Page 59 of What Lies Within Masks & Shadows

“You cannot run from me,” Alora mocked, reiterating the words in his refined accent and tightening the reins with a scoff.

She stiffened in the saddle at the reminder, gritting her teeth. Picturing him standing at the edge of camp.

The mighty bastard would finally be the powerless one.

Chin dipped low, glaring through the slits in her eyes, Alora avowed in a lethal whisper, “Watch me.”

She heldno sense of direction. The map in her boot was useless until she found a town. And the forest was falling darker by the minute. The only things that could help were the stars, which were nearly blocked out by the heavy canopy above. Because,of course, this couldn’t be easy.

Alora scanned trees as her eyes adjusted.

There had to be a way, had to be something.

Fighting off the urge to look back, Alora hallucinated every shadow as something more than a boulder or a tree. Half expecting the High Prince with his smug face, leaning against a tree, waiting for her. But he wouldn’t be. He probably didn’t even know she was gone yet.

And looking back would only slow her down, wasting time that she didn’t have.

Sweat-soaked, her horse panted. They’d been running and leaping over foliage for what seemed like hours, so she decided to slow their escape, allowing the horse to catch its breath. Alora was grateful. After all, her feet wouldn’t have carried her that far.

She patted its neck, praising it with a grateful whisper. “Thank you for getting me out of there.”

They continued walking through the forest, spooking at every rustle of leaves or snap of a branch. Animals scurried up trees asstarlight butterflies demonstrated their breathtaking light show of wings. The calming sounds of the breeze through the trees rested on her ears, causing her to close her eyes and smile.

Before long, they arrived at a trickling stream, and Alora dismounted.

She led her horse to the water and knelt down, cupping her hands together and bringing the sweet, cold liquid to her lips.

“We need to find our way out of here, my friend.” Looking into the horse’s eye as it drank. “If they haven’t figured out by now that I’ve gone, they will soon.”

As she stood up from her position at the stream, she noticed that the sounds of the forest grew silent. An eerie sensation chilled her bones as her eyes fell upon a dark figure prowling within the trees ahead of her.

Ten times larger than a High Fae, a bear, or anything she’d ever seen. The creature moved its way out of the tree’s shadows, crushing brush as it passed, and stood in the thick grass thirty feet away.

The creature had skin shaped like black crystals, forming a skeletal physique. Six legs, two of which jutted out from its shoulders with three fingers on each, formed jagged razor claws oozing with hot inky liquid.

Everything it touched was engulfed in a sizzling vapor. The vision of nightmares, prowling in a forest much too small for it. Its jagged tail drug through the grass, flattening a path behind it. And if that sight of horror wasn’t enough…

It stopped and flexed its spiked leathery wings.

Tripling its size.

Gamroara.Alora froze, holding onto the reins of her horse.No sudden movements.These beasts were cursed with terrible vision. On its spiked, skeletal head sat four sunken, empty eye sockets. But their hearing was impeccable. Her best chancewas to remain still. Pray that the beast prowled away without noticing that they were there.

The creature stood for a few moments, flexing its wings.

Its giant head cut through the air, flaring its black crystallized nostrils. And by some miracle, it slowly turned itself around in the direction it came.

A crackling of branches and thundering hooves broke the silence.

The creature whipped its head around.

Stood up on its two back legs.

And with an earth-shattering shriek, stomped its feet to the ground, rattling the dirt.

There was no time to do anything … because that beast of crystal and claws and teeth…

Ran straight toward her.

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