True North [True North series book 1/3]

Whatever he had tried to protect me from — it hadn’t been quick enough. As the water engulfed me, suddenly a razor-sharp pain shot through my upper left arm. And then, something much, much worse happened.

Whatever had cut me, was now yanking on my injured arm, pulling me out of the water. I screeched in pain, trying to free my arm from whatever had a hold on it. Within a second, it had lifted me out of the water, and was flapping its wings in an attempt to take my flailing body with it.

It was a beak — a pointed, grey beak was clamped around my arm, its sharp edges cutting into my flesh with each movement the beast made. I recognized it from before — the Ku’lan. I tried to pry open its jaw with my free hand, but immediately cut my fingers on the inside of its beak. Its eye, then. I tried punching it with all my might, which proved to be harder than expected, as I was dangling from my left arm, on the Ku’lan’s right side. I had to twist around my shoulder to even get anywhere near the eye.

“Serin!” Warrian called out from the lake below me, “catch!”

I glanced down, and saw Warrian toss a dagger in my direction. It came close to my outstretched hand, but nowhere near close enough to grab it, as the flapping of the Ku’lan’s wings jerked me up and down. The dagger nearly hit Warrian as it dropped back down. I was too high now anyway — he’d never be able to throw the dagger up to me.

I needed a new plan — fast. I was at the point that if I didn’t free myself soon, dropping down onto the lake would be just about as harmful as staying with the Ku’lan. I kicked my legs, with the intent to at the very least injure the beast. I swung back and tried again.

The tip of my boot hit the beast’s ribcage, and it momentarily halted its flapping. I swung again, and this time, I was able to hook my leg around its first wing. The position I was in hurt so badly I thought I might lose my arm — but I guessed that would be better than losing my life.

I hooked my other leg onto my foot, and locked my legs into place as tightly as I could. My legs were strong — trained by daily heavy lifting, running and climbing. I knew I could do a little damage if I used them correctly. I tightened the grip I had on the wing, and the Ku’lan screeched, opening its beak just enough for me to pull out my arm.

I fell backward, now dangling upside-down from my legs. I had immobilized the one wing, but the Ku’lan still had three of them left. I glanced down at the lake below me, and realized I was still too high to let myself drop down safely.

I needed to take out another wing. With my arms free, I was in a better position than before — except only one arm had been rendered useless. I was losing a lot of blood, so there wasn’t much time to think about my next move. Going across the Ku’lan’s body would be too difficult, and most likely wouldn’t have too much of an effect either, as it would still have one wing on either side — so I needed to go for the second wing on its right. I started swinging again, trying not to get distracted by the Ku’lan’s flapping, or its attempt to peck at me.

Suddenly, the Ku’lan took a nose dive toward Warrian. I used the momentum to propel myself upwards, and grabbed onto its second right wing, using all the strength I had in my good arm to immobilize it as best as I could. The Ku’lan let out another blood-curdling screech and flapped its wings, flipping itself upside down.

I unhooked my legs and took a deep breath. Seconds before we would hit the water, I let go. My back hit the surface first as I crashed into the water, knocking the air out of my lungs. I sank into the lake, and panically kicked my legs to get back to the surface. Air — I needed air. My head broke the surface and I gasped, filling my lungs with oxygen.

Water splashed into my face, and screeching filled my ears, as the Ku’lan trashed around beside me, trying to lift itself out of the water. I dove into the water and swam away as fast as I could. I had barely made it a few feet away, before strong arms hooked under my shoulders and I crashed into Warrian’s hard armor as he yanked me against his chest, propelling us toward the shore. I wrapped my good arm around him as tightly as I could, desperate for some safety.

Warrian crashed into the shallow shoreline head first, but seemed unaffected. He jumped to his feet, pulling me with him, and sprinted into the dense forest. We ran and ran, until I started to get light-headed. I slowed my pace, looking around for any sign of the Ku’lan, but there seemed to be none. I let go of Warrian’s hand, which I had been clutching for dear life, and sat down on the forest floor, panting like a dog. I then examined my arm carefully.

It was bad. The Ku’lan’s beak had cut two deep lacerations on either side of my arm, making the flesh curl back with gravity as I lifted it. My axillary artery seemed to be intact though, a stroke of dumb luck amidst the chaos, and likely the only reason I was still alive.

I studied the severed nerves and tendons with a pit in my stomach. I couldn’t heal this myself — I needed a physician, and even then, I would likely lose use of my arm — if not lose it all together.

Warrian knelt down beside me, and tied a leather strap around my arm, just above the highest laceration.

“We need to get you to a healer,” he mumbled.

I nodded in agreement. Then, I noticed something behind him. A plant I didn’t recognize — a green bush with tiny, white flowers, that almost seemed to be glowing.

“What’s that?” I asked, jerking my chin in its direction.

Warrian turned around. “The plant?” he asked, “Altenite, I think.”

“Could you pick me some?” I asked.

Warrian raised a brow, but complied. He handed me a handful of the blossoms, a suspicious look on his face.

“What are you planning on doing with those?” he asked.

“Heal my arm, I hope,” I said pensively, as I brought the flowers to my mouth.