A King's War

Chapter 10

RAVEN

I hated crawlers.

I had hoped we would be able to avoid them completely but clearly, the Gods had other plans for us.

They were damn near impossible to kill and there were always way too many of them. My first ever experience dealing with them, they nearly killed me. It was bad enough stumbling upon them when I was alone, but to have a group of people with me was worse unless they knew what they were doing.

Fortunately, elves were one of the more skillful peoples. It was always said that you wanted to have an elf by your side when you got into a fight. Unfortunately, this was not the kind of fight they were used to.

I hissed in pain as one of the spikes on the end of the crawler’s tail sliced into my side. I swore beneath my breath and pulled my dagger from its sheath, stabbing it into the tail wrapped around me. The crawler didn’t react at all. Not that I had expected it to. Instead, it just began climbing back up into the trees with me in its grasp. I struggled to free myself and I knew that if I didn’t get free soon, I was going to get killed. And arrow was suddenly shot into the tail of the crawler and this time, it reacted. It let out a horrible shriek and whirled on Ver who had shot the arrow. It swung its tail out-and me along with it-and tried to knock him away but he dodged gracefully and let loose another arrow.

“Green spot!” I shouted to Ver.

He looked to me in confusion. “What?”

“Hit the green spot on its chest!”

He looked back to the crawler who was twisting every which way and climbing higher into the trees. They were fast creatures and right now I was hoping Ver was faster as well as a good shot. Seeing as how he was able to hit the tail and not me when he fired that first arrow off, I was willing to bet my life on him being a good shot.

I watched as he docked another arrow and aimed it, his arm moving every which way to keep up with the rampaging crawler until finally, he let the arrow fly. There was no whistle as it flew through the air like most arrows made. I never even saw it while it was in the air. Without warning it had stuck itself right in the middle of the little green spot on the crawler’s chest.

It let another loud shriek, its claw-like legs scraping at its chest and its tail unwound, dropping me. I fell through the air and expected to hit the ground hard but instead, I felt arms around me as someone caught me before both of us went falling onto the ground. Him on his back with me on top of him. I looked down at him and locked eyes with Ver. He smiled crookedly at me.

“I guess it was about time I saved your life,” He said.

I couldn’t help but offer him a small smile in return which seemed to shock him. “You still owe me one,” I told him before rolling away and getting to my feet.

“I’m not even going to ask what that was. Instead, I’ll ask, is it dead?” Galen questioned as he looked up into the trees.

I shook my head. “No,” I said as I gathered up my sword and staff. “and it will be back, we need to get out of this area. The clearing is close now. We should be there soon.” I gently pressed my fingers against the wound on my side. I kept myself from wincing as I probed at the wound. It wasn’t that deep. Barely a scratch. I wouldn’t bleed out. Though, that wasn’t my concern.

Crawlers had a toxin in their spikes. Luckily, it wasn’t fatal and it was nowhere near the level of toxin that the dark hunters had. Unfortunately, it would make it impossible for me to lead them through the Red Forest until it wore off.

“We need to go,” I repeated this time with more urgency. If we didn’t make it to the clearing before the toxin set in, I wouldn’t be able to lead them anywhere and we likely wouldn’t make it to Valveronia in time to save Ver’s brother. If we made it to the clearing, however, I’d have enough time to safely wait out the toxin until it was gone.

We took off at a dead sprint through the rest of the area, only slowing to cut through the vines surrounding our way out. The clearing was not too much farther I knew, and yet I was having trouble focusing on getting there. I rubbed at my eyes as everything went out of focus and then in focus again. I cursed. I had been stung enough times by crawlers to know the symptoms of the toxin.

“Are you alright?” I heard . . . someone ask me. Their voice was distorted, making it sound as if they were further away than I knew them to be.

“Fine,” I said dismissively. “This way to the clearing,” I told them as I started back up at a fairly good pace. It was becoming more difficult to concentrate on anything and even more difficult to stand. It took all of my focus just to continue putting one foot in front of the other. I could see the light seeping in through the trees from the clearing ahead. There were still at least three hundred feet between us and the clearing.

I could feel my heart beating faster in my chest. Could hear it in my ears. I shook my head to try and clear the sound but it only made it worse. My head had begun pounding and I reached my hands up to hold my head as it throbbed, dropping my staff and sword.

I heard voices around me but could not make out a word they said. Could feel hands on my arms and shoulders. I shut my eyes against the pain taking over my body and when I opened them again it was Ver’s face that was in my line of vision. I could see his lips move and even though I couldn’t hear what he was saying, I knew he was repeating my name and with each repetition of it without me answering, the concern on his face seemed to grow.

Someone else pressed against the wound on my side which felt like it was on fire. I groaned and shut my eyes again before trying to take another step forward. We were so close to the clearing. I took a step but my foot never landed back on the ground. I collapsed, falling forward and someone caught me. I was staring up into the trees but everything was out of focus and spinning. The only thing in focus was Ver’s panicked face as he looked down at me in his arms.

I don’t know why but I had the sudden urge to make sure that he knew that I’d be fine, that this would pass, but I could not get the words out. I struggled to talk as I felt my eyelids growing heavier as my body shut down. It took all of my effort but I finally managed to speak.

“Clearing . . . wait it . . . out,” I muttered before my eyes shut on their own and I faded out.