Shadow Weaver (Back on Wattpad 2020!)

Chapter 34

I lie on the gnarled forest floor, gazing at tiny ribbons of blue sky visible between high branches. My body shakes uncontrollably. I want to rise, check on the Prince. Check on Tug and Brin. But shock immobilizes me.

All three of my captors are alive. This knowledge is a peculiar comfort to my shredded nerves.

My mind replays images of the attack. Scaly faces bear down with cat-like speed and dexterity. Strange guttural words echo in my head. In my mind, I hear the bellow of the war-horn, and the screaming chorus of velaraptors.

Men flock around the Prince. Others peer over me, asking questions, repeating my name. But it's as though I'm caught between the past and the present, unable to respond.

Fror barks an order. Bush and vines crunch and rustle as men scramble to comply. In the mind-world I sense the velaraptor move beyond my range of perception and I'm suddenly released from the overwhelming inertia.

I refuse the offered water. The Duke hears and rushes to my side, asking if I am able to sit up. I allow him to help me upright. The pain in my chest intensifies with movement. A rib must be cracked, but I bite down a yelp. If the Duke discovers my injury he will not allow me to ride, nor allow me to continue on to the Red City. The Prince could not reasonably argue with his uncle against the wisdom of leaving me behind. Especially, as the Duke will suspect I was the objective of the velaraptor men.

Duke Roarhil has found my tattered cloak and wraps it around my shoulders. He says something about it all being over, about the miracle of Prince Jakut and I surviving. He supports me as I stagger to the Prince, battering aside the thick vegetation with his sword.

Tug lumbers towards us from the opposite direction. Blood flows down the side of his face. He brushes off the men who hurry after him with offerings to staunch the wound.

I see the moment he spots me through the trees. The relief in his body is palpable. I could pretend it is because my safety means the Duchess's safety, but as our eyes take each other in, I understand it is more than that. I believe he regrets taking Kel and me from Blackfoot Forest, after all.

I watch him swat away soldiers, his beast-face a bruised and gory mess, and a pressure in me lightens.

The Prince groans, semiconscious. I kneel down beside him. His belt has been loosened and the top buttons of his shirt undone. A soldier dribbles water from a wet cloth into his mouth. Without a word, I make it clear I wish to tend to the Prince. I take the cloth and dab his puffed up jaw. His eyelashes flutter.

Nearby, I can hear the Duke and Commander Fror discussing the situation, options, reasons for the bird-men, as they call the men who attacked us, so far south. I glance up and see Tug headed to where Brin lies.

"How badly injured is my landsman, Brin?" I ask the nearest soldier.

"It is grave, My Lady. Duke Roarhil has already sent two scouts to fetch a healer from the nearest town." The trembling in my hands grows worse. I lower the cloth and touch Jakut's hot cheek.

In my mind, Brin's voice rings through the snow and the wind and the northern pines. "Let's tie her to a tree and leave her to the forest." And later: "She's going to get us killed."

If Brin dies, it will be my fault.

"And what of the other men?" I ask.

"Taylor's neck was broken when a lasso yanked him from his horse as he tried to protect the Prince who broke the line to help you. No one else was hurt."

As though hearing his name, Jakut groans again. I knew the soldier Taylor only by sight. It makes no difference to the way his loss twists my insides. A life there and then gone. It is hard to fathom. Hard to make sense of. For the first time I understand Pa's reluctance to fight back.