Page 2 of Soul Forge

But shirking her duties and trying to start anew somewhere else would mean abandoning her people. People she was expected to lead when her parents stepped down. She’d leave the throne open to usurpers, and she knew the first name on that list was Lord Horthan himself. The thought made her stomach pitch uncomfortably, so she shook it off and kept going.

She liked that nobody paid her any attention out in the streets. Many of the humans walking the paths wore clothes that were a shade too big, and even more wore hand-stitched cloaks like hers. If she kept her pointed ears hidden inside her hood, she’d make it to the wall without trouble.

She was watching a pair of children, one fae, one human, playing with a bag of marbles outside a second-hand bookstore when four guards rounded the corner. A pang went through her chest, sending her in search of her escape route.

Elda’s fingers scoured the outer wall at the end of an old, cobbled alley, brushing over a small indentation pressed into the smooth grey stone in the far corner. It had taken heryearsto find this place. Her father had always said he’d tell her where it was when she needed to know. On her many forbidden trips to the city, she’d started mapping out every section of the outer walls in her mind, searching each one in turn until finally,finally, she found the one she needed.

Grinning, she traced a circle around the indentation with her fingertip and watched it illuminate with a soft yellow glow. She shaped the complicated rune that had been ingrained into her memory since childhood, beaming when a section of the wall became transparent and her father’s evacuation route opened to her at last.

The forest beyond was close enough to reach out and touch. Elda’s hand slid through the wall like it wasn’t there andclutched waxy green leaves still damp with morning dew. As soon as she was free, she broke into a jog. Her nerves settled more the farther she ran, the tightness in her lungs abating at last. She sucked in several gulps of fresh, clean air and smiled, the memory of golden armour fading enough to breathe easily again.

Out in the trees, there were no crushing walls threatening to grind her into paste. No curtseying or pretty dresses cinched so tight she couldn’t breathe. Nobody smiled at her like she was a child or spoke about her like she was a pretty bauble on display. She was just Elda, an elf among the trees, out in the wilderness where the weight of her crown couldn’t follow.

Her father’s warning about the demons roaming the wild echoed in her ears. She picked her way carefully through hanging branches, alert to the sounds of the forest. It was rare that the beasts got so close to the wall, and the ones that did were usually small enough to cause little more than a nuisance. She was certain she was safe, but she untucked the bow and quiver from beneath her cloak just in case. She was a decent shot.

A walk would clear her head… and then she’d go back, don her pretty dresses, and plaster a false smile on her face for her official engagement portrait.

Dappled sunlight filtered through the leaves, a light spring breeze rustling the canopy overhead. Elda watched the dust motes dance, listening to the scurrying feet of small rodents in the undergrowth. Eden’s forest wasn’t as exotic as the plant life in Bratus, nor did it sport the imposing mountain views of Cenet, or the sparkling harbours of Saeryn and Falkryn, but it was beautiful all the same. Everything around her was alive and content, and it left a warm feeling in her chest.

An odd snapping sound in the distance, like a thick branch breaking underfoot, shattered the peace. Elda frowned and followed it, knocking an arrow as she walked. She kept the sharptip pointed down, her footsteps silent on the mossy ground. The trees surrounding her home were huge, their trunks too broad to see far ahead, so Elda relied on her ears to guide her.

Around her, the forest seemed to still. The further she walked, the more the atmosphere changed. The scurrying of creatures lessened, shadows growing when the foliage thickened and blotted out more of the sunlight. Even the wind died down, unable to reach the forest floor. But the snapping and crunching continued.

It was closer – a loud slurp less than ten metres away made Elda’s breath hitch, a chill running down her spine. She closed her eyes and prayed that whatever was there couldn’t hear her heart pounding against her ribs. She peered out from behind the tree, her eyes catching on a gangly white leg. Something crouched over the carcass of a deer on the ground, tearing it to pieces with long, taloned fingers. Her mouth went dry.

The demon’s skin was rough and white, stretched over sinewy muscle like old leather, and stained with blood from its meal. Elda shifted her position to get a better look at it, suppressing a shudder when it became clear it wasn’t one of the smaller creatures she was used to. The only features on its blank face were a bloody, gaping hole filled with rotten fangs that stretched all the way across its jaw and one small, beady black eye in the centre of its forehead. It was hard to get a true idea of its size with it hunched over, but she knew it was too big for her to handle alone.

She tried to sneak away, but her boot came down on a twig that cracked like cannon fire.

You’re going to die,whispered the small voice in the back of her mind.

That pale, bald head raised with a disjointed jerk, and the forest held its breath. Elda watched in horror, too stunned to raise her bow, as it swallowed the bloody leg hanging out of itsmaw and stood, all ten feet of it uncoiling in one motion. The wet squelch of meat and bone being ground to paste made bile rise in her throat. A howl rattled her teeth, and then the creature sprang, taking great strides on its long legs to reach her.

The princess turned and bolted, barely keeping her footing when she leapt over a protruding root. Her mind raced too quickly to remember the way home, so she picked a direction and sent a silent apology to the Spirits for ignoring her father. The creature snarled and hissed, a gust of fetid air feathering her neck when its long arms swung to try and snag her in its bloody talons.

Elda’s heart dropped when it howled and several more shrieks answered. She had no idea what a group of large lesser demons were doing so close to her home, but she didn’t have the time to ponder it, and shedefinitelycouldn’t fight them. One demon became two, then three, then more. By the time the last beast joined the hunt, she was sprinting away from a small horde of them.

Stupid,that poisonous voice whispered.You’ll never escape them. You’re going to die.

She dared to glance over her shoulder. Branches shattered like kindling against seven solid chests, the violent sounds dogging her every step. The clack of fangs periodically snapping shut inches from her head made her scalp prickle. She ducked under swiping talons, narrowly avoiding being torn open, and forced whatever energy she had left into her legs.

Twisting sharply, she threw herself to the side, stumbling over a clump of weeds and diving to the right. She almost fell, rolling her ankle, when the creatures blew straight past. Frustrated roars filled the forest when they lost sight of their meal, and she realised they were too cumbersome to manage the tight turn. Hope burst in her chest, drowning out the voice that told her she was a goner as she limped away.

There was a clearing up ahead. If she could climb one of the trees while she was out of sight, she could wait them out. She just had to move fast enough. Air rushed through her aching lungs, tainted with the earthy tang of moss and the bitter scent of demon sweat. Pain gave her ankle its own pulse.

She burst through the trees, ignoring the sting of small branches slapping her cheeks, and slammed straight into the side of a huge white Pegasus. She bounced off and landed flat on her back as it reared up and let out a shrill whinny, wings flaring wide in alarm.

“Whoa now, steady!”

Elda looked up at the rider when her head stopped spinning, and her face fell. “Ohno,” she wheezed, too winded to take a full breath.

“Oh yes,” Captain Reiner replied, leaning over to smile down at the princess in the dirt. “You are in aworldof trouble.”

“I wasalreadyin a world of trouble.”

“Is that before or after you put yourself on the dinner menu?” the captain asked with a shake of her head, listening to the beasts shrieking among the trees. Atlas shifted beneath her, tucking his feathered wings close to his sides.

“Before.” Elda dusted herself off and stood, unhooking the bow and quiver from her shoulder – it was a miracle neither of them had broken when she hit the Pegasus. The white stud flicked its tail irritably, keeping its distance from her.

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