CACKLE- Book 1

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Sounds like the boys are getting a bit routy." Hux said. They laughed, Remi nuzzling her face back into his chest.

"They must be throwing one heck of a party out there." Remi chuckled. She felt so warm and comfortable in Huxley's arms. She thought she may drift off to sleep, if it wasn't for all the noise the guards were making.

She gently pushed Huxleys arm off of her, placing a kiss to his forehead and she brushed his hair back. She stood, admiring his handsome face. Their night had been wonderful, magical even. Magic of the best kind. She could see herself waking up to him by her side again. This man had a truly beautiful heart. She watched him breathing in and out until she heard the ruckus growing louder.

The voices grew louder and more clear than before, Remi's limbs went cold as she and Hux seemed to realize in unison, that they were not hearing screams of joy... but rather... screaming. The screams of one in fear.

Hux and Remi leaped up immediately. Hux pulled his tunic back on and Remi grabbed her boots, stitching the laces up tight to her shins. Hux opened the flap to the tent and Remi leaped out with him. The scene that was unveiled before them was gruesome, like nothing Remi had seen before.

Blood had been spilled across the grass, soldiers lay scattered around the clearing- their throats shredded, eyes wide with their final expressions of fear.

Someone had set fire to the camp, everyone was running. The flames illuminated the grounds around them. Remi's blood ran cold, she could feel her limbs freezing in place. She felt like a rabbit in the eyes of a wolf. Too scared to move, too overwhelmed to react.

There were massive dogs, at least four or five that Remi could see. Their skin was grey and ill looking, their eyes were as black as the woods around them. Massive claws dug into the dirt as they prowled around the soldiers.

"No..." Remi breathed.

Her eyes locked with a gigantic hellhound. Its blood thirsty eyes appraised Remi like the meat she was.

A voice of reason was screaming in the back of her mind. Where were her instincts to fight back? To attack? Where was the girl from the cave? The one who took down a Serpe?

She was... nowhere.

Remi felt smothered in self-doubt and an infuriating instinct to somehow make herself smaller. To conceal herself and her magic.

The dog released a slimy clear trail of venom down its massive gowals.

"Hux!" Ryker shouted from the far end of the field.

Remi felt like the rabbit as she followed Hux, running toward the sound of Rykers voice. Amongst the gore and carnage, the prince had been fighting toe to toe with a youngling hell bitch. Its sharp claws were making a horrible grinding noise as they tried and failed to gain a grip on Rykers sword.

Ryker glanced in their direction for a fraction of a second and the dogs teeth snagged on the hilt of his sword.

Remi pushed herself, willing her weak legs to move faster. Hux was several feet ahead of her. He pulled a dagger from his boot and whipped it at the dog. It landed on the ground a heartbeat later, the silver blade sticking out of its temple.

"Where are there?!" Hux yelled to Ryker.

Ryker's gaze dropped from Hux's face. His eyes panned slowly to the tent behind him. Green and gold fabric lay crumpled on the ground, mangled and shredded. A thin arm lay immobile just inside what once had been the entrance to the Kings tent. The slim gold ring on her finger told Remi all she needed to know. They were dead. The king and queen of Eloricia were dead.