Chapter 35

CHAPTER 35

Regan

I carefully descended from branch to branch, my tail wrapped around Lomax’s waist as she clung to my back.

Her sweet breath puffing against my cheek, she said, “Remember when I said I was never climbing a tree again?”

“Technically, I climbed the tree. Hold tight, sadora.” I jumped from the final branch and landed with a thud on the snow covered ground.

Lomax sighed with relief and slid off my back before handing me the leather bag. “Be right back. I gotta pee.”

She disappeared behind a clump of bushes, and I relieved my bladder near the tree’s base before opening the bag and taking out some dried grundleswat and dried jeanda. Keo was rising, turning the sky into a fiery display of orange and crimson, and the birds stirred in the trees, their calls to each other disrupting the silence.

Lomax returned, and I handed her some grundleswat. “Eat, my mate.”

She chewed the dried meat, wincing and touching her cheek, which was still bruised and swollen. I brought out a bottle of juice and opened it. “Drink, sadora.”

She took a couple of small sips, shaking her head when I urged her to drink more. “No, you need it more than I do.”

“I am fine,” I said.

She pushed back my cloak and lifted my shirt, running her cold fingers over the bruising on my ribs. “It’s barely healed. You need to drink more.”

I didn’t reply. We only had five bottles of juice, and I wouldn’t waste it on something that wasn’t actively killing me. We still had two days of travel to reach Ormskirk, and while Lomax hadn’t complained once, walking through the deep snow and the cold was hard on her. She needed the juice to keep her energy going.

“Have a few swallows,” she demanded.

I did as she asked. It wasn’t enough to reduce the pain in my ribs, but it helped with the weariness from slogging through the forest.

I made Lomax drink more before I returned the nearly empty bottle to the leather bag. We ate the pieces of cold grundleswat and jeanda as Lomax shivered wildly despite the thick cloak Noka had given her.

She caught me staring at her and smiled. “I’m okay, honey.”

“You are freezing,” I said.

“Not as much as I should be for having just spent the night in a tree.” She glanced at the tree we had slept in. “You know when I complained about how warm you were in bed?”

I nodded, and she leaned forward and kissed my chest. “I will never complain again, honey. Your ability to mimic a furnace kept me from freezing to death last night.”

I pulled her close, wrapping my arms around her and ignoring the throbbing of my ribs. “I am glad, small one.”

“Did you get any sleep last night?” she asked.

“A bit,” I lied. “Come, we must keep moving.”

“Okay,” she said.

I shouldered the bag and waited until Lomax moved behind me. The snow was deep and thick, and Lomax followed silently behind me, walking the path I made for her. Even then, it was slow going, and after a full day of walking yesterday, she lagged behind.

“Sorry,” she puffed when I had to stop a third time and wait for her to catch up. “I know I’m slowing us down.”

Her lips were completely blue now, and she shook wildly but smiled gamely at me. “I’m good. Let’s keep going.”

“Climb onto my back,” I said before squatting.

“No,” she said. “You’re tired and injured and -”

“I can still carry you,” I said. “Sadora, you must. We will move faster if I carry you even for a little while, and you will be warmer, too.”

She sighed before taking the bag from me and slinging it across her body. She climbed on my back, and I adjusted my grip on her thighs before trudging through the snow.

“We’re going the right way toward that town, yeah?” she asked.

“We are,” I said.

“How do you know?”

“The river leads to the town, and we are following the river,” I said.

“Okay. Do you think the guard is coming after us?” she asked.

I wanted to say no, but I couldn’t lie to her. “I believe they are, yes. Ormskirk is the closest town by foot, and Axen knows we would go through the forest rather than risk being seen on the main road.”

She sighed and snuggled closer, kissing my cheek. “I’m sorry I’m so damn slow.”

“You are not,” I said. “I am proud of how well you are doing, my sadora.”

“Maybe Eastolf didn’t send them after us. Maybe he’s cutting his losses,” she said.

“Maybe,” I said.

She sighed again. “Christ, I’m being an idiot. He won’t let us walk away, not when we know what he’s planning.”

“No,” I said, “he is not. But if we can make it to Ormskirk, we can contact Madison.”

“And ask her to get us the fuck out of here,” she said.

“Yes,” I said.

We walked in silence for nearly an hour before she said, “I can walk now.”

I shook my head. “No, I will carry you for -”

A branch broke to our left, and a low grunt turned my blood cold. I immediately slid Lomax off my back.

“Regan, what -”

I clamped my hand over her mouth, shaking my head and muffling her gasp of pain when my fingers pressed against her cheek.

I stared into the forest as another low grunt lifted the hair on the back of my neck. I pressed my mouth against Lomax’s ear and breathed, “Do not make a sound, sadora.”

She nodded, and I released her mouth before slowly drawing my sword from its sheath around my waist.

Lomax clung to my waist as the bushes to our left rustled, and a snuffling sound followed a third grunt. I sniffed the air before indicating that Lomax should back up. We shuffled backward a few feet, but I stopped abruptly when the groden emerged from the bushes.

Snow covered it, and it shook its thick grey coat with a hoarse growl before sniffing at the base of a tree. It rose onto its hind legs, and I felt more than I heard Lomax’s gasp when it dug its long black claws into the tree and shredded at the bark.

It was one of the biggest grodens I’d ever seen, its fur covered body thick with muscle and standing nearly twelve feet tall. I pressed against Lomax, silently urging her to take another step backward as the groden growled and tore again at the tree trunk. We inched backward as the groden reached into the hole it had carved into the tree and scooped out a glob of thick orange-coloured sap.

Fat black beetles the size of Lomax’s palm moved through the sap. Sluggish from the cold, they were an easy meal for the groden. It roared happily and slurped up the beetles and sap, the crunch of their shells between his teeth a sharp snap in the frigid air.

Adrenaline shot through me when the groden abruptly swung around. It stared at us, its snout twitching and its golden eyes bright with intelligence and cunning. It inhaled deeply and made a low chuff before dropping to all fours.

Despite their large sizes, grodens were incredibly fast, and with the deep snow and my injury, neither Lomax nor I could outrun it. I raised my sword as the groden growled and charged.

“Lomax, run!” I shouted as the groden crossed the distance between us, snow flying from beneath its massive paws.

With a roar that vibrated the trees and sent snow tumbling down from their branches, the groden swiped a paw at me. I ducked and lunged forward, thrusting my sword into its meaty front leg. The groden snarled, and I yanked my sword free and dove to the side when it swiped at me again. I landed on my injured side and groaned with pain as I rolled to my feet. The groden was already coming for me again, and I sidestepped its charge, slicing across the thick fur of its side as it skidded past me.

It howled as bright blue blood splattered the snow around us. It collapsed face first in the snow, and I ran forward, raising my sword for the final death blow. Before I could plunge my blade through its back and into its heart, the beast reared up and slammed its paw into my stomach, its sharp claws slicing through my skin. I flew backward, smashing into a tree and falling hard on my ass as my sword tumbled from my hand. Searing pain rocketed through my abdomen, and blood poured freely from the four large gashes in my stomach. The groden, growling fiercely, lumbered toward me.

I groped for my sword, my fingers brushing against the handle as the groden, saliva dripping from its thick yellow fangs and its fur coated in blood, reached eagerly for me.

Before it could sink its claws into my body, there was a sharp crackling, and the groden bellowed in pain, its body arching and its legs trembling. Foam flew from its mouth, and its eyes rolled in their sockets before it howled deafeningly and stumbled away from me.

Lomax, her eyes wild and her cheeks bright red, stood in the bloody snow, the Vokine’s weapon in one shaking hand. Electricity sparked and crackled at its tip, and she screamed a battle cry into the cold air before charging toward the groden. She slammed the wand against its hindquarters, and it howled again, scrambling away in the slippery snow.

Lomax danced back, her cry of triumph dying when the electricity snapping and crackling through the wand died with a low buzz. She pushed the button again and slammed her palm against the wand when nothing happened.

“Motherfucker!” she shouted as the groden shook its massive body and raised its head to stare at Lomax. With a low growl, it stalked toward her, and Lomax backed away, repeatedly pushing the wand’s button as the groden snarled and stalked its prey.

“Sadora!” Another blast of adrenaline rocketed through my body, and the pain in my stomach vanished. I staggered to my feet, scooping up my sword and stumbling through the deep snow toward the groden.

Snarling and growling, it rose to its hind legs, its vast body blocking my view of Lomax. I ran forward and swung my sword across the back of its legs, opening them both up and sending another flood of bright blue blood to the snow.

The groden screamed and collapsed to its knees. I raised my sword a final time and sliced across the groden’s neck. The sharp blade cut through the flesh and bone in a smooth arc, and the groden made a soft, confused chuff before its head slid from its body and landed in the snow before Lomax’s trembling body.

We stared at each other over the groden’s body. The blood raining out of its stump of a neck, my ragged breathing, and thumping heartbeat were the only sounds I could hear.

“Regan,” she whispered.

“Sadora.” I started toward her, surprised when my legs gave out and sent me tumbling into the snow.

“Regan!”

I tried to turn over, but my limbs were weirdly weak, and exhaustion was stealing into my bones. With a loud curse, Lomax heaved me onto my back and pushed back my cloak.

“Oh fuck me,” she said as she stared at my stomach. “Regan, don’t pass out!”

She disappeared, and I stared at the bits of bright blue sky I could see through the trees. I should have been cold lying in the snow, but my stomach was full of fire. I slapped one hand weakly against my midsection, sending a bolt of searing pain through me, before staring curiously at the green blood that coated my hand.

“Regan, drink!” Lomax was back, and she had a bottle of gallberry juice in her hand. She pressed the bottle to my mouth, and when I didn’t drink, she shook me roughly, making me groan with pain.

“Hey! Look at me! Regan!”

I wanted to do as she asked, but I was so tired, and my stomach was still on fire, and all I wanted to do was let the darkness consume me.

My eyes slipped shut, but before I could welcome the darkness at the edge of my vision, Lomax slapped my face so hard my teeth rattled. “Goddamn you, Regan! Open your fucking eyes!”

I blinked them open, staring blearily at my mate. “What?”

“Drink, goddammit!” she snarled.

Hating that I was upsetting her, I opened my mouth and swallowed the sweet, cold juice. The darkness receded, and I didn’t object when Lomax pressed a second bottle against my lips. “Drink, Regan.”

I drank the second bottle, and the terrible weakness in my limbs disappeared. The fire in my stomach turned to hot coals, and I shook my head when she pressed a third bottle against my mouth. “I am good, Lomax.”

“You’re not,” she said. “You need to drink more. Right now.”

“I can wait,” I said. “Help me up.”

“No,” she said, “drink more before -”

I forced my aching body to sit up, and agony erupted in my belly. I screamed and dove into the bliss of darkness.