Page 17 of Wicked Prince of Shadows
No.
No!
I refused to die here.
My fingers curled against the ground as my breaths shuddered in and out. There had to be something.
I scanned the ground in front of me for a branch or a rock. Most of the terrain was rocky but with small stones.
Just beyond my hand was a coarse chunk of granite and a larger boulder. I reached for it, and the creature snapped its jaws again in a chittering warning bark. I went limp, feigning surrender.
The rapidclick click clickof the approaching beasts raced faster than my own heart. The beast standing over me lowered its head but swung its neck around to growl at them, snapping its jaws.
That was enough of a distraction! I strained forward in one desperate move, snagged the rock, then smashed it into the foot nearest me.
The impact sent a sickening crack through the air, and the creature howled as it drew back, more of its weight shifting off me as it reared back. I struck again, harder this time, resulting in another rageful howl. It was still pinning me down with one claw digging into the back of my thigh. Biting back my own scream, I struck again.
A blur of bleached bones slammed into my attacker from the side. The impact sent both beasts tumbling away in a tangle of spindly legs and gnashing teeth. They almost skidded into the chasm itself. The one who had pinned me yelped as the newcomer's jaws clamped around its neck, shaking violently so that its bones clattered like dice in a cup.
I staggered upright, breath ragged, my back and thigh burning where claws had carved deep. Blood streaked hot down my skin, soaking the remnants of my gown and sticky against my palm as I pressed it against the small of my back.
I scrambled a few feet forward, nearly falling as pain shot through my back and my leg where the claws had dug in.
No, there was no time for this! I had to get across. Had to!
Movement flashed to my left. I barely turned before a great force barreled into me.
A scream snagged in my throat. I slammed to the ground. Rocks tore open my palms and arms, and my skull cracked against stone. Then fire erupted in my calf.
With a ragged scream, I dug my hands into the earth and kicked at the third hound’s jaws wildly with my good leg, trying to free the other. The pressure from its jaw intensified as it snarled, its horrid breath whooshing against me.
The other beasts gave warning snarls as the world tilted upside down. I vaguely glimpsed one of the first two charging atthe one that held me in its jaws. White-hot agony flared through me as it snapped its head. Its jaws released, and my body wrenched loose.
No!
Air screeched past me as I sailed over the chasm, the world tilting over a void of darkness.
I screamed, blood streaming from my face and legs and hands as I flailed helplessly. The chasm yawned below. I looked up just in time to see the edge careening at me, then I struck it.
Everything flashed white, then black. Lights erupted in front of my eyes as I tumbled and twisted, rolling across the packed earth. I skidded to a stop in front of a trio of towering tablets.
My mouth opened in a gasp that wouldn’t come.
No breath.
No sound.
Nothing.
My chest convulsed, muscles straining uselessly, ribs locking tight as if iron bands cinched around them. Panic clawed at me harder than the hounds had. My body bucked, desperate, but nothing filled my lungs. Black edged my vision. White sparks burst like lightning across the dark.
Then, somehow, I gulped in a mouthful of dusty air. Collapsing, I sucked in breath after frantic breath. Had to move again. Get up!
Blood was already streaming hot down my legs and back, pooling against the thirsty ground.
On the other side of the chasm, two of the hounds battled, snarling and biting and snapping at one another. Their claws dug into each other and crushed into the stony earth, jaws cracking as they bit down on one another’s limbs.
The third—the one that had flung me. Where was it?
