Page 52 of Wicked Prince of Shadows
Lightning split the sky again, thunder answering instantly.
"Why are they—" Osric started.
"Don't question it. Run!" I grabbed his hand, and we sprinted across the broken earth toward the western watchtower. The ground cracked and popped, shaking beneath the behemoths’ attacks within the garden. The eels flowed ahead of us, their translucent forms rippling through the air.
Almost there. Just a little faster.
I cast my gaze up to the stormy skies above as lightning flashed again, half expecting to see deathbeaks shooting down at us. The world darkened around us.
Almost to the watchtower. Then what? The behemoths had shredded this wall as if it were dry bread.
Didn’t matter now though. We’d worry about that when we got there.
Osric lurched, his body ripping to the side and toward the gap outer wall. “Sabine!" he screamed.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Osric’s scream tore through me as his hand slid from mine. I lunged, fingers snaring around his wrist just as black vines coiled around his ankles and yanked him toward the gap in the outer wall.
“No!” My voice came out raw and feral. I dove for him, arms closing around his waist as more vines erupted from the rubble, thick as my arm and glistening with some dark secretion. They slithered higher, wrapping his legs, his hips, his torso.
“Sabine!” His terror cracked like glass. He clawed at the vines with bleeding fingers. “They’ve got me! They’re going to pull me into the chasm! Don’t let the monsters eat me!”
“I’ve got you!" Feet skidding on loose stone, I fought against the pull. I slammed my heels down, dragging him into my arms, wrapping myself around him tight.
“Vetle!” I screamed into the storm.
The wind shrieked back, howling through the ruined walls. Dust and grit lashed my face, burning my eyes.
Osric’s arms locked around my neck, crushing. “Don’t let go,” he sobbed. “Please, don’t let go!”
The eels dove at the vines, biting and snapping. But the vines didn’t respond; they just kept pulling.
I shook my head, gasping as the vines wrapped tighter around Osric but ignored me. The wind picked up suddenly, whipping dust and debris into a frenzy. It screamed through the broken walls, making my eyes burn. “Vetle!”
Osric struggled to scream and gasp as the vines wrapped up higher around him and dragged us forward, his panicked breaths rushing against my neck. The vines pulled harder, and the world tilted.
I hit the ground hard, pain lancing through my ribs as we were dragged across the broken terrain. I curled around Osric, shielding him with my body as stone tore into me.
"No! No, no, no!" I roared, legs kicking, scrabbling for purchase, for anything to slow us down and keep us from being dragged into the chasm. Nothing—just dust and debris.
We slammed through the outer wall’s gap, stone slicing across my shoulders. I twisted mid-drag, taking the impact across my spine to keep Osric safe. Blood ran hot down my back, the wrap ripping off and falling behind us.
The eels shrieked above us and dove. One wrapped around my ankle, struggling to anchor us. For a heartbeat, italmostheld as the pressure and strain of the vines intensified as the eel’s smoky form solidified and clamped tighter on me. Osric grunted in pain, clutching onto me tighter. “I—I can’t.”
“It’s all right, sweetheart, it’s all right.” I tried to twist the vines free without letting him go, but they snapped tauter than ever. The eel slipped, losing its grip on the ground though maintaining its coil around me.
A scream tore out of me as we hurtled forward at a terrifying place, faster than I could ever hope to run, faster than the eels could fly. The eel at my ankle wrapped itself around me, its ethereal body cold and smoky but protecting me as I shielded Osric.
The world blurred into streaks of grey and white as we were dragged across the salt flats and toward the chasm. My arms ached from holding Osric, every muscle screaming in protest, but I couldn't let go. Wouldn't let go.
One of the eels wrapped tight around us both, its cold presence the only thing keeping us from being shredded against the jagged earth and small rocks jutting up from the ground. The other eels had fallen behind. But that was the only good news.
"Sabine!" Osric's voice cracked.
My entire body went rigid. There—up ahead—the chasm, that massive black wound in the earth, its depths swirling with shadow and hunger. Less than a hundred feet away.
The trio of tablets jutted up ahead and to our right, dust swirling around them. Large clumps of grey-and-black-leafed plants clustered in front of them.
