Page 50 of The Witch and His Crow
We didn’t stop running, even as my lungs burned. I didn’t know how far we’d gone, but panic and adrenaline did their job to stifle my discomfort. In the distance off to my left, I saw a body of water amongst the trees. I thought I saw a structure of glass and wood, but we were moving so quickly I couldn’t really take it in.
One look behind me showed the smog was at our heels. I couldn’t see the forest at our backs—it had been completely engulfed. Romy hadn’t noticed, nor did I warn her. I couldn’t risk her being distracted.
Not that it mattered when distraction came in another form. Ahead of us, the forest opened up. In the distance, I saw a figure. I knew who it was the second my eyes laid upon him.
Arwyn. He was stood beside a shimmering wall of air. No, he was leant up against it, eyes trained on us. Romy noticed too, but to her detriment. Seeing Arwyn reminded me of my boiling anger, enough that I didn’t stop running towards him. Not until a small voice called out from behind me.
What if he was the Witch Hunter? Distrusting him was easier. It would result in less of disappointed if it was proved right in my thoughts. It was easier to blame Arwyn than Salem, and Jordan’s death only benefited Arwyn.
‘Hector, help’
I turned, registering Romy’s panic. She was led out across the ground, one hand reaching for me. She had fallen. How, I couldn’t see as the wall of darkness came upon her. One second of connection, and then Romy was gone. Vanished before I could reach out and pull her towards me with my Gift. I threw my power at the wall of storm anyway, dispelling it into disturbed wisps. But she wasn’t on the floor, the place she’d been was empty.
‘Your friend will survive.’
Forgotten was the storm, Romy, the trial. None of it mattered as I faced Arwyn, who had made his way towards me. He walked with a sense of calm that came with someone being prepared. Whereas I was blinded by the longing to cause him pain.
‘You,’ I spat, knowing this time when we fought, Arwyn wouldn’t come out alive.
I noticed he looked healed, the wounds I’d left from the morning vanished. Good. I’d make sure he had more.
He opened his mouth to reply, but I was already tackling him. My shoulder connected with his waist, knocking him tothe ground. I fell atop him, recognising firm hands grasping my thighs as I landed on his waist.
Arwyn’s pleased grin only made my fury boil hotter. I raised a fist up, cocked it back and readied the force to drive it into his jaw. Then the cold of the storm reached me, cascading over my back like water. Arwyn reached up for me, pulled me down on him and wrapped strong arms around my back. The last I heard before silence became my only constant, was Arwyn’s muffled whisper.
‘I’ve got you.’
TRIAL TWO - THE ENDURING
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Ihad my eyes closed, long after the wall of fog dispersed. There was no explaining what magic had created it, but the one word that I kept coming back to waswrong. I was aware that Arwyn held me, his arms like bands of iron around me. He didn’t release me, not even for a moment. Even when the fog taunted me, screaming and laughing like creatures lurking in the dark, enjoying our terror. The fog was a physical thing—a monster. If Arwyn hadn’t been holding me to his chest, I had no doubt it would have snatched me away from him.
‘It’s over,’ Arwyn said, his mouth uncomfortably close to my ear.
How long had it been?
I slowly opened my eyes, taking in my surroundings. He released his hold enough for me to push off his chest and sit up. My immediate thought, before getting myself off Arwyn’s hips, was looking back to where I had last seen Romy. Except the view around me was different.
We were no longer within the forest outside the castle.
Panic clawed up my chest, blinding me. I jumped up, spinning around, drinking in every strange detail around me. Winds slapped against me, buffeting me from all angles. Nowonder, because we were completely exposed. For as far as the eye could see was a rolling landscape of hills and deep, yawning valleys. Far in the distance, I saw the peaks of mountains coated in ice and snow, piercing the veil of the clear sky.
Long strands of wild grass shifted around my ankles, dancing in tandem to the torrents of wind. It was beautiful, no doubt. But the true horror came from knowing that the castle was nowhere to be seen. In fact, there were no other contestants arounds.
We were alone.
Only me and Arwyn.
I turned slowly, facing the man who I believed to be my enemy, a Witch Hunter until he proved otherwise. Arwyn was standing too, brushing himself down, seemingly unaware of the destructive force that was building before him. He briefly looked up, but it was a beat later that he truly locked eyes with me.
‘Well, this is unexpected?—’
I cut him off, refusing him another second to speak. ‘I know what you are.’
A single, full brow raised over his sky-bright eyes. ‘You’re going to have to be more specific, Hector.’
My body moved without thought. I took a step forwards, crushing loose stone and grass beneath my boots. With my hands flayed beside me, my Gift only a thought away, there was nothing else that mattered buthim.
