What the Dead Fear by Lea Ryan

Author:Lea Ryan [Ryan, Lea]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2011-02-22T16:00:00+00:00

Part 7

Cricket carried Juniper under her arm like a football. The once-child, now-creature trotted to the wall of the trench.

With a tremendous leap, Cricket was on the wall, climbing with her free hand and clawed feet.

Juniper, for fear of tumbling into the trench below, didn't struggle or demand release. She held onto the creature's arm and stared at the fiery sky above and tried not to think about the tortures awaiting her in Gareth’s prison.

Even worse, she had failed to save Nikki and the baby. Or did she? Maybe her attack was enough to scare the abusive pig or distract him long enough for him to reconsider his intentions. Regardless, she would never know if her effort was worth the punishment she would receive.

Cricket hit ground level.

Ash rained from the angry sky.

Gareth waited a few yards away, holding the manacles and chains.

The monster lurched forward to drop Juniper on the ground.

"Good girl, Cricket."

She threw back her head and let an otherworldly, forlorn cry. Then she turned around to hop back into the trench.

Juniper considered running, but the ring of jackals constricted around her. She rose from the ground.

"Taking you to Voldrin gives me no joy."

"Liar."

Gareth looked into her brown eyes with his gray ones.

"I know inevitability. Some people possess a certain quality of spirit which makes them more likely to break the laws of Limbo. Hold out your wrists please. This process will be far less painful if you don't struggle."

"For whom?" She stepped away. "Why would I go with you willingly? You said you would punish me."

Several jackals behind her growled.

"I wanted you to fear me so that you would follow the rules. I don't want to hurt you, but I do have to enforce order." He moved toward her.

He eyed her with a hungry look. A grin crept up one side of his mouth, exposing a sharp canine. He kept company with jackals because he was practically one of them. Regrettably, her lack of trust in him was irrelevant. At that particular point in time, escape was not an option.

She reluctantly offered her wrists.

Gareth clamped manacles to them.

Each manacle connected to a short chain, which connected to a longer chain. Gareth held the end like a leash.

They made an odd procession – guardian, prisoner, and the pack bringing up the rear.

Down a trail, they entered a grove of trees with dagger-sharp branches. They crossed trenches, sometimes on rickety bridges that groaned and threatened to drop them into chasms. Juniper couldn’t deny the relative appeal that darkness held now.

Her imagination conjured visions of medieval torture devices. She pictured knives, racks, spikes filed to hideously thin points. She didn’t dare ask her captor what he planned to do exactly.

Gareth didn’t speak to her during their journey either. He didn’t make threats. He didn’t attempt to offer an illusion of comfort. Perhaps he was deciding what to do with her.

Limbo had dimmed to night when they came to a field covered in brittle, wheat-blond grass. A breeze carrying mortal souls to the mortal world brushed her hair from her shoulders.

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