The Death Kingdom

Chapter Twenty-Six

My body tenses and I turn my head toward the sound of the horses.

"What is it?" Auden asks, reading my body language. He reaches out and grabs my hand as I quickly rise, my heart hammering inside of my chest.

"You don't hear that?" I question, wondering if having improved hearing is yet another side effect of killing Elias.

Auden shakes his head but hastily stands, trusting me implicitly to detect danger.

"Wake Kavi," I tell him. "I hear horses in the distance, the Guardians are close."

Fear envelopes his features, but he hardens his resolve and rushes over to Kavi to jerk him awake. Kavi jumps up, takes one look at our solemn faces, and knows.

"They found us," Auden confirms. "We have to go."

We start running in the opposite direction with me leading the way. Luckily, we're still heading in the direction of the rebellion, but we're still so far. The chances of making it there are so slim right now with the Guardians on our tail. They'll catch up to us in no time on those horses and then what? We stand our ground and fight until death?

Auden and Kavi have a good chance of being taken alive to be brought to the king. I assume he'll want to deal with his sons on his own. I, on the other hand, can be killed and left out in these woods to rot under the fallen leaves.

The thought makes my stomach sour, but I continue to push on. Running as fast as I can without losing Auden and Kavi behind me.

I keep throwing glances over my shoulder to make sure they're both there. Auden already looks haggard, and Kavi still looks half asleep. I knew Auden needed to sleep more. There's no way in this condition we'll be able to fight. Who knows how many Guardians are on our tail.

If we're lucky and there are only two, Kavi and Auden might be able to distract one long enough for me to defeat one, but if there are three we have no chance. We'll be too outnumbered. The Guardians are too skilled, too bloodthirsty for us to beat on our own.

My breathing starts to struggle the slightest bit as we keep pushing through the woods. In the early morning light, I'm constantly watching my feet to make sure I don't trip and fall. All the leaves and branches will also slow down the horses at least.

My mind whirls with the thought. If I remember correctly there's a really steep slope that leads down into a river. I had to practically slide down the hill myself so the horses would struggle and it could give us the slightest lead. We'll still have to worry about the Guardians but it'll give us extra time before we face them.

If only I could reach out to the rebellion and call for aid. Everything would be fine if I could do that.

I hear a thump behind me and the sound of a cracking branch. I halt my steps and turn to find Auden struggling to stand up. Kavi is right there with him, grabbing onto his good arm to help him up. Auden slowly staggers to his feet and his chest heaves with a deep breath. He clutches his bad arm to his chest, his face contorting with pain.

I walk over to him studying his body, seeing every exhausted angle. "I have a plan that should give us a head start, but we'll have to end up wading through a river. The current shouldn't be too strong, but we'll need to be careful. I can try to conceal our path as much as possible after we cross it."

Auden nods at me, teeth clenched together. I dart a glance over to Kavi and find nothing but worry etched on his face.

Kavi opens his mouth. "What if—"