Page 23 of Knight's End
Chapter Six
Our flight to the Cerulean Forest wasn't nearly long enough.
Quinn rode with me this time, and having his arms wrapped around me was the most comforting thing I could imagine. Several times, I forgot I couldn’t send him thoughts and I tried to think funny observations at him. It cut my heart to pieces that I couldn’t have a thought conversation with him. So, I ended up wrapping one arm backward and down, so that my hand held onto his hip. It meant I spent a good part of our jolting flight in a very uncomfortable position. But when his lips brushed against the back of my neck, reaffirming our connection with soft kisses, it was worth it.
No matter what happened, I had him and he had me. I used that thought to reassure myself as we descended.
But when we landed, I wasn't ready to face what I was certain we would find. I didn’t want to see my old friends—Jenna, Marcus, Abel, or the other people who worked at the tavern—in the aftermath of what I was certain Isla had done.
I clutched Quinn’s hand as we dismounted in a forest clearing a bit away from the buildings and then crept toward the edge of the dirt road to peer at the scene.
The tavern faced the trees, the only building on that side of the road; the front doors faced us. They were closed, but two blue-clad guards stood sentry. To the left of the tavern were some stables—where Abel and Marcus worked. Then there was a blacksmith’s forge. All the buildings down the road were dark, though it was midday. No children ran down the street. No people were out, other than two more soldiers in blue who walked back toward the tavern, swords sheathed like they hadn’t a care in the world. Their voices were the only sound the wind carried back to us. Either everyone was in hiding. Or …
One of the soldiers kicked a stick in the road.
“Damn giants leave such a mess,” he muttered.
My eyes zeroed in on the stick—which wasn’t a stick but a bone. I studied the road again. What I’d mistaken for fallen twigs were suddenly gruesome reminders of a giant’s strength. The dirt in front of the tavern was already littered with blood and bits of bone. My stomach churned.
A distant scream sounded, and goosebumps formed along my arms. Isla was encouraging the giants to let their bloodlust run wild. They had been living in peace with us for the past two centuries. Taming them had been part of Isla’s grandmother’s ascension to power. The giants had been encouraged to interbreed so that there were very few purebloods left. But a head popped up behind a roof farther down the road. The head was the size of a carriage. Shirtless, with a mouth streaked in blood, the giant appeared to be thirty feet tall.
My skin crawled as if a swarm of insects had landed on me. Apparently, Isla had scrounged up a few of the purebloods left. I scratched at my arms and Dini’s leaves smacked my hands. “Stop, that tickles!” she scolded.
“Don’t you see the giants?” I asked her.
She turned to look, and her petals wavered. “We should hide underground. They don’t go underground.”
“We can’t.” We’d come here to find Isla. Not to hide.
Dini shook her head. “If I’d known you were this crazy, I wouldn’t have made a deal with you.”
“Yes, you would have,” I said. “You wanted out of that blackness. Do flower sprites have magic that can be used against giants?” I asked hopefully.
Dini turned her face toward me. “You made a deal for my loyalty. Not my magic.”
I clenched my fists. I wanted to rip her petals right off. But she was right.
Idiot, Bloss, I scolded myself.
“Let’s hope I can outrun them then,” I snarled.
Dini just turned her face away from me and wiggled on my arm, the micro hairs on her stem scratching me just enough to itch like mad.
Ugh. I’d made a very poor choice. Why’d I gone and made a deal with a flower sprite? The sea witch’s face sprang to mind. Still, I wanted to take back my word and end the deal. But the stupid flower was sucking the blood from my veins. I didn’t know how to detach her. Could I just rip her out and forget the roots? Or would she grow right back?
“Connected like this, I can tell what you’re thinking. Try it.”
She could definitely grow back then. I wanted to scream in frustration. But I couldn’t. Not without attracting the giants. I decided to ignore Dini. I’d figure out how to rid myself of her later.
As we watched them through the trees, I was incredibly grateful for Blue's insistence that we take that amulet. In fact, I wished we had three or four so we could just catapult them at the giants from the distance. Because right now, the odds of us killing Isla and escaping seemed quite slim. Particularly, with this useless shite of a flower wrapped on my arm.
Dini tightened her hold.
I took a deep breath to steady myself. I closed my eyes.
Remember, Bloss, you're here for Isla. It would be best if we could slip in and out without the giants noticing.
That meant we needed some form of distraction. Ryan had left with Declan's former power, reduction and multiplication, so that option was out. I was disappointed but glad that Ryan wasn’t here to see this.
