Page 54 of Forged By Heart and Claws
Briar,Vad linked to me.Let the others handle it! You're just going to get yourself—His message cut off, and pain filtered through the link. When I glanced up, I saw that the razor wire had cut his palm.
Why don'tyoulet someone help you?I linked back, wincing. “Someone hold my legs,” I shouted. “Silus, hold on!”
As I leaned over, I realized how much more precarious Silus’s position was. He was too far down to easily jump up and reach us, and with his one wing badly wounded and his position unbalanced, he’d never be able to correct and jump high enough.
Vyraetos ran to the edge of the pit on the lower side and prepared the last items to fling up as Vad finished binding up another layer of razor wire. Concern flashed through Vad’s eyes. “Silus?”
Thalen struggled to push himself up, his wing also sagging, and I feared it was actually broken. He panted for breath and ran back to the edge with me. Myantha and Elara grabbed me by the backs of my legs, and I folded over the edge and strained to reach Silus. My heart shredded when Silus’s eyes widened, his hands wedged in. “No. Don’t let go. Hold on.” I shook my head and leaned down. I needed to grab him at a good angle, or else we’d all be dragged over. “Guys, lower me a little farther. Silus, I can almost reach you.”
“Don’t let go, Silus!” Elara cried out, her voice raw. “Don’t you dare let go!”
CHAPTER 12
Briar
Grinding his teeth in pain, Silus twisted his body. My fingers brushed his wrist, and he jerked to the side, his hand locking around mine just as the narrow ledge beneath him crumbled.
The sudden weight hit me like a jolt of lightning. My arm went taut, my shoulder nearly wrenched from its socket. The sharp edge of the ledge dug into my ribs, grinding bone and stealing my breath. Silus’s full weight dragged me forward. The nails of my other hand scraped the stone, sparks of pain shooting through my fingers as I tried to brace myself, but my body lurched, threatening to topple over the edge with him.
Elara and Myantha strained behind me, heels digging into the rock as they anchored my legs. Quen flung herself across my back, her elbows jamming into my spine to hold me steady.
Silus’s grip was slick with blood, his wing dragging him sideways, its feathers bent at twisted angles. His boots scrabbled against the wall, kicking stone chips into the abyss below.
“Hold on!” I choked out, my chest grinding against the ledge so hard I could barely breathe.
A rush of air swept past me—Thalen. He half-stumbled, half-lunged, his injured wing dragging, but his reach still strong. Hedropped beside me and caught Silus’s other arm, teeth bared, muscles trembling with strain. “Fecking bastard! If you die on me, I’ll never forgive you, especially after you were such an ass.”
Silus groaned, trying to brace his foot, but the stone beneath him cracked with a hollow snap that echoed through my chest. My muscles screamed as I took more of his weight, but I refused to let go.
Below, Rhielle and Veralt had recovered from their fall against the tunnel wall. Veralt crouched, bracing his legs wide as he gripped Rhielle’s thighs and lifted her up again in a surge of brute strength. “Don’t kick my woman in the face,” he growled.
Rhielle gritted her teeth and grabbed Silus’s legs, shoving upward.
With a guttural cry, Silus surged, his body scraping over the edge until he collapsed beside me, chest heaving, blood streaking his face and hands.
I crumpled next to him, gasping, my whole body shaking from the effort. Myantha fell back, panting with strain, before crawling to Thalen, who was clutching his mangled wing. Elara threw her arms around Silus, pressing his head to her chest and kissing his temple like she could anchor him there.
Louder and sharper snarls tore through the tunnel. The scrape of claws became a pounding rhythm, relentless and closing. The smell hit next—wet fur, blood, and that sharp electric tang that bled from the portal.
I scrambled back to the edge with my heart hammering. Rhielle was already reaching down to Vyraetos while Veralt braced her from behind. Vad sprinted beside them with the last of the bags. He thrust the coil of razor wire and the pinchers into Veralt’s grip before slinging the remaining packs over his shoulder.
The wolves snarled, pacing back and forth and biting at the air as if testing it. Then the new leader charged forward over thecorpses, but it didn’t see the razor wire either, and hit full force, the thin blades slicing through its throat. Blood sprayed in a crimson arc as the creature’s momentum carried it forward, then bounced it backward and crashed it into the two wolves behind it. They went down in a snarling heap, tangled in the wire, but more poured in behind them.
“Move!” Vad’s voice cracked through the chaos.
I leaned farther over the edge as Rhielle and Veralt hauled Vyraetos up between them. The old fae’s face contorted as we caught his hands and dragged him higher. Thalen slid in beside me and caught Vyraetos’s other arm. Together, we hauled him over the edge, where Myantha and Quen pulled him clear.
I dropped flat to my stomach again, stone biting into my ribs as I reached for Rhielle. Her slick fingers locked around mine. “Hold on!” I gritted. Thalen crouched beside me again, his silver-white wings shaking as he caught her other arm. Together, we pulled, inch by inch, until she, too, scrambled over the ledge, chest heaving, eyes wild.
The tunnel pulsed with snarls and the wet shuffle of limbs.
Vad dropped low, hands laced, and barked, “Veralt!”
Veralt started to scoff, some half-formed snide remark on his lips until he looked back.
The wolves that had survived the first razor wire line were dragging themselves upright. Blood dripped in thick rivulets from slashed flanks and shredded shoulders, but they moved, snarling low and jaws gaping. One limped forward, its ribs exposed, its side peeled nearly to the bone. Another twitched violently, a ragged length of flesh hanging from its haunch like a torn cloak, but its head stayed low, and it kept its eyes locked on Vad and Veralt.
Then it lunged straight into the second line of razor wire. The metal sliced clean through its chest. Blood sprayed, and its body thrashed before it collapsed in a heap.
