Page 151 of The Fifth Life of Alicia
“Are you all right?” I asked, bending down next to them.
“M-monster!” the girl said through her tears, pointing into the forest. “Big monster!”
A big monster?
Here?
No. There was no way. They must have mistaken one of the hunting animals for it—the only monsters present were extremely low-level, weak ones that were bred not to chase humans.
“I’m sure there isn—”
A deep, threatening growl rumbled through the air, and both the children screamed again.
“Stay behind me, my lady,” Rina said, drawing her sword and taking up a protective stance before us.
“Sissy!” The boy grabbed my arm when I reached for the little girl to help her up, and whatever was behind the growl announced its presence once again with a thundering roar that made the very ground shake beneath us.
Both children were covered in cuts and scrapes, but the girl had a huge cut to her leg that was streaming blood, and there was a redness around her ankle that practically screamed that she’d sprained it. I would have to carry her away from here.
“You must run,” I said to the boy. “Run for the knights! I will take care of your sister. Go now!”
He scrambled to his feet and ran back towards the resting area, crying loudly as he went.
“My lady, you must—”
“She’s hurt,” I replied to Rina, holding the little girl towards me. “And it’s not—”
A shadow descended over the ground in front of Rina, and I looked up, my words dying on my tongue.
The monster.
It really was one. Unlike anything I’d ever seen before.
It was huge and almost skeletal in its appearance as it took steps towards us on two deceptively thick, strong legs. The shape of its head reminded me of an alligator, yet there was something inherently more demonic about its glowing yellow eyes. Spikes protruded in a line along its snout from the top of its head to the two thin slits that were its nostrils, and it opened its mouth to roar again, showing off three rows of razor-sharp teeth, some of which were dripping with blood.
It stood upright, and the shadow it cast across us sent the most blood-chilling river of fear cascading through my body. Two skeletal wings stretched out behind it, and the skin between each bone was stretched as thin as it could be, giving it a horrifyingly translucent appearance.
I had never seen anything as terrifying as this in my entire life.
I truly hoped I never would again.
“What the hell is a wraithhusk doing here?” Rina froze, then quickly looked behind me. “My lady, you must run! Its claws are imbued with a paralysing agent!”
“But Rina, you—”
“My job is to protect you!”
She was right.
I would only hurt her if I stayed.
“Come, quickly.” I swept the little girl up into my arms. “I’ll get help!”
What was it doing here? I knew a little about wraithhusks from my studying, but they hadn’t been spotted anywhere near the capital for seventy years. It made no sense for one to be here—they lived largely underground and clung to mines. Young ones were a constant source of trouble in Stein, but ones of this size…
The girl was sobbing as she clung to me, and I broke into a run. Where the hell were the knights? We were quite far from the rest area, but they must have heard its roars. Why weren’t they here?
“Agh!”
