A Kingdom of Ruin (Deliciously Dark Fairytales Book 3)(51)

“Agreed,” she replied.

We stopped in front of the portal, and she gave me a little nudge. I was supposed to go first.

“I should go in wolf form, probably,” I hastened to say.

No, my wolf replied, the bastard.

“Go. I’ll be right behind you.” Leala nudged me again.

“Fuck.” I clearly needed a thesaurus.

Taking a deep breath, willing Hannon to lend me strength, I held my breath and darted through the portal. Anything worth doing was worth doing so fast you couldn’t lose your nerve.

The landscape changed in an instant, the wood replaced by some sort of scary marsh. My boots sank down into squishy ground, water seeping up to the soles. The moon cast light down on murky waters in random pockets here and there. Bushes dotted the way, some on land, some in water, and thin trees with no branches stuck out at odd angles.

Leala bumped into my back as I surveyed what else was around.

A short distance off, three hunched figures made their way down a glistening path that looked like water. A large boat built in the likeness of a wooden serpent bobbed in what looked like a glistening strip of river. Cages sat around us, large and larger, many with odd-looking creatures stowed inside.

Hannon bumped into the back of Leala, forcing me forward. I took a step I didn’t want to take, and my foot splashed onto the wet path, the water rising over the toe.

“Sorry,” Leala whispered, her voice much too loud in the silent, desolate place.

“Damn it.”

At least I’d changed it up from fuck this time.

A creature beside us growled, and one of the hunched figures slowly turned around.

“Here we go,” I whispered.

Then I said, “Oops,” really loudly, and wiggled in place like I would’ve turned and run back through the portal if not for the others in my way.

Another figure glanced back as the first slowed. The third eventually did too, the three of them stopping.

“Oh…no!” Leala said dramatically.

“Take a fucking acting lesson,” I whispered to her.

“Says the guy randomly wiggling like he has crabs.”

“The I have crabs wiggle is different, Leala. Where have you been?”

Hannon stepped out from behind us, giving us a clear path to dart back through the portal. We now had no reason not to flee to safety, which was a problem because we needed to get captured in order for Plan A (a.k.a. the only plan) to work. The hunched figures hadn’t started running toward us yet. Actually, they weren’t even walking at a moderate pace.

“I’ll attack weakly,” Hannon murmured. “You follow behind.”

“No—but—that might spook them into killing us!” I whispered furiously as he ran forward with his kitchen knife.

At least he looked the part of “not warrior,” except for the sheer size of the guy.

“Fuck,” I said. What could I say? That word was ol’ trusty. “Okay, yeah. Go, go!”

“You go!” Leala replied.

“Fuck!” I ran after Hannon, yelling because I didn’t have a weapon and didn’t want to change out of my clothes to shift.

The figures continued to stare at us, and I could see Hannon slowing a bit, not really sure what to do with that reaction.

“Here. I got it!” I caught up, my feet sloshing through the water, and then ducked in front and continued the charge. As we got closer, the figures finally started to back-pedal…and I dramatically tripped and fell right onto my face.

Hannon, not expecting it, or maybe just a better actor than Leala and me, got tangled up in my feet and fell on top of me.

“Don’t stab me,” I yelled before my face slapped the ground and mud stuck to my cheek. “Gross.”

“Oh no, don’t capture us!” Leala shouted, not tangling in our feet and diving onto the disgusting, wet ground. It smelled like meat that had been sitting out for too long.

The hunched figures finally turned to action, however slowly. One bent over and thwapped my head with something hard, the feeling vibrating through my brain. I grunted and then went limp, figuring playing dead was a good way to keep them from doing it again.

I heard Hannon grunt, but instead of going limp, he tensed, like he was about to get revenge.

“I’ll come quietly,” Leala said, still speaking in that loud, dramatic voice. She had obviously not missed her calling for the stage. “We’ll all come quietly.”

Hannon grunted again. Leala must’ve kicked him.

“Should we take them in or kill them?” one of the hunched figures asked, his old boots caked with mud and gunk.

“The king likes his pets, and that one is pretty. The other one is sturdy.”

I tried not to let their ignoring me go to my head.

“Take them,” the third said, and his weight shifted on his feet. I felt hands on me and wasn’t sure if I should keep playing dead or feign not-quite-dead-so-I-can-help-you-carry-me. In the end, to get things moving, I went for lethargic.

They hefted us up and moved us to the boat, throwing us inside and then finally binding our hands behind our backs. Once there, they took a short break before slowly walking back to the portal and releasing one more creature.

While we waited, it occurred to me that Hannon could’ve killed them all three times over in the time it took them to decide what to do with us. He could’ve killed them before they even figured out whether to take a step forward or back at his approach. For a moment, it seemed like I should’ve changed up my plan.