Steel Maiden by Kim Richardson

Author:Kim Richardson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, coming of age, young adult, epic, witches, action and adventure, strong girls, fantasy and magic, kings princes knights

CHAPTER 18

THE CREATURE CAME AT me so fast that I barely had the time to lift my arms and block the attack. But still, I wasn’t fast enough.

My right arm burned with pain as I spun around with my blades out in front of me and slashed at the beast. I jumped back, and it let out a shriek that chilled me to the bones.

I didn’t wait to see how badly I had injured it. I veered away and dashed in the opposite direction.

It caught me by the edge of my cloak. I heard a rip and fell head first into the ground. The creature roared, and it lunged for me again. I could see black blood oozing from the wound across its abdomen, but I hadn’t cut deeply enough.

We were both injured now. I leapt to my feet. My arm burned where three sharp claws had sliced through the sleeve of my tunic. My skin was already swelling with infection and discharged a yellow liquid that mixed with my blood and smelled of rotten flesh. The thing had venom in its talons.

My breath came fast and hard, but I felt the warmth of my healing powers fighting the infection, and I prayed to the Creator that I’d heal fast enough to survive the next attack from this monster.

The mist cleared, and the creature hesitated for a moment so that I had time to examine it more closely. It stood over six feet tall, upright like a man, but hunched over. It had long gnarled arms that nearly grazed the ground with a thicket of coarse gray fur that covered its crooked, misshapen body. Its gleaming skull was bare except for sparse clumpy tufts of fur. Its rough body was crisscrossed with scars that looked as though they had been ripped open over and over again and had never healed. Its broad brutal face with a flat nose, large twisted maw, and glaring red eyes shone with intelligence and hunger. There was nothing remotely human or even warm blooded about it. This thing was dead and rotting. Strips of pink flesh hung from its talons, and I thought I was about to be sick again.

I was in such a panic that I couldn’t breathe. I could hardly move.

Could I kill it? The fighting skills I’d acquired in the Pit would not be enough to defeat this nightmare.

Where were the others? Had the others escaped? I was sure that Mad Jack had called out to me from somewhere nearby.

The monster and I faced each other alone in the small clearing.

A gurgling escaped from the creature’s throat, and when it opened its jaw, I could see rows of brown fish-like teeth. Then four fanged tentacles writhed out of its mouth and lashed towards me.

I flailed with my weapons in the attempt to cut them, but the tentacles grabbed me, and sank their sharp fangs into my arms and legs. They wrapped around my waist and lifted me in the air. I screamed as the poison from the tiny fangs entered my blood stream and burned like liquid fire.

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