And What I Found There - Book Two

39. Just Close Enough to Touch

"Hey, Adara..." Vyndren stops walking a few minutes later.

"What's up? Are we close to the White Knight's camp?" I look around eagerly.

He rolls his eyes. "Kinda. But that's not what I'm trying say."

I smile with amusement and cross my arms. "What are you trying to say then?"

"It's something I've been trying to tell you for what feels like forever now," he grins faintly and now takes my hands to hold. I feel my heart flutter. "Oh, Adara," he sighs as he looks me over longingly. "You look so beautiful..." I blush and smile more with pleasure. "I want you to know how important you are to me, my sweet." He squeezes my hands. "I've never felt this way about anyone before you, and I'll never feel this way about anyone except you," he steps closer to caress my face. "You remind me what it was like to live and what it was like to love. And even though I don't have a soul anymore...I mean it with all my heart when I say I lov-"

Suddenly a huge white blur leaps through the air and Vyndren just barely sidesteps out of the way in time to dodge the attack. I'm stunned as I realize that this attacking beast is a polar bear. Cornelius's animal soul spirit! The bear, the size of a massive bull elephant, stands up with a roar and bats its huge, clawed paws at Vyndren.

He swiftly drawls his swords in time to catch one blow at a time, but now the bear lunges. The Dark Rider nimbly leaps on top of a rock in time to dodge the attack. The bear roars with outrage and throws itself onto the rock with alarming speed.

I yelp with alarm, this thing is so fast!

Vyndren barely has a chance to go vaulting through the air over the bear's head before the polar bear whirls around again, bolting forward. Vyndren slashes his swords across the animal's muzzle and face, but the soul keeps charging.

He ducks under the swinging club like paw and neatly rolls and leaps back to his feet as the bear barrels towards him, this thing is relentless! My Dark Rider doesn't have a chance to pause for a heartbeat, that's how fast the bear is. Suddenly out of the shadows leaps another massive animal, it's Quill's painted horse!

No! Why are they attacking him?!

Vyndren swiftly summons his control of the darkness and a wave of shadows rise out of the ground and crash into the advancing animals, giving Vyndren a chance to get out of their way. They recover from the shadow assault only all too quickly though.

What are they doing?! I feel like screaming. The animals are so fast, as fast as Vyndren almost, and they are both so synchronized, it's stunning. My jaw drops as the bear actually lands a blow to Vyndren's shoulder, he goes flying off his feet as if hit by a wrecking-ball and hits the ground violently enough to leave an impression. The horse doesn't miss a beat and now wildly starts to stopple him. The Dark Rider hisses with fury and pain and uses his shadows to wrap around the raging animals in efforts of dragging them away.

The horse kicks Vyndren just as he stands and now he goes flying into the waiting jaws of the bear.

"No, stop!" I scream as the polar bear savagely shakes Vyndren back and forth.

Vyndren summons an explosive burst of fiery red light that causes the polar bear to drop him. He manages to crawl a few yards away from the bear and horse -blood seeps from his arm and gushes down his chest- before the orb of red energy morphs into the howling animal spirit of his soul.

And the big bad wolf is livid.