Page 77 of Trapped By Claws
I screamed in pain.
Black Claws stood over me. He'd come through the portal. But where were the rest? Was he alone? Had it closed in time?
I clawed at him and struggled to break free. "Your reward, you human whore," he snarled, lifting his hand. A blade flashed. "Did you really think you could escape?"
My breath caught. I lifted my arm to grab his wrist. He moved to slash at my throat.
A blur of dark fur sprang onto his face, knocking him back as the blade nicked the side of my neck. Tagger bit down on the bridge of his nose, his eyes blazing.
Black Claws screamed. My hand remained wrapped around his wrist, and I wrenched the dagger back away from him, then fell back, unable to close my fingers around the handle. The edges of my vision got fuzzier.
Black Claws released it and grabbed at the furious otter, but Tagger had latched on, his claws digging into the sides of the fae's face as he gnawed and shrieked.
Black Claws staggered back, teetering on the edge.
I shoved myself up, put out my arm, and struck my shoulder to show the otter where to go. "Tagger!"
Tagger leaped like a cat and landed squarely on my shoulder as I struck Black Claws and shoved him off the edge of the staircase. Black Claws crashed over the edge with a rage-filled shriek.
Staggering back, I started to turn, my chest heaving.
An arm slammed me into the wall.
Tagger fell off as well with an angry squeak.
I barely drew in a breath before my attacker struck me. The rough metal of his bracers cut into my chest and against my throat.
Lishen!
Pure hatred burned in his eyes. A sneer twisted his face. Then he struck me in the chest, the blade cutting deep before he ripped it back. Behind him came the other warriors, pouring out of the portal.
All the wind was driven from my lungs. I couldn't even scream. All I managed was a wheezing gasp.
"What did you do to her?" a deep, familiar voice raged from above.
Corvin? It sounded like him and yet not. As if he had changed and gotten higher than us. I tried to twist my head around to see him. Pain sliced through me, then dulled as I faded. My blood pounded in my ears. Lishen shoved me against the wall again, his fist wrapped in my bloodied dress.
Heat blossomed in my chest.
I was far away now.
So far away.
Blood filled my mouth, but even its taste faded.
Shadows pulled at my vision, and Lishen filled my sight.
Lishen snarled at him. "She's already dead, flesh scraps. What?—"
A massive reptilian roar followed along with the infuriated, lecturing squeaks of an otter.
A dragon? That was a dragon. A dragon with an otter?
Lishen's eyes widened, his nostrils flaring as every muscle in his body tensed.
He dropped me to the staircase and reached down for his sword.
But it was too late.
