Dead Moons Rising, first in the Honest Scrolls series

Chapter Ten

The sun was just beginning to set.

They'd entered the forest earlier in the day, intent on learning some of the scape before night fell so that they would be familiar with where they were. They'd helped Nyssa more with her bow, and for some of the day, simply relaxed while Lex told stories that made Nyssa eye her in a wild way.

But they'd overstayed their welcome in the Forest, and now were almost caught deep inside it with the sun setting. As much as Aydra wanted Nyssa to meet the creatures, she did not want to do it so deep inside with no easy way out were something to go wrong. They were retracing their steps quickly back to the edge of it.

The abrupt cry of the Ulfram wolf startled Aydra's horse. It shifted, rearing up violently on its hind legs, causing Aydra's hands to slip from the reins. Aydra flew backwards into the air and her back hit the ground, head thrown back against the trunk of a tree. She could hear the noise of Nyssa speaking to her horse as it continued to whinny and buck against the noise of the Noctuan creatures. Aydra shook her head, trying to rid the spinning of her mind.

Which was when she felt something wrap around her ankles.

A shadow consumed her core. She gasped for air and opened her eyes to nothing but black and silence around her. Trapped. Her voice cried out into the void. She searched around her, but there was nothing. Not her sister. Not her Second. Not their horses.

Just black.

She closed her eyes and pulled for the creature that was consuming her.

Let me out, she told it.

The tense silence that filled her told her it did not expect to be heard. Her eyes opened once more, and in front of her was a mirror. She was standing in front of it, naked. Her own grief-stricken eyes stared back at her.

You cannot scare me, she continued. Let me go.

The mirror vanished into smoke. Everything spun around her. And then—

She gasped for air, thrown back into reality as a ragdoll.

Hands were on her cheeks, and the noise of Nyssa shouting in her face made her ears hurt.

"Shut up," she groaned. "I'm fine."

"Drae!" Nyssa's arms wrapped around her desperately. "Drae, I thought you were dying—"

"I'm fine, I—" a sudden pain shot through her ankles, and she pushed Nyssa back so that she could see her feet. Red hand print whelps and bubbled blisters stared back at her. She could feel the searing pain of it in her bones, and she grunted at herself under her breath.

"Come," Lex said, wrapping an arm around Aydra, "We need to leave before they come back."

Aydra grabbed hold of Lex's body and nearly gave out as soon as she tried to stand. Her knees buckled at the agonizing pain shooting through her, and she shook her head quickly. "Nope, put me down. Down!"

Lex sat her back down and then hovered over her. "We have to leave. You'll need to get on my back."

Help.

The noise of her horse's voice filling her ears made her heart stop. She looked up and saw it lying down between two trees ahead, and she could see the same reddened whelp around its ankle.

"No—" Aydra started to crawl towards it, ignoring the protests of Lex and Nyssa. She sat down beside it and rubbed its cheek.

It's okay. I've got you, she promised it.

"My Queen, there is nothing we can do," Lex said. "The Noctuans are waking. We have to leave."

Aydra didn't look away from her horse. "Go get help," she told them. "Go. Now."