Page 56 of Keeping a Nymph’s Heart

Their only saving grace was that the hellhounds had found them while they were in the hot spring. As their magic was rooted in fire, they didn’t submerge themselves in water unless they absolutely had to. And since they currently occupied the strip of land they would need to exit the water, the hounds likely wouldn’t swim in after them.

Owain looked around, thinking. Above them was an outcropping of rocks with enough hand and foot holds that they may be able to climb. But they would have to move quickly, and the hounds were definitely faster.

“Do you see those rocks overhead?” Orla turned her head and nodded.

“Good, I need you to climb like hell until you get to the dry rocks at the top. When you get there, can you use your vines to bind the hounds?”

“Yes,” she said it in a hushed whisper.

Owain turned to face her and found that she didn’t look scared, if anything, she looked determined. Then he remembered Byaslag. Orla had held back a horde of hellhounds with two short swords and little reinforcements while Rhyan fought the Edamish warriors trying to kill them. The battle was legendary, even in Edam.

“On my mark. One, two, three.”

On three, Orla frantically swam towards the rocks, grabbing on to one of the handholds and then another, scrambling up the rocky outcropping. As she moved, the hounds did too, running around the hot spring towards the top of the rocks. He had to hope he could get there before them. Owain followed closely on Orla’s tail but slipped on one of the damp rocks, causing him to slide back towards the water.

Orla pushed herself to get up towards the top of the rocks. Owain hoped she understood his plan, because if she were to bind the hounds, she would have to do it at an exact moment, otherwise the timing would be off, and they would be fighting two hellhounds with no weapons.

Orla made it to the top of the rock face only to look back and see that he was still much farther behind her. The rocks were now slick after she had climbed them and his much larger body was heavier, making it harder for him to gain traction on the slick rocks.

Owain watched helplessly as Orla turned back around. The hounds were nearly on her. She threw out her hands as if to try to bind them, but the binds broke mere seconds after they wrapped around the beasts’ legs.

She pushed herself farther from the ledge of the rocks and threw her hands out again. This time, the vines that she wrapped around the hellhounds had thorns. The hounds both yelped a squeal of pain before breaking free of these vines as well. His heart began to race as panic started to set in.

Owain was scrambling to get to Orla. He heard the hounds yap of pain, but he could still hear them coming for her.

As he pushed up onto the last foot hold, he could see that Orla was stuck. At her back were rocks that were much too tall for her to climb while naked and wet from the hot spring. It looked as though she was trying to conjure her magic again, but whatever she was trying wouldn’t come. Owain continued to try to make his way up the rocks, but he continued to struggle on the slick surface.

The hounds were stalking towards her now. Smells of sulfur and blood permeated the air.

“Run, Orla!” Owain yelled as he continued to struggle to get to her. Fear gripped him as he saw the predicament she was in and helplessness threatened to overcome him as he couldn’t get to her fast enough.

She turned, jumping to try to grab the closest handhold to no avail. She was a good five inches too short to reach it. Owain watched as she tried again, but she was pulled towards the ground, hard. She let out a loud wail when she hit the ground, her face twisted in agony.

One of the hounds had gotten its mouth around Orla’s leg and was dragging her towards the other. Orla tried to kick and pull, but the scream she let out alerted Owain that she was in too much pain to fight back. She looked around, her face panicked, searching for a rock or anything she could use to defend herself. There was nothing. If he didn’t move these beasts were going to kill her.

Using every ounce of his strength, Owain was able to pull himself up to the top of the rocks, his heart pounding with adrenaline as he only had one thought: Get to Orla.

Orla’s leg was in the mouth of one of the hellhounds. Her eyes were wide, panic clearly showing on every line of her features. Owain moved without thinking. He raced towards the hound headfirst, ramming his antlers into the beast’s side, knowing that it would do little more than annoy the creature but maybe it would be enough to distract them. The beast turned, slashing one of its large, clawed paws at Owain, but it didn’t let Orla go. She screamed in pain as the beast twisted its body, dragging her with it.

Owain dodged out of the way of the massive claws. He was running out of time; Orla was losing so much blood, and now the other hound was stalking towards him. He ran at the beast holding Orla again, aiming for the soft part between its ribs. This time it did drop her to pursue Owain.

Perfect. Owain raced towards the other hound. He had to get them as far away from Orla as possible, otherwise he could accidentally kill her too, but they were faster.

It was now or never. When both hounds were within a few feet of him, he yelled for Orla to bind them.

Raising her hands to summon her power, vines wrapped around both hounds’ legs, momentarily halting their movements. It was only for a few seconds, but it was enough. When the vines wrapped around the legs of each hound, Owain unleashed his power. A loud crack sounded as two bolts of lightning shot from the sky and struck the hounds. They both yelped in pain before crumpling to the ground.

Owain heaved a sigh of relief before racing back to Orla. He surveyed the damage to her leg. It was mangled; torn down to the bone and bleeding fast.

“Orla, look at me.” Her eyes struggled to focus, and she was clammy from the blood loss. She tried to raise her head but grimaced from the pain. “I’m going to heal you, okay? But you have to stay with me, goddess.”

He didn’t know if she heard him, she didn’t respond, but he moved down to her torn flesh and called his power again. He placed his hands on the bloody wounds on her leg, and slowly, the wounds started to knit back together.

Once her leg was mended, he looked over the rest of her. She winced when he tried to roll her over, and he realized that she had broken her back in the fight with the hound.

“I have to turn you over, Orla. But it’s going to hurt like hell.” She gritted her teeth and nodded. Slowly, he turned her over. Her whimpers of pain lanced his heart. Owain placed his hands up her back before finding the broken area. He touched her, healing her the cracked bones.

“Thank you,” she rasped as she slowly rolled back. She winced. He had healed her, but she would still be sore for a day or two.