Of Warlords and Children (Trafalgar Law Book 2)

Chapter Twenty-One

Rayne's Pov

I've never liked running; especially before noon. 

The ground flies beneath my feet, my footsteps matching the heartbeat in my ears. My pack hits against my back in a sickening rhythm that will surely leave me with a bruise tomorrow. 

A knife sails into a tree trunk near my head.

"Keep up already!" Vein snarls as he loops his hand around my arm and pulls me to a straightened up posture to run faster. 

His grip is painful but necessary as we get to rockier terrain. Rocks threaten to trip me up and we're going up toward the top of the mountain on the island, well, their version of a mountain. 

To me it was more like a very steep hill. Another knife sails past me, nearly catching my arm in the process. 

I can hear screaming behind me and pleading. Blocking it out I focus on getting to where I was headed. Just a mile or so more and we would be safe. Vein puts his thumb to his mouth, biting down on it to get his blood flowing. He flicks his hand out and splashes drops of blood on surrounding trees and ground. Without looking back he puts a hand behind him and splays his fingers. 

I can hear the screams as Vein manipulates nature to do his bidding. 

"Don't hurt them!" I growl over to him. 

Vein rolls his eyes, "Shut up! They're trying to fucking kill us, I'm going to do anything to keep you and I alive so just focus on running! The faster you run the quicker we get away and the less I have to use my abilities so get a move on!"

"Y'know I'm going to kill you if another of them dies by your hand, I'm still not going to forgive you for that!"

"Just run!"

We pick up speed again and I can start to see the crest just ahead. I look behind me to see that they're getting farther and farther away. 

Vein grabs my hand even tighter as we make it to the top of the hill. I can see it there, the sled we had rigged to get to the other side of the island and the small ship we had docked there. If I could make it to the ship then we were going to get off this island scott free.

He picks me up and sets me on the front of the sled before kicking us off to a start and jumping on the back. Already I can tell this was a shitty idea. The sled tilts down with the slope and I start screaming immediately. This was such a bad idea.

The ground is threatening to buck us right off the sled and trees are everywhere. I can't help but squeeze my eyes shut and hope for the best. Behind me I hear Vein swearing up and down as he leans left and right to alter the course of the sled.

I open my eyes long enough to see a tree coming right for us and start to scream again. "Shut up and stop being such a girl!" Vein yells.

"It's not like I'm trying! You're just going to get us killed!"

"Whatever! You know I'm the one keeping us alive here!"

The sled all of a sudden is riding on air and we're floating above that. My screams are even louder as the pit of my stomach drops. I was going to die and all because of a damn hill.

Vein's arms come around my waist as we go flying over the sled. It comes crashing down on the ground but we keep going. All I see is red as a bubble surrounds me and we go rolling around as he covers both of us in a hardened blood bubble.

My world starts flipping around end over end. I feel sick, if I don't get out of this soon I'm going to puke on him.

The ground levels out and Vein's bubble disappears. All I can see is sand and water and of course our small ship. Though what I also see is Mihawk leaning next to it with his arms crossed.