Page 41 of Tortured

I plunge down with all my strength. I utter a sucking gasp as the blade sinks into my thigh, clear to the hilt. It barely misses the bone.

I scream. The pain is blinding. With satisfaction, I sense Caedryn dropping to the ground. He roars with agony as he thrashes about. My voice joins his, but I have sense enough not to move with a blade in my muscle.

“Kenrik!” Riahn wraps her hands around mine. Together we stabilize the blade. “Help me get him off the horse.”

The horse. That’s right. I’m still riding through the woods. I hear Gilmar’s grumble and Kian’s growl of annoyance.

Curse you! Caedryn cries.

Worth it. I grunt as they lower me to the ground. Caedryn’s adding pressure to the invisible wound on his leg. I wish he actually bled.

I hold the vision of him as I yank the knife out, and Caedryn howls once more.

“You are nuts,” Westin says.

“Idiot is more like it.” Riahn presses against my wound. “Kian, heal this.”

Caedryn and I pass out at the same time.

Chapter 19

“We need to do something about this Caedryn fella,” Gilmar says as he sits back against a log.

It’s nearly midnight, and we’re relaxing after a late evening ride. A few days have passed since I stabbed myself. We successfully carry out our earlier mission once I’m healed, which doesn’t take Kian long to do.

“The visions are coming at worse and worse times,” Gilmar says. “Next time it will come at a cost to one of us.”

“Relax.” Riahn says. “We all have baggage. I didn’t get on you about that pixie that was sweet on you.”

Gilmar turns white.

“Oh, I want to hear about this,” I say. “A pixie?”

“She was a nuisance. Couldn’t get rid of her,” he grumbles.

Westin snorts. “You liked her following you around.”

“I did not!” Gilmar throws a knife, and it sticks in the ground against Westin’s boot.

Westin casually pulls it out as if he didn’t come close to losing a toe.

“She kept cursing all the humans who looked at me,” Gilmar says. “I didn’t bed a woman for two whole years!”

We all burst out laughing.

“How did you get rid of her?” I ask.

Gilmar clears his throat and looks around.

“Come on, tell him,” Kian says.

“I shaved all the hair on my head and gave it to her, including my beard.”

“That’s all she wanted was your hair?” I ask.

“She cast a spell with his hair and a drop of his blood and made a tiny three-inch doppelganger of Gilmar,” Riahn says.

“Pixie’s can do that?” I take a drink from my water skin.

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