Page 34 of A Kingdom of Shadows

Chapter Fifteen

I rush out after Darius as we make it onto the bridge and see Tibith and Aias waiting for us. Darius doesn't look at me. He won't mention what he'd said back at Renward's hut. His sole focus is on getting us out of here. But I can't shake it off. And a sickening part of me is happy he was jealous.

"Did you get the map, Darry?" Tibith asks, and Darius waves the rolled-up map in return, passing it toward Aias.

Aias places it inside a leaf sack while carrying a quiver and bow in his other hand. "Come, I—"

A shrilling shriek blasts through the air and we all turn to see Elves heading toward Renward's hut.

My panicked eyes dart to Darius. His jaw is stiff as he says, "We need to go. Now."

Aias lurches on his shoeless feet, and we sprint after him. Without even a second thought, Darius grabs my hand while Tibith races on all fours along the ropes that hold the bridge as we make it onto a lower level. An arrow flies past us, missing me by just an inch. I look up to see a herd of male Elves chasing after us. They make it onto a bridge opposite where we are, and as I keep running, I realize we have to stall them long enough.

Darius seems to read my mind as he turns his head to me, his eyes dart to the Elves, then Aias.

"Aias!" I shout. "Hand me the quiver and bow!"

He nods, launching it toward me. I catch it and halt, nocking the arrow as I whirl around. I line it up to where the rope is. My eye zeroes in on it as I inhale and release it once with an exhale. As the arrow pierces the rope and jams into the tree, it snaps. Elves yell as they struggle to keep their balance; however, I grasp for another arrow and aim it at the other side of the bridge.

Like a whip cracking against the skin, the entire bridge collapses with Elves holding onto the wooden planks.

I pivot with a satisfied smile and frown when Darius throws me a charming smile. "What?"

He lifts his palms in mock surrender as if he's readying himself to say something, but Aias interrupts, informing us to carry on.

We do, jumping onto a smaller platform to fit the four of us. Ropes suspend it in the air, with bamboo sticks surrounding it like a cage. Aias starts lowering us with a rotating mechanism on the side, feeding the rope through it. I race toward the edge, looking down at how far up we still are.

With other Elves recovering from the bridge, I look over my shoulder at Aias. "How fast can this thing go?"

"Not fast enough," Darius answers for him, glancing skyward. His gaze snaps to the Elves approaching from other bridges and then at all of us. "All of you head down. I'll meet you there."

I gape in horror at the audacity of this man as he jumps onto a bridge. "What is with this hero complex of yours?"

Aias starts lowering us just as Darius flips a blade in his hand and winks down at me. "One in which I always appear better than you." He charges down the bridge without so much hesitation.

It bothers me so much that a grain of worry is already growing inside me as I watch him go against the Elves. And I know he expects me not to stay in one place.

I grunt in defeat, and the lever creaks as we descend. Throwing the quiver over my shoulder, I take a few steps back, heaving my upper body onto the bridge and roll my eyes at my terrible choices. Tibith yells at me for being unsafe, but I instruct Aias to keep rotating the device and get out of here as I successfully haul my entire body onto the plank boards. I throw the sword my brother gave me to Aias and pray that they don't collide with anything as I focus on Elves coming for me with spears from various bridges. They keep saying something to each other and pointing towards my neck, but I can't make out what they're saying as I pull the arrow back on the drawstring and aim straight forward. I release arrow after arrow, missing at times as I begin running and reach the end of the bridge. I jump onto the next, searching for Darius, and find him at the end, yanking out his blade from an Elves throat.

My legs kick-off, darting across planks, but as I reach for another bolt, something grips my ankle, dragging me down. My head pulses as everything around me quakes, and my eyes struggle to adjust. I wince, trying to raise myself onto my palms and notice my bow is far out of my reach.

I'm about to grab it, but my attacker is too fast. A hand fists my hair, yanking my head back.

"Now, where does my bride think she is going?" Renward.

He releases me with brute force just as the bridge collapses from the weight of other Elves nearing Darius. Vines snap, and I lose balance, rolling off the bridge and dangling off the edge. I'm trying to pull myself up when Renward doesn't take long to regain his footing, and a diabolical look slashes across his eyes as he kneels and wraps a hand around my throat.

My scream is filled with rage and agony. I'm clawing at his hands when the silver gleam of one of my arrows draws my eyes to Renward's right.

"Pity," Renward laments. "I quite liked the idea of having a human bride. I guess I'll have to wait for another instead." His fingers squeeze the air out of me as he stares down at my neck, at the stone necklace he's given me, and moves to take it. But he doesn't get the chance, as I reach for the arrow and jam the tip into his chest as a last resort.

He howls, letting go of me as he stands up and stumbles backward. Luckily, I manage to grab onto the edge of the planks again, my feet flailing in the air as Renward cries out and fails to catch himself. He falls off the bridge onto the next, and as I look down, I grimace at Renward's neck bent at a strange angle and wide lifeless eyes staring out into what was his home.

I don't have long before my fingers slowly slip, and panic takes me captive as the plank boards crack. "No, no, no—" I say and shriek as it breaks.

A hand catches me before I can fall to my death, and I look to see it's Darius. Thick blood coats half of his face and chest as he pulls me up. We don't talk, and I don't thank him. Instead, we're breathless, chests touching and taking in one another.

"Darry!"

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