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“Stop the wagon,” she whispered.
I pulled the reigns to a stop. Carli waited until the horses were at a full stop before jumping out, her feet barely landing on the ground. I rolled my eyes. The faerie bloodline in her made her have almost effortless coordination. She moved around silently and surprised her enemy. On the other hand, I had my father’s big feet and tended to stomp around without even meaning to.
I slammed a hand out when Mallory moved to follow Carli and put a finger to my lips as I pointed at the girl on the ground. I knew she needed a minute to do her thing. Disturbing her would just annoy her. We watched as Carli crouched, digging her hands into the dirt, and went still, letting the earth speak to her. I knew it was talking to her only because I’d seen her do this a few times before and had asked about it. I was no good with plants. In fact, I tended to kill them every single time. It didn’t matter if I followed orders precisely. They died each and every time. But hey, I had one up on Carli; I knew how to fight. Carli was a forester. She tended to plants, trees, and animals. She was a lover, not a fighter. She’d cower and hide in a bush if ever forced to. So at least I beat her at something. The differences helped even out our friendship, though.
I loved her to death as my best friend. She was my sister more than a friend, and I knew that if I had to, I would die protecting Carli.
Her head snapped up, eyes fluttering open, and she opened her mouth. I moved before the scream could escape, landing hard in front of her, twisting my hand. The whip rounded my hand and wrist before flames exploded, and the rest trailed into existence. I took my stance in front of Carli, looking in every direction, letting my hearing and eyesight expand. I had to watch and listen in every direction, to hear or see every movement. My father had told me to always be alert when ready to fight, and to know my surroundings.
“Azula,” Carli said shakily, a cracked whisper in my ear. “It’s a Skeletal.”
“Get in the wagon,” I hissed between my teeth. “You and Mallory get in the back and hide. I mean it.”
She didn’t need to be told twice. I heard the whisper of leaves as her light feet brushed over them and heard her speak to Mallory, but I wasn’t focused on them. The horses huffed, stomping their hooves as a light breeze fluttered over us. Their tails swished, and they quivered, disturbed by the sudden shift in the air. A twig snapped to my right, and I let out a slow exhalation of breath, focusing momentarily on that one sound. It was light footsteps and then it wasn’t. Leaves crunched as a much bigger predator walked over the rough terrain of the forest.
Skeletals were powerless without their minions by their side. Claws full of venom on eight arms and legs, round bodies like spiders, and hollow eyes. The minions couldn’t see, they were utterly blind, but they could smell and hear well. Skeletals were their eyes, despite them having black holes for them. When scratched, the venom could kill within days. You had to hurry to save the one attacked. Of course, it was possible with the right herbs and healing magic. But the ingredients weren’t always accessible, and because it was life-threatening with the venom coursing through one's veins, the herbs were expensive unless you knew how to grow them just right.
The army had the biggest supply for obvious reasons.
From the darkness, two figures emerged. The skeletal was thin and frail compared to his minion that scuffled at its side. Both had their attention on me. I twisted the whip around my hand, sending out feelers for more of its kind. These two seemed alone, which worked in my favor. Because if I won, we could get out without another fight to have to go through.IfI won.
I gripped the whip tighter as they neared me, my heart beating erratically. The minion chattered excitedly, no doubt hearing the adrenaline rushing through me. I had to push it down. The adrenaline rush wasn’t good. Jasper once said that letting it run you over in a fight was asking for one wrong move to be made, which could end your life.
I sent a jolt of electricity through my body, slowing my heart and adrenaline rush, letting my head stay as clear as possible. Fire raced along the whip. Minions hated fire, and as it began to blaze and curl around my head, it chattered again and let out a whimper, hesitating before slowing its steps toward me. The Skeletal lingered back as well, wary of my whip. Skeletal’s weren’t against fire, but without its minion, there wasn’t much it could do.
This close, I could see the slits for a nose and the hollow blackness of its eyes. It was wiry and thin, made of nothing but bone. A robe hung loosely from its shoulders, billowing out from behind it.
In the moment of distraction, I flicked my wrist forward and sent the whip hurling through the air with a loud crack. Right at the minion’s face. It screeched, reeling up, and threw three claws around. They sprung out as if on springs, darting in every direction, and I had to duck to avoid being swiped at with one. As I sprung back up, I cracked my whip again and, this time and made contact again. Another screech tore at my eardrums, and I staggered back from the sound, tightening my grip on my whip. I couldn’t allow myself to let go to cover my ears, but the screech hurt so bad. I felt warm liquid dribble from my ears but chose to ignore it for now.
The Skeletal raised a hand, palm out towards me, and I felt the ground leave my feet before I was hurled backward and slammed against a tree. The whip turned to ash, fluttering to the ground as I crashed into the pile of ash. Yellow dots flashed in front of my eyes at the impact. Through pixelated vision, I saw the minion choose to ignore me and sniff the air before scuffling toward the wagon.
I lurched forward, my head searing in pain. Again, I ignored it as I slammed my hand into the ground. The ground shook violently, sending the minion staggering, chattering profusely in confusion and momentary confusion. The Skeletal moved towards me, undisturbed. I drew in a breath of air, repeating until my lungs stung. Four times I sucked in air, and the Skeletal moved towards me, his steps slow and steady, unconcerned. As he was just feet from me and his friend was getting back to his feet, I let out my own screech.
The Skeletal staggered back, slamming hands over the sides of its head where ears should’ve been, whipping its head around vigorously. The minion screeched, tearing at my eardrums again, and jerked my head back from the sound, silencing my own sound. But it wasn’t screeching to get me to stop. As my head fell back, I saw it lifting into the air, trapped between thick vines that curled around it and rose towards the canopy of trees.
I didn’t have time to focus on that. I turned my attention back to the Skeletal. It had gotten its bearings back, and flames danced in its eyes, ticked off. It held its hands out, and streams of black swept out, shadows trailing down. I pressed two fingers to my lips and blew out. The whistle escaping my lips made it stagger back, ending the line of shadows for a moment. I moved, slamming a boot into the ground and sending it shaking violently as I thrust a hand forward. The invisible force hit the Skeletal right in the chest and sent it hurling back.
A wall of thorns rose and caught it, wrapping and trapping it. I flicked my wrist and spun on my heel, facing the vines. The minion was thrashing wildly around and had already broken through a couple. It wouldn’t take long to get free. I knew Carli was powerful with her plants, but she couldn’t keep it going forever. She was going to need rest eventually. I cracked my whip and slashed at the face again. The screech erupted the air again and again and three more times before it jerked out, head thrashing wildly around before finally exploding. Green goop spattered all over us.
“Mallory,” I shouted. “Get a salve, get it now!”
I let my whip fade into ashes as I wiped wildly at the green goop that was beginning to sting my skin. I screamed as I fell to the ground, writhing as it began to burn. I could hear Carli’s screams in my ears and Mallory screaming, trying to calm us, but the burning was becoming intense. I rolled on the ground, trying to douse it, but it was no good.
Until I rolled right into the pile of ashes that had been my whip. The fire that had danced from the green muck cooled down. I could still feel its prickles, but they were more embers now. I breathed out, but I barely had a second to take in the relief as Carli shrieked in pain.
“The ash, the ash Mallory!” I screamed, unable to move. “Cover her in ash!”
Mallory’s feet pounded as she did what I ordered, and finally, Carli’s screams calmed into shaky breaths of air. I squeezed my eyes shut. I’d heard a minion's blood could be just as poisonous as their claws, but up until now, I had never known anyone to actually witness it. Then again, maybe they hadn’t been lucky enough to stop it before it melted their flesh from their skin.
A dark chuckle echoed in the air, and I turned my head, eyes landing on the Skeletal, who was still stuck in the thorns. It was watching us, amused by what had happened. Its thin, black lips curled up into a smile, and it pressed a finger to them. It winked and was gone. I couldn’t move, staring at the spot, unsure why it was just gone. They didn’t just leave without something or someone. That wasn’t their style. Yet, that’s exactly what had happened. But even as I tried to wrap my head around it, I was sure of the fact that this wasn’t going to be my last encounter with any of them.
I wanted to question if it was just coincidence or not, but a sinking feeling in my stomach told me it wasn’t. It was nothing but a hunch and I could very well be wrong. I didn’t think so though. If I was right, why were they after me or us?
ChapterFifteen
“You’re bleeding,” Mallory commented and reached out to me to touch my ear.
I swatted her hand away before she could touch me and wiped at my ear, looking at the blood-coated fingers. My arm was bright red in a rash, but at least it was better than my skin melting off. The blood, though, was a concern for actual alarm. I had forgotten my eardrum busted at that minion’s screeching, and it probably didn’t help when it had done it on repeat. I reached up with my other hand and brought back blood seeping from my other ear. Both busted wasn’t a good sign. If I didn’t fix it quickly, I would end up deaf, and that flaw would not be allowed in the army. It wouldn’t even matter if I was a witch or not. Deafness was not overlooked and wasn’t a good look on a soldier.
