Beastly

Chapter 8

The small jar sat between my hands, the Ishvian honey's scent drifting into my nose. Brody was holding tightly into my hood, looking up at me with curiosity.

"What did you get?"

"You'll see when we get-"

Someone bumped me, nearly knocking the jar out of my hand. I turned to see who it was but all I saw was the back of his head, brown hair with a barely noticeable streak of blond.

It couldn't be, right? That's impossible.

"Hey," Lay said, shaking my shoulder. "You okay? You look a little dazed. You seeing things?"

"Yeah, that's it."

I was still looking back when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Will get dragged back down an alley.

Without a word, I sprinted to the alley. The others were shouting my name, while chasing after me, well, Lay and Brody were, at least. Alia was following in silence.

I turned down the alley and saw a shadow turn right.

"Oh, you want a race," I said, under my breath. "Let's race."

I took off, using the walls to help me turn sharp corners. The others were still close behind me, most of the way. Alia, who I learned was surprisingly fast, kept the closest to me while Lay and Brody stayed behind her, struggling to keep up.

"Hey," I yelled at the hooded figure I was chasing. He was dragging an unconscious Will over his shoulder.

He made turn after turn until the path opened to a sandy clearing with a single building I the center, which the hooded figure and Will entered.

I stopped, waiting for the others to catch up.

"What...was...that for?" Lay said between struggled breaths.

Alia was panting and so was Brody, while I was fine. My biggest concern was Will, who had just been kidnapped without his bodyguards notice.

"Will's in there," I said, pointing towards the old stone building. "He was kidnapped."

"What?" Lay exclaimed. "Let's go get him, then!"

I nodded, letting them follow me to the building. When I peeked in the window, I could see a group of people. In the center, Will was watching them all, spouting out profane words. So he was awake now.

"William, prince of Safore?" The kidnapper asked.

He didn't say a word. The first man kicked Will across the face.

"Prince William Sahiek?" The man asked, his tone as blank as the first time he asked.

Will nodded, blood now dripping from his nose.

"That's it," Lay said. "I'm going in."

I pulled on his shoulder, stopping him from making and naive decisions. I shook my head at him.

"Let me," I said. "I have a debt to repay, in the least."

"What? Are you crazy? There are too many of them for you to face, let me go."

"No. I'm going in. If I need help I'll call for you, watch Brody."

"Aren't you going to say anything to stop her?" He asked Brody.

"No, she'll be fine."

I took my hood off and handed it to Lay, along with my jar of honey.

"Yeah, yeah. Get it all out, I'm a monster. Just hold my cloak and wait until I get back."