“How about giving us a little more firelight?” She tried to keep her tone light, though her heart was heavy.
“I’m not entirely sure it wouldn’t burn this forest to the ground,” he replied matter-of-factually.
“Oh,” she gasped. “Duly noted.”
Akadian called to the group, “No matter what you do, don’t leave the path and don’t leave the group. We’re safer as long as we stick together. As long as we do that, we should be fine.”
“You don’t have to worry about that,” Danthan assured him. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Who in their right mind would leave the group?” Podara snorted.
Akadian stared at her. “They wouldn’t be in their right mind.”
As though on cue, an earsplitting screech tore through the treetops. Ambrose dropped to her knees covering her ears as her own scream couldn’t be heard. The sound penetrated into every cell of her body, down into her bones, shaking her to the core. Her teeth rocked so hard she had to clench her jaw shut to keep them from cracking against each other. They all dropped down, holding their ears tight as the shrieks reverberated around them. Whatever it was had to be right on top of them!
Akadian held her firmly as though he could feel her instinct to run as far and fast as she could.
She opened her eyes to make sure everyone was still with them. Danthan crouched with his head between his knees, body shaking. Podara held her ears as she wildly searched the treetops for what was attacking them. Oryon and Eurus held each others’ ears, mouths open in silent screams.
Felius stood in place, staring straight ahead into the dark forest, ears bleeding and eyes as wide as dinner plates.
Ambrose tried to yell his name. Tried to get him to cover his ears. But he couldn’t hear her. Instead, he dropped his axe and ran straight into the woods, plunging them into total darkness.
Chapter 25
“Felius, no!” Ambrose tried to reach for him but Akadian quickly jerked her back to his side. As Felius disappeared into the trees, the screeching stopped.
“Stop! Remember what I told you, don’t leave my side,” he hissed into her ear.
“But Felius!” she cried, staring at the spot she last saw him. “We have to help him!”
“We will,” he promised. “But we have to be smart or we’ll end up dead.”
With the screeching now gone, the silence of the woods was deafening. Bodies of trees that shielded them from the horrors waiting inside them.
As quickly as it stopped, the shrieking started again, this time from somewhere far away. It was still ear-shattering but this time the sound was more manageable.
Akadian’s head snapped up with a look of terror on his face. “We need to move. Now!”
“What’s going on?” Podara yelled over the noise.
“I don’t know, where did Felius go?” Oryon cried from behind her as the cadence of their footsteps stomped the wet ground. Eurus trailed behind him, a hand on his brother’s shoulder so as not to get separated.
“We’ll find him later, but for now, we need to move,” Akadian ordered.
Pinpointing exactly what was making such a bone-chilling noise was impossible as the entire forest seemed like it was screaming.
“Is the forest making that sound?” Ambrose gritted out. She was sure her head would split open from the pain.
“It’s not the woods,” Akadian yelled. “It’s the Alkijin.”
They stomped their way down the trail following blindly into the dark night, with only the sound of broken sticks and fallen leaves to guide them. The limbs of the trees reached for them as though they had claws of their own.
“What in the gods’ names is an Alkijin?” Oryon shouted as he shook his head, unable to clear the ringing from it.
Akadian threw a worried glance back at him. “You don’t want to find out.”
The worry etched into the prince’s face made Ambrose’s stomach feel uneasy as a pit formed deep in her belly and her heart picked up a few beats. If Akadian was this afraid, then whatever was in those woods was enough to make a royal scared. She’d never seen a royal show outright fear before and it unsettled her more than anything she’d seen yet. Akadian was the second most powerful being in the kingdom…
