Delphic Song

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

My breathing was heavy in my ears. My heart pumped loudly in my chest, the beat echoing in my ears, reminding me that I had to run. Prickers and vines tangled on my arms and legs, scratching my skin and delaying me, but I pushed through them. Panic gripped my chest in its iron claw, slowly squeezing tighter and tighter. I forced myself to go faster, pumping my heavy arms and legs as quick as they would go.

Tripping over a root, I stumbled, almost managing to hold myself up right before I crashed into the undergrowth. My head hit against something solid, so hard that I saw stars dance across my vision. When I put my hand to my forehead, it came away red with blood. I swallowed the bile that rose in my throat, squeezing my eyes shut to block out the pain.

The howling echoed through the forest again, ripping through the space and chilling my blood. I tried to stand, but I saw more stars and my legs trembled underneath me. I would never be able to run in this condition. Fearful tears welled in the corners of my eyes, blurring my sight, as the howling resonated again, sounding nearer and nearer ever second. It was so close... I may not be able to run, I decided, but I had to try. It was either that or face the... whatever it was that was coming.

Gritting my teeth, I tried to take a step, but my head was swimming, looping in circles and making it hard to see. Nausea twisted my stomach. Where was that boy? The one who found me? I needed help, and so far he was the only one I had met who hadn't been a howling maniac.

"Guinevere," a voice said. "I'm here."

I almost cried in relief when I recognized his strange accent. "My head..." I groaned, stumbling forward. He caught me and I leaned on his arm. "It... hurts..."

I felt his fingers gently touch my forehead. "Nidkur," he whispered fiercely. "You must have hit it hard."

I had to bite back a cry as a throbbing ache racked through my skull, doubling me over in pain. I dry heaved, the sound of the rasping coughs nearly blocking out the sound of the howling as it repeated. Almost.

"We need to leave," he said harshly. Cursing again, he put a hand under my legs and another around my shoulders. I wretched again as he swung my body up into his arms, the fast motion knocking the world off its axis. He clutched me tightly to his chest and took off, speeding silently across the ground. My head was pounding, throbbing with a pulsating pain I didn't even know I could feel. Even when I had broken my arm three years ago playing boy's lacrosse it hadn't hurt like this. The kind of pain I was experiencing right now was making me sick to my stomach.

My long hair billowed out to the side, whipping around in my face as I flickered in and out of consciousness. The wind whipping against my skin was cool, and carried with it droplets of water, much like an ocean breeze. Abruptly, my body jolted, and I took a sharp breathe as a splitting pain sliced through me. His arms tightened around me.

"Almost there," he whispered, his voice immediately stolen by the wind. "Almost -"

The howling was so close I could feel the vibration in the ground as the beasts pounded closer. The roaring was so near, so loud that my head exploded into excruciating pain. I let couldn't hold back a whimper.

Suddenly, he stopped. I was barely conscious anymore, but I was aware that we had stopped. He spoke a few words in a lyrical, lilting language that was unfamiliar to me. Dimly, I felt my body being passed through the air and into another set of arms. I forced my eyes to open, but my eyelids felt like lead and even the barest hint of light sent my brain into an agonizing fit of fiery throbbing. Everything was gray and dusky, but I glimpsed my savior turn, a blade raised in his arm, before I blacked out.