Page 65 of Blood & Claw

Kayla twisted in the saddle, cursing her bound wrists. “Leave them be.”

Once again, he ignored her.

Striding over to the largest of the roundhouses, Car thrust the torch into the thatch beneath the eaves. For a heartbeat, nothing happened, and then the flame caught with a whoosh.

It spread fast, racing along the dry roof, smoke billowing upward as the wind fed it. A muffled cry sounded from within the walls.

And then another shriek tore through the sky.

Close.

Every man froze.

Kayla’s chin kicked up, and she spied shadows wheeling overhead, winged shapes blotting out the rising moon.

Another scream followed, sharper, nearer.

The first of the Slew dipped low over the rooftops, long limbs trailing, wings snapping.

Seoc rasped a curse.

“Set them all alight,” Maol barked. “Turn this village into a funeral pyre. That’ll chase the spirits away.”

His companions moved to obey.

And suddenly, for the first time all day, no one was watching Kayla.

Heart pounding, she twisted in the saddle once more, eyes scanning the flames, shadows, and chaos surrounding her. Her captors were all distracted, gazes craning upward at the circling horrors as they stumbled toward the braziers with unlit torches.

This wasn’t the right moment for an escape attempt, not with the Slew circling.

But she had a chance.

She had to seize it.

Clenching her teeth, Kayla drove her heels hard into her horse’s flanks. The animal squealed and surged forward, pulling the rope Gerrad had been holding from his hands.

He cursed and made a grab for her, but it was too late.

The horse bolted, tearing free of the others and plunging into the darkness beyond the village at a flat gallop.

Branches whipped at Kayla’s face as they hit the tree line. The world narrowed to the thunder of hooves, the burn in her lungs, and the savage hope pounding in her chest.

Run.

Behind her, shouting erupted. “After her!”

Hooves pounded as they crashed through the undergrowth in pursuit.

Kayla bent low over the horse’s neck, wrists bound, no way to guide it properly—only instinct and desperation driving her onward. The panicked beast plunged through brush and bracken, leaping fallen logs, heedless of the dark.

A shriek split the air above.

The Slew were following.

Her pulse lurched.

Her horse plowed on through the night.