The beast shrieks and curses, then flips its hood over its ugly scalp and leaves. It melts into the forest as if a shadow itself, and before I can even blink, it is gone, making me question whether it was ever really there.
I close my eyes as I float on my back, letting the current take me where it will. I take deep breaths to calm my racing heart. I was safe. For now. I didn’t know how long I had been in the forest for, but eventually the males would come. The High Lord would come.
I still had a plan in place. Find Akari. Find the camp. Hide. I could still manage that. I still had time. My sense of direction was fucked, but it’s not like I ever had a clear idea of where I was headed, anyway.
After a time, I feel rocks grazing my fingertips. I open my eyes and recenter my body. Or at least I try to, but my ass unexpectedly hits the river bed. I blink and take in my surroundings.
I do not know how far the river has taken me, but it has thinned out immensely. No wonder the water was so shallow now. The width of the water was barely five meters.
I scan the tree line wearily, but there is no movement. No clicking or giggling or shrieking. The Skraeming Dhevilkin hadn’t followed me. Regardless, when I get to my feet and slog to the shore, I head to the opposite side. I did not want to risk another encounter with the flesh-devouring creature.
The opposite side of the river is an open field filled with lush, green grass and bunches of flowers in too many colors to name. Their shapes and sizes are intriguing. I spy one flower with violent red petals as big as umbrellas encircling a tiny yellow bulb of pollen. I blink in surprise as I spy a trio of pixies snoozing in the red folds, their tiny iridescent wings glowing in the sunlight. I stop and stare entranced at the minuscule human bodies. On closer inspection, I realize one is male. He is shirtless and wears what appears to be a loincloth woven from a leaf or perhaps a petal. I can’t help the impressed smirk that spreads across my face as I take in the firm lines of his well-defined abs. Fuck me, was I really eye fucking a pixie right now? His ding-a-ling would have to betiny.
I laugh softly to myself, not wanting to wake the little beings, as I take in the female’s outfits. Again, their clothes are made from nature. They wear little skirts and their breasts are bound in boob-tube like tops. One yawns sleepily, and her limbs extend in a languid stretch. I quickly walkaway, not wanting to be caught eyeing them off like the fucking creep I was.
By the edge of the clearing is a cluster of tall rocks huddled in a circle. I wander around them, idly wondering if perhaps there was a space within them where I could hide if need be. Sure enough, as I struggle through a mass of vines, my eyes catch sight of an opening about knee height, partially hidden behind a bush with purple leaves that have orange veins bulging throughout them.
I curse as a particularly thick patch of vines holds tight against my struggling limbs. Eventually, I push my way through, my flimsy dress gaining a few extra tears from my efforts, when I see a terrified and filthy face peering up at me through the opening.
My heart stutters, and a heavyweight settles low in my belly as I meet the wide eyes. I step back quickly, my legs tangling in the stupid damn vines, and I fall onto my ass. I curse, my every muscle frozen in place as I turn back to face down my death with as brave a face as I can muster.
“Delta?”
My head swings faster, and I recognize the hopeful face that looks out at me from the shadowy recess of rocks.
“Akari!”
Chapter Seventeen
“Oh, Delta! It is you!” Akari crawls from her hiding place and hurries towards where I have fallen. She doesn’t bother helping me up; instead, she lets herself fall practically on top of me. She clutches me like I’m a plank of floating wood in a depthless sea, and she doesn’t know how to swim. “I am so happy to see you! Oh, you’re hurt!”
She eases her hold on me and turns a critical eye to every scratch and scrape over me. She eyes my torn dress and her brow furrows in concern.
I shrug. “I had a run in with a Skraeming Dhevilkin,” I say casually, as if it’s something that happens every day.
“Awhat?” Akari’s face is horrified as I explain the creature’s appearance.
“But the good news is, it seems to be afraid of water, and we are on the safe side of the river.” I choose not to think that there are likely Skraeming Dhevilkin on this side of the river, too. Or perhaps something worse.
Akari looks nervously around us, as if having similar thoughts.
“Let’s get back inside the rock circle,” she urges. “I’ve been here for hours and nothing has discovered me yet.”
She gets to her feet before reaching out a hand to help me up, then beckons me towards the hidey-hole. I watch her lithe figure crawl through the small space first, then follow quickly after taking another quick look around.
It’s cool within the rock circle, the tall formations blocking the rays of sunlight from reaching us. A thick cushion of grass blankets the earth, while large, red mushrooms squat against the cracks where each rock meets in neat succession. It almost appears as if someone planted them there deliberately. Kind of like a faery circle…
“How long do you think it’s been?” Akari asks as she settles down onto a patch of flattened grass, no doubt where she had been biding her time until I had arrived.
I drop to my ass across from her and settle back onto a rock.
“Maybe six hours?” I guess with a shrug. I glance up at the open sky, and the sun glares back from its central position. “I’d say it’s midday.” My stomach growls loudly, and I smirk at Akari. I pat my belly. “Yep, that’s my stomach telling me it’s time for lunch. I don’t suppose these mushrooms are edible?”
Akari snorts as I poke the red shroom to my left dubiously. “I don’t think I’m willing to test that theory.”
“Yeah, me neither.” I drop my hands back to the grass and start picking the strands absentmindedly. “I found Jasmin earlier…”
Akari sits up eagerly, “Jasmin? Is she ok? Where is she?” She looks back at the entrance as if Jasmin were about to poke her innocent face through the gap.
