Winterset Hollow: A Novel by Jonathan Durham

Author:Jonathan Durham
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Credo House Publishers
Published: 2021-08-31T22:00:00+00:00

Patrick had never seen anybody die before, let alone witness an acquaintance of his be killed in gruesome fashion mere yards in front of his face. It was a particular and potent fuel and it had given his powerful legs license to endure a lengthy sprint during which he heard nothing, felt nothing, and saw nothing but the curtain of the night into which he was fleeing. When he finally stopped somewhere in the middle of the endless black that hovered below the island’s canopy of trees, it took him the better part of a minute before he remembered that Rowan had been with him when they left the landing. It was a jarring recollection that brought with it some additional measure of panic, but no matter how intensely he listened, how hard he squinted into the dark, or how loudly he yelled, there was simply no sign of his friend anywhere.

“Rowan!” he screamed, his voice already hoarse with the shame of having left his friend in the dust amid a panic he had no index for. “Rowan!” he bellowed, but again there was no answer except the whistle of the wind through the pines. Patrick squatted and held his head in his hands, torn between the desire to find his chum and the searing urgency to fly as far away from danger as his stamina would take him. It was a cowardly conundrum, but he fell victim to it nonetheless, and as he thought himself free of it at the sound of a twig snapping, that hope quickly crumbled when he saw the silhouettes of three strange, ragged men pull themselves from the shadows with spears readied about their hips like forgotten Spartans. Patrick backpedaled to buy himself some time, but with every step he took, they each took one to match him. The moonlight washed over their crusty skin as they crept forward, but with each bit of horrid reveal he began to understand that these were beastly things that meant to savage him, and suddenly there was no longer any decision to be made.

“Rowan!” he screamed as he crept backwards, glancing side to side to try and put an eye on his exit. “If you can hear me, I need you to run away from my voice as fast as you can!” The hounds shared a glance and Sir quickly peeled off and disappeared back into the shadows as Patrick understood that his warning may have done his pal more harm than good. “Rowan, run!” Queeny and Rooker hunched their backs and thrust their spears in front of them, the former slowly circling to Patrick’s left and the latter to his right, and when they stepped in to make their move, he made himself a promise that he would come back. A promise that he would find his friend again. And as the salve of that oath cooled his shame and set his mind at ease, he dug the balls of his feet into the earth and prepared himself to be hunted.

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