Page 154 of The Blackened Blade

Mallyn had always been an enigma, but now a piece of that has come undone. He was the beast and predator I had come to know and fear, my forest rival and foe.

Is that why he always kept his distance from me?

The eyes I’m gazing into now don’t seem like the same creature from moments ago though…

A plethora of questions flood my mind, my thoughts racing back and forth, when suddenly a shout rings out around me.

A set of hands grab me before I can think and throw me to the ground, sending me tumbling to the forest floor.

I pick myself up, my vision slightly blurry and my head ringing as voices sound out around me.

I rub my aching head and scratched arms before pulling myself up straight. Turning back, I see Mallyn snapping the neck of a large grey beast. Blood runs down a huge curved black horn on its head as it falls limply to the ground. Green liquid oozes from its mouth. But if that was its blood, then the red blood on its horn…

“Stay with me, Annex.” Ezra’s voice is shaky as I look over to him…and to where I had just been standing.

Ezra’s crouches over Annex’s body, his hands pushing down on a large gaping wound in his chest. Blood seeps through the gaps in his fingers as he tries his best to stop the bleeding.

I rush over as Ezra’s shouts to Mallyn telling him to get Creed, to get help…but everything fades to white noise in my ears as I edge closer to Annex’s side.

My heart comes to a screeching stop as I stare down at him.Annex….

A pool of blood seeps out below him, his eyes fluttering open and shut, his face falling paler by the second as his breathing grows raspy and gurgled.

I slowly crouch down beside him, my hands fumbling to take his in my own. His cold fingers grip weakly onto my hand as his head turns slightly to meet me.

He tries to open his mouth and give me a smile but starts coughing instead, blood spluttering from his mouth with each painful bark.

I grip his hand tighter, squeezing it as I feel a vise wrap around my chest and my throat feeling narrow.

“Stay with us, Annex,” Ezra pleads, his hands pushing down harder on the wound. “We still have to punish Micai for not listening. You don’t want to miss out on that do you?”

A small gurgling noise falls from Annex’s bloodied lips as a weak smile stretches them. A feeble sound follows from his throat, but it lacks any of his normal dark playful tones.

“No…ca…n’t mi…ss that.” His voice sounds frail and shaky, growing weaker with each syllable.

But I shake the thought from my head. I had to focus.

Annex would be fine, nothing could kill this psycho. I just had to help him until someone came.

But what could I do? My eyes flicker toward the shirt draped over my shoulders.

I pull Ezras teal shirt off and place it on Annex’s wound. Ezra nods, taking it from me and using it to help stop the bleeding.

“Red…” Annex calls weakly. I take his hand in mine and lean down closer, thinking about what I could do to help keep him conscious and here with us until help arrives.

His eyes flutter as a trickle of blood drips from the side of his mouth, and a panic like no other slices through me as I watch his complexion darken.

I grip his hand, pulling it toward me as nonsensical words fall from my mouth.

“You always call meRed.Red this and Red that…why, it makes no sense!” My voice is a little more high-pitched than I’d like, some of my panic seeping through as Ezra tries to call for help.

A small feeble grin embraces his blood stained lips, “Closer Red…”

I bend in closer, his voice almost like a whisper in my ear as he beckons me to him. A gurgling sound falls from his lips as he tries to chuckle again, his eyes fluttering a little as I squeeze his hand.

“It's because…you're everything that colour stands for…and more. Dangerous. Fearless…And a temptation…I shouldn’t touch or want…but can’t help coming back to…You’re the salvation I never knew I needed.My Red.”

“Annex…” I pull back slightly, my face a mere couple of inches from his as his fingers twitch in my hand. I take his hand and place it on my cheek, his feeble smile growing a little. He coughs again, more blood seeping from his mouth and down his neck as my mind goes blank. The sound of his breathing grows weaker with each passing moment and panic lances up my back and splinters through my chest.

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