Silk and Smoke by Georgina Makalani

Author:Georgina Makalani
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: monsters and mythical creatures, fantasy romance, reincarnation, sword and sorcery, fantasy action adventure
Publisher: Georgina Makalani
Published: 2024-06-28T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Ellery did everything he could to keep hold of Nara and swing his sword in the small space. The woman’s hands became more branch like, her sharp nails poking into Nara’s skin. Nara cried out, her eyes wide with fright. She swung out with her sword and held on to Ellery as he did the same, fighting to hold her and the woman or creature that was trying to take her away.

Nara cried out again as she was tugged away from him, and Ellery was only just able to grab hold of her hand. As he stepped forward, he stumbled over the blanket piled at his feet, and it was almost as though a tree had nudged him, making him lose his footing.

He pulled Nara with him, his hand still tight around hers. She cried out as she was tugged in different directions, and he landed heavily on a knee. He tried to pull her closer, but she cried out again. Ellery did not want to hurt her, but he couldn’t let her go. She would disappear into the forest, and he might never find her again. He would spend the rest of this life searching every tree, and all the forest would have to do to keep her from him would be to move as it already did.

Ellery shot lightning over Nara’s shoulder at the woman still holding too tight to her, the damage to her skin evident in the dim light. Panic rose in his throat. The forest seemed to cry out as one. A cacophony of bird squawks made him pull back, and it was almost as though he could hear the forest moving beneath the sound.

The sound of wood creaking, something trying to walk through thick mud as though pulling boots out, the sucking sound distracting—and in moments, Nara was pulled from his hold.

“No!” Ellery screamed into the surrounding noise, firing more lightning into the space where the woman had been, although he could no longer see her. He didn’t know if he had managed to hit her or if she had simply vanished into the trees she had come from.

Danger wrapped around him, pulled at him, pulsed through him, and he knew it was close. Nara called out again. He realised that she was still within reach, lying on the debris before him. Leaf litter, he thought as he stooped down, put an arm around her waist, and lifted her back to her feet.

With a tight hold, he looked up into the branches above him, trying to block the dim morning light. It contained none of the colour he had seen the previous morning. He wondered if this was something different, another trick, and how the world looked didn’t depend on the sun’s position in the sky.

He pulled Nara closer. “Are you alive?” he asked, thinking it was the wrong question, but nothing was as it appeared to be in this forest.

“Yes,” she whispered, leaning into him. “And I have my sword.” She raised it up.

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