Page 4 of The Holly King's Sacrifice

But I cling to his warmth regardless, unable to do anything else. He’s the only source of heat in this cold, dark forest, and I instinctively curl around him. The second time I clutch at his back, he lets me, and his grip softens.

And then we’re striding through the woods, one step at a time.

The night passes like that—hours slung over his shoulder. The Holly King says nothing, barely even breathing in the winter chill. I can see my own breaths puffing out to the side, my head swimming at the extended period of time upside down. At some point, I fall asleep, or I pass out; it’s hard to tell the difference.

When I wake, my eyelids glow orange with firelight.

I snap my eyes open to find a green road sign like the one above the altar in the woods—this one reading ‘Christmas.’ Am I going crazy? Am I delirious from my time in the woods? There’s no way I’m in a town called Christmas, and if I am, it means the Holly King has carried me nearly fifty miles in the dead of winter.

Icicles hang from the road sign, snow partially obscuring the text, but I’m confident in what I’m seeing. I peer back at it as the light around us grows brighter, hurting my eyes. Then I start to make out voices—all speaking in a gruff, growling language that I don’t understand. I try to get a look at them, but it’s hard to see around the Holly King’s hulking form, especially in that glaring firelight.

Shapes appear slowly, dancing like shadows around the flames. There’s a bonfire in the middle of town, a pyre at its center with an effigy in the middle.

My heart thunders in my chest as I realize the bonfire is surrounded by demons.

There are dozens of them, each huge and hulking with sharp antlers. They’re draped in furs and strange, silken fabric, barely clothed as the snow collects on their shoulders. Their eyes glow silver, blue, and gold in the darkness, most with thick beards and stern expressions.

They look like people, to my relief. I hope that means they aren’t as monstrous as I thought.

I look back at them all in shame as the Holly King carries me up a dais at the front of the bonfire, tossing me unceremoniously to the ground. I land with a thud—but at least whatever he set me on is warm and soft. I look down to find that I’ve been dropped on a thick bed of furs, and they’re not from any creature I’ve ever seen. These are spotted in strange patterns, light orange and green flecks interspersed with black.

The Holly King’s feet shuffle just a tad closer, and I watch his knees bend as he crouches. A moment later, his hand is on my chin, jerking my face up to look at him.

My thoughts race in horror.

It’s the face from my nightmare.

A skeletal mask, eyes glowing underneath, antlers sharp and wicked on top. He looks down at me, his features invisible as he gives me an order that Idon’t understand.

“I don’t speak your language,” I whisper. “I’m sorry.”

Before I can say anything else, he grasps me by the wrist and pulls me to my feet, putting my naked body on display for all of his friends. I try to cringe back in shame, but he almost lifts me from my feet, his grip strong around my arm.

“Skjall!”he roars.

The others join him, everyone raising their first and cheering. I feel like I’ll die of shame. No one has ever seen me naked before, and now I’m being shown off to all of the Holly King’s subjects in some kind of dark ritual. I focus on the effigy to ignore how horrible this feels, but it only makes things worse.

Because the effigy is made of bones.

It’s no effigy at all.

It’s aperson.

I can’t help the scream that tears itself from my chest, but it’s drowned out by the jeers from the crowd. Two more demons join us on the dais, each with a huge rack of antlers, each at least six feet tall. They close in on me and hold me still as I fight against them, the Holly King reaching from behind me to grab me roughly by the hair.

He moves my blonde strands aside and then I feel a horrible pain, sharp and screaming in my head. I blanch away, but the other demons hold me still as the Holly King adjusts something cold and metal, fitting it to my ear. It feels like a needle piercing all the way into my brain, like the worst headache I’ve ever had.

The Holly King releases me and I slump to the ground as the other demons retreat. I try to scramble away, but he grabs me by the shoulder and jerks me backward. I gaze up at him, wondering what will happen next—if the thing they just put on me is meant to paralyze me while the skin me, or worse…

But he just takes a step forward and begins to speak.

“Brothers!”

He’s speakingEnglish.

Right?

I can’t quite tell. It’s like he’s speaking another language—then there’s a lag—then my brain starts to pick up on it. I realize the device they’ve affixed to my head is whispering in my ear, telling me what he’s saying as he speaks.

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