The Fanged Throne

Chapter 15

She could hear the screeches of the wraiths behind her, could feel their icy breath on the back of her neck. Her heart was beating furiously in her chest, pounding in her eardrums, blocking out the shouts of Banu and Thayer. The wind had whistled loudly around her as she sprinted across the grass field. The men around her continued to fight, a sword went swinging through her left leg. Elora dared another look behind her; a bony finger was inches away from curling onto her shoulder. Breathing in a scream she dug deeper and pushed herself to run faster, her breaths came out in short, hot bursts.

The injury on her side had started to throb with each foot that slammed against the ground. Her boots were starting to feel heavy as she desperately ran for her life. Ahead of her were a group of archers, their backs turned to her while facing up towards a giant. As they pulled back on the string to release the arrowhead, she ploughed through them headfirst. Her body almost crashing face-first into the hard ground from the momentum. Desperately she looked around, searching for somewhere to go. The soldiers around them had started to thin out and the sound of weapons clashing faded away into the distance. Ahead she could begin to make out a dark patch of trees. The forest line.

Breathing deeply, she pushed her legs to move faster, ignoring the pressure building up in her lungs, as if they could explode at any moment. An ice-cold pain shot through her right shoulder, she looked up to see a wraith alongside her. Its arms had stretched out and their fingers danced over her shoulder. Another ear-splitting shriek joined the others. More wraiths had arrived and were taking turns diving down to reach her. Using what was left of her energy, she ran towards the trees, her sword bounced wildly against her hip as she weaved from left to right, ducking to avoid the wraiths.

The trees were an arm's reach away from her, just one last push. She could feel them behind her as they entered the forest with her. Sweat poured off her forehead as she looked around while running for somewhere to hide. She did not see the thick vine on the ground before it was too late. The toe of her boot caught it and she went flying onto the ground, hard. The wraiths appeared above her as she rolled onto her back, staring back at them in horror. Her mind worked overtime as she tried to hopelessly figure out what to do.

In an act of pure desperation and the sinking feeling of defeat, she nimbly yanked her sword from the belt. With trembling fingers, she held the sword flush against her chest as if to prevent their hands from plunging through her heart, her last act of defence. She shut her eyes tight and concentrated so hard on the trembling hands that were wrapped around the handle. An image flooded her mind; a warm serene feeling overcame her as she watched a young blonde child sitting at a wooden table. An older man sat beside her; his head bent as if he was listening to what she was saying. Behind the man stood a woman, her hair as white as snow, with her hand resting on his shoulder. As if sensing she was being watched, the woman turned and stared straight back at Elora, her face was like looking into a mirror. The hard punch of realisation hit her, and Elora watched, almost mournfully, at what could have been her future play out in front of her eyes, a warm and happy life.

Her image was shattered by screeching that sounded different than before. Opening her eyes expecting to have her soul torn out, instead, she saw that the wraiths had gathered above her. Feeling brave she sat up and held the sword closely. The wraith closest to her let out an angry cry and backed away. The others followed suit, their arms waving wildly in the air, hovering above, yet they did not move any closer. Timidly, she pushed her sword forward and made to wave it at them, as if shooing away an unwanted pest. As she swung the sword they cried out and moved farther away. She frowned in disbelief and looked down at the weapon in her hand. No, it couldn't be...Again she thrust the sword forward with more force and watched amazed as they backed up. A loud crash followed as she waved the sword at them again, Thayer came tumbling out from behind the bushes, his bow raised as the wraiths screamed one last time before they flew away in a flurry.