It was a ghost town.
Cora was halfway to the shop when she heard a blood-curdling scream. It made her bones tense. Her heart went from a steady and slow rhythm to an explosive pace. That scream echoed in her ears, and she couldn’t shake it off. It wasn’t the sound of kids playing together in the dirt. It was a shout of absolute terror.
Cora turned down the alleyway between the butcher’s shop and the wax emporium. All she had was a short blade hanging from her hip. With the Shamans’ presence, it would be smart to keep walking, but Cora couldn’t ignore what she heard.
Someone needed help.
When she reached the end of the buildings, she turned left and spotted Tommy, the butcher’s eight-year-old son, hunched against the back wall. Tears were streaming down his face, and he was cowering over in fright.
A Shaman was there.
He was leaning over the child, making weird movements with his fingertips. He was wafting something toward him, the air or a specific smell. The scene looked too eerie. A smart person would have turned and run.
Cora pulled out her dagger and prepared to attack. “Stop whatever the hell you’re doing, Shaman.”
A high-pitched scream erupted from inside the dark hood. The creature immediately turned to Cora, his fingers still outstretched. His face couldn’t be seen inside the hood. It was just a sea of black. The creature was unnaturally still while he watched her. Then, he crooked his head to the left.
And that sent chills up her spine.
A low hiss erupted from inside the hood, formidable even though it lacked any words.
“Tommy, run.” Cora refused to take her eyes off the Shaman. To do so was instant death.
“No…” The carnal voice came out almost as a whisper. He turned back to the child and resumed whatever foul thing he was up to. His fingers started to work the air again, and he resumed his attempt to suck the life out of Tommy.
Anger exploded inside Cora’s heart, and she lunged forward with her blade at the ready. Without thinking twice about it, she stabbed her blade deep into his side and was repulsed to feel how soft it was. It wasn’t hard with muscle and bone. In fact, it felt like there was nothing there at all.
The Shaman turned quicker than the eye could follow, and without touching her, he threw up his open palm and sent her high into the air and across the dirt ten feet away.
She crashed hard onto the ground, immediately making her body ache from the collision. She knew she couldn’t stay down, no matter how much it hurt. If she didn’t get up, she would die.
Cora rose to her feet then pulled out the small dagger she kept in her boot. She took a defensive stance and eyed the Shaman without blinking. Now the creature adopted his own defensive stance like he was about to charge her.
That’s when she noticed Tommy was gone. He must have run off during the fight.
Thank goodness.
Cora knew she couldn’t outmatch this thing—whatever the hell it was. Her only option was to run. Even though her dagger was special, the first one she ever made, she grabbed it by the hilt and threw it as hard as she could, penetrating him right where the eye should be. The hilt extended past his hood, embedded into whatever flesh the fiend was composed of.
The Shaman shrieked and reached for the dagger.
And that was when Cora ran like hell.
Four
“Where the hell were you?” Dorian gripped her by both shoulders and shook her as though that would make her answer faster. “Why do you always disobey me? Is it out of principle?”
She was still catching her breath after running as fast as possible. “Actually, yes. But that’s beside the point.”
“Why are you covered in sweat and dust?” He looked down at her filthy shirt and pants. “Rolling around with the pigs?”
She didn’t have time for their regular banter. “I stabbed a Shaman in the side and again in the eye. Now I’m running for my life.”
Dorian’s hands slowly lowered from her shoulders, and the paleness that swept over his face was remarkably similar to the whiteness of the moon on a clear night. “You did what now?”
“I stabbed a Shaman. Not sure how I got away.”
Now that he realized she’d said what she truly meant to say, his pot started to boil. “You went looking for trouble?”
“No.” Although, that sounded like something she would do. “I was walking to the shop when I heard a boy screaming. When I went to investigate, the Shaman was leaning over the boy and doing something strange…sucking out his life or something.”
Dorian’s hand moved up his cheek and into his hair. He fisted it uncontrollably, trying to hold on to his last drop of sanity. She’d just announced his death sentence, and he wasn’t handling it well.
“The Shaman was doing some kind of dangerous magic. That boy would have died if I hadn’t intervened.”
“Then you should have let him die.” He lowered his hand to his side and stared at her with the coldest expression she’d ever seen. It was practically winter in his eyes.
“How can you say that?” Dorian was compassionate and strong. He took her in when he didn’t have to. Everyone else turned away at the thought of raising an infant little girl, but he took on the challenge.
“When it comes down to you or someone else, always choose you.” He viewed the situation in black and white, but if he had been there, he would have seen the episode in full color. Despite what he said, Dorian would have helped the boy if he’d witnessed the same thing Cora did. “You’ve just put a bounty on your head.”
“I know…”
He stepped away and rubbed his temple. “Did you kill him?”
Cora couldn’t help but release a sarcastic laugh. “I wish.”
“It’s only a matter of time before he traces you back here. We’ll deny being close to you, but we can’t hide you. You need to leave.”
Now that Cora saw the fear in his eyes, she loathed herself. Dorian feared for his own family, his three sons and his wife. Cora was the reason they were in jeopardy. “Where should I go?”
“Into the wild. You know the terrain, and you’re skilled with a bow. Hide out for a while until the coast is clear.”
“How long?”
“Until I come get you.”
“But how will you find me?”
Dorian crossed his arms over his chest and considered the question. “Remember when I taught you the way of the bow? Do you remember where that was?”
She would never forget it. She had been young at the time, but that didn’t make it any less clear in her mind’s eye. Dorian gave her all the skills she needed to provide for herself. Without him, she would have had to resort to much more drastic measures. He was the closest thing she’d ever had to a father. “Yes.”
“That’s where we’ll meet.”
“Okay.” She swallowed the lump in her throat, finally feeling the fear wash over her skin. She wasn’t afraid of what might happen to her. Death wasn’t something she feared. But she feared losing the only people who gave a damn about her.
Dorian retrieved weapons from the back of the house and handed them over. “You have enough arrows for hunting and defense. And here’s your other dagger and short blade.”