Free Eternally Yours by Anastasia Dangerfield Page B

on. But I can’t think about that right now with these unpredictable wings. Arrows keep whizzing by us, and he is dodging every one of them.
    “There’s a cave I know of that we’re going to hide in, almost....there.”
    I can tell that his strength is waning. Blood is seeping out of his side drenching me, which I don’t mind, but we really need to make it to that cave or we won’t make it back alive and no one will ever know the truth about the world outside the walls.
    I look around, frantically searching the woods for the evil Hell Horde. I see something dark, reddish-black, and really ugly, with two horns and a tail with a triangle shaped end. I can’t even tell if it has eyes because the eye socket is so black. It hides beside a tree and pulls back a glowing red arrow...
    “Look out! There's one to the right! Duck!” I shout.
    He doesn’t move fast enough and it pierces his wing.
    “Mmpph,” is all I hear from him.
    His eyes are glowing and blood is dripping off his fangs and out of the corner of his mouth.
    “Oh my gods, what can I do?” I'm panicking.
    “Don’t…know... Are we…losing them?”
    I look around and don’t see any, but we're going a lot slower. I find it hard to believe that we are losing them.
    “Yeah, I think so,” I lie. “Are we almost there?”
    “Yeah, it’s straight ahead...” He's really out of breath. He's wheezing now, and coughing up more blood. We're basically falling now, going down really fast, and headed straight for a waterfall.
    “Uh Shadow? Shadow!” I'm hysterical! All I do is point straight ahead at the waterfall over and over.
    “It’s...okay...” he rasps.
    I shut my eyes and scream just as we hit the water, and go through the water. I brace for impact against a rock wall but instead we hit a dirt floor and skid to a halt. Dirt fills my mouth and nostrils, and I cough and spit, gagging at the disgusting taste. The cave he was talking about! It’s behind the waterfall!
    It’s almost pitch black inside, but a little light filters in through the waterfall at the entrance. I can hear Shadow’s breath sawing in and out from wherever he lies. We must have separated after impact, each skidding different ways. I probably let go when we hit the ground because I know he once again took the brunt of our impact, protecting me. I search for him in the darkness and see two red eyes glowing few feet away.
    “I'm glad your eyes are glowing because I can't see in the dark you know.” I say as I try not to stumble, finding my way over to him. He doesn’t respond to my witty remark and when I get close enough I can hear him rasping and struggling to breath e .
    “Oh, gods. Shadow?”
    “Lantern,” he breathes. “Wall,” is all he can manage to say.
    I get up and walk with my hands out in front of me. When they hit something cold and solid I assume I've made it to the wall. I bend down and feel along the wall for the lantern.
    “Aha! I found it.” I click on the battery operated lantern and walk back over to him. Now that I can see, he's in worse shape than I imagined. His lips are purple and his skin is not its beautiful tan color. It is so pale it’s taken on a blue tint. His eyebrows are drawn down and he's shivering uncontrollably.
    “Should I take it out?” I ask, nodding to the arrow lodged through his side.
    “It’s...poisoned...”
    “So, what should I do? Tell me! I am doing something! You have to be okay! What do you want me to do? What should I do?!”
    “Take...arrow...out...then go get....Lilith. Need...blood.” He moans in pain at the same time a violent shiver racks his body and he spits up the blood he needs to badly.
    “Okay, okay.” I look around for something to put in his mouth, so he can bite it when I wrench the arrow out. I don’t want him screaming to alert the Hell Horde where we are. I untie my small bag from my waist, throw my old shirt and shorts off to the side, and roll it up. It's actually really hard to get it behind his