Nothing.
The bottom half of her falls to the ground, and the top half topples soon after.
There’s more screaming behind me, but I fall to my knees and retch. The sparse contents of my stomach scatter in the snow.
Damn Estela, and damn my secretly optimistic heart for believing her.
We’ll all die before we even meet the monstrous race that Estela claims has saved her. I need to get back to Eneko. There are girls depending on me in the slave pens. I can’t die like this.
I turn back to Abi. “Get them to safety!”
She’s stopped screaming, but her round, curvy face is ashy, and tears streak her cheeks. Her ample chest heaves as she looks at me with wide eyes.
“I can’t?—”
“You can.” I take her soft, half-frozen arms in my hands, willing her to feel the confidence she doesn’t have.
Her already wide eyes seem to bulge out of her sockets.
When I turn back and look up, my words evaporate like mist under the blazing sun.
Charging down the hillside, atop all manner of beasts and strange, flying creatures, is a troop of warriors. The beings I’ve been waiting for have skin as blue as the daylit sky, while dozens of women have different shades of fleshy tones, from black to white.
Trolls… and elves?
There are nearly as many of them as there are of us. Definitely enough to fight off the giants while we escape. It turns out Estela wasn’t quite as delusional as I started to think.
Women start to gather on either side of me.
“The blue demons?” someone asks.
I turn my head and find Estela fighting off a whole godsdamned giant herself.
The beginning of a smile tugs at the corners of my mouth.
Thank you for being right, you crazy bitch.
“They sure are,” I say.
Which means… the rest of my plan will have to come next. If those tall, strong blue men are really so dedicated to their women as Estela has said, then I need to pick one. And fast.
It’s not hard to tell which troll has come for Estela, because he charges straight to her while she fights the giants. His blue eyes shine, brilliant, and dazzling.
Is that magic? Or bloodlust?
My gaze is drawn to the next rider who races toward us. He is tall, just like the king, and gods…
Look at those arms.
They flex as he holds onto the reins of a serpentine beast made entirely of glittering crystal.
He beckons toward us, and I start ushering the women out of the trees.
When his flying stone-like serpent comes to a halt before us, he calls, “Get on!”
I grab the nearest woman and shove her forward. He plucks her out of my arms and moves her to the elf at his flank. More women pass from his mount to the elves riding bears, enormous wolves, and deer.
We repeat this several times until only two of us are left in the forest. My mind races.