THE RIDGE
986 Words
Chapter 7:
The ravine was dark as hell. Sound bounced off the walls, made everything louder than it should be.
Raina’s boot slipped on some frost and she slammed her shoulder into the rock. Pain shot up her arm, she bit her lip to keep from cursing. Behind them the Iron Fang were still yelling, getting closer.
“Keep low!” Kael said, voice barely above a whisper. Sword was out, eyes flicking to the top of the ravine where the torches moved.
Eli was struggling. Blood from his forehead ran into his eye and he kept wiping it with his sleeve, hands shaking. “I can’t see—”
“You don’t need to see,” Raina snapped. “Just move.”
Didn’t mean to sound that harsh but there wasn’t time for soft. Her shoulder felt like fire and the poison was making her head fuzzy. Eli slowing down was gonna get all of them killed.
The path ended sudden. Just… dropped off. Maybe 20 feet down to a dry riverbed.
“Down there,” Kael said. “We slide. Now.”
Raina didn’t think, just sat and dropped. Landed wrong and rolled, came up with her dagger out. Eli hit harder, let out a yelp when he landed on his shoulder. Kael was silent as always, landed light and was already moving.
“They’re at the top,” he said.
Torches flared. Voices shouted in that rough Iron Fang tongue.
“Run!”
The riverbed was a mess of loose stone. Raina’s lungs burned, her legs felt like jelly, but stopping wasn’t an option. Behind them, one of the Fang was fast. Too fast.
Kael turned and met him. Steel hit steel, loud in the quiet. The guy was big, swinging wild. Kael ducked under it, slammed him into the wall. Heard a c***k. The Fang went down and didn’t get back up.
“Move!” Kael didn’t even look back.
Raina grabbed Eli’s arm as he stumbled. “Don’t stop. Not here.”
Eli just nodded, breathing like he’d run a mile.
The ridge was ahead, jagged against the sky. If they made it up there they could lose them. Rocks were everywhere up there, bad ground for a chase.
Horn blew again. Closer. Two notes.
“They’re calling more in,” Kael muttered.
Raina made a call. “Split them.”
Kael glanced at her, got it immediately. “You sure?”
“No,” Raina said. “But I’m tired of running straight.”
She dove left into a c***k in the rock. Barely wide enough. Stone scraped her skin raw as she squeezed through. Kael followed without question. Eli hesitated half a second before ducking in behind them.
A spear hit the rock where he’d been. Close.
The c***k opened into a small alcove. Cold air came from a hole in the back wall. Wind. That meant a way out.
Kael felt the wall. “There’s a way out. Might be tight.”
Raina turned to Eli then. Couldn’t hold it back anymore.
“Why were they following you?” Her voice was low but sharp. “You said you lost them. You said you were careful.”
Eli flinched. “I was! I took the ridge path, I—”
“Then how’d they find the cabin?” Raina stepped closer. “Don’t lie to me. Not again.”
Kael stepped between them. “Raina, not now.”
“Now is exactly when,” she said. “If he’s gonna get us killed I need to know.”
Eli looked like he wanted to be anywhere else. “I didn’t tell them nothing! I used the old signal fire on the ridge two nights ago. Thought it was abandoned. I didn’t know they had scouts out that far.”
Raina went quiet for a second.
Stupid. Reckless.
“So you lit a damn beacon,” she said. “Great.”
“I’m sorry! I thought you were dead! I thought Kael was dead!” Eli’s voice cracked.
Raina exhaled. Anger was fading, replaced by that cold numb feeling.
“It doesn’t matter now,” Kael said. “They’re coming.”
Footsteps. In the c***k. Too close.
Kael drew his sword. “We go up. Now.”
The hole in the wall was tight. Raina went first, turning sideways and squeezing through. Stone tore at her shirt, cut her arms. Came out onto the ridge and the wind hit her hard.
Kael and Eli followed.
“They’ll find the fissure,” Kael said, looking around. “Watchtower’s east. Two hundred yards. We hold there.”
Raina nodded, then stopped him.
“If we make it out,” she said, “you tell me why you trust him.”
Kael looked at her for a long time.
“Because I was him once,” he said.
Then they moved.
The ridge was narrow, wind screaming past. Raina stayed low, using rocks for cover. Behind them the Iron Fang found the fissure and started shouting.
“Up!” Kael yelled.
The watchtower was half collapsed, but it was high ground. Raina climbed over the wall, landed hard. Kael and Eli came over right after.
“They have to come up the slope,” Kael said, taking cover behind the broken wall. “One at a time.”
Raina took the other side. Her vision was swimming again but she forced it clear.
Eli crouched between them, holding a rock like it would help. He looked terrified.
Below, the Iron Fang gathered. One guy stepped forward. Tall, black armor, scar on his face.
Captain Varek.
He raised his hand. The torches stopped.
Silence.
“That’s Captain Varek,” Kael whispered. “He doesn’t leave survivors.”
Raina gripped her dagger tighter.
“Then we make sure he doesn’t get the chance,” she said.
Varek raised his sword,
The Iron Fang charged.
- Writer
