way, the two tumbling to the ground as they narrowly avoided the attack. As they struggled to gain their bearings, the Moroi was upon them once more.
Henry rushed forward with a bellow, unleashing a series of attacks of his own until Idris stepped behind it.
Light appeared to shine in a sudden pulse within Idris’s eyes before he took in a deep breath that stirred the wind and snow around him, pulling them all to him. Creating a wave of ivory before breathing out, sending crystals and hoarfrost to form around the Moroi, wrapping tighter and tighter around its body. It was incredible and horrifying as the men fought the creature that refused to be bested.
When she caught sight of something moving in herperiphery to her right, she tensed. Another Moroi slowly staggered into the heart of the village, its head tilted to one side at an odd angle. As if its neck had been broken. It regarded her with those same lidless eyes of obsidian before its lips parted. As it moved toward her, dropping to its hands and knees as if it were about to charge, Anelize turned to see that the others were still locked in a frenzied battle with the Moroi.
They could hardly handle one, but two…
Gritting her teeth, she looked to the creature breathing heavily before her its intent clear as black blood oozed from its mouth onto the ground. Spinning on her heel, she ran deeper into the forest, hearing as the Moroi shrieked as it gave chase.
No matter how fast her legs carried her, the creature’s cries followed Anelize wherever she went. Her pants sawed through her in harsh, painful bursts as Anelize ran through the forest. No longer knowing in which direction she went as she barely dodged low-hanging branches and struggled not to lose her footing as the snow gave way to slick patches of ice.
The Moroi was quickly gaining on her and she turned right, around a thick trunk of a black oak, only to head straight for a steep hill covered in sheer ice. She cried out as she slipped and fell, rollingdown, down, downwith limbs flailing and hands struggling to grasp for purchase to no avail. Pain suddenly surged through her as Anelize’s ribs connected with a thick root covered in ice. When she finally reached the bottom of the hill, her back hit the ground so hard that the air was knocked out of her.
She hardly had time to catch her breath when the Moroi lunged down the hill. Narrowly avoiding being crushed by its talons, Anelize rolled onto her feet and ran deeper into the foggathering in the air like a gray storm cloud. As she burst through the fog, its white tendrils trailing around her, she found that she’d stumbled into a vast meadow. At the heart of it sat a cottage made from a combination of black logs and stones, a chimney, and a rotting thatched roof. It couldn’t be bigger than her father’s shop. Small stones laid upon the ground, guiding the way straight toward its door. The wooden frame along the opened doorway adorned with swirling patterns.
When she heard the Moroi’s shriek once more, she ran toward the cottage, hearing its thundering steps as it emerged from the fog. It ran after her and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end in warning as she felt it getting closer. Too close.
Just as she felt the sharp talons threatening to claw into her back, something flew past her. The sound of wings fluttering and the shrill call of a bird was followed by the Moroi’s outraged growl.
Not looking back, Anelize threw herself past the threshold of the cottage door, rolling across the floor and slamming into the leg of a table. The Moroi shrieked, its shadow falling over her as it rushed toward the opened doorway. She scrambled around to face the door, only to see a black raven clawing as the creature’s face. Flapping its wings as it avoided being captured by its gnarly fingers.
Heart thundering in her chest, she watched as the raven flew away, causing the Moroi to follow it. Snarling and rabid, it turned and hurried after it, toward the meadow. The two disappearing beyond the fog, the Moroi’s shrieks echoing in the distance. Forgetting her entirely.
Panting, Anelize dropped her head in relief as she stared at the wide plank floorboards beneath her.
Getting to her feet, she looked around the cottage, where she noticed a hearth across the small main room, a single pot hanging from its hook. Cobwebs filled the wooden rafters and several dead amaranths hung from the ceiling; their stems wrapped together in twine. The familiar scent of herbs and woodsmoke tickled her nose.
