“By tharuks?” He could almost smell the pungent stench of the tusked beasts.
“Now Zens has him.” Her dark eyes were pits of despair.
Kierion had never seen Adelina so down. He’d do anything to make her brown eyes dance again. “When the blue guards said they’d seen him, they said he was healthy, right?”
Her eyes slid away. So maybe that was a lie. But dragons didn’t lie and Riona had shown him this place. He pushed back a branch so she could pass. Snow slid to the ground. “Adelina?”
Her lip trembled. “The council didn’t tell me to collect him at dawn. I-I heard a rumor that there was a Naobian in the forest. I j-just wanted to see if it was him … whether he’d escaped.”
So, he’d been duped. By a friend who was desperate to find her brother.
Tears glimmered in Adelina’s eyes. He put his arm across her shoulders, following the prints. “Come on,” he said. “We’ve come this far. We might as well find this Naobian. Hopefully it is Roberto and he’s escaped.”
“You don’t think it’s possible.” Adelina shrugged off his arm and glared at him, fists on hips. “He’s done it before, you know.”
“What?”
“Roberto. He’s escaped Death Valley before. And you know Tomaaz has.”
That’s right, Tomaaz had crept in and rescued Maazini. “I didn’t know Roberto had been there.”
She nodded. “And Lovina. She was a slave in Death Valley for years. Then there’s the boy Tomaaz brought back.” Chin up, she stared at him fiercely, daring him to disagree.
That was four people who’d made it out. “And Marlies,” he said. “The master healer was there too. So, there’s a high chance this Naobian could be Roberto. There aren’t that many Naobians in these parts.” His eyes slid to her dark hair and tan skin. Foot in mouth time again. “Well, except you,” he said. “Come on. Let’s find him.” Searching had to be better than arguing.
They ducked around a tree trunk. Adelina wrinkled her nose. Kierion hadn’t imagined the stench of tharuk—it had been real. A spine-chilling growl ripped between the trees. Instinctively, Kierion snatched his sword from his scabbard. Curse the Egg, he should’ve nocked an arrow instead. He could have shot that brute running at them. Too late now.
Kierion ran to meet the monster as more tharuks broke from the trees. Adelina’s arrow twanged through the air and struck the beast in the eye. It toppled to the snow. Kierion spun, claws raking past his head. He plunged his sword under another beast’s upraised arm. The monster howled and lunged at him. Driving his sword hilt deep into its body, Kierion ducked, its tusks just missing his head as the tharuk crashed to the ground. Black blood gushed onto the snow.
Kierion kicked the tharuk over and yanked his sword from its body. It twitched. Quick as lightning, the tharuk’s eyes flew open and it whipped its legs around, sending Kierion flying into a tree trunk. His side throbbing, he scrambled to his feet. The tharuk was on its knees, clutching its wound, struggling to stand. Kierion charged, aiming his sword at the beast’s neck, and hacked off its head. Stinking blood sprayed him.
“Kierion.” A shriek rang out. Adelina.
He whirled.
Adelina was up a tree, shooting arrows at beasts prowling around the trunk. A tharuk sank its claws into the bark, ready to climb the tree.
No, not Adelina. Sticking his fingers into his mouth, Kierion whistled. The piercing tone cut through the tharuks’ snarls. They spun to face him.
“Hey,” Kierion yelled, “I just killed your friend.” He waved his blood-stained sword. “Who’s next?”
The tharuks charged.
“Run,” Adelina screamed.
Kierion’s quick-fire instincts had him running before he could even think. He pelted through the trees, leading the beasts away from Adelina.
Their stench wafted after him, their boots thudding through the snow.
Shards, they were faster than he’d expected.
§
Adelina fired at the tharuks chasing Kierion as he disappeared into the trees, bravely drawing the beasts away from her. Her arrow flew into the rear tharuk’s neck, felling it. All those hours Roberto had drilled her at the archery range were finally paying off.
One of the tharuks whirled back to its dead companion. It roared and ran toward her tree. Adelina fired another arrow and another, but the beast zig-zagged, nipping in and out of the trees to avoid her shots.
Suddenly, it was below her, sinking its claws into the bark.
Heart thudding, she aimed. The foliage deflected the arrow, and it hit the snow. The tharuk climbed closer, its snarls turning to grunts as it hefted itself onto a branch, making the tree shake.
Adelina’s next arrow got embedded in a branch. The fetid stink of tharuk wafted up to her.
“Got you.” It grunted, heaving itself higher. Adelina stowed her bow on her back and climbed. If she got high enough, the furry brute would be too heavy for the branches. She scrambled up, pushing off with her legs and yanking her bodyweight up with her arms. As she reached for another limb, her bow snagged on a branch. Shards, she was suspended by her bow and her arms. Kicking with her legs, she tried to find a foothold so she could disentangle herself.
A raucous guffaw came from below. The tharuk climbed onto the branch she’d just been on, making the whole tree shudder. Adelina kicked out as it snatched at her. Her boot struck its head. The tharuk roared and grabbed her legs, yanking hard. Her arms were just about pulled from their sockets. Thank the Egg her bow was snagged, or she’d be in its grip already. Adelina tried to free her legs, but the tharuk yanked again.
The branch snagging her bow snapped.
Adelina fell in a tumble of branches, limbs and tharuk,
