Page 105 of Brutal Birthright

Heaving herself up to her feet, Ri unhooked her bow from behind her and once again set off following the path. Mist continued to thicken and swirl around her feet as she pressed forward.

Only, she made it barely thirty paces before something brushed up against her calf. As she swung around to face this next challenge, a thick wall of grey fog met her searching gaze. Within a second, she’d been slammed by the throat and knocked straight on her back. Hot, slicing pain throbbed at her neck. She realised her arms had been pinned, and her legs were being wrapped so tight she couldn’t move her ankles.

Shooting agony tore through her as if a thousand glass shards were piercing into her flesh. Then she saw, out of the corner of her eye, the flailing thick tendrils of whatever this attack was from. Like barbed lengths of vine coated in spines and thorns. The lengths were so heavy they thudded against the ground with a force that sent tremors through the dirt.

As the jagged points dug deeper into her, a dizzying sensation began to pump through her bloodstream. Some kind of toxin was being released, and with every second she lay here bound and held firm against the forest floor, she was being filled with more and more of the poison.

Ri began to thrash against the restraints, but each shift only tightened them around her arms. They climbed higher towards her shoulders, and she watched on in horror as a thick length of almost black-looking twisted vine thudded down across her torso. She let out a scream of pain as the vine dragged itself across her midriff, shredding the parts of her top and skin it came into contact with. On a second slap downwards, the barbs sunk deep, leaving puncture wounds.

Even if she still had her bow in her hands—which had been thrown several feet away when the first blow knocked her flat on her back—that type of weapon would be useless here. Her best hope was to try and hack off the vines wrapping her and hope that she could escape beyond its clutches before any new bindings took their place.

With weakened magic and seeing white spots hazing at the edges of her vision, Ri sucked in a deep breath. Forcing herself to focus intently on producing just one blade. If her magic could just muster up enough strength to manifest one in her palm…

Several agonising moments passed. The pain ratcheted up like searing hot knives plunging deeper and deeper beneath her skin as she screamed through gritted teeth.

Then, the cold glide of smooth metal appeared in her palm. In one jerking motion, she ripped the blade through the bindings around her wrist. Slick, oozing residue coated her skin where the vine was cut open. The vile smell was suffocating as it stuck to the back of her throat.

Ri didn’t want to risk the odour of whatever toxin lay within this thing. There was every chance it might be just as powerful when inhaled as it seemed to be when it was pumped straight into her bloodstream.

Blindly hacking and slashing and not even paying attention to where she sliced her own flesh with the blade, Ri scrabbled backwards. The barbs were still sunk deep into her arms and legs and torso like long, blackened claws. Lengths of the twisted tendrils hung off her, leaking the foul-smelling residue. But she needed to keep moving and get to safe ground.

She quickly ducked in a half-stumble to scoop up her bow where it had landed close by. Nearly face planting into the dirt as she did so. Her mind was a hazy ruined mass of pain and the toxin running riot through her senses. The skin on her palm tore off as she hit the gravel path. Pushing up to a half crawl, half run, she made for a small rocky outcrop where she could slide between large boulders and tree trunks.

As she collapsed against the damp granite at her back, she used the blade to dig out the thorns and barbs still embedded in her skin. Blood ran freely everywhere as each hacked-off tendril finally came loose, and she flung it as far away as possible. Part of her foggy brain kept glancing at them, lying in the dirt, expecting them to regenerate and come after her again.

The poison was still in her blood. The fogginess in her mind wouldn’t shift. Making everything swirl in front of her and the sound of her heartbeat in her ears sounding like a rushing waterfall. Ri blinked several times, trying to clear the feeling of cotton wool dampening her every sense, to no avail. This was going to hamper her throughout the rest of the tasks that still lay ahead, and all of a sudden, there was a very real moment of fear rising in her throat.

It was one thing to be injured physically and have to make adjustments when fighting. But quite another to feel like your mind wasn’t your own.

A chattering noise began to swirl in amongst the darkness behind the nearest trees. Fuck. Ri’s legs felt wobbly, and she wasn’t confident she could even see straight to shoot her arrows anymore. She’d be relying solely on hand-to-hand combat at close range, which was less than ideal. Her limbs felt as though they had been coated in lead and sunk underwater.

Never mind the fact her mind felt like it was submerged also.

To her toxin-addled brain, the chattering noise began to sound like laughter. Like an eerie feminine giggle taunting her from within the depths of the mist and the thick gnarled branches of the pines surrounding this place.

Tremors started to wrack her body. She didn’t know what kind of impact this enchantment would have on her, but there was every chance the poison might begin to debilitate her further the longer she waited. Knowing how Rowan would have designed these tests with resilience in mind, he’d be sadistic enough to create punishments for those who sat around licking their wounds.

She could practically hear his gruff voice telling her to stop being such a little bitch and get up.

Get. Up.

Ri made a feral noise through her clenched jaw as she dragged herself to standing and chose to leave her bow slung over her back this time. Instead, she grabbed another blade and carried one outstretched in each trembling hand. Fuck, she had no control over the way her body was convulsing and shuddering.

Each step forward was a slow shuffle now. There was no hope of moving any faster without falling on her face. She could hardly determine where the ground was. It seemed to move beneath her like a rolling wave.

Mist banked and swirled in front of her face like ghostly dancers. Enclosing her suddenly in a shroud so tight she couldn’t see the trees or the sky or even the large boulders she knew lay just off to the side of the path.

And just as she stepped another foot forward, a dark shape materialised in the middle of the path, moving towards her so fast she didn’t have time to react in her mind-haze. Their bodies collided, and Ri made to slash in the direction of whatever had just hit her when she realised this was no assailant. Pulling back just in time before the dagger clutched in her fist connected.

Blonde curls. Soft curves. Wide eyes that were puffy and red-rimmed. Blood coated most of her body and stained her torn clothing.

“Vanya?” She croaked. What the fuck was Vanya doing out here? Had she not returned from her own turn going through the course earlier?

“Oriana?” The girl sniffed, and still, that same wide-eyed look hung on her face. As if she was also suffering under the same confusing effects of the toxin.

Ri’s mind was like sludge. Trying to form words. Attempting to figure out what should be happening here. Something didn’t fit right for Vanya to still be stuck inside the assault course… but the threads of her rational thoughts hung limp and disconnected in her mind’s eye.

“Hello?” Another voice called through the mist.

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