Page 23 of Of Serpents and Ruins
Everything slowed. A pressure filled my chest.
I stepped to the left, crouching down. Something cold slashed toward my cheek as I moved. At the same time, that sickening sweet odor strengthened as a chilling shriek sliced through the air. Buttercup bellowed in response.
Elias's eyes widened, exposing the whites all the way around. He seized the quarterstaff from the parasaur's side and spun it around. Blue-white energy crackled along it.
My body twisted, and I narrowly avoided the sweet-scented blade. The attacker's momentum carried him through, leading him to fall as I lunged to the side. Catching myself on the chunk of granite, I sprang up, spun around, and faced them with the boulder between them and me.
Two masked warriors stood behind me, flanked by five grey and black deinonychuses approximately a dozen feet away, waiting as if for the next command. The grey and black reptiles had long curved claws and jaws filled with sharp teeth.
"Surrender," the farthest attacker hissed. "Surrender or be torn to shreds."
Elias brought his staff down on one of the assassin's heads as his parasaur shot between the assassins and me. He slammed his foot down. Yellow-white energy like lightning arced from his hands.
"Run, Stella. Go!" He brought his staff down once more.
The way he barked that order made me realize I had to obey. I scrambled onto Buttercup's shoulders. As one of the assassins tried to grab me, Buttercup body-blocked him and bellowed.
"Come on, girl!" I cried out, climbing high and wedging myself down behind her crest. My fingers knotted around the knobs on her crest.
Buttercup thundered forward. Out of the corner of my eye, I glimpsed Elias continuing to fight the assassins. He struck another black-garbed man between the shoulders and sent him down.
A third darted up from the grass, blade flashing in the moonlight. He whistled several sharp notes and pointed in my direction.
The deinonychuses' attention snapped toward Buttercup and me.
"Kill both," the assassin commanded.
STELLA
"Run, Stella!" Elias shouted again. "I'll hold them off!"
My jaw clenched tight. I didn't want to abandon him, but when I glanced back, preparing to argue, I saw the deinonychuses. They were racing after us, heads low and in perfect alignment with their spines. Their muscled hind legs allowed them to race forward at a terrifying speed, the large center claws spearing the soil. Claws and jaws like that would let them tear through Buttercup as easily as cream cheese.
Kine appeared to still be engaged with the travelers some distance away. His head snapped up at the sharp cries of the fight as Elias fought the assassins with his staff and parasaur.
It felt even more like a trap than before, and there was nothing to do but run.
My heart hammered against my ribs, my lungs tight as Buttercup's powerful legs carried us away and tried to put distance between us and the deinonychuses. Her thunderous footsteps pounded the earth. Clouds of dust rose with each footfall. My legs gripped her tight, holding me in place as I steadied myself on her crest.
Faster.
Faster!
The wind whipped my hair back from my face, and the sounds of the clashing metal, cracking wood, grunting attacks, and angry parasaurs’ calls faded. It all smelled of fresh night air and green crushed leaves now.
At last I dared a look over my shoulder. The deinonychuses were steadily gaining on us, their lean frames built for speed.
The nearest one released a terrifying ululating shriek.
Terror chattered down my spine as I leaned lower on Buttercup’s crest. "Come on, baby!"
My girl continued to gallop at full strength, crashing through bushes and crushing the delicate flowers and clovers underfoot, cutting close to outcropping rocks so the deinonychuses had to fall back.
The deinonychuses remained relentless in their pursuit. They now called out, back and forth, shrill, piercing voices echoing in the air around us.
We broke through a thick copse of berry bushes into a wide-open field. Briars whipped against my legs. The thin thorns raked over Buttercup’s scales harmlessly but tore at my leggings and skins like needles. Yelping, I curled forward. "Come on, girl!"
She huffed, her sides rising and falling with rapid breaths.
