Page 58 of The Shadowed Oracle
She had the dream-like sensation of being in another’s body, taking a backseat as she charged with the blade recklessly, fearlessly. The creature froze, staring at the tip of Ingrid’s blade inches from its face. But Ingrid could not drive it further. That was where the dream ended, and her true nature began. Those yellow eyes of the creature were now more human in a way, more aware. Something not unlike fear flashed in them, and the creature retreated a few feet, crawling around the thick branch angrily, like it was finding the right angle to avoid Ingrid’s sword and begin another onslaught.
“Go!” she screamed. “I don’t want to kill you!”
More importantly,shedidn’t want to be killed, but that bit of information probably wasn’t going to scare it off.
She screamed again. “Go! Get out of here! Leave me alone!” She raised her arms, pumping the sword in the air.
But the creature only paced back and forth, snarling at her, then bending down to jump.
“Go!” She tried once more. “Get out of?—"
A great clanging sound rang out as the creature’s arm slammed against Ingrid’s sword. She braced, jostling for position. She knew right away she wasn’t strong enough to hold it off for long, so she cycled through possible ways to escape. Tyla’s training had mainly consisted of defensive moves to be used if she found herself in a fight with an experienced swordsman. But this creature was no swordsman, no Viator.
It pushed hard against the steel blade with one arm and chopped relentlessly at her with the other arm. A precise series of blows that Ingrid managed to escape by backing up and bobbing her full weight from left to right.
She was losing ground. Her legs and her hands and her shoulders were on fire with tension. The razor-sharp edge of the creature’s blow nicked her ear, then her neck, barely missing vital veins.
The creature didn’t seem to tire. It charged and lunged with ample speed, varying the direction and style every few seconds until Ingrid could parry no longer. She fell, hurtling to the colorful ground and smacking the back of her head on some large, blunt object. Her vision, which had seemed more precise upon arrival in Ealis, now went blurry.
All she could make out was the creature rearing up on its hind legs, readying for the killing blow.
Blood, thick and profuse, sluiced down her face.
“They shouldn’t be here. Theycan’tbe here.”
Ingrid’s rattled mind barely made out the whispers.
She had come to, straining her already sore muscles to sit up. Her eyelids weighed a ton. Her stomach was unsteady. The cuts she sustained stung persistently, and a pulsing headache throbbed at her temples as she tried to make out her surroundings.
Slowly, she moved her hands behind her. She’d been placed on a soft surface. A feathered pillow held her head up, and beyond that was a wooden frame. Not only was she inside, she was in a bed.A bed!She rejoiced at the discovery. Ten damned minutes in the forests of Ealis was all it took—she’d never be unappreciative of one again.
“Did you think the Wrane was lying?” the next voice said.
It was a familiar bellowing tone, but Ingrid couldn’t be sure if it was really Raidinn’s. Not until her concussion symptoms faded or she was able to see him with her own eyes.
“I’d heard from Karis,” said a voice that sounded very near Dean’s. “He saw the scourge spreading to Makkar’s doorsteps. But I had no idea it had happened already. Peloria Forest, though, the Ungii have never spread this far.”
Ungii.
Was that what attacked her?
It sounded right, an ugly name for an ugly creature.
“Maybe it was a stray. Wandered away from his pack? Peloria might be fine. Only hitting a rough patch.”
“Don’t be daft. Look around.”
“It’s not that bad.”
“Not that bad? Are you—” A tense pause. “No. Ungii never travel alone, and they sure as shit don’t like thriving habitats. They’re here. And the scourge is what brought them.”
This voice was the easiest to discern. Tyla. That unique rasp, her melodic cadence. Ingrid knew it was her. She knew now that her friends had saved her. Unless this was some cruel illusion, she’d been rescued at the last moment from that scaly beast. ThatUngii.
Ingrid willed herself to her feet, wobbling at first, then steadying and planting herself. She took one slow step at a time to the door, reaching for the handle.
But she stopped short, frozen as she heard what Dean said next.
“If other southern kingdoms are suffering the same, then Makkar might’ve dug his hooks in already. If he’s expanding, if the old ways are being followed again, there might be nowhere to go. Nowhere to hide Ingrid.”
