Ortum Infernum [d.m]

Chapter Eleven

Trigger warnings: descriptions of decapitation, mutilation, blood and injuries.

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    Whispers filled the air, bouncing off the trees and rustled in the leaves. Odette walked deeper and deeper into the forest, her eyes unseeing as she was led in a trance. She couldn't remember what she had been doing before she stepped into the forest, couldn't remember why she felt so scared.

Her footing struggled to find balance in the uneven ground, carefully manoeuvring over exposed tree roots and foliage. There was a sudden blur of movement a few yards away from her and she froze, feeling her head starting to clear.

A hex was sent flying her way, meeting the tree trunk beside her and scorched a black spot where it had struck. Odette ducked into the foliage, her heart pounding frantically in her chest. Her breathing came in quick pants as the haze in her mind was lifted. She scrambled to make sense of her current situation.

What was happening?

A haggard-looking wizard came into view, his face was bearded and scarred. Odette gasped but his attention wasn't on her. He had his wand raised, casting several spells at his target. She could sense it before she saw it, a towering centaur with fur that was as black as night revealed itself.

It dodged the attacks with expert ease. Then, before Odette nor the wizard could react in time, it sliced the wizard's dominant hand clean off with a barbaric-looking sword.

The wizard howled in pain as his hand, that was still gripping his wand, thudded onto the ground. She stared in fear, her insides twisting as though she was going to be sick.

"How ignorant you must be to think you can trespass in our territory," the centaur's voice was eerie and bloodcurdling. "Just because you bear the mark of dark."

The man had dropped to his knees, grovelling in pain as he clutched his bleeding arm against his chest.

"Tell me, wizard. Does the mark exempt you from death?"

The centaur raised it's sword with both hands above it's head before he brought it down and decapitated the wizard, right before her eyes. Odette muffled her scream with her trembling hands, eyes wide with terror as the wizard's head rolled over on the ground to face her, staining the soil with blood.

Her heart almost grinded to a stop as the centaur turned it's head slowly from the body on the ground to where she was hiding. It's dark eyes were centred on her.

Odette froze, trying to get her breathing under control. Her heart was beating too loudly for her to hear if the sound that drew her into the Forbidden Forest was still there. But it didn't matter anymore.

She wasn't sure if she was going to make it out of the forest alive.

It was standing as still as a statue, watching her. As though it was waiting for her to make the first move.

Her wand was hidden away in her robes. If she could reach it fast enough before the centaur rushed at her, maybe she could stun or immobilise it and make a run for the castle. There were a few elemental spells she could use in her arsenal too.

Suddenly, one of the centaur's front legs pawed at the ground, leaving a trench in the dirt. She tried to back away slowly, her hand inching towards her wand. Without warning, the centaur lounged at her viciously. Odette barely managed to duck out of the way in time to avoid being ran over, landing harshly against a fallen tree trunk.

She felt something sharp tear against her robes and broke the skin of her right arm, slicing a long gash across it. Odette let out a pained cry, tears immediately clouding her vision. She rapidly blinked them away and tried to stand.