The Art of Blood and Power (Book 2 in The Gifted Trilogy)

3- Shadow's Nightmare

As casually as possible, I began to go back the way I came, heading for the castle again as the sudden realization that I had managed to get myself in a situation where I was all alone struck me. I cursed myself with every step and didn't dare turn back around to see if the two figures were following me.

    Weaving through the crowd, I made it an entire block before I found myself looking over my shoulder casually. My eyes immediately landed on the only two people in the crowd wearing black. They were steadily moving through the crowd in the same direction as me, their heads lowered so that I could not make out their faces.

    Whipping my head back around, I began to move faster through the crowd, a new sense of deadly calm taking the place of where panic once controlled me. This was a pattern I was used to. I knew what to do in this situation. I might have suddenly slipped back into a scared little girl at the single thought of Nox finding me, but I could handle two faceless threats.

I'd handled worse.

I made it several more blocks before my gut suddenly twisted, some instinctual urge inside of me telling me that I was in danger and that I needed to start running. So I did what I did best.

I ran.

The second I broke into a sprint, I heard two sets of feet break out into a run from behind me as well. Where the crowds of people were once a device to turn myself invisible, they were now obstacles, slowing me down at every step and reminding me of all the innocent people that could become potential casualties in a fight if I didn't lead the people chasing me away from them quickly.

Passing by a parked wooden cart selling decorated wooden poles for some specific ritualistic dance, I grabbed one as I passed by, ignoring the shouting behind me as I ducked into a narrow street between buildings.

I continued making sharp turns down the connecting streets that seemed to only become even more narrow, never slowing as the sound of feet slapping the ground continued from behind me. Losing all sense of orientation and direction, I continued further down the empty sidestreets, making turns when possible in the hopes that I might be able to lose my followers and avoid a conflict altogether.

But all hope of avoiding a fight disintegrated as I made a turn and suddenly found myself at the end of an alley, a brick wall in front of me and behind me multiple pairs of footsteps that seemed to only get louder.

Gripping the wooden pole in my hand as if it were more than a weak attempt at self defense, I lowered my stance as the first man barreled into the alley, stopping at the sight of me as a grin began to form on his lips.

"I don't want to hurt you" I called out, my voice far steadier than I felt. The man said nothing as another figure in all black entered the alley. And, to my surprise, a third one followed immediately after.

"Three against one. Hardly seems fair" I noted, calculating my odds of getting out of this with only a wooden stick as a weapon. My chances didn't look good.

"We can make this easy if you'd like, darling," the first man purred, holding up a pair of shackles in a taunting gesture. "Nobody has to get hurt."

"If you want to take me alive you're going to have to try harder than that" I hissed before lunging. I moved towards the man on the right, the smallest of them. He easily blocked the wooden stick and with a simple kick, knocked it to the side, causing my body to follow its momentum sideways.

The one in the middle moved for me, forcing me to drop the wooden pole as I threw myself backwards to avoid his grip. Landing on my back, I kicked up with all of my strength and sent the man falling backwards as I regained my balance long enough to get my feet under me before the two others moved towards me simultaneously.