Sword of Justice: book 3

Queen of Skye and Shadow series.

Chapter Two part 1

I gave the door one mighty kick, hard enough that my knee felt the shock of the impact. The wood must have been starting to rot because it flew open so fast it left me staring at the open frame for a full heartbeat before I realized I’d managed it.

I knew the layout of my grandmother’s house well enough that I could pull a mental image of everything within to great detail. I knew where her cookie jar was, and I knew the wellworn path across the kitchen floor out toward the back outbuildings. I remembered exactly where the beast had last been. I remembered its orientation in relation to the counter and the rickety wooden chairs.

There was no way that feral thing was going to be in the same spot, waiting for me, but it was the best reference point to begin with.

So when the door flew open, my eyes went to that place right away.

Nothing.

I scanned left then right.

Nothing.

I could feel my heart hammering in my chest. Excalibur felt slippery with sweat in my right hand, and I could feel a sort of electrical hum running through my fingers as its magic sparked. The sword was an extension of my arm. I barely felt its weight, while the bow and arrow slung over my shoulder in easy reach felt awkward and clunky.

Even so, I was fully prepared to drop Excalibur and pull the bow and arrow to my grasp if the thing wasn’t in easy reach of a broad stroke. The greater danger lay in it being right in front of the door, ready to lunge at me. That was why Excalibur was in my grip, why my fingers clenched it in readiness. Why my mouth felt dry as a burdock.

I had every intention of jabbing the thing straight in the belly. No fancy arcing strikes. Just striaght ahead, right about stomach level. I’d spill its innards out onto the floor like I was opening the zipper of a knapsack.

But all that met my gaze was a room slightly cluttered with derelict furniture. The counter was coated in dust. The larder door was still ajar the way it had been when Lance and I had left it days earlier.

I didn’t even smell the sulfur anymore.

Whatever beastly stink had enshrouded the creature, that too was gone.