Page 230 of Monsters in Love

I swallow back the tears, allowing defiance to bloom along with the aching bruise I know is forming on my cheek.

Suddenly, I hear a loud cry from behind us. There’s a swing of metal over the owl’s shoulder, and I’m splashed with fresh blood. I squeeze my eyes shut, and the owl turns around as though it didn’t hurt him at all.

“Let her go!” I hear his voice, and it’s rougher than I’ve ever heard it before. Still, I recognize it right away. Xakiras came to me.

The owl takes his spear and twirls it outward, the gushing of his blood clearly less important than Xakiras is.

I’m still clutched to his chest, but in that instant, the owl throws me to the side. As I fall onto the ground, my teeth rattle, and my back jars. The soft moss doesn’t help break my fall in the slightest.

I groan as I turn to face the two men fighting. Xakiras has already torn the arrow from earlier out of his shoulder, and it’s still bleeding all over his wings and back. He’s covered in gore from head to toe.

The owl lunges forward, and Xakiras uses his sword to knock it out of the way. It’s an unfair fight with one being so close-ranged while the other isn’t, but Xakiras waves the owl closer anyway. It’s almost like he couldn’t care less if he’s run through with the spear.

They clash weapons one more time, and Xakiras tries to dance away, only to get nicked in the back. The tip slices through one of his wings, tearing it across the edges like it’s little more than tissue paper. Xakiras makes absolutely no noise, but I gasp, covering my mouth with my hand. It has to be painful with how sensitive his wings are. The look of determination on his face doesn’t hide the sweat that gathers on his brow.

While the owl is recovering from his thrust, Xakiras screams, taking a running start at him from the side. The owl doesn’t have time to correct, spinning on his heel only to have a blade shoved through his stomach. It collides with the wing, spraying blood and feathers all over the ground.

Xakiras doesn’t stop. He pulls the sword from the owl’s gut, thrusting once more before the owl falls to his knees. The last thing I see is the sword connecting with his neck, cutting the owl's head entirely off, throwing it across the ground.

As soon as the threat is over, I stagger to my feet. “Are you okay?”

Xakiras gives me a tense look before dropping to one knee. His breathing is heavy, and the sweat on his brow glistens in the lights of the forest.

“I am fine.” He wheezes out another breath, and I know better. He’s putting on a tough act for me, maybe so I don’t worry about him.

Once I get to him, I shake my head. “You’re not. What about your people? Should we call them to help?”

He emits a low groan, looking up at me with a down-turned lip. “They were overrun, but I cannot fly to them in this condition. I need rest, and we will find them after.”

“Is there somewhere you can rest nearby that would keep us hidden?” I chew on my bottom lip as he stands to his feet. He leans against my shoulder, forcing me to wrap an arm around his waist to keep him upright.

Xakiras nods and points in the opposite direction, where I think we came from in the first place. “There is a cave here with an indoor mineral spring the Volese use to farm. We can stay there for now.”

When we finally get to the entrance of the cave, the eggy scent of sulfur fills my nose. The cave’s mouth is smaller than I anticipated. Glowing ivy has grown over the entrance, and even though he said there was someone who came to live here, I didn’t think it’d be so lively inside.

“Do people live here?” I finally pull him to the entrance, pullinghim up straighter on his feet.

“No, they do not live here permanently. They might stay during harvesting,” Xakiras explains as we push back the ivy. It makes a strange noise, like tinkling bells, and the entire cave quiets.

In a hush of whispers, we enter the cave, and I’m amazed by what I see. There are twenty tiny people with auburn skin, large eyes and round bodies. They glow a bright neon green from the tops of their chests to the bottom of their torsos.

Most of them have very little clothing, and what they do wear is in tatters. Some of them have instruments in their hands.

The entire cave is warm, inviting, with steam rising from the backmost portion of the cave. Tiny twinkling ivy is everywhere, and there are large, upright torches with flickering blue light inside them.

Xakiras acts as though he owns the place. However. Once we’re inside, he quickly says, “I need the bath.”

One of them stands, immediately rushing to our side. “Of course! Right away. Will you desire anything else?”

“Food for her, if you please.”

I’m shocked entirely by the way all the fireflies stop their lounging to jump into action. All of them begin flitting around the cave, and the one in front ushers us down a long corridor.

Stalactites drip water above us, and the farther in we go, the darker the cave becomes. The plant life from the mouth is scarce until we enter a cavern with more of the blue torches, as well as little red and pink lanterns that float in the large steaming pool.

“We will bring miss some of the fruits from luo shortly,” the tiny creature says. He gives a low bow before leaving us alone again.

I can’t understand what’s happening. Why are they treating Xakiras like he’s royalty?

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