*Rhys*
I heard the snapping of branches behind and knew I was right. My n had followed into Deadwood Forest despite their reservations.
A smile crossed my face in my triumph. That smile faded fast quickly. Only a few minutes in, I could hear sothing loud approaching us. I put my fist up, signaling the n to stop, and tried to discern what the sound was. Where was it coming from? What was it?
The hum grew louder and louder, forming into a buzz. With a start, I realized what it was, but it was too late.
A swarm of giant insects flew out of the trees and surrounded us in minutes. I put my arms up to protect my head and neck as I tried to turn and run out. Within a couple of steps, I was knocked to the ground by a heavy weight falling on top of .
I threw it off and rolled over, narrowly missing the snake’s strike. Without hesitation, I used the dagger still in my hand to slice the snake’s head off before it had a chance to strike again. The head rolled toward , and I used my hands to scooch myself back away.
My eyes drifted back up, trying to evaluate our situation. The n were yelling and shouting as they drew their weapons and swiped at the large winged bugs. They looked similar to a wasp and were big enough that I could see the deep black stingers hanging from them.
There was motion out of my peripheral vision. I looked up to see more serpents dropping from the gnarled branches above our heads. One of them landed on the man closest to , knocking him to the ground. That must have been what happened to .
One of the large wasp-like creatures charged at , breaking out of my evaluation. I narrowly avoided the pointed stinger. As it flew by, I raked the wing with the dagger. It dropped to the ground. I didn’t hesitate to dive toward it and slice through its head as well.
The two dead animals were lying next to each other. I stared at them as if trying to understand it. Suddenly, I noticed sothing about each of them. Their stingers and fangs both had a liquid dripping slowly from them.
"Don’t let them get you!" I yelled to the n, swirling around to join in the fight. "They’re venomous! It might be fatal."
There was no verbal answer given to , but the vigor of the fight increased. I jumped in, trying to kill as many of the evil beasts as I could.
"Watch out for the snakes. They are dropping from above," I panted out as I sliced a head of yet another one.
Yet, it didn’t seem to help. Nothing seed to help. They just kept coming and coming and coming...
And there was no escaping them. We were surrounded.
No matter how many we killed, it didn’t seem to impact them at all. Either they had no sense of self-preservation, or they were so territorial that they fought any invader to enter their territory. I couldn’t help but think that there was no way it was a coincidence. They seed to be waiting for us.
It seed like we had been fighting for hours. In reality, I knew it had only been minutes. More and more of my n began to drop to the ground, writhing beside . The sheer mass of attackers was making their skills insignificant.
I kneeled to the ground when one of my n grabbed at my foot. My fingers fumbled as they struggled with the pocket in my shirt. When traveling in the woods, we always took the precaution of packing anti-venom. You never knew when you might stumble across a deadly creature.
I applied the anti-venom, not even waiting to see how he did before moving on to the next that dropped. The n above tried to cover in my efforts, but they began to drop around as well.
Eventually, it was only . The rest of the n were all lying incapacitated on the forest floor, covered in toxic bites and stings. I finished the last anti-venom and grabbed my weapons again, bracing myself for the onslaught.
It didn’t co.
The creatures seed to have frozen in place. The noises were still ominous, but they hovered and slithered in place. They then all seed to turn to as if hearing an unknown order, and they descended upon .
I sliced away the first couple, adding to the corpses of their brethren beside . Without anyone to watch my back, I was exposed.
A yell of pain escaped my throat as I felt the large stinger pierce through my traveling clothes. Another yell sounded as a snake narrowly missed my blade and sank its teeth deep inside my hand. I shook it off, already wobbling as I braced myself.
Instead of continuing their attack to annihilate , they paused again. My head twisted, trying to ignore the pain spiking through my body and focus on the enemies.
With dawning dread, I realized that my suspicions had been correct. Alexa had to be behind this. How else would and my group have been automatically targeted by so odd, well-tid, berserker-type, rage-filled venomous creatures? And these animals were being controlled by soone.
They had been too smart. The insects attacked and incapacitated my strongest warriors first, and the snakes dropped to prevent setting up any sort of defensive line. It was like they had a strategy from the beginning, sothing these animals were incapable of.
There was a noise from in front of . Despite my growing weakness and the burning in my body, I looked toward it, gripping my blade as tightly as I could muster. The brush started to shake, and I tried to focus my eyes.
As if called forward by my thoughts, Alexa erged unscathed except for so leaves in her hair. Rage pulsed through my body, suddenly burning brighter than the pain of the venom. The smug smile crossing her lips added fuel to that rage. I managed to stumble to my feet.
She laughed and continued toward , indifferent to my stance and my blade. My theories proved correct as she walked through the first batch of insects, resulting in no injury or change on their part. She was either immune to the attacking creatures or held so power over them.
“Dear, dear, Rhys, you don’t look so good,” Alexa said in a voice I barely recognized as her own. It was cool and calculating. “However did you stray so far from ho?”
“Alexa,” I growled out, taking a step toward her.
As soon as I moved, the venomous beasts moved to form a wall between herself and . I tried to lift my sword. After a couple of shaky seconds, it fell back to the ground, leaving panting and resting my weight on it.
Another chilled laugh pierced the air.
“I did try to warn you, Rhys,” she continued. “I told you not to follow . Pity about your n. But never fear. The poisons I perfected for you will make for a most fascinating demise for my bards to embellish.”
Sweat had started to drip off my forehead, and my body was shaking from the effort it took to remain standing. Alexa was mocking , but sothing in her words made pause. I couldn’t see a way out of this for , but maybe for my n.
“Take ,” I said gruffly, trying to focus on one of the three Alexas playing in my vision. “Give the antidotes to save my n, and you can have .”
She let out another laugh.
“But Rhys, dear, I already have you,” she said. “No deal.”
I knew she was right and probably wasn’t going to take my deal, but her easy refusal made my rage spark again. She was just standing there, watching her toxins accomplish their grueso work while she didn’t even have to get her hands dirty. She didn’t have to lift a blade. There was no hope of reasoning with soone like that.
The anger and fight to survive gave a last boost of energy. I charged at her, sword raised. I half expected the army of venom to attack before I could reach her, but they parted, allowing through.
Alexa was still smiling. She drew a blade just as mine was falling upon her. She parried my blow away easily in my weakened state. I stumbled at the loss of balance. It earned a deep slice on my arm from her blade.
I yelled out and gritted my teeth, gripping my sword in both hands and righting my position. Alexa stood composed and still before . My arm burned worse than it should. I looked at her blade, noticing the sheen that coated the edges.
Her sword was covered in toxins.
She swiped the blade again. I narrowly blocked it, the reverberations on my sword making my grip loosen slightly. I tightened it again, but she was already swinging. Once more, I barely avoided the blow and attempted to swing back, hitting nothing but air.
With my faltering strength, Alexa easily outmaneuvered , violently landing crippling blow after crippling blow of her venom-laced edges. Finally, I collapsed to the ground, falling onto my back, my breathing ragged.
Even the rage and pain couldn’t keep standing any longer during her onslaught.
Alexa laughed again. I would have cringed if I had any power left in my body, but I didn’t. I couldn’t even wiggle my fingers or toes. Either from the toxins or from the injuries, I was completely paralyzed.
My eyes watched as Alexa took a mont to stare at my helpless body before sheathing her weapons and turning away toward the woods from whence she ca. She didn’t even bother a glance at the dood n around .
The creatures began their slow retreat, following Alexa through the dark, dense woods. Soon, it was just the eerie quiet again, punctuated only by the sounds of and my n’s pained breathing.
She left us all to die.
For the first ti, I realized that’s exactly what was happening. She wouldn’t have left us lying there unless she was sure that the toxins would do their job. Based on how I was feeling, they were working.
“Fuck!” I yelled as loud as I could, my only release in a paralyzed body.
I wanted to look around at my n, to see what I had done, but I couldn’t even do that. The corners of my eyes burned. I closed them, but that only made it so much worse.
When I closed my eyes, all I could see was my beautiful Saoirse.
I had failed her.
Alexa got away, and I was now unable to pursue her or protect anyone else from her malevolent hatred and madness. I had wanted to protect Saoirse and the babies for our future, but now I was taking the greatest protection away from them—.
The tears fell as the cold crept up the rest of my body and the chilling truth hit . I would never et our unborn twins, and I would never get to tell her goodbye. I felt like I was choking. This was grief.
I welcod death’s icy darkness as it descended.
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