Rivers of blood and sand

Ander was the one to notice the stalking predator in our midst a few seconds before I did, giving him enough time to wrap his arm around my waist and pull me to his chest. He moved us out of the way a moment before our attacker would’ve made contact. For the most part, Ander took the brunt of the fall as we rolled across the hard-packed dirt.

I was quick to climb off of Ander, removing my retractable short sword handle and releasing the blade. Before us was another animal, only this one wasn’t like the annoying pests that had been bothering us for the past hour. No, this was a summoner—most likely the one we faced earlier. It wasn’t in its shark form since that would be impractical and it no longer had access. This time it was a weird cross between a horse and a lion.

Its powerful body was mainly horse, with ragged black fur and bulging muscles that weren’t on a normal horse. Instead of having hooves, it had paws similar to a lion, tipped with outrageously long and sharp claws that made me wonder how it managed to walk, much less run. Its face was pure lion, with a frizzy and tangled mane around its snarling face.

Like with the shark, its teeth were outrageously big and could do some serious damage.

In my excitement to get out of this fucking dimension, I’d forgotten that there would be something here guarding the portal. Something had to be here to kill the sacrifices in the first place before sending them back to our realm.

The summoner lunged again, moving so fast it was almost a blur. I managed to make a shallow slice on its side before its powerful body barreled into me, sending me flying back toward the bramble wall. I ended up hitting the wall, but luckily, I hit the ground first and rolled into it. Don’t get me wrong, it still hurt like a fucking bitch having several of those fuckers stabbing your arms, and upper back, but it could’ve been worse. They were shallow enough that I didn’t have to worry about bleeding out.

I let out a sharp hiss as I pulled away from the thorns and climbed to my feet. My gaze immediately went to where Ander was fighting the summoner. He was holding his own, with only a scrape on his left arm, blood smeared along his bicep.

I was getting ready to rejoin the fight and help Ander when a chill ran down my spine. A heavy feeling settled between my shoulder blades as the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck raised. I sensed something coming at me from behind—their steps near silent—a few seconds before it attacked.

It hadn’t expected me to throw myself to the side a couple of seconds before they would’ve made contact. My healing back and arms protested as I rolled across the ground and back into a standing position, facing this new threat. It was a woman, but not the blood mage I’d faced in the forest.

This one reminded me of the man I saw in the forest. Her dark hair was stringy and dry as it hung to her waist. She was as emaciated and pale as the man had been, and unfortunately, she was naked too. She was as shriveled up as him as well, only it was her breasts since she didn’t have the same parts as the man. Her pitiless black eyes were on me, with a vicious and hungry gleam in them.

She was fast as hell, her movements a near blur as she came at me again. I blocked one of her strikes, and au uncomfortable numbness ran down my arm when her skin made contact. As soon as she touched me, I took a step back, shaking out my arm to rid myself of the numbing chill. A mistake that allowed her to use the small blade I hadn’t noticed and slashed across my arm. She could’ve easily stabbed me in a more vital place and done some serious damage, but instead, she chose to make a slash from my shoulder down to my elbow. It wasn’t even particularly deep, but it still hurt like hell

I swore she enjoyed seeing my pain, her hollow eyes gleaming with dark intent. When she went to do the same thing to my other arm, but I blocked the blow with my sword. She didn’t appreciate it when I returned the favor and sliced across her abdomen, but unlike her, I didn’t make the cut shallow.

With her bent over clutching her stomach, I sprinted past her to where Ander fought the summoner. The scent of Ander’s blood was in the air, and based on the strength, it was more than what he would normally use for casting. My suspicions were confirmed when I saw the blood dripping down his right arm. His gaze briefly flicked to mine and in that second we made eye contact, I knew what he wanted me to do. While he had the summoner distracted I stabbed it in its flank, distracting it enough for Ander to slash it across its throat.

Before I could worry about his bleeding arm, or suggest we enter the portal, Ander darted toward me and grabbed my waist. He yanked me toward him, out of the way of the charging woman. She didn’t let up and came at us again. And again. Over and over, her attacks were relentless and the times she got through our defenses, she did as she had done to my arm. The slices were just deep enough to hurt like a bitch.

In dodging her attacks, we ended up away from the portal, with her standing in our way.

During her attacks, I vaguely noticed the summoner shift back into “human form” so to speak. From the glances I cast his way, I was pretty sure it was the same one we faced in the desert, and eventually, he’d eventually come to and we’d have to deal with two of these fuckers.

Too bad Roman hadn’t been able to finish his sentence.

I was bleeding from both arms, my back, and my left thigh, and I was fucking pissed. The way she seemed to enjoy toying with us, and the pain she was inflicting was infuriating. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say our pain was somehow making her stronger.

The cracking of bones drew my attention to where the summoner had been laying “dead” up until now. He was on his hands and knees, glowing orange eyes on us as black scales began rippling over his body. “We need to run, now,” I said, grabbing Ander’s hand and yanking him back toward another opening in the maze. I didn’t know if it was the same one we came through, having been disoriented from all the fighting, but I didn’t care. Anywhere was better than here right now.

At first, I wasn’t sure if Ander would refuse to retreat, but after a moment, he relented and ended up being the one pulling me. His steps were quick, making me fall over when I glanced over my shoulder to make sure we weren’t being followed.

Ander’s growl of annoyance was my only warning before he picked me up and tossed me over his non-bleeding shoulder. I gasped his name, ready to protest when his hand came down on my ass in a hard spank that had my cheeks stinging.

“Not now.” Was all he said as he took off even faster than before.

We took a sharp turn, the woman and summoner disappearing from view, but neither of them appeared ready to chase us. That was odd. Why wouldn’t they hunt us down to kill us and send us through the portal?

For the next twenty or so minutes that Ander carried me and maintained his pace, I kept thinking about this, until the answer finally came to me. It was so obvious that I felt stupid for now realizing it right away. They didn’t have to waste their energy following or hunting us. Not when they knew we’d be back, either here or one of the other four portals back to our realm. Unless we somehow found another way out of here, we’d have to face them eventually.

I tried multiple times to get Ander to put me down, telling him I could run and that he shouldn’t waste energy. We both expended a great deal of energy fighting and healing. It was hard to tell under the smeared blood, but I had a feeling the wound on Ander’s right upper arm was deeper than all the wounds I received. From my vantage over his shoulder, it appeared that it had yet to completely heal. The slice on his upper back had already healed.

I couldn’t help but worry about his energy levels. I wasn’t the one running and carrying someone, but even I felt exhaustion seeping in. He had to be feeling it, even if he refused to say anything.

As Mythics, we didn’t have to eat as often as humans, but it was recommended to eat as often as them as a way to keep our strength. Summoners were recommended to eat often and in big portions to keep our animal spirit’s energy levels up. You wouldn’t expect it, but they burned through a lot of calories, it was essentially like having a high metabolism. While we could go hours without eating, it wasn’t recommended. Not unless you weren’t expending extra energy or healing any extraneous wounds.

It was essentially the opposite of what we were doing.

Since Ander was a blood mage, he was able to cast and materialize food he had touched. Hopefully whatever blocked our wristbands wouldn’t hinder Ander’s ability. He didn’t seem to have any problems casting before, but those were shields, defensive and offensive magics. While they were difficult to learn and required power, they weren’t as complex as materializing spells. Those could easily backfire if they didn’t know what they were doing.

Because the realms were built on balance, there was a caveat to materializing food. Luckily it wasn’t that the food didn’t hold any nutrients or anything like that. Instead, the food tasted bland and flavorless, and it didn’t matter what type of food it was. The food always tasted like cardboard. But in this situation, I wouldn’t complain about the flavor since we needed the energy boost.

“Let me see your arm,” I said, worried that it hadn’t completely healed yet. Either it was deep or his energy levels were dropping dangerously low. If I was wrong about them not following us, we needed to be prepared.

“It’ll heal.” Ander’s words and tone were dismissive, but I wasn’t having any of that.

After another failed attempt at getting off his shoulder—I probably could’ve gotten down if I used my claws, fire, or started going for his weak spots, but I wouldn’t do that to him—he spanked me again. “Leander,” I called out the name the psycho woman called him, hoping it would get him to slow down.

It accomplished what I wanted, he stopped and allowed me to wiggle down off his shoulder, but it wasn’t due to him finally listening to me. His entire body was locked up, and his eyes were wide as they met mine. Even through his shock, he managed to hide his emotions so I wasn’t sure what was going through his head. I didn’t know if it was shock due to the fact I knew his full name, or if he was like Ari and hated it. With how he wasn’t saying a single word and was just staring at me, I knew I wouldn’t find out at this moment.

Since I wasn’t one to waste an opportunity, I moved my attention to his bleeding arm. My entire body tensed when I finally got a good look at the wounds. It was two slashes, most likely from claws. They didn’t appear as deep as I feared, but I had a feeling that was because it had healed a bit. With how long and sharp the summoner’s claws were, it could’ve been way worse.

With the rate he seemed to be healing, it would take probably another twenty minutes to heal. With our pace and the possibility of being attacked by more animals, it was a dangerous risk. One we shouldn’t take if we had a better option.

Luck appeared to finally be on our side because not even fifteen feet ahead of us was another house seamlessly blending into the bramble. It would suit our needs perfectly since I needed a chance to place some of the salves—thankfully I had enough forethought to bring them—on his arm, and Ander needed to eat something, even if it was bland.

He let me pull him toward the house. I had a feeling he wasn’t fully aware of what was going on. He wasn’t surveying the surrounding bramble as he’d done the entire time, and that worried me more than his wound.

Was this all because I said his name?

I’d been right in my assumption before; this house was similarly decorated to the other one. The only variation was that the front door led to a living room, and there was a different amount and style of furniture. While I checked out each room, Ander remained in the living room, sitting on the floor and leaning back against the wall.

Ander remained silent as I applied the floral and herbal scented salves, his gaze never leaving my face. “Who told you?” His voice was soft and without inflection, his face not giving me much to go off of.

“Told me what?” I didn’t look at him as I closed the tinctures and placed them back in my bag.

Ander didn’t respond to my question, and only gave me a bland stare. “The woman who was looking for you,” I finally said as I pulled out my thermos and I unscrewed the lid, handing it over to Ander. He didn’t take a drink, holding it loosely between his fingers as he held my gaze.

“Starling, tell me what happened,” Ander said slowly, his words measured in a way that spoke of his fraying self-control. I’d seen this happen multiple times with Koa and knew I needed to tread carefully.

“I stepped outside for some fresh air, and this crazy bitch attacked me out of nowhere, saying I was with the monster that killed her little girl. When I asked who, she said your name.” I shrugged, not giving any more details since they wouldn’t help in this situation.

Pure tension and rage radiated through his body, his eyes blazing with an icy fire as he set my thermos on the ground and turned to face me. “Tell me the truth, did she hurt you? Did she make you bleed?”

I shuddered at the quiet intensity in his voice that promised violence, even though his barely restrained rage wasn’t aimed at me. When I didn’t answer right away, he wound his fingers through my hair and tilted my head back so our faces were closer together.

“Don’t worry, I didn’t leave any blood behind.” Leaving behind blood, especially in the blood mage’s territory, was the dumbest thing you could ever do. It was a mistake I was careful not to make.

Ander growled, far from being in control as he gave my hair a sharp tug, stopping just shy of the point of pain. “That’s not what I meant. Did she make you bleed?” The promise of death layered his voice. His icy anger had a hold of him, and I was confident he wouldn’t like my answer.

I was tempted to lie since the blood spilled from the attack was negligible, but my hesitation was enough of an answer for him. “Tell me what happened, and this time, leave nothing out.” His tone left no room for argument.

Letting out a sigh, I recapped my encounter with her, bringing up how it was a planned attack, and emphasizing that she left the fight more battered and injured than me. Ander didn’t say anything throughout my explanation, he just watched me in the quiet and intense way of his.

After nearly a full minute of silence, he finally said, “She will never lay another finger on you ever again.” He released my hair and leaned back against the wall, taking a long drink from my thermos before he offered it to me.

We sat in silence after that, with me thinking about his promise and him casting several complex sigils, making food appear. It had the same cardboard flavor as the last time I had materialized food, but it helped with our energy levels nonetheless. His wound was nearly fully healed by this point, and that was good enough for us.

As I went to follow him out of the house, I ran into Ander’s back when he abruptly stopped in front of the door, his hand on the handle. He spun around and grabbed a hold of my arm, preventing me from falling as he pulled me close.

The intense rage that had taken hold of him earlier was gone, and in its place was curiosity. “You never asked if it was true or not,” he whispered, his breath brushing against my lips as he bent his head close to mine.

I didn’t pretend to misunderstand his words, I knew what he meant. “It’s none of my business,” I whispered back, looking away from him. Of course, I wanted to know what happened, but there was also a big part of me that wasn’t sure I truly wanted the answers to my many questions.

“Ask me.” Ander released the door knob to cup my face. “You should know who you’re here with.”

Releasing a long sigh, my gaze returned to his. “Did you kill her daughter?”

Without a single moment of hesitation, Ander said, “Yes.”