Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 100553 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100553 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
I immediately turned to run, but then I realized I wouldn’t get far. Fleeing would only draw more attention to myself. I stayed put and hoped my horse had disappeared so he wouldn’t give away my location.
I moved to the other side of the trunk and stayed put, my arrow nocked to the string, my heartbeat like drums.
I heard them as they drew closer, but only because my ears were searching for it. If I’d had no idea they were coming, the sound would have just blended in with all the other noises coming from the forest.
I knew they were right behind me when I could see the glow of their torches. It reflected off the leaves in the canopy and the trunks of the trees. The heat was discernible too. A few feet away from me, one of the five emerged. It was dark and difficult to see, but I knew it wasn’t Mastodon. He was too short to be the guy with the blue eyes.
With my pounding heart in my throat, I kept still and waited for them to pass without noticing me. They didn’t seem to discover the horse either because their progress never halted.
When they were far ahead of me, I finally took my first full breath and lowered my bow. I stepped away from the tree and slung my bow across my back as I tried to think of what to do now. If that was their direction, then it would be smart to go the opposite way, back the way I came.
But when I turned that way, the path was blocked.
I couldn’t distinguish his features in the dark, but I could measure the size of his frame in the shadows, feel the angry energy emitting from every pore in his body. The shock only lasted a second. Then my instincts kicked in, and I had my bow armed and ready, the tip of the arrow pointed right at his face.
It was a silent standoff, the two of us staring each other down.
I did my best to keep my bow steady, but my heavy breaths made it rise and fall, made me lose my perfect aim.
For the first time, he spoke, his voice thick like velvet, deep like the cliff near Delacroix. “I’ll hurt you if it comes to it.”
I steadied my aim. “And I’ll kill you if it comes to it. Walk away. Now.”
Covered in armor as he was, there were very few openings for my arrows. Just his eyes and a small part of his neck. All my hope for survival resided on this shot because if I missed, it was over. I wasn’t stupid; I knew I couldn’t take him in combat. All he had to do was punch me in the skull once, and I’d be dead.
He stared for a moment longer then made his move.
I held my breath for a second and fired the arrow—right at his eyes.
In mid-step, he snatched the arrow right out of the air and threw it down in a single fluid motion.
“Oh fuck.” I nocked another arrow and fired, this time hitting him in the neck.
He didn’t stop that one.
But he didn’t go down either. As if nothing had happened, he kept up his pace right at me, my arrow sticking out of his flesh.
I dropped the bow and unsheathed my sword.
He didn’t draw his, but his enormous mass was enough to terrify me.
I swung the blade, slicing at his torso.
He sidestepped it as if it was second nature, as if the darkness was as bright as daylight, and then ducked underneath another swipe of my blade. His hand gripped mine, and he slammed my wrist into his knee, making me grunt in pain as my fingers were forced to release the hilt.
Then his thick arms circled my neck and squeezed.
I tried to kick him and missed. Then I threw my arms behind my head, scratching for any piece of skin I could find. “You motherfucker!”
He squeezed me tighter until there was no breath coming into my lungs.
I struggled a bit longer, even though I knew full well how hopeless it was.
This was how I was going to die.
The blackness took me—and then it was over.
THREE
Ivory
Before my eyes opened, I could hear the breeze through the leaves.
It was a subtle backdrop of noise, but I recognized it instantly once I reached consciousness. I could picture it in my head, the leaves bending to the wind, some of them coming loose and drifting to the forest floor. It was the same sound I heard through the open windows of my bedroom early in the morning, along with the songbirds greeting the new day.
Then I remembered I wasn’t in my bedroom.
I wasn’t even in the castle.
I was… I didn’t even know.
I opened my eyes and saw the sunshine coming through the gaps in the branches. My body immediately shot up, and I looked for the man with the blue eyes, the man who had suffocated me until my brain was forced to shut down to conserve oxygen.