Chapter Eight

Aerilyn

Two of the hounds had wings flying in the sky above, while the other three looked like the first hound they’d encountered. The two that were airborne looked much more intimidating than the others. It would be more difficult to take one down from the sky. Brinley was already slipping her bow and arrow over her head and sliding an arrow into the notch. “Hurry, take this,” Everett shrugged off his jacket and began pulling it over Aerilyn’s torso to cover her bare skin. She tried her best to sit up, testing how healed the wound was. She slid her arms into the jacket and zipped it up, grabbing for her dagger.

“Stay behind me. You protected me, let me return the favor. I don’t want to be in debt to a thief,” he winked before helping her to her feet. “If you think for one second I’m trusting you with my life, you’re delusional,” she staggered slightly from the blood loss. “Blaise, you take right. Brinley, let's see what those bow skills are. Bastian, stay with Aerilyn. I’ll take left,” Everett began to bark out orders. This time nobody protested.

Bastian rushed to her side, slipping his arm around her waist to lean her weight on something. “I’m fine, I can fight,” she lied through her teeth and Everett shot her a glare. “You’ll only get in the way. Stop being a dumbass and stay put,” his tone was more serious than it had previously been. “He’s right, Aerilyn. You might be healed but you lost too much blood to push your body. Please listen to us just this once,” he begged, grasping tighter onto her frame. She finally nodded, watching as the group placed themselves to attack. The hounds were only around a hundred feet away. They all held their weapons up as the collision began.

It was chaos in a matter of seconds. Everett did as he promised, keeping himself between Aerilyn and the hounds. The mixture of snarls and whimpers from the creatures began to fill the air. Blaise was already soaked in blood, his stance absolutely perfect. Each of his blows didn’t miss, jabbing at the hound and hitting his mark. Brinley knocked back each arrow, letting them fly towards the flying hounds with accuracy Aerilyn had never seen before. She kept her eyes moving around the group, ensuring none of them were taken down. She promised herself that if one of them fell, she would step in. Injury or not, she wasn’t prepared to let any of them die.

Everett had surprisingly good sword skills, taking down one of the hounds faster than the others had. The power behind each of his swings was incredible. He’s a Brute, she realized with certainty. His level of strength was drastically greater compared to the others. He moved on to another hound, attacking it without hesitation. The concentration on his face made him look older and more mature. The teasing, smirking prince had disappeared for the time being. He was dancing around the creature in a battle when Brinley finally got the hound to fall out of the sky. Blaise impaled the hound he’d been fighting and his attention went to the winged hound now wounded on the ground. He sprinted to it, shoving his sword hard into its chest. It didn’t move after that.

All of their attention had been on one of the winged hounds, they didn’t notice as the second one swooped down towards Everett. “Everett!” Aerilyn screamed, jerking away from Bastian as she threw her dagger towards it. The dagger buried itself into the side of the hound’s neck, distracting it enough for Everett to shove his sword into its heart.

The silence that filled the air after all the hounds were dead made her stomach twist. They all looked around, checking to make sure there weren’t any more hounds coming after them. All of them panted heavily, taking in the dead bodies surrounding them. “Nice throw,” Everett chuckled as he pulled the dagger from the hound, holding it out towards her. She accepted it, sliding it into her belt loop. “Technically you’re still in debt to me, I saved your ass twice,” she smirked, hearing laughter from the others.

They were all covered in blood. Each of them had black or red blood coating their fronts and faces. Her blood was all over herself as well as on Everett and Bastian. There was no water source anywhere in sight, leaving them to be stuck in a dirty state. She wiped her hands off on her pants before pushing the loose strands of hair out of her face. “Don’t worry, you still look pretty. Even with the blood caked in your hair and all over your face,” Blaise joked, his eyes lighting up as he tried to bring more positivity to the group. They were all shaken up after their experience, leaving them all in a state of shock.

“You’re a shameless flirt, Blaise,” Brinley rolled her eyes as she slipped her arm through Aerilyn’s. Aerilyn was thankful for the bit of support. Brinley didn’t act as if she were broken, but she knew the grasp was meant to stabilize her. She didn’t want to seem weak in front of the others, even if they had just saved her life. “I’m already sick of being surrounded by men,” she whispered under her breath, sparking a laugh in Aerilyn.

“We should get moving before any others decide to come after us,” Bastian frowned as he turned to the pile of their packs and sleeping bags. The group began to clean up their things, shoving it all back into their packs before they started on their journey once again.