Chapter 11: Chapter 11

“Where the hell did they come from?” returned the taller of Laymond’s comrades.

“We need to run!” the other shouted.

And he threw himself through the trees, his hood blowing back, revealing dark hair and a scrubby face. Lilitha could hear his desperate, pounding footsteps crunching through the forest debris.

A few moments passed and Lilitha began to think he’d successfully gotten away. But then there came shouting, followed by a thud.

Laymond looked pale as his eyes darted desperately around the trees. They fastened upon Lilitha, where they glittered. He grabbed her arm.

“Let her go!” Clara shouted.

“Hide!” Lilitha hissed at her friend, shoving her away so hard that she tripped and fell into the bushes.

“Halt!” bellowed a voice.

A Champion appeared, cloak wrapped tightly around him, hood pulled tightly over his face against the pattering rain. Bright eyes shone from within. He unsheathed his sword.

Several more Champions gathered around, swords at the ready.

Laymond seized Lilitha’s neck. “One more step and I’ll break the witch’s neck.”

“Release her, sinner.” Mandalay scowled, passing between his waiting men. Hood pushed back, his hair sat damp upon his shoulders. He, too, pulled out his sword.

The blade shone amid the gloom. “Unhand her and perhaps I’ll consider leaving you your odious head.”

Laymond sneered. “Watch it, Mandalay. One wrong move and I’ll kill her, and your ~monsters~ will go hungry. They like us alive, don’t they? Particularly you, Mandalay.”

He sneered at him. “Like her a little too much.”

The knight narrowed his eyes. “What are you going to do? Drag her all the way to Mainstry? Your days are numbered.”

“Keep back!” Laymond hissed as Mandalay took a step forward, squeezing Lilitha’s throat so tightly she gagged.

Mandalay stopped, sword outstretched, eye narrowed, as Laymond pulled her back through the trees.

“Move!” Laymond snarled, thrusting her ahead of him.

They both rushed through the trees as the gloom began deepening into twilight. The rain continued to patter. Lilitha slipped through the mud and almost fell.

It quickly grew dark, and soon Laymond was forced to grope his way ahead. Lilitha couldn’t hear the Champions. She knew even less where Clara was.

Finally, Laymond gave up, gasping and cursing. He looked behind. He looked ahead. His hand was tight around her arm.

“What is your plan?” Lilitha said, shivering as the cold of the night began to descend.

“Shut it.” His eyes darted blindly through the darkness.

Lilitha turned her head, staring into the trees. Why did it feel like she was being watched? The hair was standing up on her arms again. Goosebumps erupted all over her.

Closing her eyes, she shook her head.

She opened them again. “Something’s not right.”

“Quiet,” he hissed. “Do you want to get caught?”

Icy fingers rushed down Lilitha’s spine at the sound of a long, quiet growl. Laymond jerked his head around. A shadow moved. Bushes rustled. Then the quiet exploded with noise.

Everything happened so fast it was all a blur. All she could hear was Laymond’s screaming and the pounding of her heart as she sped through the trees.

The air was cold in her chest and she couldn’t seem to get it down into her lungs fast enough. She closed her eyes as she threw herself through dense foliage, leaves whipping at her face.

She staggered as her legs tangled in low brambles. She tripped, stumbled, then collided with something hard and alive.

Lilitha jerked back with a cry, thinking of the monster, only to stare back into Mandalay’s shining blue eye. She flung herself away before he could grab her.

“Leave her! She’s mine!” he roared, seemingly to his men in the bushes.

Weeping and wheezing, a stitch stabbing her side, Lilitha struggled through the bracken. But Mandalay was strong and vengeful and way too fast.

She screamed as he seized her around the middle, lifting her off her feet. The world flipped over, and she found herself on the ground, pinned beneath him.

“The monster!” she shouted.

He pressed his face into the crook of her neck. “Soon enough, soon enough. You will meet them soon enough.”

He wrenched open her cloak. Lilitha thrashed beneath him but he used his weight to pin her to the ground. “The monster!”

He didn’t take his time, reaching down to unbuckle his belt.

“No!” Lilitha screamed. She screamed and she screamed.

Mandalay took her wrists, pinning them to the ground above her head with one hand, panting into her neck as he pulled up her skirts with the other.

“NO!”

He pressed his lips to her cheek, blue eye glazed over, wet hair dripping water into her face.

She could feel his erection bumping against her knees. She tried to swivel away her hips but it was no use.

Baring his teeth, he arched his back as he pushed inside her. And then he was thrusting into her. Lilith turned her face, hating him with all her heart.

He was grunting. The leaf litter was soaking her back. Every thrust seemed more powerful than the last as he rammed her into the ground over and over again.

“Stop,” she moaned.

He was moments away from coming, she could tell. She was waiting for it, praying for it to be over, when she saw movement in the trees.

Something dark and big and so fast it was hard for even Lilitha to see.

Bushes rustled. A branch snapped. Mandalay turned around. Then there came that deep, grumbling growl.

“Whoa!” he cried, pulling out of her and leaping to his feet. Stumbling on the britches at his ankles, he reached for his sword.

“Who’s there? Show yourself!” he called into the darkness. Sword at the ready, he gazed blindly into the trees. He kicked aside his britches and revolved on the spot.

Lilitha lay frozen, not daring to move. Exposed to the cold night air, her skin was like ice away from Mandalay’s heat.

She glimpsed another swift shadow between the trees, but it was gone as soon as she saw it.

Lilitha gasped and Mandalay spun around at the sound of another deep grumble. “Who dares pass within my abode?”

Mandalay’s sword trembled, but then he straightened, steadying his hands as he cried, “I am Sir Mandalay, Champion of God, servant of the Church, guardian of the great town of Norfolk!”

The voice was silent, and Mandalay turned at the sound of something heavy moving through the brush. The monster was circling them.

“And what are you doing here, knight? My feeding ground is yet ahead. Why have you strayed from the path?”

“Some of our prisoners have escaped, and I have come to reclaim them.”

Mandalay spun on the spot, sword outthrust, following the voice as it continued to circle.

“Is that one of them?” the voice asked.

Mandalay glanced at Lilitha. “She is more than what she seems. She is wicked. A witch!”

“Indeed? Such a strong word for one who cringes at your feet. A big man, with a big sword…” A snicker rippled through the trees.

“Are you sure you know who the wicked one truly is? Maybe I should devour you instead.”

“I am a servant of God. I devote my life to upholding all that is noble and true. All that I do, I do in the name of the divine light. The same cannot be said for her. She—she has ensorcelled me!”

The creature shifted direction, and Mandalay spun to follow.

Another deep rumble. “Best leave her to me then. Now begone before I add a knight to my banquet.”

Grabbing up his britches, Mandalay gave Lilitha one last glance before scurrying away.

Alone and abandoned, Lilitha shut her eyes. Her heart was pounding. Sick was swelling in her throat. She clawed her fingers into the ground as her body turned rigid.

This was it. She was going to be eaten. Just like Laymond. Just like all those skulls and that rotting head. Would her own head end up on a pike?

She could hear it circling. Bushes snapped. There were heavy footsteps. Whimpering, she cringed further into the ground.

She kept her eyes squeezed shut. It was so close she could sense its presence looming over her. Hot breath warmed her neck.

Lilitha braced herself, feeling its impending bite like an ache in her throat. It sniffed the air. It gave a grumble. She squealed as it dipped for the kill.

Screams and shouting filled the night, and for a moment, Lilitha thought she had died and gone to hell. Then she sensed the creature pull back.

The creature was still, as though listening. Then it suddenly darted away. With nothing but a grunt and a tremor in the air, it was gone.

Gone!

Keeping her eyes firmly shut, Lilitha grabbed at her cloak with a sob, enfolding it around her until the worst of her shaking stopped.

Rain was pattering down. Screams were ringing through the trees.

Slowly, she opened her eyes. Jerking upright, she looked around fearfully, but she was alone. Run! She must run!

Staggering to her feet, she lurched through the trees. She hadn’t gone far when she stopped and turned back.

~Clara.~