Page 128 of The Lands Defying
I need to get back.
With no luck in the kitchen, I head into the hallway and up the stairs, ignoring the astonished looks I get when the people of the village see me. Cries of children add to the haunting song, along with hushed whispers of calming voices from mothers and fathers.
I pant as I reach the last step and head to another room, falling into the door with abang. Giving myself a moment to catch my breath, I brace myself on the wood before I head inside.
It’s a bedroom.
I rummage through drawers to the left as menacing growls come from the wolf protecting the doorway to the cabin. I turn to the window and rush over, gasping when I see a pack of rogures entering the village to the far right. I grip the windowsill, my body going taut as dread washes over me.
I see more people running toward the home I’m in, their screams of fright only ramping up the rogures as their bone-colored eyes track them. Their gray bodies begin stalking forward, black dripping from their mouths, and I can feel my heart in my throat.
A couple stands frozen in the middle of the street, their fear making them unable to move. I bang on the window as hard as I can, hoping they can hear me over the rogure’s snarls.
The wolf looks up at me from below and follows my eyes to the frozen couple. Without hesitation, he rushes forward and stands in front of them, growling at the rogures, facing off against them.
The couple finally move, rushing to the home and I breathe a sigh of relief as I hear them downstairs, but my terror now takes over as the rogures move their eyes to the wolf standing tall and ready in the center.
“No,” I whisper, my fingers digging into the glass.
As if he heard me, the wolf’s eyes lock with mine. It’s so intense that it feels like he’s pushed himself inside of me. Runa stands up suddenly, howling as she charges and I jolt forward as Runa presses up against my skin so forcefully that I bang my head on the glass.
I cry out, my skin splitting on impact and she charges again and again. The wolf gives me one last look before it takes a step forward and growls at the pack of rogures, as blood trickles down the corner of my eyebrow.
I move, turning to look around the room for the port stone.
I have to find it, now!
I head to the drawers beside the bed, opening them so roughly that it comes out and ends up on the floor. Papers and odd items scatter everywhere, some rolling under the bed. And that’s when I see it. The gray stone that I need.
I get to my knees, lowering to the floor and crawling on my stomach as the stone rests beneath the bed. Growls and snarlscan be heard from outside and tears prick my eyes at not knowing what’s going on, thinking the worst.
I crawl right under the bed, my arms rubbing along the rough wooden floor, but I reach it. Grabbing the port stone next to a suspicious stain, a breath of relief escapes my lips as I feel its magic within.
Rushing out from under the bed, I leave the room and go down the stairs two at a time as Runa still continues to slam against me. I don’t know what she’s doing and I don’t know how to help her.
The small crowd of people look at me as I enter the room, but I search for Mivera, spotting her against the wall with an older woman and a young girl and boy. It must be her family.
I run toward her. “Is this everyone?” I ask her quickly and she nods her head.
“Yes, everyone is here.” A long, deep howl comes from outside and everyone shouts, moving as far back in the room as possible and away from the window.
“Everyone grab onto the person next to you,” I raise the port stone and they all hone in on it like predators. “We are all getting out of here.” They rush to do as I ask, and I grab Mivera and place her before me in front of the door. “When I open this door, I want you to hold your arm out.” She starts shaking her head instantly at my request. “Be brave, you are wolf,” I tell her. “And I’m not leaving without the wolf outside. I’m the only one who can take us to Eridian, a few seconds of courage, that’s all you need. Can you do that for me?”
She looks around the room at everyone waiting, and then to her family who are holding on to her as tightly as possible. “Yes,” she croaks out before clearing her throat. “Yes,” she tells me with more determination this time.
“Okay.” I turn and open the door.
Mivera keeps the door held open as I sneak forward and down the steps. Crouching down by the railing as I watch the wolf attack two rogures in front of me. My hands shake as I watch a blur of teeth, claws, and blood as the sound of their growls fill the air. Clumps of gray flesh spew from the wolf’s mouth and the snarls coming from the rogures will probably haunt my dreams in the near future.
I look around and see nothing I can use as a weapon, nothing I can use to distract them so I can get the wolf close enough to port.
My gaze moves to the other rogures further behind them. They are at a home, scratching and clawing at the door, their teeth biting into the wood as if they could tear it down. It makes me wonder if some are still in there, but Mivera said everyone is present.
I shuffle closer, trying to discreetly get the wolf’s attention and not the rogures, but neither pay me any mind. I swallow roughly when a yelp comes from the wolf, and blood spills to the floor as a rogure swipes at its side.
Suddenly, the wolf lets out a low snarl, whipping around and baring its teeth at it. The wolf lunges, jaw wide and it clamps its teeth down on the rogure’s neck, knocking it over and onto its back. The wolf shakes his head back and forth, snarling around its kill. The rogure doesn’t even cry out in pain as the wolf continues to bite down on its neck.
The other rogure leaps onto the wolf’s hind, its jaws snapping open and biting down at the top of its leg.
