Annihilation - Book Three

Chapter 32

I start to run, feeling the heat on my back as Penelope blocks another tree. 

As I dive for the ground, flames burst over my head, covering me with fallen debris, ash, and hot coals. The sky is dark and ashy in the night air, making it difficult to see as the smoke billows from the scorched lumber, threatening to block the light of the moon. Hastily scrambling back to my feet, I pat my arms, cursing at the tattered remains of my royal coat. 

"Look out!" Reid barks as Marcus barrels towards me. Jutting my fist upward, a barrier forms from the snow, cracking loudly as it becomes solid ice. With a heavy exhale, I push it, sending it hurdling towards the black lycan. It smashes into him head-on; Alpha grabs his back leg and yanks him further toward the open expanse of the courtyard.

 The crazed creature curls back on him, bloodied and battered, eyes dark as he snaps violently. It was as if Marcus was now infected, crazed as he attempted to shred the gray beast who tried not to be overwhelmed by the onslaught. It's all I can do as I dodge the wolf bodies crashing around on the ground before me. His target was clear, it was only Alpha who kept Marcus from savaging me. 

 I've always compared it to watching the brown bears fight, but this is so much worse. It's like a dance with giants; with titans clashing in the midst of the rolling thunder and crackling trees. It isn't often that I find myself at the heart of a battle, and yet I'm actively dodging teeth and paws every time the black wolf manages to shake free. 

Reid leaps between the pair, snagging the wolf by his scruff and flipping him away as Alpha approaches me.

 "Get. On." He snarls, his voice strained.

 I climb onto his back, and the wolf bounds the short space across the courtyard where Fergus had drug Tomas, away from the action and violence. He stands protectively over me as I kneel by Tomas, listening to his heavy breathing and the steady drip of blood seeping from his various wounds.

 My hand twinges from holding on so tightly, it'd never quite worked right since being stabbed by the stone giant when I'd retrieved the book. I flex it quietly, cursing under my breath in my mother tongue as I take a moment to glance over Tomas's condition. 

"Couple broken ribs." I look towards the small chubby donkey and see his glowing eyes. "Are you healing him?"

 Fergus flips his lip up in response. I'd laugh if I wasn't panicking. 

"Get on with it!" Alpha barks at us. 

The donkey lays his ears back, unimpressed with the intentions he can surely sense. 

"Fergus. I need your help, I'm running low on magic, I need you to give me a boost." 

The long-eared creature thinks this over and approaches, smelling all over my body as if he's looking for some sort of offering.

"He doesn't have food for you, you waste of a celestial being." Alpha bears his bloodied fangs.

 Fergus squalls and strikes at him.

 "I'm rude?! You're absolutely useless! You're a god among beasts, and you choose this vessel?" 

The wolf lays his ears back at Tomas. Fergus makes a screechy, whiney noise, and Alpha shakes his head. 

"Why the gods gave you their blessing, I will never understand." 

I blink at them. In the midst of an active warzone, it hints towards the thought that I'd lost my mind, that I find this so incredibly entertaining. "You can understand him? This whole time, you've been able to understand him?" 

"Unfortunately. He's a self-righteous asshole; he never shuts up." Alpha scowls through his fangs.

I stare at the wolf but stop myself, I can't focus on this now. The irony isn't lost on me.