A Ruin of Roses (Deliciously Dark Fairytales #1)(64)

I climbed out from under it, breathing hard. My arm throbbed in agony, and my legs felt like they’d been seared, but it wasn’t anything Hannon hadn’t healed up before. I just had to make it to him.

Pulling my animal back to center, I let her take the lead. Her power doused the pain a little, and we hobble-jogged along the path. A sigh of relief eased out of me as familiar landmarks came into view. We were close to home.

I took a quick detour, backtracking just a bit, and hurried to the everlass field. Hannon surely had some left from my last harvest, but I didn’t want to take it all. Goddess knew I’d need some for these bites and gashes.

The birch rose ahead of me, and I actually smiled at the sight—until I remembered its propensity to jig.

“Oh crap—”

Too late. It shook and waved, its branches groaning and its leaves shaking. Might as well summon all the curious creatures in this wood.

I packed the everlass leaves into my knapsack, as many as I could reasonably fit. They’d be annoyed by the material anyway, so I might as well really piss them off by shoving in more than normal.

Ignoring the birch’s sashaying, I jogged back around it and out of the area. Pain throbbed in my legs and fingers, and blood dripped from the wounds. Some demonic creatures fed off blood, but not from the vein like a tidy vampire. No, they liked to rip into flesh and lap at their victims’ bodies. If they were in this wood, I was essentially calling them.

I’ve never heard of so many creatures wandering in the wood, I thought as I made my way, gritting my teeth against the pain. I’ve never encountered this many.

My animal didn’t say anything, just assumed most of the control again and kept our feet going, one in front of the other.

Halfway there, a strange smell caught my attention. A little musky, like a demon, but with strong overtones of sulfur. First it came from the right, then the left.

Is the smell hovering or what? I thought as my animal picked up speed. I knew she’d be cataloging a lot more complexities than I could comprehend.

No.

I waited for her to elaborate, but she slowed instead.

What are we doing? I asked.

They’re surrounding us. I’m trying to decide—without talking to a bunch of folks—what to do. I can’t tell their speed or agility yet.

We continued along, slower now, and the smell kept getting stronger. From the right. From the left. A whiff from behind. Then one of them emerged onto the path in front of me. It was ugly as sin, and one glance was enough to tell me it had never made an appearance in any of my books.

Its face was like a parody of a human skeleton, with large, grayed-out hollows for eyes, a hole for a nose, and a wide, lipless grin. Its stringy yellow mane reached down to a large hunch in its back, formed because its front legs were longer than the back ones, and a little tail in the back. It was nearly as big as the dog creature but spindlier. Its front legs had an opposable thumb, however. It could probably grab.

More of them pushed out from between the trees and foliage all around me, surrounding me as my animal had warned they would. Five in all. As I watched, black sludge dripped from their pointed teeth. The one in front swiped its fingertips through it.

That’s probably not good, I thought with a sick feeling in my gut. That is probably some chemical designed to disarm an opponent, like poison.

I take it back. I don’t like how much you read.

Just go ahead and talk to my invisible audience. They are always excited during times of trial. It helps with the fear.

If only we could pick our human partner…

I took deep breaths, leading now. My animal and I seemed to be getting better about who took the reins when. Still, I kinda wished she’d picked this moment.

More deep breaths, sending much-needed oxygen into my blood. I had my animal’s power, lending strength and speed. Dulling the pain a little. Not enough, though. This was going to be hairy.

“Do you speak?” I asked, because it was a great stalling technique. “Take me to your leader.”

The one in front gnashed its teeth and made a nack-nack-nack sound. It was a little better than the “ha-ha-ha” from the other guy, but not much. Sludge oozed down its chin.

“Right, okay,” I said softly, testing their limits. I walked forward slowly. The configuration of the creatures immediately changed, moving with me, continuing to box me in. I’d just encouraged them to tighten the circle.

Nothing for it, then.

I charged, sprinting at the one on the side. Surprisingly, it pulled back, creating space between us. The ones that used to be front and back rushed in, flanking me. I changed direction immediately, slashing right with a knife that was much too small for the situation. The blade sailed through empty air. The creature dashed in and swiped at me. I staggered back but turned as I did, sticking out my knife. The blade sank into the ribs of the one that had planned to score its claws across my back.

“Suck it, fucker,” I said, grabbing its bony shoulder and pulling it forward. It stomped, off balance. I slipped behind and stabbed three times quickly and in any old area, watching the others reconfigure.

How smart are these bastards, do you reckon? I thought.

They are pack animals, obviously, and they are clearly good at hunting prey. They also clearly underestimated you.

Yeah. That’s what I was thinking. Balls.

Breathing heavily, I intended to use the dying one as a shield, but its legs gave out. It flopped to the ground, not dead but not willing to serve as my super-handy shield.