Page 60 of The Great and Terrible

Other soldiers rode past their fallen comrade. One swung a sword meant to take Nugget’s head. I screamed a warning, and the rabdog zoomed off, narrowly avoiding decapitation. He circled around, coming alongside us to keep pace. What he didn’t do? Attack me. See! I’d known he would always be my baby.

A sharp sting in my cheek drew my focus forward. Sharp, twisted branches slapped at me, cutting my skin. “We can’t outrun them.” Despite the plethora of obstacles, their horses weren’t deterred.

“Not yet.” Jasher released me to palm his axes. “Brace yourselves.”

Boom!An explosion discharged, shaking the ground. A sizzling gust of hard wind knocked into our group, tossing us several feet. I crashed, eating dirt and choking on smoke.

I blinked rapidly to clear my vision and soothe the burn in my eyes. Spotting the other women, I crawled their way. Bothappeared dazed, but other than a few cuts, they were uninjured. “Jasher? Nugget?”

A growl sounded as the smoke parted, revealing Nugget. He flew over us and ripped into a soldier knocked off his horse. As soon as the attacker died, my warrior dog aimed for another soon-to-be victim with glee in his bright red eyes.

“Jasher!” I shouted, lumbering to my feet and helping the women do the same.

Boom!

Another explosion rocked the ground, another wind gust sending me stumbling. I fought to remain upright. “Jasher!”

“Here, I’m here.” He sprinted through the smoke, his shirt soaked in blood and a second arrow protruding from his torso. Not by word or deed did he betray his pain as he collected me and the others. “Run until I say stop.”

CHAPTER 15

PRETTY, DEADLY POPPIES

Only two rebels followed my ragtag team out of the forest. Their horses galloped in the opposite direction. The men were wounded, but not nearly as badly as Jasher. He required immediate tending. If the arrow had pierced his heart… if he had other wounds… He must. Blood soaked him. But stopping to provide medical assistance would get us both killed. So on we ran. The forever key’s burn only intensified.

Cursed to die a violent death for entering the forest? Yeah, the possibility seemed more likely by the minute.

Jasher tripped over a rock, barely preventing a face plant and obviously weakening. I wrapped an arm around his waist and forced him onward. Finally, we cleared the trees. A field of wildflowers loomed ahead, seeming to stretch on for eternity. Golden sunlight bathed the beautiful red petals, turning them into a sea of blood. Bones dotted the countryside, lending veracity to the illusion.

“It’s us or the poppies,” a male boomed out, satisfaction underlaying his tone. It was the same guy who’d taunted us earlier. “We, at least, might let you live. All we want is the girl.”

Leona and Patch decelerated, and Jasher commanded, “I didn’t say stop.”

“We should take our chances with the armed madmen,” Patch cried.

“The glens are a death sentence.” Leona huffed a ragged breath.

I knew nothing about the poppies, other than the warning issued by the bath babes.If you can’t go around the poppy glens, well, you die badly.

“Keep going,” Jasher commanded, his teeth gritted.

Then and there, I made a decision. Trust him, rather than anyone else. He’d kept his word from the beginning, never lied to me, even when the truth stung, and he hadn’t betrayed me. “Keep going,” I emphasized. “But someone tell me the problem with poppies.”

“They are like the sirenes, but worse.” Sweat poured over his face. We leaped over a fallen log, and he winced. “The more you move, the more they strike, injecting you with venom that slowly cooks you from the inside out. Liquified remains are their favorite food.”

A fate worse than death! “Why aren’t the glens plowed and salted?”

“They have been. The poppies only grew back stronger.”

We passed a set of human remains and entered the thick of the field. “Stop,” Jasher commanded.

Boom!A new explosion detonated behind us. The ground shook Jasher to his knees. Since I refused to let him go, I went down with him. Both girls toppled, but we all remained frozen where we landed, too afraid to move. We waited as dark smoke billowed and thinned, unveiling the flowers surrounding us. Their sweet scent proved detectable despite the lingering fumes. Small, sharp pebbles littered the grass—no, not pebbles. I scanned the bits of white and gagged. They were bone shards.

“The smoke is laced with a sedative that only affects thepoppies,” Jasher grated, careful to speak for our ears only. “They are currently asleep.”

Did the soldiers know? How much time did we have before the sedative stopped working?

I jerked my attention to the armed combatants, spying them through an overabundance of stems and blooms. Both had stopped just shy of the flowers. One paced before the dividing line, while the other hung back a few feet away. No longer did they flash in and out of view.

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