Chapter 41

Chapter 41
Anna POV:
The scream I thought I was echoing into the night died in my throat as gravity vanished. For a heart beat there was nothing but the whistle of the wind and the terrifying open void beneath my heels. I accepted I was going to really die this time there wasn't much fight in me now. The world tilted; I opened my eyes to glance at the horrible beauty of the inn's glowing windows that streaked upwards like dying stars. This was the last images I'd ever glance at. I waited for the bone shattering impact, for darkness to finally claim me and for all of this to be finally over. No more suffering. But the air around us felt thick- soffocating even. It wasn't the ground that met me it was him. I felt every hard muscle underneath me. 

I'm going to die, I thought, my fingers clawing uselessly at the rough leather of his coat. I’m going to die attached to a lunatic. But as Silas twisted his body in mid-air, putting himself between me and the looming earth, a spark of something ancient flickered in my gut. It wasn't magic—not yet—it was a tether. A heavy, pulsing golden cord that suddenly went taut, linking my frantic heartbeat to the steady, predatory rhythm of his. 
We hit the forest floor with a thud that rattled my teeth. Moss and dirt sprayed into the air, and for a second, the world went gray. I groaned, trying to push away, but Silas’s grip didn't loosen. He he held me flush to his chest. His breathing is slowing, like I was the one claiming him down. His long silver hair is a curtain that lay draped across the moss and dirt. His eyes weren't just black; They were endless, reflecting a version of me I didn't recognize—a woman who looked like she belonged exactly where she was.
   "Still with me, little one?" he rasped, his voice a dark vibration that traveled straight through my skin.

"Yes". I rasped out. " You took the fall? Are you okay?" I wasnt trying to sound sarcastic. I was genuinely concerned. My forehead wrinkling in a way that I hoped looked sympathetic ; He looked so tragically beautiful in this moment and I felt so pulled to this version of him. This protector. 
 He laughed slightly, "No shit I took the fall for us really? I hadn't noticed from all the pain radiating up my back. You know little one you aren't exactly light as a feather?" A cackle escaped his mouth as he said this and I wanted to punch him in the face at this very moment. My sympathetic nature had evaporated. 

Rage filled my veins and I pushed off of him more forcelly breaking his hold. I stood up and started walking deeper into the woods. The place that was always my haven. I felt at home in the dark. Always had. I had always been alone anyway. Until I met the Witches of the wood my magic and I were against the entire world. 

"You are such an asshole. I can't believe for a sec." I called over my shoulder. In seconds he was at my side pulling me toward him from behind, flushed close to his chest once more. I was finding out more and more I liked being in this position with him and that was very dangerous. Placing a hand over my mouth. He then took two fingers and silently tapping my mouth. A question without words being asked of me. Can you be good? 

"I felt the vibration of his 'shhh' against the shell of my ear, sending a traitorous shiver straight to my core. His fingers on my mouth tasted like salt and iron, but my body didn't care. I could feel the hard line of his thigh pressing between mine as we crouched, a silent claim that made my breath hitch. He wasn't just hiding me; He was consuming my space, his scent of dark chocolate and pine drowning out the smell of my own fear. For a fleeting, insane second, I didn't want the hunters to find us—not because I was scared to die, but because I wasn't ready for him to let go."

Fire exploded in my veins at his touch. Something was happening here that I didn't want to quite put a name on yet. I had the strange overwhelming urge to take those fingers into my mouth and suck, something settling in my stomach that was rage and need- A soul consuming need to be as close to him as I could be in this moment. A moved my hips backwards towards him in a thrust that has him digging his hands into my hips. His breath fluttered in my ear as he whispered "shhhhhh." I wanted to moan but I held back. 

As I watched more witch hunters come close to us in the dark. We could hear there marching footsteps under the cold earth of the leaves and trees. The full moon now above us illuminated a small path forward but we would be exposed. I looked left and right as they began to flank us. Silas backed us up slowly. Deeper into the darkness of the canopy we were under. I prayed silently that these were human witch hunters and that their senses were not enhanced like Silas's seemed to be. 

As we are both frozen in place a metallic click-clack echos through the trees like an ill fated whisper. "The end comes" I swear I heard the nature spirits whisper to me. It's not just guns they carry with them but cold iron traps. The hunters are methodical; I hear the click of a pin coming out of something, "What the?" "shh." Silas whispers. That's when we see it a grey mist taking over the grounds, salt iron grenades were rolling towards us. 

Silas releases me quickly covering his mouth and nose with fabric from what looked like my shirt. The mist seems to affect him first its the way his eyes go from a black to a pain filled blue-grey, he isn't upright anymore and he's sagging against me and a tree. I grab both of his shoulders silently shaking him. which seems to do nothing as panic takes over and the mist around us grows heavy. 

I strain my eyes trying to see the man who steps forward, he's incredibly tall, and looks like he has a scar running down his face on the left side.

"Look at this," Vane spat, his voice like gravel grinding together. "The Shadow of the Fae Realms, reduced to a lapdog for a half-starved wood-witch. Tell me, Silas, does she know you were going to trade her for a bag of silver? Or did you forget to mention that while you were playing hero?". A bag of silver. That’s all I was to him. 
Silas’s growl was weak, a wet, rattling sound in his chest as the iron-scented air choked him. "She... is... mine," he rasped, the words cost him everything.
Vane laughed, a sharp, ugly sound. "She belongs to the Coven's debt, and you belong in a cage. Men! Take the girl. Break her legs if she runs—she only needs her tongue to scream for the Inquisitor."

Silas grunts and coughs next to me lifting his head in a defiance. "Fuck you Vane Blackwood!" I can see Vane lifting a crossbow in his hands. I can also see that same bow hums with anti magic energy. That bow can kill and steal my powers all with one hit. I had heard of hunters not only selling the witch but stealing their powers as well. I make to stand in front of Silas to shield him but, he protests and puts me behind him. Vane moves slowly more towards us; I take a sharp intake of breath praying the darkness keeps us hidden. "You know Silas I never would have pegged you for going soft for a piece of a crawling wood witch pussy.

I hear what I think is a growl come from Silas's throat as his grip on my arm intensifies. "Ouch." I whisper. That was all Vane needed. A way point. An arrow wizzes towards us and I prepare mentally to take the hit. Silas tries to move in front of me but this mist must have really hurt him, I've heard it can feel like breathing glass if affected. His movements are slow too slow. We're going to die! 

My instincts kick in as I realize death is not something I want to do tonight. There is power all around me after all. I call to the spirits of nature around me and the dark mother. I pull wisps of light all around me, and I command the giant oaks behind Vane and his men. The ground ruptures; Massive, gnarled roots burst upward like spears. One root knocks the arrow out of the air, and others wrap around the hunters, dragging them into the thorns.
It’s no longer a "wisp" or a "tether." It’s a volcano.
The word 'mine' from Silas’s lips should have disgusted me. The hunter's threat should have paralyzed me. Instead, I felt a low-frequency hum vibrating up through the soles of my boots. The ancient spirits of the wood weren't just watching anymore; they were hungry.
I didn't reach for the light. I reached for the rot, the roots, and the rage.
My vision bled into a vivid, emerald-darkness. I felt the heartbeat of every tree within a mile. With a scream that tore my throat raw, I slammed my palms into the frozen earth.
The ground didn't just shake—it shattered.
Massive, black-barked roots, thick as a man's torso and covered in three-inch thorns, exploded from the dirt. They moved like snakes, lunging with predatory speed. I heard the sickening crunch of ribs and the wet thud of steel-clad men being slammed against the ancient oaks. The smell of copper and pine sap filled the air as the forest literally began to eat the men who dared to hunt within it.
I stand in the middle of the chaos my blonde hair flying all around me the power illuminating my eyes causing them to glow a forest green fire. Rage burns within me. I want to kill all of these men. One by one the roots take shape and do my bidding as each one is either knocked out or beheaded if they resist. 

The clearing is a graveyard of broken wood and broken men. But the victory is short-lived.
Silas collapsed, the proximity of so much iron mist and his own injuries finally winning. I lunged for him, my hands still glowing with a terrifying, sickly green light.
"Silas!"
He looked up at me, a single tear of blood tracking down his deathly pale cheek. He reached out, his fingers trembling as he touched the pulse point at my neck.
"There she is," he whispered, a terrifyingly proud smile on his face. "My warrior."
And then, the air went cold. Dead cold.
A silhouette stepped out from the trees. It wasn't a hunter. It was a man in tattered black robes, his face a porcelain mask of a weeping woman. The High Inquisitor. He didn't carry a gun or a sword. He carried a silver bell. 
He rang it once. The sound didn't hit my ears—it hit my soul, instantly snuffing out my connection to the trees. I fell to my knees, the world spinning into blackness.
"Anna of the Woods," the Inquisitor’s voice echoed, sounding like a thousand dead leaves. "Your Mother has been waiting a long time to see you." After that my world went black. My last thoughts were this-
 I had saved the monster who claimed to own me, only to realize that the woods were no longer my sanctuary—they were a graveyard, and the shovel was already hitting the dirt.