Page 66 of Anathema

I turned around and, in the reflection, caught sight of Moros standing in the thorn bushes behind us. Panic exploded inside of me. “C’mon!” Without hesitation, I jumped through the barrier to the other side, where I was greeted by what looked like the same forest. Only, when I twisted around, instead of a reflection, I could see Aleysia standing on the other side. I thrust out my hand to reach for her, and a hard surface smashed against my knuckles. The liquid barrier had hardened to an impenetrable wall.

“No. No!” I slammed my hands against the translucent surface. “Aleysia! Aleysia!”

Her lips trembled as she edged closer to the archway, but in the distance, the ruined version of Moros strode toward her.

“Aleysia! He’s behind you! Aleysia!” I slammed on the clear surface again, desperate to break through, but it was as though she couldn’t hear or see me. “Aleysia! Aleysia!”

“Turn around! Now!” a foreign voice shouted from behind, but I ignored it, watching Aleysia reach out for me.

“Come on, step through! He’s coming!”

An arm banded around her throat, dragging her backward.

“No! Aleysia! No!”

At the same time, arms wrapped around my waist and neck, dragging me away from the archway.

I kicked and wriggled, fighting to get away, not yet having seen my captors.

A blast of light flickered around me, and a paralyzing rigidity gripped my muscles. The branches of trees slipped past my view, as I seemed to rise up into the air. Every muscle trembled, tight and burning, as if a bolt of lightning ran through me, locking up my limbs, my jaw. I could hardly draw in a breath as my body spun around, and I found myself facing a dark-haired man on horseback, decked out in steel and leather, his hand outstretched toward me.

Three other men stood on foot alongside him.

“What is that smell?” the blond, dressed in the same garb as Dark-Hair, asked. “I want to eat the fucking air, it’s delicious.”

“Is she mortal?” one with red, curly hair asked, and the man whose hand twisted slightly, turning me to the side, answered, “Yes.”

Panic shook me, as I couldn’t see Aleysia from this new angle, and my muscles refused to obey the command to turn around.

“Balls of Castero! A mortal! Has a mortal ever crossed over?” The blond stared up at me in awe.

“Not to my knowledge.” The dark-haired one, who held me in some invisible grasp, tipped his head in curiosity. What I surmised to be guards, given that they all wore the same shiny metal and leather, with the same strange emblem, stared back at me, as I floated above them, completely helpless.

Let me go! my head screamed, but I couldn’t summon a single word.

“How the fuck does she speak Nyxterosi if she’s mortal, genius?” Redhead asked.

“Don’t know. But Captain says that smell is distinct for mortals. That’s how they lure ya.” Eyes closed, the blond flared his nostrils with a deep breath. “I wonder what her cunt smells like?”

“Go on, then, taste it, if you’re so curious,” Red challenged, and I urged my muscles to wriggle free from whatever it was that held me. “My great-grandfather said they carry the nastiest blood diseases. Lost two of his brothers when they crossed the vale once. Came back sick as dogs. I heard, if they bite you, you can pretty much kiss your ass goodbye.”

“That’s a load of crap,” the blond argued. “No one has ever crossed to the mortal lands. Your grandfather is a liar.”

“He did! I swear it!”

“What do we do with her?” The blond licked his lips, and I didn’t want to imagine the revolting thoughts running through his head right then. “You can’t take her back to the castle dungeon. You’d be inviting a scourge, and the king would have your head. She smells so fucking delicious, though, I could piss myself. Like oranges, or something.”

“No. We can’t take her to the castle dungeons,” Dark-Hair agreed. “The king would insist on her immediate execution, anyway. Seems a damn shame to waste such a monumental event as a mortal crossing over. I’m curious to see how they work.”

One of the guards didn’t speak, at all, but merely watched me in silence.

Aleysia. I had to focus on Aleysia. Can you see her? my head was desperate to ask the guards. Is she alive?

“What do you mean, how they work?”

The men prattled on, my impatience growing thinner by the second.

A toxic mixture of rage and terror clogged my throat, and I was on the verge of breaking, but only the silence persisted.

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