Page 75 of Blood and Fate

Kais pulled his attention from where her hand rested on his arm to look up. “Why?’

“It’s not dead.”

“What?”

Alarm shot through him. Being so close to an injured animal wasn’t safe; certainly not an injured boar. He scrutinized the animal more closely. Then he saw the most subtle rise and fall of its stomach. It wasn’t surprising they had missed it at first. The animal wasn’t dead, but it didn’t look as though it had much life in it.

Satori stepped closer to the animal, and Kais held a hand out toward her. “Careful.”

“I know.” She said over her shoulder. “What should we do?”

It was a good question. Did they leave it? Kill it? Put it out of its misery? Kais wasn’t even sure what was wrong with it. Slowly he stepped around the end of the beast, moving in a circle, examining it from all angles. When he got to its back, it was obvious what the problem was. A long seeping wound ran from the animal’s right shoulder down its back, nearly to its flank. It was a mortal wound, for sure.

“It has a large cut down its back. I don’t know what caused it, but it won’t live.”

Satori’s face fell. “How sad.”

Kais stepped again toward the animal’s head, and his foot came down on a large branch, snapping it in half with a resounding crack. The next moments happened so quickly, and yet he seemed to watch it at a much slower speed.

The sound woke the sleeping giant, filling it with a burst of adrenaline. It leaped to its feet with a vicious, snarling growl and spun on the first person it saw: Satori.

White hot fear shot through Kais as the boar began to charge, squealing out threats. “Satori, move!”

Satori did move, but she and the boar changed directions at the same time, sending them careening into each other. The boar caught Satori in the thigh, flinging her into the air like one of Adalyn’s rag dolls. She screamed, and the sound drove into Kais like he had been struck by lightning. Terror burned in him, and he didn’t know if it was his or Satori’s or some combination of the both of them. Satori cried out again, and the boar turned on her, intent on finishing what it started.

Kais’ first instinct was to rush to Satori, but if nothing was done about the boar, they stood no chance. His legs pumped as he raced for his bow and arrows. He hit the ground, sliding to where they sat. He snatched them as he rolled back onto his knees, nocked the arrow, aimed, and fired. The arrow flew into the beast’s eye, dropping it to the ground in a second.

Kais dropped the bow and ran to where Satori lay. The boar’s first attack had cut into her thigh; the wound bled through the cut in her pants. But the second one, the second one was the wound she would not survive. A slice ran down her side, from just at her rib cage to her hip. The injury was wide, gushing blood, and Kais could see clear through to bone and muscle.

A sob burst from his lungs as he pressed his hands onto her wound. She cried out at his touch.

“Satori, shhhhhh.” His voice came out shaking. “Just don’t move. We’ll get you help. We’ll get you help.”

This was wrong, it wasn’t supposed to be her. He was the one—he was supposed to die. Not her.

She tried to swallow and choked, and a thin stream of red trickled from the side of her mouth. Her brown eyes, which had been joking only moments before, were filled with agony.

“You- you-” She tried to swallow again. “You’re scared.”

Everything in him hurt, and he bit back another sob. “Yes, but I’m going to get you help.”

“No time. It hurts.” Her voice was quieter. “Your- your knife.”

“What?”

What was she saying? His knife? Did she know how bad it was? Was she asking him to kill her? To end the suffering? He couldn’t. He couldn’t.

“Satori-”

“Kais.” Pain laced her words. “Knife. Please.”

His gaze tossed around frantically, searching for the fallen blade. The knife lay among the brush and leaves. He had to move to get it. He had to let go of the pressure on her wound to get to the knife.

“Satori, I can’t. I can’t reach it. If I let go-”

She coughed again more violently, and a fresh gush of bright red blood pushed out between his fingers. The air left his lungs, and he had to fight to replenish it.

“Go.”

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