Wings of Hope

Chapter Eleven

After we found the Lyre and made it back home safely, I never thought I would be running through a forest again being chased by another shadow creature. This time, there wasn't any saviour barrier to protect us. Now, we just had our own wits and breathless hopes and prayers. I didn't even have laces in my boots either.

We darted between the trees, Stelni keeping the lead. How far were we going to run until we found a way to escape the beast or it caught up to us? There was no way we could keep this up forever.

Without warning, we burst into a clearing where a village sat snuggly in the middle. A short hill stood behind it, creating a perfect defence from any oncoming attackers. It was the worst possible thing to find, especially since the crimson-winged Dragon-born I followed ran straight towards it, using her wings to help propel her forward.

"Stelni! Turn!" I yelled, hoping she would hear me. There were going to be people in that village and we were about to bring a shadow creature their way. We were going to put everyone in danger.

Stelni turned back and frowned before continuing forward. "No! Keep going!"

"We can't go into the village! We'll get more people killed!"

"It will be fine," she called back, picking up speed. "Trust me!"

Trust her? How did Stelni expect me to trust her when from the very moment I met her she had tricked and lied to me? What if this was some sort of trap? Even if it wasn't, there were innocent people about to be ripped to shreds by the growling shadow creature behind me.

I broke off from Stelni's path and turned back into the forest, praying that the beast would follow me since I was closer to it — an easier option for it to kill — but, when I looked over my shoulder, I found that it still followed the Dragon-born. A wing-brained woman who still headed into the village.

"Fuck," I cursed under my breath. What was I going to do now?

As much as I wanted to run for it and leave Stelni to deal with the creature and any repercussions it might have had for the village to keep myself safe, if she died, so did my chances of getting Zofia back. My sister was worth risking the odds of dying and witnessing the destruction of buildings.

I chased after them and, with every step closer, I realised the village wasn't all what it seemed. It had already been destroyed and there weren't any people in sight. Houses had holes ripped into them from creatures hungry to get inside. Market stalls had been torn to the ground, the wares that had been on sale now trampled on and broken. Debris lay scattered around, chunks of wood from roofs or walls sitting in the cobbled streets that I nearly tripped over as I searched for any signs of Stelni or the shadow beast.

It wasn't until I rounded a corner that I found them. The Dragon-born was perched on the top of a roof and the creature sniffed the ground below her, trying to find out where she might have gone. It traced her scent in circles, each round making it more and more angry.