Page 21 of The Hidden Falling
My brows furrow in thought. How did the link shut down and I didn’t know it? When your link shuts down, it’s like an empty space inside your head. An endless void, waiting to be filled by the presence of the one who owns the space there. It’s uncomfortable and unnerving. It’s why I don’t understand how Kade can be so unaffected by it when he shuts us out.
I shake my head.“I didn’t know I closed it,”I reply. Lifting my hand to my forehead and trailing my fingers down my cheek, I still feel a slight tingle where something touched me. What the fuck was that?
I ignore it and Josh’ curious stare and look back out toward the camp. The man the water hag has in her clutch slumps forward, but she doesn’t let him drop to the floor. She holds him closely, keeping her prey with her. The tall, dark-haired male stalks toward her, sure and steady, and I lean forward, wanting to see what he will do. His hand flies out, gripping her jaw tightly, not a single sign of worry in his posture as she drops the dead guy and claws at his hand to try and get him to release her. I watch on, fixated as she stills completely with her horrified gaze locked on the man before her. The male brings his curved, black blade slowly to her forehead, and then starts to press forward through her gray skin. He pauses the blade as she starts shrieking, the sound echoing her pain from the weapon lodged in her flesh. Her shrieks are so loud it’s like she’s right next to us, and I shove my hands over my ears to try and block it out. I see everyone else do the same apart from the dark-haired male and some other men in the camp who are eagerly watching on as we are.
After a few short moments, he plunges the blade through her skull, the sound of her shrieking instantly stopping and replaced with the sound of bone splitting. It echoes around the now silent night as I remove my hands from my ears. He pulls the blade back out in one upward move, slicing her head open and darkened blood spills over him and the ground. The water hag stays upright for a few moments, unseeing eyes staring ahead, until she falls back, landing in the pool of water with a splash. We don’t move, watching on as the male stares at her, cocking his head to the side in a pure animalistic move. It’s like he’s not sure if he’s done with her yet.
The forest seems to freeze. My shoulders tense, and my breath is trapped in my lungs, waiting to see if her shrieking has roused any other creatures of The Deadlands. A few moments pass without any sounds of movement, and I slump in relief. I look around to the rest of the people in their camp and see all their focus is on the male, except for the blond guy still aiming his bow our way.
This is it. This is our chance while they are distracted, if we can remain unnoticed by the archer.
“Josh, Taylor said he can get some bora here fast, right?”He nods his confirmation.“I don’t think those crystals will hold up against a large family of bora. Let’s stick to the original plan.”
He waves subtly to get Taylor’s attention who’s leaning behind a tree with Seb to the right of us. Josh signals to him that it’s time to put our plan in place, and his eyes harden before he nods. Taylor looks around the edge of the tree to the camp briefly before he quietly slips away deeper into the forest, grabbing Hudson and Colten on the way. Seb takes the place Taylor left, crouching low and taking out a few stones from his pack as quietly as possible before putting the pack behind a tree.
Quiet murmuring comes from the camp, and I watch as some people move toward the dead, male body on the floor, sadness etched on their faces. I feel bad using the death of a man to my advantage, but I can’t pass up this opportunity. I lift my hand and sign for us to start our task, backing away from where I was hiding to gain a good distance from the protection crystals.
We meet at a tree further back and pass out the stones quickly before we part ways again. As quietly as possible, I sneak around their camp on the edges of their visibility and hearing, placing the dark, violet stones on the ground. Avoiding broken branches as I go to keep silent, I continue around knowing Josh and Seb are doing the same thing until eventually, we create a circle around them. Just like they did with their protection crystals.
As I round the camp at a safe distance, I keep a watchful eye on them. The dark-haired male is still standing where I last saw him, and the archer is still aiming where we were, so I know we have moved undetected. I spot Josh a little distance ahead of me, placing his stone down gently.
“This is the last one I have. Seb is waiting for Taylor, Hudson and Colten to come back. It won’t be long now.”He runs a hand over his hair, careful not to dislodge his bun as he leans against the tree closest to him, his eyes focused on the Elites.
I crouch low and hold the stone just slightly off the ground, ready to put it down when it’s time. Taylor has spent a lot longer in this forest than any of us, so he knows how to track bora down quickly. He also knows how to piss them off, and with Hudson and Colten helping, I think pissed off will be an understatement for the bora.
Still watching the camp as they now carry the dead man to the center, we wait, muscles tense and ready for the bora to come and for us to get at a safe distance away from what’s about to happen.
Closing my eyes, I will myself to not feel guilt for what I’m about to do, but I know it will be of no use. I place my free hand on the ground, waiting for the slight tremble that I know will come. It’s not long before the rumbling of the surface tickles my palm, a slight warning, and my eyes flare open. I move my head slightly to the right across the camp, anxious for the first sign of the bora. The trembling intensifies, and the Elites look down at the ground confused, while the red-haired man lowers himself to one knee and puts a palm to the floor. My heart thrashes in my chest as he shoots to his feet, unsheathing his weapon and looks toward the trees. The others become aware that something is wrong and gather for the incoming attack, the two wolves taking up a defensive position in the middle, but it’s too late.
Dozens of bora shoot through the darkness, running straight for them. Black as night, teeth bared and spiked tails high, they are furious. The camp gathers to arms, weapons at the ready. The protection crystals glow brighter as the bora clash into an unseen barrier. They let out a series of yelps and whines, falling to the ground, but soon snarling, going back for a second round. A shimmer of azure appears, surrounding the camp with slight ripples flowing through it like water. The bora don’t let up, attacking the barrier with teeth, tails and claws, trying to get to them. When the ripples become larger, I place the stone to the ground, and it reacts, giving off a dark violet glow. I see the dim light of the others that have been placed on the ground reacting, letting me know it’s ready.
I shuffle back and hide behind a tree, Josh following me as the glowing stones brighten. A line of purple light escapes from the stone I put down, shooting to the next one on its left, and then it continues going round, connecting the stones together before finally reaching my stone again. All the stones now pulse with a dark, violet light, signifying the ring is now complete and working. I ease away from the glowing light, aiming to get to a safe distance to not be seen. My steps speed up a little, ready to sprint to the meet up location we set before we came here to wait out the bora.
I’m just about to start running at a full sprint when I check over my shoulder to see how the barrier is holding up. But my steps falter and my eyes widen before I reach out for the closest tree to save myself from falling over my own feet.
But the tree won’t save me from the furious, dark-haired male looking directly at me.
Twelve
Rhea
Murderouseyesholdmineas I’m frozen to this spot. I can’t look away, entrapped by his stare as all sounds fade away. No bora snarling, no shouts from the people in the camp, just…silence as we watch each other. The strange hold he has on me breaks as his eyes track down to the ground, finding the glowing violet ring that surrounds them outside of the protection crystals. Looking behind him quickly at the bora, his eyes slowly come back to mine, and my fingers dig into the rough tree bark. Runa paces inside of me as my knees tremble and sweat dampens my lower back. A high pitch sound fills my ears as I realize what this means.
He’s seen me. No one could see us. They would know we were out here and wonder why. They would start asking questions that we cannot answer. We couldn’t be seen, and I just failed. I fucking failed. How did he even know I was here? I was careful, and he was distracted by the bora. I was sure of it. Yet the dark-haired male is looking directly at me.
He pays no mind to the bora family attacking the protection barrier around them, uncaring that they will eventually bring it down. He’s confident enough in his Elite’s skills that they just seem like pests. Even if there was a slight chance that the bora might kill themselves attacking the barrier or be killed by the Elites, the Elites couldn’t leave anyway. The trap stones we placed won’t let anyone leave the ring for a full day, but anyone can enter. Now that they know it isn’t just the bora out here with them, this changes things.
Josh suddenly appears next to me, and my panic escalates further. He takes in my features, looking over my body for injuries. His light brows draw together when he sees I’m fine, but then he takes my hand from the tree, slowly prying my fingers from the bark and bringing it up to his face to inspect. Seeing the blood on my hand, he looks over my bloody fingers and sees where the bark broke through the skin from how hard I was digging into the tree. He looks from the tree back to my fingers, then pauses when he finally looks at my face. Following my gaze, he eventually sees what I’m staring at, and he sucks in a shocked breath as his grip on my hand tightens.
Josh holds my hand as the male watches us, his stare moving to where our skin touches. His lips start to move, and the guy with brown hair, the one who was on watch while the camp slept, walks over to him before looking in our direction in shock. They speak, their faces tense until the other male’s face becomes confused. His eyes widen a little as the black-haired male continues talking to him. The tall male points to the violet glow the trap stones are giving off, and the brown-haired guy’s face turns hard, and then he’s glaring at us.
Now it’s my turn to grip Josh’s hand tightly. We watch them watch us, apprehension washing over me. What the fuck should we do now? We can’t run back to the location we agreed to meet up with the others. If the Elite’s somehow manage to send a message back to the Highers, they will know what direction to aim themselves in to follow us. They can’t survive now. We have to stay here and make sure the bora finish them off. The guys will come and find us sooner or later, hopefully out of sight, and we can make a new plan.
The bora start to renew their efforts, and the men give me one last look before they turn their backs on us. Their protection barrier forms more ripples, letting everyone know that it will come down any second now. I turn my body to face them fully, no point in hiding now that we’ve been seen. Josh stands at my side, still holding my hand, and we share a look before we take stock of the bora. Some are dead on the floor, their essence floating from them high up into the curved branches that cover our head. Others are twitching where they stand, still whimpering from the pain the barrier causes them every time they hit it. The shrieks of the ones attacking get louder, their growls more aggressive in their frustration at being held back from their prey.
I look further right and see the largest one walk away from the barrier, and then turn back toward it. Its large, narrow face dips low as its spiked tail moves straight and far back while its eyes remain intent on the barrier. It lets out a growling howl, and the other bora joining in as the sound pierces the air. This is the head of the family. The large bora charges forward and the others follow suit, aiming for the barrier as one. They hit it hard and fast, the ripples expand larger than before, becoming more widespread as the bora attack. The large, head bora brings his spiked tail high and whips it through the air to crash into the barrier one more time. The barrier stills.
Everyone stills.
