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They all spoke in hushed tones, their voices haunting, like the wind on a winter’s night. Then, all at once, they were inching toward us again. Panic surged in my chest in a fresh new wave.
There was no way even I could defeat all of these creatures. Maybe if I had backup, but the wretched things were right. Not only were we alone, but the other Huntsmen didn’t even know where I was.
Outrunning them wasn’t an option with a fresh arrow wound. Even if we could make it back to a denser part of the forest where their steeds couldn’t follow, we had no idea what else was lurking in these woods.
My mind raced back to the creature with the glowing spines from the other night.
No.If I can’t fight them off, then we will surely die here.
I nudged Lina toward one of the logs behind me. Maybe she could find shelter before the fighting broke out again. Shifting my legs, I grabbed hold of the dagger in my boot and sent it sailing at one of the creature's heads while they were still preoccupied talking about Lina.
It landed with a sickening thunk, and the rider fell from his unicorn. The others screeched in anger, the sound rattling my bones.
I quickly drew my sword and ran at one of the others, but it deflected my blade easily, knocking me over with a backward shove. Pain shot through me as I rolled over and sprang back up onto my feet. My shoulder throbbed, but I ignored it and took up a defensive position.
“Tell us, child. Why would a lone Huntsman and a half-fairy be wandering the eastern woods?” the attacking figure spoke, its dark, open hood so near my face that I could smell the rot seeping from it.
Like spoiled milk and animal carcasses in the midday sun.
I faked moving to the left, and he fell for it, as I tossed my sword to my good hand and brought it down in an arc across the creature's chest.
Green blood sprayed from the wound as it fell to its knees. Spinning around, I found myself directly in the path of a curved, black blade that was moving toward my neck at an impossible speed.
I had seen death in its many forms, and I had evaded it myself a time or two, but it had never been clearer than it was right now in the form of this evil creature’s sword. There was no way I would be able to move in time, not without impaling myself on one of the other blades or horns.I’m going to die.
They were going to kill me, and then they were going to kill Lina.
The world spun slowly. I barely registered the sound of Lina’s cry while my mind ran through the endless possibilities.
Would Rumplestiltskin let my father die, even if I died protecting Lina? Would that be enough to uphold my end of the bargain?
Somehow, I doubt it.
My last thought was that I would have killed them both, my father and my oldest friend. Then, the blade was inches from my face and there was no more time to think anything at all. I refused to close my eyes. I hadn’t looked away from the boy’s fate, and I wouldn’t look away from mine.
So I saw the exact moment the trajectory of the hit tilted, the sword forcibly yanked back along with its owner. The creature toppled backward, off his vicious beast. Half a heartbeat later, I heard a thwack from directly behind me. I spun in time to see another cloaked figure fall from his unicorn with a dagger protruding from its back.
The leader was turning his evil-horned horse around to charge at whatever was attacking them when the sharp crack of a whip sounded. He clutched at the leather around, what I assumed, was his neck, as it pulled him sideways to the ground.
The others hadn’t been able to run fast enough, falling from their unicorns as they tried to escape. I ripped the dagger from the dead body and threw it at one of them when they ran too near to where Lina was hiding.
It cried out as the blade made impact and spun around to face me. With one swift movement, I brought my sword down on its neck and its screeching stopped.
One by one, they all fell.
Their garishly colored steeds wasted no time abandoning them for the woods. I looked around frantically for whatever had killed them, not anxious to meet the creatures capable of such a feat, and my eyes landed on Lina’s form, no longer red, but a sickly, horrified pearl and chartreuse. We needed to get out of here.
“Lina,” I whispered. “Come on, let’s go.”
She wasn’t looking at me, though. At first, I thought she was staring at one of the fallen bodies, but her gaze was fixed on a shadow a few feet from us. No, not a shadow, I realized. More like… a pocket of darkness. One shaped exactly like the hooded riders.
There are more of them.
17
LIna
Ididn’t realize that I was shaking until Edrich’s warm hands cupped me, pulling me close to his chest.
