Page 15 of Feral Guardian
But I must protect myself.
Chapter five
Alastair
Find her.
Kill them.
No other thoughts are permissible until she is within my grasp. My demon is in control, moving my body down the road like a puppet. I’m bleeding and my chest hurts, but my regeneration in this form is swift. I’ll be healed soon enough but drained as well. I won’t have any magic left to rescue Lily.
Find her! Kill them!
Yes, I know, but we must also manage our resources.
I stop and sniff the air. Rose and honey mingle with the sour stench of pirate. The smells drive me forward harder. I drop to all fours and charge on down the forest trail. It’s a bandit’s path, worn only well enough for them to navigate their goods.
The clopping of horse hooves has me whirling to face off against yet another enemy, but I find my friend instead. Kor’Tar is racing to catch up.
Manage my energy. Save some for the princess.
With that thought, the demon retreats enough for my form to return. I shrink by several inches in all directions. I’ve lost my helm inthe scuffle, but my armor was built to flex with my growing shape. It pops back into place, covering the once exposed joints. The massive slice across my armor pokes into the still-healing wound, so I unlatch my damaged breastplate.
Kor’Tar stops beside me and nudges my face insistently.
“Yes, boy, we’ll get her back,” I assure him as I strap my damaged chest armor to the saddlebags on his hindquarters.
I mount up and hunker down against the deluge of icy rain. The purple warded ring on my finger trembles and glows, pointing a narrow beam of light ahead into the gloom of the bandit’s path. Kor’Tar seems to know where he’s going, and follows the path.
The dark trees whip past us as we sprint with murderous intent.
Find her.
Kill them.
Trask escaped, but the rest of the queen’s guard was handled. Now it’s just the pirates, and the traitorous captain. I should’ve known something was wrong with the way he’d been acting. The money exchanging hands at a dirty tavern, his resistance to letting Lily ride beside me. If she’d been on horseback, we could’ve escaped…He wanted her in the carriage for capture. The carriage I’d shredded trying to get to her.
She’d screamed when she saw me. The sound was pure terror. I feel it all the way down to my bones, and shame courses through me. I’m a monster and my princess fears me.
She was right to send me from her side.
No. Protect. Only I can protect her.
The demon is stupid and selfish.
The trees are thinning, casting the light of dusk over us. I can smell the sea but can’t yet see it. We ride the path harder, begging the sun not to set. There’s a cliff’s edge to the north and a cove that stretchesout below it. In that cove is a black ship with dark sails. I hardly see it in the dark of twilight, but my demon gives me heightened sight.
I narrow my gaze and see two rowboats carving a path toward the ship. I’m still ten minutes away from them and urge Kor’Tar into a gallop. There are no other rowboats on the shore, and nothing I could build fast enough. I can swim it, if only by the grace of the gods…
And my demon.
I begin shedding my armor and tying it down against Kor’Tar as we ride. He navigates the cliff’s edge with skill until we reach the abandoned carriage, left halfway down the slope to the bottom. One of the wheels has split and shattered. As we skirt around it, my rune ring that detects Lily’s magic flares.
She’d made it this far and tried to sabotage their progress. She’s still alive.
Sven is not. I catch sight of the former driver in the carriage as we pass. His toothless mouth hangs open and his skull is partially concaved. There are dried bloody runes around the half-healed hole in his chest. Lily tried to save him.
But I don’t have any thoughts to spare for Sven. My attention turns back to the rowboats as they’re being winched up the side of the ship. They’ll weigh anchor soon and depart, and then I’ll lose her for good.
