Page 18 of Wicked Prince of Shadows
I dragged myself backward, elbows buckling under me as I searched. My hands left smears of blood across the dirt. Wherewas it? It had flung me so it wouldn’t have to share. My ankle throbbed with every frantic beat of my heart. Then I looked up.
Scrag rot!
The third beast was already airborne, flying across the chasm. It landed at the edge with a heavy crunch, lowering its head and growling. The dull red of its eye sockets flared brighter. It almost seemed to be smirking as if it knew I was basically out of tricks.
That didn’t mean I was going to give up though.
“Get away,” I rasped. Still wheezing, I grabbed a rock and flung it. It struck the creature in the side of the head and made it growl as it stalked forward, jaws parting.
Something shuffled and slid in the darkness. The soil at the chasm’s edge shifted and cracked. Then black vines shot up and lashed out. They flailed at the edge, only one coming close to the beast. But that one vine snapped around the hound and ripped it back. The skeletal hound lurched forward with a startled yip, its head striking the ground. It drove its other legs into the earth, but more vines wrapped around it and the vines dragged it backward, leaving deep gouges in the earth.
The sound of grinding bone filled the air. Two of the legs snapped, and black ichor sprayed across the ground. It howled, the cry echoing down into the abyss as the vines dragged it back. A final, piercing shriek split the air before the creature vanished into the dark, leaving only silence and the stink of its ruin.
I slumped, trembling, bile burning the back of my throat. My hands wouldn’t stop shaking as I braced myself. My fingers went numb, my coordination failing. Had to tie off the wounds. Then—then I had to?—
Another heavycrunchsnagged my attention.
My head whipped up.
One of the other skeletal hounds stood over the corpse of its opponent, the skull rent from the spine. It kicked the skullinto the chasm, then vaulted the chasm in a single monstrous leap, landing with a thunderouscrunchthat sent shards of stone skittering. Its skull head swung toward me, jaw hanging open in a grotesque grin, dull red light flaring brighter in its skull.
“No,” I whispered, fumbling for the rock. My arm trembled as I hurled it.
It struck nothing but dirt, falling short.
The hound stalked closer, each step punctuated by the clicking grind of its claws on stone. My pulse thudded so loud it drowned out the beast’s growl. I lurched sideways, trying to force my battered body upright, but my leg buckled under me.
The hound lunged.
Its jaws clamped onto my calf, teeth sinking deep, the pain so sharp it ripped a ragged scream from my throat. My hands scrabbled at the earth, nails tearing, palms digging furrows in the dirt as the beast dragged me away.
I kicked desperately, sobbing in jagged bursts, my strength bleeding out with every pulse of my wounds. “Let go!” Maker, please! Not like this.Please!
A black streak shot down from the sky and slammed into the hound’s back with a crack like breaking timber.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Ilay sprawled in the rocky dirt, chest heaving, the taste of blood thick on my tongue, staring up at the dark form looming over me on the back of the fallen beast. If looks could kill, I’d be dead now.
The Hollow King glowered down at me from on top of the skeletal hound’s corpse, the pale moonlight highlighting his terrifying form.
As glad as I was to not be ripped to pieces, I wasn’t sure if this was really an improvement. A cold bolt of fear cut through me. There was little chance I’d be able to escape after all this was done.
A heavythudjolted through the ground as the Hollow King leaped off the dead beast’s back, shadows coiling about him. The black smoky eels coiled in the air near him, sliding around as if scouting out the area. “Look at what you’ve done,” he said sternly, his amber eyes blazing. “Do you realize how close you are to dying?”
I spat out a mouthful of blood, wanting to snap back something sarcastic. But there wasn’t a square inch of my body that didn’t hurt, and tears ran down my cheeks, mixing with snotand sweat. Sniffing hard, I tried to wipe my face with the back of my hand. Another searing wave of pain cut over me.
I just wanted to pass out. Nausea churned in my stomach. My eyelids slid shut as I bit back a groan. No, no, no. I wasn’t going to throw up again.
“Well?” He stepped closer, hands on his trim waist. “Do you want to see more of my beautiful kingdom? Did you enjoy your little adventure?”
Something about him just annoyed me. I narrowed my eyes at him and spat out another glob of blood, then sniffed and lifted my chin though my body trembled and my lip was split. “Yeth.”
He set his jaw and crouched in front of me, elbows braced casually on his knees as his hands dangled loose. “I beg your pardon.”
“You’re pardoned,” I said thickly and spit out another glob of blood, grimacing as my arms trembled. The split on my lip stung deeper. This was a terrible idea. I really needed to stop. It wasn’t like I could just walk back. I was probably minutes, maybe seconds from total shock. The tang of adrenaline had soured in my mouth. Even breathing was hard as the pain in my bitten leg intensified. More tears rolled down my cheeks.
No. No crying. But my body refused to listen.
