Page 53 of Rune Assassin

I nodded. “I will.”

Tegan!I screamed as Clara and he disappeared into the brush.Tegan!

Their footsteps faded. I was all alone.

Or was I?

CHAPTERTWENTY-EIGHT

The strange tuggingin my mind forced me to turn and walk across the clearing to the trees. The dark, very shadowed trees.

Not in there!I yelled at myself. For one fleeting moment, I swore my pace slowed but the time was brief and I continued my march into the darkness.

My legs took me fifty yards into the trees before I came to a stop in the middle of a small circle of trees. I could feel my heart pounding hard against my rib cage and my fingers twitched, the only proof that I so desperately wanted to clutch my chest.

All was as silent as the grave, an apt metaphor when something otherworldly loomed out of the shadows in front of me. The figure was slim and wore a cloak that completely covered their form. The stranger stepped out of the tree line and stopped five feet away from me. Beads of sweat slid down my forehead as my internal monologue screamed at me.

Run! God damn it, run!

The shadowy figure cocked their head to one side. A raspy male voice came from under the thick hood. “You are becoming rather troublesome.” I swallowed hard and managed to part my lips but no sound would come out. The figure shook their head. “It’s no use, Miss Harrow.” He raised a hand to the canopy and revealed the black gloves that covered his fingers. “You cannot break my hold as that fool Miles did. Not in this darkness where my powers are strongest.”

My eyes lit up. Darkness. That was it. Now all I had to do was just get some control over my body.

The stranger dropped their hand to their side and chuckled. “I can sense your struggling, Miss Harrow. You are stubborn and very persistent.” My captor stalked around me in a circle and I could feel his eyes ever on my person. I stiffened when he stopped behind me and his hand settled on my shoulder. His whispered breath wafted across my ear. “Now how shall I deal with you? Shall I merely take you away to lead your dragon lover from your task? Or shall I-” He finished his sentence by tightening his grip on my shoulder to the point of pain. The man lessened his pressure on my shoulder and clucked his tongue. “No, that will not do. I need both of you out of the way, particularly that dragon. His magic is far more than it should be, as is yours. No, you must both be dealt with.”

My heartbeat quickened as I thought about Tegan being in danger because of this monster. I gritted my teeth as my whole body began to shake. The figure scuttled back and stepped in front of me. I could feel the malevolence flow off their form.

“Stop that!” the figure snapped as they took a step away from me. “You will not conquer me!”

I narrowed my eyes as pressure began to build in my mind. It was a battlefield of wills inside there and the pain spread down to the rest of my body. I opened my mouth and choked out a few words. “I-I. . .I won’t. . .let you. . .hurt him.”

“Stop!” my captor commanded and a stab of pain inside my head followed his order.

I let out a wild cry and flung up my arms to clutch my head in my hands. A brilliant light burst out of me and slammed into the trees and the cloaked figure. They were thrown off their feet and flew into the brush. At the same time, the pressure inside my head vanished.

The exhaustion came after that. My legs buckled and I crumpled to the ground. The last view I had was of the clear sky through the canopy. Then everything went black.

I knew nothing until something soft and cold touched my forehead. I squirmed atop something that definitely wasn’t forest leaves and I forced my eyes open. Bright sunlight shone down on me and I blinked a few times before the room came into view. Tegan sat over me with a pale of water on the nightstand. His face was pale and his hand that adjusted the cloth shook a little.

He froze when I opened my eyes and a look of deep relief passed over his face. “Thank the gods you’re awake.”

I swallowed the dryness in my throat. “What happened?”

“I found you unconscious in the woods,” he told me as he studied my face. “Do you remember what happened?”

I cleared my throat and told him my tale. By the time I was done, the worry had returned to his face. He set a hand atop mine which lay over the soft covers. “I’m sorry.”

I blinked at him. “For what?”

“For leaving you behind. I should have known something was wrong.”

I smiled and flopped my head from side to side. “It’s not your fault. I didn’t fight him hard enough.”

Tegan pursed his lips. “And you say you didn’t recognize him?”

I stared up at the canopy and sighed. “Not a bit, but I think he changed his voice.”

Tegan furrowed his brow. “Then that would make him someone we knew.”

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