Counting Shadows (Duplicity)

leading away from the beach. “Run!” he hisses at me.
    He stumbles forward with me in tow, and I struggle to keep up with him. I should be able to outrun him, but shock courses through me, numbing my limbs.
    “Faye, snap out of it!” Lor snarls. He jerks on my arm again, and as pain sears my shoulder, my adrenaline kicks in. I sprint forward, tripping on the loose sand, but refusing to let myself fall. Now I’m pulling Lor along, who struggles to stay upright with his broken ankle.
    I hear a piercing whinny that’s quickly cut short by a loud crunch. I don’t dare look back.
    “The horses should keep it busy for awhile,” Lor pants. “Gryphons hate horses.”
    “Did it come here to hunt them?” I ask.
    “No, it came for us.” Lor stumbles and falls to one knee, nearly dragging me down with him. I pull him back to his feet. He gasps and continues, “Or at least the rider came for us.”
    “Why?”
    An angry roar echoes through the air, and I hear flapping as the beast takes flight again.
    Lor turns and gives me an exasperated look. “Why do you
think
?”
    I swallow hard. It wants us dead. We’re both going to die, and I’ll never get a chance to avenge Ashe, or apologize to Farren, or say goodbye to Jackal.
    I run faster.
    “The castle,” Lor gasps.
    “I know,” I snap. “We need to get there. We’ll be safe.”
    “No. Look!”
    I look toward the castle, which looms in the distance. Circling it are about fifteen gryphons, black dots against the clouded sky. They fly just out of reach of archers, and I wonder how many more are hiding in the cloud-cover.
    My gut drops. The castle is far from safe, and I’m miles from any other shelter. And Farren. Farren is still in the castle, trapped—
    A thud cuts through my panic, and the ground trembles. A gust of air strikes me, and Lor and I fall to the ground.
    A talon strikes the sand next to my head. Another lands next to Lor, pinning us both in place.
    I look up. The gryphon looms above us, reeking of rot and death, and dripping blood from its beak. A droplet falls onto my cheek. I shudder. The gryphon slits its eyes, glaring at me, and tucks its wings close to its body.
    Attack tactics run through my head. Martial arts would be useless against this beast; it’s too huge for a punch or kick to do anything. And its feathers are too thick around its neck for anything to easily pierce it. But its legs are nearly unguarded, protected only by soft-looking down feathers.
    I slowly slide my hand into the sash around my waist and pull out my dagger. Before the gryphon can react, I lunge foward and drive the dagger into the beast’s right foreleg.
    The blade slashes through tendons and muscle, and the gryphon throws its head back and releases a shriek of pain. It flails its leg, tearing the dagger from my grasp, and dislodging it. My weapon falls into the sand a few feet from me.
    “Move!” I shriek at Lor, and scramble to my feet.
    A claw slices into my already-injured thigh, tearing a scream from me. I stumble, and a paw strikes my back, knocking me to the sand. I’m back under the gryphon, Lor still beside me.
    I barely made it two feet.
    Harsh laughter cuts through the momentary silence, coming from the rider on the gryphon’s back. “Look what we have here. A little princeling running from his own kind. Are you so fond of humans that you’ve adopted their fear of your own species?”
    Lor narrows his eyes and braces his arms against the sand, like he’s going to leap up at the rider. “I wouldn’t be running if I weren’t being chased.”
    I glance down to my leg, assessing the damage. A large gash tears across my thigh, deep and already gushing blood. I’m too high on adrenaline to feel much pain, but I know it will be agonizing in a few hours. If I survive that long…
    The rider shakes his head, and the hood he wears falls back, exposing his face. It’s defined and all harsh angles, like Lor’s. But his skin is paler, and he wears a smile darker than any expression I’ve ever seen on Lor. “You honestly expect not to be hunted, little princeling? After killing our princess?”
    “I didn’t kill her!”
    The pain and anger in Lor’s voice cuts through me, making me wince.
    The rider scoffs. “Right, that’s what you said at your trial. The trial where you were found
guilty
. Or do you not remember?”
    “Take me to my father,” Lor demands. “The king will understand if I’d just get a chance to speak with him.”
    “The