Page 5 of Beyond the Darkness

Chapter Eight

Aerilyn

Two of the hounds had wings flying in the sky above, while the other three looked like the first hound they’d encountered. The two that were airborne looked much more intimidating than the others. It would be more difficult to take one down from the sky. Brinley was already slipping her bow and arrow over her head and sliding an arrow into the notch. “Hurry, take this,” Everett shrugged off his jacket and began pulling it over Aerilyn’s torso to cover her bare skin. She tried her best to sit up, testing how healed the wound was. She slid her arms into the jacket and zipped it up, grabbing for her dagger.

“Stay behind me. You protected me, let me return the favor. I don’t want to be in debt to a thief,” he winked before helping her to her feet. “If you think for one second I’m trusting you with my life, you’re delusional,” she staggered slightly from the blood loss. “Blaise, you take right. Brinley, let's see whatthose bow skills are. Bastian, stay with Aerilyn. I’ll take left,” Everett began to bark out orders. This time nobody protested.

Bastian rushed to her side, slipping his arm around her waist to lean her weight on something. “I’m fine, I can fight,” she lied through her teeth and Everett shot her a glare. “You’ll only get in the way. Stop being a dumbass and stay put,” his tone was more serious than it had previously been. “He’s right, Aerilyn. You might be healed but you lost too much blood to push your body. Please listen to us just this once,” he begged, grasping tighter onto her frame. She finally nodded, watching as the group placed themselves to attack. The hounds were only around a hundred feet away. They all held their weapons up as the collision began.

It was chaos in a matter of seconds. Everett did as he promised, keeping himself between Aerilyn and the hounds. The mixture of snarls and whimpers from the creatures began to fill the air. Blaise was already soaked in blood, his stance absolutely perfect. Each of his blows didn’t miss, jabbing at the hound and hitting his mark. Brinley knocked back each arrow, letting them fly towards the flying hounds with accuracy Aerilyn had never seen before. She kept her eyes moving around the group, ensuring none of them were taken down. She promised herself that if one of them fell, she would step in. Injury or not, she wasn’t prepared to let any of them die.

Everett had surprisingly good sword skills, taking down one of the hounds faster than the others had. The power behind each of his swings was incredible.He’s a Brute,she realized with certainty. His level of strength was drastically greater compared to the others. He moved on to another hound, attacking it without hesitation. The concentration on his face made him look older and more mature. The teasing, smirking prince had disappeared for the time being. He was dancing around the creature in a battle when Brinley finally got the hound to fallout of the sky. Blaise impaled the hound he’d been fighting and his attention went to the winged hound now wounded on the ground. He sprinted to it, shoving his sword hard into its chest. It didn’t move after that.

All of their attention had been on one of the winged hounds, they didn’t notice as the second one swooped down towards Everett. “Everett!” Aerilyn screamed, jerking away from Bastian as she threw her dagger towards it. The dagger buried itself into the side of the hound’s neck, distracting it enough for Everett to shove his sword into its heart.

The silence that filled the air after all the hounds were dead made her stomach twist. They all looked around, checking to make sure there weren’t any more hounds coming after them. All of them panted heavily, taking in the dead bodies surrounding them. “Nice throw,” Everett chuckled as he pulled the dagger from the hound, holding it out towards her. She accepted it, sliding it into her belt loop. “Technically you’re still in debt to me, I saved your ass twice,” she smirked, hearing laughter from the others.

They were all covered in blood. Each of them had black or red blood coating their fronts and faces. Her blood was all over herself as well as on Everett and Bastian. There was no water source anywhere in sight, leaving them to be stuck in a dirty state. She wiped her hands off on her pants before pushing the loose strands of hair out of her face. “Don’t worry, you still look pretty. Even with the blood caked in your hair and all over your face,” Blaise joked, his eyes lighting up as he tried to bring more positivity to the group. They were all shaken up after their experience, leaving them all in a state of shock.

“You’re a shameless flirt, Blaise,” Brinley rolled her eyes as she slipped her arm through Aerilyn’s. Aerilyn was thankful for the bit of support. Brinley didn’t act as if she were broken, but she knew the grasp was meant to stabilize her. She didn’twant to seem weak in front of the others, even if they had just saved her life. “I’m already sick of being surrounded by men,” she whispered under her breath, sparking a laugh in Aerilyn.

“We should get moving before any others decide to come after us,” Bastian frowned as he turned to the pile of their packs and sleeping bags. The group began to clean up their things, shoving it all back into their packs before they started on their journey once again.

Chapter Nine

Everett

The group was much quieter after the attack. Everyone had seemed startled by the sight of the hounds. Being face-to-face with the creatures made it all feel real. Their lives truly were in danger. These are the creatures that killed countless people. They were more than deadly. They had just killed six of them. The group was a mixture of people, all with different experiences, which allowed them to fight together more efficiently.

Everett didn’t want to show his exhaustion, he didn’t want to show any weakness. As much as he wanted to trust the others, he couldn’t bring himself to. They weren’t very fond of him from the moment they all met. He didn’t want to seem like he was easy to take advantage of. Especially the blonde girl who walked a few paces behind him, slower than she was before. The moment he saw her white hair and silver eyes, he recognized her fromthe palace. He had been attempting to sneak out through the servant's entrance to go into town for a night out drinking. His father had kept him and Roman hidden from everyone, never allowing them to show their faces at political events. It made sneaking off to the pubs much easier since nobody knew who he was. He hadn’t expected to see the cloaked figure sneaking into the kitchen that night. Aerilyn was a mystery that he wanted to understand. He had to assume she was poor since she had been stealing the scraps from the palace’s kitchen. Otherwise, he knew nothing else about her.

He slowed down his pace, letting Aerilyn catch up to him. She gave him a look of confusion, raising one of her brows. There were still spots of blood coating her cheeks and hands, reminding him of the injury she had received while trying to protect him. He didn’t understand why she did something like that after swearing she wouldn’t save his ass. “Why are you staring at me?” She questioned, her lips pressing into a tight line. “Just considering the ways I could feed you to the hounds while you’re sleeping,” he lied easily, making her roll her eyes at him. “You had your chance to get rid of me, yet you didn’t. You don’t have to act like you’re heartless, Princey,” she shot back at him, hugging her arms around herself as she walked. He wanted to find a snarky remark to throw back at her but came up with nothing. The guilt ate him inside, feeling as if their lives were in danger because of him. His father was the one continuing the Choosing ceremonies. He felt like he had to own up to some responsibility for his family’s doings.

“Now you want to be quiet?”

“I wanted to stop all of this. My goal, when I got the crown, was to get rid of the Choosing ceremonies. It feels like a waste of lives that never deserved to end like this. He hated me for not agreeing with him,” he let the words spill out, unable to contain them any longer. He didn’t exactly want to admit everything tothe girl, but he never had the chance to speak his truth. He wanted someone to know how he felt inside. She only stared at him, not saying a word as she seemed to be processing his words. “Is that why he put your name in?” The frown pulling at her lips made him feel a pang of guilt for unloading this on her. “I think so. He hates how rebellious I’ve always been. Roman, my brother, was always the favorite. He listens to everything my father says and doesn’t question any orders. I, on the other hand, have challenged him more times than I can count. He never wanted me to take the crown. This was his way of ridding himself of my presence,” he gave her a small shrug, avoiding eye contact entirely.

“I’m sorry, Everett. I think you’d make a lovely king. Even if you’re a jackass, I can tell you have some good intentions buried inside,” she tried to provide him comfort and it gave him a warm bubbly feeling in his chest. Nobody had ever said those words to him. Nobody ever told him that he would be a good king, he was always the second choice. “That means more to me than you could imagine,” he whispered, finally looking over at Aerilyn. The girl was much shorter than he was, gazing up at him with her silver eyes. She gave him a smile before shoving into him with her shoulder. “But don’t think this means we’re friends, pretty boy. That would never happen,” she wiped the smile off of her face, attempting to glare at him. “Oh, of course not, little thief. I don’t befriend criminals,” he shot back before he glanced back at the others who were finally catching up to them.

“I’m not good at trusting other people, I don’t know how to. Out of everyone, you have a tiny sliver of it,” she held her fingers up, her thumb and pointer finger hovering over each other to show a small space between them. “Don’t worry, I’d choose you too,” he said without thinking. He felt his cheeks warm at the comment, realizing how wrong it came out. Hedidn’t want to correct himself and make it more awkward, so he simply pretended as if the words never came from his lips. He was used to flirting around, it always came easy to him. He’d go home with girls from the pub or sneak around with a pretty maid to spite his father. He was experienced with women, to say the least. But Aerilyn didn’t seem to be affected by any of his charm. Usually, the smirks and teasing had women falling at his feet, it was odd to see her so immune to it.

“So what are your abilities?” Brinley’s voice interrupted the awkward silence between Everett and Aerilyn. “A Brute,” he replied, hating that he had one of the most useless powers. “A Floral, I worked in the fields,” Aerilyn smiled at her. He could see it now that she admitted to it. He could picture the girl kneeling in the dirt and growing flowers. How she gained such skills with a sword was beyond his knowledge. “I’m a Forcer, I started working on the walls a few years ago. I had to go through extreme training for it, but as the only child, I wanted to make my parents proud,” Brinley explained, her face practically glowing with joy. “Healer, as you all have found out by now,” Bastian spoke up. The man had been quiet the majority of the time they spent traveling. He remained a mystery to them all. “Please don’t cast judgment on me for this, but I’m a Neuro. I promise you all, I would never use my abilities against you. But I suppose out here they aren’t of much use,” Blaise replied, causing all of their attention to turn to him. Neuros weren’t as common as they used to be. They could manipulate people’s minds. They could control someone’s actions with one thought. The fact that he was a Neuro only put more anxiety on Everett’s shoulders. He could see the change in everyone’s expressions.

Chapter Ten

Aerilyn

It felt like they had been walking forever until the scenery began to change. They came across a large hill where the ground became covered with grass. The sight of the ground finally changing gave her some form of hope. The trek up the small hill wasn’t terrible, but the incline made her ankles ache. When they finally reached the top, she looked out into the area beyond where they stood. At the bottom of the hill was a small village full of brick buildings. It was run down and crumbling, the majority of the buildings only partially still standing. The place hadn’t been touched in decades, leaving it destroyed by the weather and time. It was the first thing they’d seen beside dead grass, rocks, and a few trees. The strangest part of all was the way the sunlight touched the tips of the buildings. They stood in darkness on the top of the hill, but just like Orissia there seemed to be a barrier that separated the darkness from the sunlight.

The group stood still, glancing between the town and each other. None of them knew what to do until Brinley nudged her elbow into Aerilyn’s side. “I’ll race you. The last one there has to give up one of their rations of food!” She yelled before taking off down the hill. Without thinking Aerilyn began to run behind her, not letting her mind ruin the moment of peace. There were no hounds, no guards watching them, they had a moment to be free. She didn’t look behind her to see if the men had followed, letting her feet guide her down the hill after Brinley. She felt the air rushing into her lungs as the heat of the sun hit her face. It had only been three days since they left Orissia, but the time felt much longer in the darkness.

Aerilyn stumbled, losing her footing as she rolled down the hill. Blaise was close behind her, tripping over her as she fell. He hit the ground hard beside her, bursting into laughter. “You aren’t very coordinated are you, Aeri?” He shook his head, pulling himself to his feet as he brushed the dirt off of his front. “Evidently not,” she giggled as he held his hand out to her. She grabbed onto his outstretched palm, letting him pull her to her feet. The rest of the group stood at the bottom of the hill, waiting for them to join. “How about we finish together? Then they can’t force only one of us to give up a ration,” he suggested, keeping her hand within his. “Or we can see who’s faster?” She challenged, letting go of his hand as she shoved his shoulder. She took off running, leaving him behind. She heard Brinley cheering her on, running the last few feet to meet the rest of the group.

“You cheater! I was trying to be nice,” Blaise teased her, shaking his head as he tried to catch his breath. “I don’t let men take it easy on me,” she laughed. Blaise’s eyes went wide at the comment and glanced over to Everett. “Did you hear that? She doesn’t like it easy. Must mean she prefers it rough,” he ran his fingers through his long dark hair, bringing a laughout of Everett. The sound was beautiful. It didn’t seem like he genuinely laughed often. She couldn’t blame him, the life he lived wasn’t an easy one. “I’m sure she does,” Everett replied, but he was no longer looking at Blaise. His eyes were locked directly on her. “You guys are disgusting!” Brinley gagged, shaking her head. “Aren’t they? Such perverts,” she slid her arm into the redheads, walking ahead of the men. Through it all, Bastian stayed quiet. She wasn’t sure how to feel about the man, but she couldn’t judge him after he had saved her life.

An ear-piercing howl filled the air around them, quickly turning Aerilyn’s attention to the source of it. A large hound stood upon the hill where the light touched the dark. Its figure was unmoving, its purple glowing eyes directly on them. Aerilyn quickly grabbed her dagger as the others drew their own weapons. She moved into a fighting stance, readying herself for the attack, but the hound didn’t move. It only continued to howl as if it were frustrated. She looked at the others in question, but they all had the same confused expression on their faces.The hound was refusing to step into the light, she realized. She stepped towards the beast in a taunting manner, seeing if it made any attempt to attack. It didn’t.

“They don’t like the light,” she whispered, finally making the connection between where the hound stood and why it was unmoving. Everett stepped up beside her, examining the scene that was unfolding before them. “They can’t survive in the light,” Everett confirmed, coming to the same realization she had. The beast snarled at them as if it understood that they no longer felt threatened by the beast. Everett adjusted his grip on his sword before taking the final steps towards the hound, shoving the blade into its chest. The glowing purple eyes slowly closed as the hound slumped to the ground, no longer moving. She let out a breath of relief that she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.

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