A shudder passed through her as she whispered, “What is going on?”
In one direction, she saw an endless expanse of ice. In another, a vast, empty desert. Farther afield was a forest of familiar profile. If those were the woods of her homeland of Tenebrae, then she had to be somewhere along the border of Succarpe and Eusciello.
How odd. There was no trace of anyone else. The strip of land sandwiched between desert and tundra was not suited for planting, but she’d long heard it functioned as a transit artery. She stood along a major throughway. Trucks and other vehicles should have been passing by day and night, and yet there was nothing but silence. Not even an imperial dropship overhead.
Third year since the disappearance of . . . The newspaper’s words rose in her mind.
She’d expended her life to form the covenants with the gods, and to see the Ring of the Lucii to its rightful heir. Everything she’d done was for the sake of the True King and to ensure the future of their star. So what did this gray sky mean? In the span between the events in Altissia and now, what could have happened to their world?
A roar shook the dim surroundings. She turned to find dust billowing from the remnants of the tomb―a tomb she’d thought crumbled and closed forevermore. Clumps of dirt and debris flew through the air, and then it was back: grim death unfurled itself once more, tattered rags fluttering wide overhead.
It was unthinkable. The collapse of the underground tomb should have surely been enough to see the daemon trapped and destroyed. With the entrance gone, she had breathed a sigh of relief, certain that the immediate threat was past. Now that relief went spiraling away like debris from the tomb. The daemon had emerged. Its hunt was not over.
With precious moments already lost to thought, Lunafreya spun away, clods of dirt spraying from beneath her feet as massive claws swung behind her. It was a close call―the arc of the claws had passed no more than a hairbreadth from her back. Luck and naught else had kept her from being ripped to shreds. She might not be so fortunate the next time.
Suddenly, she was glad to be barefoot, able to run much faster over the soil than she’d have ever managed in the high heels she had worn the day she’d been stabbed. She sprinted with all her might. The daemon caught the top of one shoulder, nearly pulling her to the ground, but her luck held and she was somehow able to shake free. The blow sent her tumbling, but she sprang back up and continued to run. If she could make it to one of the main roads . . . She prayed for there to be at least one passing truck. It didn’t matter where it was headed. If she could hitch a ride, she’d be safe, away from this awful place.
She thought she heard the faint rumbling of an engine. The road had to be near. The muscles in her legs screamed in protest, but she carried on, unheeding.
And then the ground was gone. Her feet found no purchase, and her body plummeted through empty air. Whether she’d gone straight over some ridge or met some sloping path, she did not know, but the world spun. Her body rolled and finally thudded to a halt. The sound of the engine drew closer. It was her third stroke of luck in an otherwise unfortunate day. She had found her road and was now sprawled across it. She heard the screech of brakes and saw a motorcycle come to a halt mere inches from her nose. To one side of the wheel in her face, she spotted an attached sidecar.
Lunafreya scrambled to her feet and threw herself into the unoccupied sidecar. The daemon was still in pursuit. There wasn’t time to ask permission.
“What are you doing?!” the driver demanded.
Lunafreya couldn’t make out any features beneath helmet and goggles, but the driver’s voice was clearly that of a young woman. Her garb seemed to indicate that she was a hunter. Lunafreya tried to respond, but her breaths came too heavy for clear words.
“I’m . . . I’m sorry, but . . . ”
The driver audibly clicked her tongue. Lunafreya simply huddled deeper into the seat. Then the motorcycle and sidecar were in motion.
The daemon’s claws were not far behind.
“Damn it!” the driver cursed. “I can’t get this thing to go any faster with all the extra weight!”
“Right. Extra weight. What should I dump?” Lunafreya said, her hands groping at the items underfoot.
“Hey! No! I meant―”
But Lunafreya already had the corner of a cloth bag in hand―a particularly large one crammed in the floor of the sidecar. She tugged it free and threw it in the face of the pursuing daemon, knowing it was in vain, but desperate for any means to slow the monster down by even the tiniest bit.
The bag’s contents spilled out over the roadway. Canned food. Hardly something to deem extra weight, she thought.
“I was talking about you!” the driver shouted over the roar of the engine. “You’re the extra weight!”
“Oh no,” Lunafreya muttered. “I’m sorry.”
The imposed ride brought guilt enough. Now she’d managed to cause her unwilling companion further trouble. That her actions were taken in haste was no excuse. The vehicle had a new load to bear, and the traveler was now without rations on which she’d doubtless been counting. Lunafreya tightly gripped the long tree branch from the gravesite. She would not be any more of a burden. She’d made it this far on her own―more or less. In truth, she had no confidence in her odds. She’d been no match for the pursuing daemon either in or out of the tomb. But there was no other choice now. She’d have to face it.
Lunafreya grabbed the lip of the sidecar, intending to hop out. But a hand pulled her back in, and she dropped ungracefully onto the seat once more.
“Enough!”
Enough with the dramatics, the driver seemed to mean. Lunafreya had been accepted along for the ride.
“Just hang on tight and keep your mouth shut. It’s gonna be bumpy, and I don’t want you biting your tongue.”
The engine revved higher, and Lunafreya was pressed back into her seat by the force of acceleration. The wind whipped against her, her hair streaming behind her like a veil. For a moment, it seemed like this burst of speed might see them to safety. But that hope was soon shattered.
Lunafreya sensed the bluish-white hands reaching from behind. Then, before her mind could even process the attack, she was being lifted from the sidecar and slammed against the roadway. They’d hardly made it any distance down the road.