“My wrist hurts,” I mumbled.
“We will tend to it when we’re safe,” Darkness murmured as the aging, weathered wooden planks of the bridge creaked under his steps in protest of our retreat.
My eyes fluttered open just as we reached the other side of the bridge. Tears rolled down my cheeks from the pain around my wrist.
“It stings,” I said, sobbing against Darkness’s chest.
“You will be okay,” Darkness said calmly.
Storm scoffed. “If we can get out of this place.”
“Can you stand?” Darkness asked.
My head felt as though it was only partially attached, but my senses were slowly returning. It was the pain, more than anything, that made me feel nauseated.
“I think so,” I said.
The instant I regained my footing, a massive, scaly tail thunderously crashed into the bridge, shattering it into fragments. A torrent of moat water erupted into the air, splashing down on us with such force it washed us off our feet.
“For fuck’s sake,” Storm said, shakily hopping to her feet. She swiped the hair out of her face as her eyes darted around.
“What was that?” I asked as Darkness helped me to my feet.
Nightmare stood in front of us. “Leviathan.”
Chapter
Eleven
“It looked like a…,” my voice faded as the gargantuan beast rose from out of the water, standing on its hind legs like a dog begging for a treat. The rest of my sentence for my lips. “Dragon.”
The monster had massive claws that could rend stone and fins that would slice through the moat water with deadly precision. Its scales shimmered with an otherworldly turquoise iridescence that sent a shiver rippling down my spine. Fangs jutted out of its wide mouth, looking as though it could easily tear through both bone and iron.
Leviathan loomed over us, a titanic form dwarfing us all as it stood at half the height of the castle behind it. None of us were in any condition to fight off the creature that could destroy us with one swipe of its claw.
“We have to get out of here,” Darkness growled, taking a defensive stance.
“I… I can’t do anything,” Storm said, shaking her hands vigorously.
Nightmare urgently pointed toward a massive rock that appeared to be leaking an oil-like substance. “We must run.”
Storm bolted forward, her footsteps a blur as Nightmare chased behind. Leviathan’s raised claw cast a shadow over Darkness and me, poised to squish us at any moment.
“Go!” Darkness roared.
As Leviathan’s claw closed in, Darkness and I darted toward the massive rock for cover. Storm was there first, waving for us to move faster.
Adrenaline surged through me as the ground quaked from the force of his claw crashing into the side of the bridge, missing us by a solid thirty feet. We reached the rock and hid before Leviathan could see where we’d run to. We were lucky that the creature was slow. He released an ear-shattering cry as its entire body shook with frustration.
“That was too close,” Darkness said between sharp breaths as he peered around the edge of the rock. “I need rest.”
“We will get you out of here, brother,” Nightmare said, working to control his breaths.
“Is it coming after us?” Storm asked, her back pressed against the rock.
Darkness shook his head, uncertainty shadowing his perfect features. “I’m not sure it can leave the moat, or it would have by now.”
I peeked out, my breath catching as I witnessed Leviathan slowly slinking back into the putrid, murky water. Its long, razor-sharp fangs glistened with a sinister hunger, a ravenous predator denied its prey.
“We should keep moving,” Nightmare said.
“How are we going to get out of this place?” I asked, searching for one of the stomach-churning teleportation sheds. I hated them, but I would have jumped in if I would have seen one.
“That’s part of the problem with coming here,” Storm said, clenching her jaw. “They don’t want you to leave.”
With a resolute expression, Nightmare curled his finger. “Follow me.”
We moved cautiously, Darkness at my side just steps behind Nightmare and Storm. My senses were on high alert. The thuds of my pounding heart echoed in my head as I tried to look in every direction at once. The occasional whines from Leviathan rumbled along with the distant-like cracks of lightning.
We didn’t make it far before Nightmare looked up and pulled me behind a dead tree. With wide eyes, he tapped a finger to his lips.
“They’re looking for us,” Storm said, rage filling her eyes.
Silhouetted against the blood-red sky, a bird-like creature with massive wings stirred the air around us. Its head moved from side to side as it searched the area methodically.
“What the hell is that thing?” I asked, swallowing hard.
“Shh!” Storm said, grimacing.
