He was even turned slightly and walking with one shoulder forward, proving just how little room he had to walk down this natural decline.
The stench began to invade her nostrils and throat like acid, burning into her sinuses almost painfully. It singed the inside of her lungs and felt as though she was suffocating.
Gasping for air, she clutched at his jacket.
“Please,” she strangled out. “Take me back.”
It was too much. Reia couldn’t handle it as tears began to collect on her lashes.
His cloak fell over her head as he dipped his body to allow it to fall forward.
“Some of the others I have brought here have told me I do not smell particularly unpleasant, like mud and bark. This should help.”
She clutched the hem of his cloak opening and curled it around her face completely to shield her in his soothing scent. They have said he smells of mud? She couldn’t smell dirt, but she managed to take in a proper breath through the material.
It must have been at least an hour before his walking position changed, and the sunlight glittering through his cloak faded into a dull shadow.
“You must walk from here,” he told her while moving her until she was forced to place her bare feet on the ground.
“And you must remain inside my cloak until we have returned to my home.”
She desperately clung to it to protect her face from the horrible smell as he started to pull it away from her by force.
His strength won out and she took a gasping breath of unfiltered air. She huffed, choking... until she realised it wasn’t necessary.
He’d been telling the truth. She could no longer smell the decay of rotting flesh.
She turned her head up to him with a frown, a pout slipping from her lips.
“See?” He lifted the side of his cloak to create a space at his side for her. “Most of you are not fond of this part, but come, quickly, before the Demons pick up the human in your scent.”
I’m in the Veil. The home of Demons and the place they came from. It must be crawling with hundreds, thousands,
of them.
Nothing else could have made her jump into action quicker than those words, and she tucked herself into his side. His arm came over her shoulder, his large hand spanning her hip, before the cloak fell over her completely and darkness covered her vision.
She attempted to open it so she could see, but he swiftly used his other hand to pull it tight over her.
“Like I mentioned, most of you are not fond of this part, and it is because you will not be able to see where you are going.”
His body and hand kept her firmly against him as he started to blindly steer her.
“Is this so I don’t know the way back?” She tried to take careful steps and knew he was walking slower than normal to make sure she didn’t trip or fall.
“No. It is so that I have masked your scent completely.
Even just a finger out can attract the Demons to us.”
Reia gulped. Fair enough, she would walk blind if she had to. However, she tried to figure out how she was supposed to run from this place if she couldn’t be outside his cloak.
Isn’t it dangerous to bring me here then? What was going to happen to Reia when she arrived at his home? She worried she’d truly be trapped there or stuck inside it forever. Will I never see the sun again? She clenched her hands into tight fists. No, it’s okay. Everything will be fine.
As they walked, there was something she noticed.
Something that took a long time to catch her attention as her thoughts ran rampant through her mind.
“There isn’t any snow here,” she commented.
Although the ground felt freezing cold, her feet weren’t sinking into snow. She vaguely felt grass, sticks, and stones beneath her bare feet.
“The Veil is warmer in the winter than above the surface as the walls protect it from the cold.” She could hardly call this warmer since it was still rather chilly, but at least it
wasn’t threatening to give her frostbite. “And the summer is cool as the shade keeps out the heat.”
Just as she opened her lips to say something, his hand came up to cover her mouth. Actually, it was so large in comparison to her that it horrifyingly covered her entire face. Her hands shot up to clasp his wrist.
She stamped her feet as she tried to pull it away. She could breathe, but she definitely wasn’t comfortable with him doing this! He continued to walk her despite her struggles.
“What have you got, Mavka?”
Ice ran through her veins at the voice that came from outside of the cloak. She stopped struggling, stopped breathing, when she realised they weren’t alone.
“You are returning from a hunt, Mavka. Does that mean you have brought us something tasty to devour? A wolf, a deer, or a human, perhaps?”
Oh, fuck. Is that a Demon talking? She didn’t know they could speak as well!
Reia could hear the brushing of leaves as something heavy scraped its claws over branches at it walked next to them in the trees.
