Page 36 of Light Locked
“Let’s go,” he demanded.
More screaming erupted, and Clea noticed a shade was nearing Althala’s tent. The light from her torch still bustled frantically inside. Clea charged past Ryson as she shouted Althala’s name. The reaper whipped its head toward Clea. It raised its hand to strike her, and she slipped down into the snow, blessing its ankle as she threw herself under its legs.
It exploded over her, and Clea scrambled up just as Althala left the tent.
Two screams, one after the other, sounded in the distance. Clea turned her head, facing a place on the far side of the camp. The commotion was interrupted by a chilling silence. Cleanarrowed her eyes in the darkness, unable to make out an enemy where the screams had come from. She glanced at Ryson, but he was focused in the same direction, seeing perhaps what she could not.
“Clea!” Althala approached, drawing Clea’s attention. “Here!” She thrust Clea’s bag into her hands, Althala’s research folder poking from it along with Clea’s boots. “You must go!”
A roar echoed from the distance. It was unlike any sound Clea had ever heard. The earth trembled with the vibration of it. “Please, go. Don’t waste what strength you have left on us! The Kalex here can fight! You must continue your journey!”
Ryson’s bandaged hand took hold of her arm. He turned her toward the forest, leading her with a vice grip.
“We can’t!” She wrestled against his hand, digging her feet into the snow.
“We can’t fight here, Princess.” He whipped toward her. “Hurry up!”
“Yes, we can! We have to! They need help!” she shouted back.
“We’ll die! Don’t be a fool!”
She snatched her arm from his grasp, and put distance between them. “We’lldie? What about them?”
“They’re dead already, and we can’t afford to join them. We won’t survive what’s coming. Can’t you feel it?” he snapped.
Ryson’s cold words, spoken even before Althala, only fueled the fires of Clea’s determination.
A second deep roar echoed from the end of the encampment. The ground shook beneath her feet. More screams guided her eyes to the far end of the camp.
“Oh,” Althala gasped in horror.
Wings like a black canvas unfurled across the distant sky, swallowing the stars. A single red eye burned through the darkness.
“Go,” Althala said, but Clea continued to stare at the beast.
“Go!” Althala shouted and began to push her.
Ryson took the opportunity to reach for her, but as he did, an arrow came spiraling from the shadows and struck him in the shoulder.
He lost his grip on his weapon and stumbled as his hand came to his shoulder.
“Ryson!” Clea shouted. She rushed to support him as he tore the arrow from his shoulder, dropping it as he fell to one knee. Her eyes followed the path of the arrow. In the shadows stood a Kalex archer. Althala rushed toward the Kalex, shouting for him to hold off his attack.
His grip tightened on his wound as blood seeped through his fingers. Clea attempted to lift him to his feet as another roar echoed. “We need to escape now,” he demanded.
She lifted her hands to her neck and began fumbling with the clasp of the medallion.
“What are you doing?” Ryson asked, standing back to his feet.
“I’ll give you the medallion. You’ve got to take it away from here so I can fight at my best. I will meet you when the battle is done. It possesses slowly. We will have plenty of time, and you’re capable of transporting it. You already have,” she said.
“I’m not taking that thing. Clea, look at me!” he said with a vigor that commanded her attention. “I want you to understand something, and understand it well. I won’t touch it, because you have to take it. I’m not giving you a choice. I’m not letting you stay. You can blame me for their deaths. I don’t care.”
She stopped fumbling with the medallion. The silver in his irises burned with honesty that filled her with dread.
“You have to hurry!” Althala shouted, stumbling through snow toward them as another roar echoed.
Clea looked over at Althala and then back at Ryson pleadingly.
