Page 121 of Heir of the Beast

Mort pulls me to the right and points. “There, do you see her?”

It takes me a second, but yes, I do. Laura is crying, with a long blade held to her neck as Siron and his men slowly approach. Not good. She’d better be ready to yell for her lifeline if need be.

“He is going to slit her throat.”

“Then you’d better take aim.”

Without much thought, I step out into the open and pull my bow back to full capacity. I let out a slow breath and calm my body as I home in on her captor. She is far away—this is a risky shot.

“Shoot,” Mort hisses.

“I can’t, I don’t have a clean shot. This is not a gun, Mort.” I am sweating. The man’s yelling at Siron’s men in some different language as he jerks Laura around. “Fuck.”

“Can we get behind him?”

I lower the bow and nod. “That way.”

We both sprint down to the lower deck so we are in a better position to get a clean hit, though it does not make it any less risky. There is smoke everywhere and he could move, or I could impale them both like a skewer.

“We need to hurry, human.”

The man is violently screaming, drawing blood at her neck from his recklessness. “Oh, not good,” I hiss, sweat running down my forehead.

Without a second’s thought, I fire an arrow too far to his left, missing my mark completely.

“You missed!” Mort’s mouth is hanging open.

I know. But it made him move from the shock. A decoy. Diversion. Now I have a clear shot of his chest and I take it.

The surprise on his face as the silver arrow penetrates his chest, inches from Laura’s shoulder, is priceless. Though I don’t think he will save any money on his Geico insurance, because he’s dead.

Mort’s man-body hugs me. “You did it!”

I smile. Siron grabs Laura, who is bawling her eyes out hysterically, holding her bloody neck. We did it, though! I drop my bow and run toward them, up to the stairs to the top deck.

Siron’s men are taking the remaining crew as captives as we speak. As I come in sight, most of the crew pauses and turns to stare at me in awe.

Or horror. Maybe thinking I am a witch or something—I don’t blame them.

“Laura!”

Through her sobs, she turns her face away from Siron and sees me. “S-sister?” she asks meekly, eyes puffy. When she sees it’s me, she pushes off Siron to embrace me.

“Are you okay?!”

Laura sobs and wipes her nose. “Yes, thank goodness you’re a sound shot. What the hell took you so long?”

I stare at her.

She laughs and gives me another hug. “Kidding, nice work.”

Siron is watching us with a frown.

Laura stiffens. “Double crap,” she whispers. “I forgot about him. Do we need to be worried?”

I look at her and shake my head. “No.”

She frowns at me in question.

---