Free Making Monsters by Nikki McCormack

Making Monsters
     
    “Jump!”
    “No!” Shai’s voice cracked mid-scream. Raw as her throat was from crying and screaming, she was surprised it worked at all.
    The three boys stood on the opposite side of the narrow canyon, yelling at her to jump, their fear turning to anger and impatience.
    Didn’t they understand? No matter what danger raced up behind her, when she looked down that chasm, its bottom lost in lethal blackness, her limbs turned to lead. They had made it across with no more than a few scrapes and bruises from the rough landing. It would be easier for her to turn and hand herself over to whatever fate Lord Ithar devised for her than take even one step closer to the edge.
    “No.” Her voice was weak now, her cheeks burning with shame. Hot tears streamed down them.
    Kurth, his dark hair turned pale with dust, narrowed his eyes at her, the need for haste pushing him to rage. “Die here, then. Stupid wench!”
    They ran away from the chasm. Away from her. She sank to her knees. “Don’t leave me. Please don’t.”
    Shai closed her eyes. A fist of pain clenched down on her throat and aching desolation spread through her chest. They couldn’t abandon her. Opening her eyes again, she saw tear-blurred figures sprinting away.
    “No!” She shrieked a last desperate plea.
    Her brother stumbled and fell. He looked back and she could see tears running down his cheeks too before Kurth grabbed his arm, dragging him to his feet. They continued running. None of them turned again.
    Drumming hooves shook the ground and the baying of hounds grew louder. They would catch her, the men on their horses and, even though she didn’t have the object they wanted, she would suffer Lord Ithar’s wrath. They would let their hounds tear her apart or perhaps they had some grander punishment in mind.
    “Wait.” It was little more than a plaintive whisper now.
    She could hear the panting of the hounds. Forcing herself up on shaking legs, she turned to face the death rushing at her. To her petrifying fear of heights, this was the better option, though she knew the jump would have been kinder.
    There were seven riders. Lord Ithar would never think to need more than that to round up four adolescent thieves, but he would only get one. The riders slowed their mounts. The hounds, however, didn’t slow. Brisk wind whipped her long hair around her face. Through her hair and the tears, her gaze met that of the lead dog.
    “To heel,” a rider called, his voice booming across the space between them.
    Most of the dogs turned, their hungry eyes showing disappointment as they rounded back to their master, but the lead dog charged on. Her body quaked with a sob of despair. She opened her arms to meet his lunge. The dog barreled into her. Too hard. The power of the dogs attack sent them both flying back toward the chasm. The fate she most hoped to avoid would claim her anyway. Despair and fear slammed to the pit of her stomach. She wrapped her arms around the snarling beast reaching for her throat. Its teeth found purchase there mere seconds before her head struck the opposite edge of the canyon and they tumbled into blackness.

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    “It would solve everything!” Kurth waved his arms about, impressive in his fervor.
    “But Kurth…” Shai cut off when his cold gaze turned on her.
    “Quiet! You’re just a girl.”
    Inside she fumed, but she bowed her head and held her tongue. There were two other boys in the group. They didn’t look comfortable with the plan either. She would hope for their intervention.
    Does the fire inside matter if it never comes out? Perhaps he was right. She was just a girl.
    Weak candlelight in the old barn flickered and she held her breath, her heart pounding. Every draft of air could be someone cracking the door, catching them in their hideaway. Her brother, Mar, stood up from the hay bale where he’d been sitting. His weight shifted from one foot to the other and his gaze bored into the ground near Kurth’s