Total pages in book: 161
Estimated words: 153795 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 769(@200wpm)___ 615(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 153795 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 769(@200wpm)___ 615(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
Beastials live among them, too. I’d figure more would take their chances in the forests than starve here, but I suppose even beastials aren’t all that great at surviving out there alone. Not with the wilder beasts roaming Thelanor.
A young girl with messy pigtails sitting next to a broken barrel catches my attention.
“Just keep your eyes ahead,” Thane says in a low voice.
I’m confused by his statement and the urgency in his tone.
I glance at the girl again. She’s standing now, smiling sadly at me. I toss her a subtle wave, offering a smile, to which she cracks a full smile and reveals rotting teeth.
My skin immediately prickles with unease. Something about her grin causes my smile to slip away.
And before I know it, she’s running swiftly in my direction.
Chapter 8
The girl snarls like an animal as she shoves Thane away with all her might, then grabs hold of me, attempting to drag me away. I gasp as my legs stiffen and my stomach feels weighed down with a thousand rocks.
Her skin that was once pale, nearly translucent, has transitioned to a putrid green. Her dark irises are now rimmed with red, and what should be the whites of her eyes aren’t white at all, but a sickly yellow.
What the shadows is wrong with her? How has she changed from an innocent girl to…to…this green thing with claws?
She grabs my wrist and manages to press the tips of her claws into it. Any deeper and she’ll puncture my skin. I scream and push a hand against her chest, trying to free myself, but it proves near impossible.
Her teeth extend, saliva dripping down pointy fangs. When she hisses, her goopy spittle launches my way and splatters on my clothes.
In the next breath, the silver blade of a sword catches in the sunlight. Thane steps between me and the creature, bringing the edge of it to the green thing’s throat.
“She’s not yours to have,” Thane growls, pressing the sword deeper into the creature’s skin and conjuring thick, inky blood. “Now leave us alone or I’ll cut your damn head off.”
The creature backs into the nearest wall, thin-slit nostrils flaring as a murderous look consumes her.
Lowering the sword and gripping my upper arm, my protector hauls me away from the scene. “I told you to keep your eyes ahead. All you had to do was keep walking.”
“W-what was that thing?” I stammer.
“A skrellin,” he says, picking up the pace, “and if there is one here now, believe me, there are more on the way.”
A skrellin? Right. I’ve heard about them. They always travel in groups, inhabit some of the forests, and blend in as mortals by adjusting their skin. I didn’t realize their natural form was like that, though. Skrellins love eating anything with flesh…including mortals.
I peer back to look at the skrellin girl. She shoots me a scowl before morphing back into her mortal form and scurrying away.
…
I bend over the lake, perched on my knees as I scrub the skrellin spit off my brown leather bodice. My hands are trembling, making it harder to remove the stains, but hey, at least I’ve gotten most of it off my satchel and the straps of my rucksack.
I still can’t believe what just happened. I have no doubt Thane would’ve beheaded that thing if it hadn’t backed off, and then it might’ve been blood I was cleaning off my clothes. It’s been a while since I’ve seen anyone bleed from a wound inflicted by someone else. I haven’t witnessed such a thing since Ruvain attacked my kingdom when I was a child.
My chest tightens at the reminder of my past.
I force myself to breathe a little slower, to take a second to calm down. The last thing I need is an attack of anxiety. Those memories still live in my head, though.
All that blood and destruction.
Friends decapitated.
Soldiers hanged from trees.
Others floating in the ocean face down.
Running for my life to reach safety.
Covering my ears while in the bunker to block out explosions and screams.
I concentrate on my reflection in the water in an attempt to rinse the traumatic memories away. My coils are slightly more untamed because of that encounter, and the gold streaks within them appear dull. My face is ashen, drained of most of its color. My deep, sienna-brown skin has seeped away—left on the filthy streets of the Scraps. I’m unintentionally clenching my jaw, so I soften it, taking careful breaths through my nostrils. I scoop more water from the creek onto the bodice and scrub harder with my fingers.
Thane is leaning against a nearby tree, waiting impatiently for me with his arms folded. How can he just stand there like nothing just happened? What if that thing shows up again?
When most of the slime has been cleaned, I dry my bodice off with a cloth from my bag.