Merek's Ascendance by Andrew Lashway Read Free Book Online Page B

I going to do against a poacher?” They probably had weapons, training. All he had was a stick and a rock. Nothing even remotely intimidating.
    So we’ll have to be smart , Merek thought as he started to move a little faster. The pain was fading away the more he moved. At least there was some good news. Now all he had to do was hope the poacher was at least as forgiving as his tired limbs were.
    He almost laughed.
    His legs returned to some of their former strength, and he started to jog. There was nothing yet to prove he was following the right track, but the grass still led him on.
    Then the trail stopped. Though that was okay, considering where the grassy trail ended an actual trail began. It was just grass mowed down by the abuse of travel carts and feet, but still. It was an actual path.
    Now he just had to figure out which way to go. He didn’t have the time to go down both, and he had no idea where he even was. With no clues to follow, he didn’t know which to choose.
    For the first time in qui te some time, fortune smiled down on him. He heard a horse’s whinny to his left, followed by the squeak of wooden wheels. A cart of some kind, no doubt. Merek didn’t need telling twice, and he sprinted towards the sound. It was only when the cart came into view and he saw his quarry that he pushed back into the trees.
    The bears were trapped on that cart in a cage. There was one bandit on the cart, whistling as a horse pulled it.
    Now all he had to do was somehow free the bears from their imprisonment.
    I wonder, he thought as he ran, the sound of his footsteps swallowed by the noise of the forest, if I would be trying so hard if this was a deer. Something people usually eat.
    He was forced to admit that he probably wouldn’t, though he wasn’t entirely sure why.
    Merek shook his head, pushing away the thought. It didn’t really matter now. What did matter was the cage the bears were locked in had a pretty impressive lock of its own. If he couldn’t get that lock off, he had no chance of freeing the bears.
    Even then, he only had a very little chance of freeing them.
    It wasn’t until he broke from the forest and vaulted onto the cage, somehow avoiding the driver’s attention, that he realized what exactly he was doing. Adrenaline had cancelled it out, had allowed him to ignore it, but suddenly it hit him in the chest harder than the lightning bolt had.
    He was terrified.
    His hands, still holding tightly to his only possessions, shook as he held on to the cage, threatening to throw him to the ground. His legs shook, though he would love to pretend it was due to exhaustion. His eyes squeezed shut and his breath shortened. His heart felt like a hand had reached into his chest and grabbed hold.
    Then there was the pain. His shoulder started burning from the wound still present there. The cut on his shin was leaking blood again. It took more strength than he had to maintain his grip on the cage, yet somehow he managed.
    But it was all too much. The fear, the pain… it was all swirling in his head, threatening to throw him into a living nightmare. His heart wanted to free the bears, but the rest of him…
    The rest of him just didn’t want to be hurt again.
    Get a grip.
    He didn’t know where the voice came from or who it belonged to, but he knew it was right. All of his fears and worries were unimportant. All that mattered was the job. All that mattered was his task.
    All that mattered was the bears.
    He pushed his fear down deep, so deep inside himself that it almost wasn’t there. He did the same to the pain, pushing it away until he almost couldn’t feel it.
    Then he focused on the task at hand.
    The lock was rusty, but not rusty enough for Merek to pull it loose. And he couldn’t risk beating at the lock with his stone, mostly because the rock would probably break before the lock would.
    Which meant he somehow had to get the key.
    He gritted his teeth, his eyes narrowing. So be it.
    Merek climbed to the top