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“I don’t know, but we can’t stay here.”
Valerian tugged on Colbolt’s reins, and the Maukibou was quick to turn around. In a moment, we were off, picking up speed and moving quickly through the woods. We were off the main road, which meant the trails were difficult to follow at best and treacherous at worst, but I trusted in Colbolt’s ability to safely navigate the terrain.
When the Maukibou suddenly stopped again, he nearly threw us both off his back. I had to grab hold of the saddle with both hands to keep myself from goingarse over titsonto the hard, snowy ground underneath us. Valerian was quick enough to react that he also didn’t go toppling over our ride’s large, antlered head.
“Why did you stop?” Valerian asked, once he’d recovered.
Colbolt whined again, the Maukibou clearly giving off further signs of panic and fear.
That was when I saw it. Theshadow. “No way,” I said.
“What is it?”
“It’s there,” I added, pointing at the path that lay ahead of us.
“We turned around and left it behind us.”
I shook my head. “Unless there’s more of them, but I don’t think so.”
It was there alright, standing in the middle of the road, cloaked by the shadows that clung to it as if it were their master. Only now, I thought, I could see it a little more clearly. I couldn’t make out any of its facial features, but now I knew it wasn’t a Wenlow.
The crown of antlers on its head were large, and ornate, but asymmetrical and skewed; not at all how antlers were supposed to be. Some of them looked jagged, and broken, and one side was larger than the other. It had a head, though, two arms, and it stood proudly on two feet. I knew now, I had never seen anything like this before in my life.
Valerian turned us around again and moved Colbolt off the side trail we were on. We headed into the woods, riding at full pelt… but only for a moment; barely more than a few seconds. Because the creature was in front of us again, somehow—and this time, it looked like it was even closer still.
CHAPTERNINETEEN
It didn’t matter where Colbolt went; the shadow figure was always there. It lurked amidst the trees, the darkness around it encroaching on our position, choking out what little light reached the forest floor.
Trying to figure out what it was, or what it really looked like, was difficult to say the least. Looking at it head on, I saw mostly darkness with an even darker shape within it. Catching it out of my periphery allowed me to glimpse its antlers a little more clearly, to understand its gait, its posture, but I could never get a good enough angle on it to see it properly.
In other words, I had no idea what I was dealing with.
“Easy, Colbolt,” Valerian said, “Easy,” but the Maukibou was having none of it. The poor thing was terrified, snorting and whining, frantically bucking and even rearing at times because it didn’t know where to go, where to look, or what to do.
It could surely smell the dark magic emanating from this creature and the surrounding darkness. It wanted to flee, just like we did, but no matter where we went, this shadow figure was always in front of us, always blocking our path.
“That way,” I said, pointing at a space between the trees.
Valerian aimed Colbolt in the right direction, and the Maukibou started to move. I could tell Valerian was struggling with the encroaching dark, so I took the reins out of his hands and yelled at him to hold on. He wrapped his hands around my waist, and I snapped the reins, making Colbolt move even faster.
The Maukibou was as agile as he was graceful, deftly gliding across the snow-covered dirt, weaving around trees, and jumping over fallen logs. But it was no use. The darkness was everywhere, as was the shadow figure at the center of it all.
He was in front of us again, watching us, daring us to get closer.
Colbolt stopped in his tracks, panting and snorting. I let go of the reins, took a deep breath, and went to climb off, but Valerian grabbed my hand. “What are you doing?!” he asked.
“That thing isn’t going away,” I said, “I’m going to deal with it.”
“What did I say before about not being reckless?”
“Unless you haven’t noticed, we’re trapped. This creature isn’t just going to let us leave, so I’m going to make it go away. If you have any better ideas, let me know, but until then—” I shrugged out of his grip and hopped off the back of the Maukibou.
I took a few steps toward the creature and stared at it from across the way. I could hear the darkness around me whispering, taunting, tempting me. I could feel my own heart pounding rapidly inside of my chest. I could even smell the sweat coming off Valerian’s brow. My senses were sharp, and ready for a fight, and if that was what this shadow creature wanted, he was going to get one.
“Hey!” I called out. “I don’t know who or what you are, but I’m only going to warn you once. Leave us alone and go back to whatever cave you crawled out of.”
A soft breath of cold snow passed through the space between us, but there was no reply.
