Heirs of Prophecy - Lisa Smedman [31]
She started to run up the road, but just ahead of her an arrow hit one of the brigands, causing him to howl in pain. Skidding to a stop, she decided to dash for the woods instead, but collided with Dray. He steadied her, then bent down and grabbed a sword from the lifeless hand of one of the brigands.
"Run!" he shouted. "I'll hold them back."
Before she could suggest that he, too, should run, an arrow struck Dray's arm. He doubled over in pain and nearly dropped the sword. A second arrow buried itself in the ground near his feet.
Seeing that it was hopeless to stand and fight, Larajin turned and did as Dray had bade her. She ran.
A driverless wagon thundered past, pulled by terrified horses. Larajin sprinted beside it, using it to shield herself from the elves' attack. Blighted vegetation cracked underfoot as she ran, and another arrow, fired under the wagon, narrowly missed her legs.
Realizing that she was still a target, she turned and sprinted for the woods on the side of the road opposite the one the arrows were coming from. Mist still hung in patches here and there between the trees. She zigzagged around it, fighting her way through the blight-slimed underbrush. Branches ripped her bag from her arms and tore open the mouth of her money pouch, spilling its coins. Larajin winced at their loss but kept running, one hand still clutching her dagger. She dodged around a tree, putting its massive trunk between herself and the elf archers.
Distracted by the screams of fighting men and a loud groan that might have been Dray's voice, she stumbled over a root, then recovered and ran on. Behind her, the curses and shouts were getting fainter-and fewer. A moment more, and they were replaced by silence, then came the sound of bottles being smashed.
Larajin ran on through the forest, angling north to parallel the road, all the while casting nervous glances over her shoulder. It sounded as though the elves were sacking the caravan-would that keep them so busy they would forget about pursuing her?
Out of the corner of her eye, Larajin saw something whipping up off the forest floor toward her-a rope? It coiled around her leg. Jerked to a sudden halt, she crashed to the ground, the wind knocked from her. A snare! The elves must have set a trap.
Her dagger lay beside her, where she'd dropped it. Head still spinning from her fall, Larajin groped for it!) but as her fingers closed around the hilt, another snare whipped around her forearm, preventing her from using the dagger to cut herself free.
No-not a snare, she realized, looking down. That wasn't a rope around her arm; it was a leaf-covered vine. It looked hke ivy, but it moved with a sinuous grace, and a purposefulness that suggested sentience. She realized that it must be the choke creeper the caravan drivers had spoken of it. This infestation was the reason the wizard was clearing the road.
She watched in horror as the loose ends of the vine coiled their way up her arm and leg like constricting snakes. Struggle as she might, she could not pull herself free. The vines were as strong as braided steel. More of them were questing blindly toward her, drawn by her frantic motions. She had blundered onto a wide patch of the creeper. The entire floor of the forest seemed to have come to life, to be reaching for her. Under that tangle of greenery, she could see the white of bones. She was not the first creature to have been caught in this trap.
Something tickled the back of her neck. Larajin jerked away, throwing herself violently to the side, but to no avail. One of the vines was around her neck. Larajin forced the fingers of her free hand under the vine, struggling to prevent it from crushing her throat, but this gave only momentary relief. Unable to rise, to flee, she wished now that an arrow had found her, instead. Knowing that she was about to die, she began choking out the words of a prayer.
As if in answer, an angry howl came from somewhere above. An instant later Larajin heard the fluttering of wings and saw the tressym swooping