Page 5 of Ruined Kingdom

The rotten stench of stagnation and corruption filled my nostrils.

My legs and hands sunk into the soft earth as if the mud sought to consume me.

I knew exactly where I was now. I was in the Shadow Territory.

Fear ran ice-cold through my veins as I scrambled to my feet before falling down again.

I didn’t have the strength to run. Hell, I barely had the energy left to be scared to the degree this situation warranted.

My eyes fell on Yenisey, who was sprawled out on the floor, as still as a statue.

If it hadn’t been for the slight movement to her chest, I would have thought she wasn't breathing either.

Why’d Yenisey been speaking to the evil Fae King—who was supposed to be dead, by the way! Had betrayal been her plan this whole time?

A rustling of leaves and cracking of twigs distracted me from my bleak thoughts. I snapped my attention right to a bush a mere few yards away from me.

The way it quivered and moved sporadically, hinted at something making its way closer to us. Whatever it was, wounded and weak, I was helpless against it.

My heart climbed into my throat and sat right against my airways to avoid the stab of fear that threatened to pierce it. Instead, the spear of hot ice and terror thrust itself into the empty cavity there.

Finally, the thing emerged from the bushes, and a soft golden fur could be seen peeking out from the black leaves. A doe's ears flickered about as it raised its head to look at me with those big eyes that seemed to know more than a regular wild beast ought to.

She found me again… How?

The deer approached me slowly, and somehow I got the idea she was doing it to not frighten me, instead of it being the other way around. It lowered its head as if bowing, but touched its nose to my stomach, where the wound still bled and festered.

The Golden Deer closed its eyes, and a warm light radiated from its nose. I knew instinctively that it was magic. The air was practically vibrating with the power of it.

She's healing me…

I watched in amazement as my skin stretched over my wound. First, the pain dissipated in waves, and then it was gone entirely.

The deer lifted its nose from my stomach, the illumination of it fading, and backed away a few steps.

I was careful, reaching out to touch my stomach where the hole had once been, but it was as if it never happened.

“Thank you,” I breathed, looking back up at the deer, but she looked despondent for some reason.

As our eyes remained locked together, I got the sinking impression that her doe eyes were trying to tell me something horrible, but it was also at that moment that everything around us seemed to go still and quiet. Unnaturally so.

Suddenly, the deer snapped its neck around, searching for something I could neither hear nor see. The panic that filled her eyes was enough to frighten me as well.

“What is it? What do you hear?” I scrambled to my feet in a vain attempt to prepare for whatever was coming.

Suddenly it began ramming its head into me, pushing me off balance, as if the deer wanted me to leave this place.

“What is it?” I didn't even know which direction to run in because everything was dark and obscure around us, except for the spot we were in.

I looked over to Yenisey and realized that I couldn’t leave her here. Even if she had intended to betray us all along, what kind of person would that make me if I left her behind?

I would bring her back to Ulric Castle and figure out what happened from there. I rushed to her side, pulling her slack arm over my shoulder, and lifted her up.

She was surprisingly light, considering how much taller than me she was. I was used to moving bales of hay and heavy farming equipment, so a dainty human was nothing to me.

Unfortunately, it ended up being too late to run.

As soon as I was able to stand with Yenisey, we were surrounded by shadow figures that were each easily eight feet tall.

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