Page 162 of Of Blood and Banes
Pulling Archie’s arm over my shoulder to brace his weight against me, I race us toward a thicker grouping of trees crowded with a leafy underbrush. As we trample through the bushes, we both grunt as thorny branches scrape at our legs.
“You’re testing our patience!” one rebel calls.
“I’m going to devour them,”Daeja growls.“Stay hidden. I’ll catch them by surprise from behind.”
“Don’t get too close! They might have dragonblade!”
“Dragonblade will never be enough to stop me.”
“Now’s not the time for arrogance!”I tear Archie to the ground with me behind the cover of a tree. His breath puffs out of him when he lands. Hard.
“Shhh, shhh,” I warn, dragging him to lay with his back against the tree.
He grits his teeth, digging his fingers into his leg like it might dull the pain. When I go to assess his foot, he bats me away. “No. Don’t. If I see it, it’ll only make the pain worse.”
I peek around the tree trunk, scanning the ridge and forest above. But I find no movement. “I think they moved on.”
I’ve spoken too soon. A group of masked people sweep past a cluster of trees, now on the same level as us. Their weapons glimmer in the sunlight. Full-face, black metal masks only expose their eyes.
I shift back behind the trunk, sitting next to Archie and trying to slow my beating heart.
Archie’s eyes widen when he sees my face. “Wha?—”
I slam a finger against his lips. The only hint of someone approaching is the eerie feeling of pressure on my skin. Pulling off my gloves finger by finger, I tuck them into my belt and press my hands down to the ground. As I draw magic up through the soil, a breeze picks up my hair and carries it across my face. That liquid heat burning up my arms.
“She’s here! Quick!” someone shouts. “She’s pulling!”
Archie withdraws two daggers from his side and jerks up to his knees. Facing the tree trunk, he slips out from behind the cover to fling one dagger out at the incoming rebels. A scream punctuates his success. It’s a damn good thing I’m with one of the most skilled dagger throwing soldiers.
Gritting my teeth, I pull blue wisps out from the dirt beneath my hands and stagger to my feet. Barely maintaining my grip onthe magic, my knees tremble. Sweating, I form the ghostly blue wisps into a ball, as Marge had prompted me to all those nights ago. Spinning it in slow circles until it forms into something familiar.
Dragonfire.
Archie whips behind the cover of the tree trunk, and a split-second later, an axe shaves off a chunk of bark before it sinks into the ground ten feet past us.
“When…I…throw this at them…” I say, panting as I glance at Archie. “I…want you…to run…for Daeja…”
He white-knuckles the dagger in his right hand, while he grabs another strapped to his side with his left. “Not a chance, Kat.”
As if on cue, Daeja’s roar echoes through the trees, followed by a scream. Archie pops out from the tree again and flings both daggers, one after the other. And now, I can hear the drum of their footsteps through the underbrush.
I slide out from the opposite side of the tree, taking the ball of dragonfire, now the width of my shoulders, and just as I’m about to hurl it at them, something strikes me on the side of my head.
Everything snaps to black.
Slowly my senses begin to creep back in. My breath echoes, pain lacing my skull.
“You didn’t kill her, did you?” a feminine voice hisses, followed by something round and pointed prodding my ribs.
“No, my liege,” a gruff voice responds. “Just knocked her out. As you requested.”
“Good. We’ll need answers before we kill her,” that icy, smooth feminine voice responds. “And where is her dragon?”
“We pinned it with nets and dragonblade hooks. It won’t be getting out unless we let it.”
“Do not kill it until I’m done with her. Is that understood?”
“Yes, my liege.”
