Kingdoms of Gold

7 | I Live!

I turned and sprinted to the Fire Falls. The flower delicately laid on the soil, glowing with magic and unharmed. I grabbed it and continued into the forest. With every step, the fog seemed to return and thicken.

I didn't slow. Not even as I tripped over roots and slipped on moss. I didn't have much time before she cut through the rope. Before she healed and came after me again. I wanted to be nowhere near here when the time came.

Cinnamon and smoke tickled my nose and my sprint faltered, knees almost giving away beneath me.

Blood dried and cracked over my skin and clothes. My hair was caked and matted to my face with it. I'd bathe when I was with my family again. When we were all safe and together.

A scream rumbled the forest trees. It was desperate, pissed. "I'll kill you, demon."

I tripped and sprawled straight into a wall of muscle. Cinnamon filled my scent. Brynjar was right next to Malachi, prying me away from him. We didn't have time for reunions, talking.

My eyes widened and I grabbed his wrist and pulled. Time was up. "Run. Fucking run."

They didn't hesitate, sprinting away from the sounds of screaming. We moved through the forest at an inhuman pace, the trees blurring around our vision. And we didn't stop. We didn't even slow until the fog cleared away and completely disappeared. 

It was then, when I couldn't hear her screams, that I stopped.

My knees slammed on the forest floor, stomach churning hard enough for my whole body to cramp. I bowed to my elbows and vomited.

Blood and clumps of hair sprayed the earth beneath me. There were even pale chunks of flesh mixed in amongst other debris.

"Son of a—" Malachi knelt and pulled back my hair. The shorter strands escaped his grasp and fell into my eyes.

I gagged, choking on a clump of hair stuck in my throat. With two fingers, I reached into the back of my throat. It felt like an eternity before I was able to grip the strands choking me. My lungs began to burn, then spasm when I tugged at the hairs, the stands irritating my throat.

The string of hair seemed never ending. I knelt back on my heels, and pulled with my other hand until the woven strand of hairs splattered to the floor with the rest of blood.

Brynjar wrapped me in his arms, pulling me away from Malachi and tugging my hair back. I wasn't done. The blood and vomit seemed to keep coming, as if I swallowed the entire Fire Falls.

"Fuck." Malachi gagged somewhere in the background, no doubt vomiting at the sight.

Warmth was sent through my body in pulses. It slowed my vomiting until I was able to suck in gulps of air between gags. I knelt there until even Malachi had stopped throwing up. I knelt there dry heaving to be sure every drop of blood and strand of hair was out of my stomach. I knew that was wishful thinking.

Then I wrapped my arms around Brynjar's waist, flower resting by my thigh, and sobbed. He let me stay there for a few minutes before prying me away and brushing the tears off my face. "We need to find somewhere to camp for the night so I can look at your wounds. Do you want me to carry you?"

I shook my head and held out the flower. The smallest smile curled my lips. "We can go home now."

His eyes widened, sensing the power in it.

∞     ∞     ∞

Brynjar set me down in a cave, unzipping the backpack and pulling out a small medical kit. After tucking the flower into a safe pocket in his backpack, he picked me up and wouldn't let me walk.

"Where is the worst injury?" His eyes ran over my entire body. So much blood was caked to my skin, not even I could tell how much of it was mine.

I twisted my leg for him to see the back of my thigh. Flesh still hung from my thigh, through the cloth, after being shredded.

My fingers hooked into the waistline of my pants, tugging them down. Brynjar helped, careful to not irritate the wound further.

Malachi let out a long string of curses. "What the fuck even happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it." I hissed but didn't flinch as Brynjar wiped the wound as clean as he could.

"Well, you're going to have to," Brynjar said, voice hard. The anger wasn't directed at me. Not when his hands were so gentle on my body. "I want to know where you were, why you weren't there when we woke up."

"I found the Fire Falls. And why they named it the Forest of Unbinding." I sighed, stomach churning just thinking about it.

"And?" Malachi sat up straighter. Intrigued even if we had the flower to heal Alistar.

"It was all a lie. It was a waterfall of blood and flesh and hair." I pulled off a clump of hair stuck to my skin in emphasis, gagging. "The flower is what absorbed the magic of the forest, growing on the edge of the falls."

"And all your wounds? Where did they come from?" Brynjar held one of my arms. The wound on my leg was mostly cleaned and bandaged.

"The thing living on the edge of the falls. She wraps an illusion on the entire place to lure her victims in." If I hadn't been able to see through the illusion, I would've fallen victim like everything else. "And before you ask or yell, I didn't wander off. I just 'woke up' surrounded by fog and walked straight into the falls."

Brynjar nodded, jaw clenched.

"You didn't get caught in the illusion?" Malachi's voice was much gentler than before. He scooted closer until our thighs touched.

I couldn't help the grin parting my lips despite the entire situation. "I am the Queen of illusion."

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Author's Note (9/3/2021):

Sooooo . . . this is the shortest chapter I've ever written. It just didn't seem right to continue the last chapter with this, nor did it seem right for the next chapter to be grouped with this one.

Which means a double update. Today and tomorrow.

Vote, comment, share, and keep reading. :)