AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ripping the ribbon from around my neck and leaving the cloak behind, I tore after him as I heard the first screams.
He’d ripped right through the barrier ropes, and massive claw marks already marred the last painted wagon. Men had raised crossbows, aiming at the Beast who lunged along the tops of the covered wagons, smashing through the sides.
Ash had reduced the final wagon to a stationary hulk within mere seconds. One wheel was askew, and the donkey in the ties was screaming, bucking and trying to kick the creature who could kill it with one stroke.
I dashed past the broken ropes and through a pile of spilled flour, sending white billowing up around me. “Ash, stop!” My scream went unheeded as the Beast went for one of the men on top of the wagons.
He tore the crossbow from the man’s hand, tossing it aside. Those deadly claws were aiming for the man’s throat when an iron-tipped javelin whistled through the air, piercing right through Ash’s shoulder.
The Beasts’ roar shook the trees. I felt the ground quake beneath my feet.
Ash turned, ripping the javelin from his shoulder as he leapt off the wagon. He threw it, grazing one of the men’s arms, then darted into the forest again.
My body was moving automatically. I was reaching for the injured man even as my feet were readying to turn towards Ash and go after him, to demand why he’d attacked these innocent people.
They were not Vostokian. They had done nothing to him.
Time seemed to slow for me. I saw the man in the fur cloak, his eyes widening as he took me in. He exclaimed something in a foreign language, and the man with the injured arm looked up as well.
I halted, fully intending to turn and run, when powerful arms wrapped around me, holding me in place.
“Stop, let go,” I gasped, as the arms squeezed the air from my lungs.
The caravan leader strode forward, examining my face. He asked another question in that strange tongue, and I shook my head. “I don’t understand you, I’m sorry.”
The man frowned at the one who was holding me. He spoke softly to me, concern in his voice.
Then he took off his fur cloak, draping it around me gently.
I kicked, but the man holding me was far larger than I was.
He carried me to the third wagon, speaking words I couldn’t understand in a soothing tone, and a woman under a veil opened the wagon doors.
I found myself pushed inside before I could slip out of his grip, and the doors were barred shut behind me.
I turned as soon as I was free, slamming against the doors, and just heard more sounds in that language.
But no one opened the door, even when I shouted. I didn’t have the strength of a Beast to break the doors down.
And when the caravan jolted in movement again, the donkeys moving faster than before, I knew they were taking me, with entirely good intentions, back to the prison from which I’d escaped.
Chapter Fifteen
There wereno cracks in the caravan to give me any sense of the passage of time, and after a while I sank into a corner, my hands aching and scraped from pounding against the doors.
I fell into an unwilling doze, and didn’t wake up until the caravan jolted to a halt.
I woke up both furious and terrified. Scrambling towards the front of the wagon, I shed the heavy fur cloak and took a deep breath.
I did not want to hurt these people. I had worked so hard all my life to keep the monster inside me under control, and I didn’t want to risk shedding innocent blood now. I’d even been willing to go up against Ash to prevent that.
But Iwouldallow the monster to save me again. I had found my way into the Wood once; I could do it again.
All I had to do was cross the barriers and I was free.
The monster rustled inside me, waiting to be unleashed. The moment I was clear of the free-folk, I’d unleash her and together we would—
The doors were ripped open without warning, and a sharp spearpoint thrust into the wagon.
