My Second Chance Mate is a Barbarian (Sera and Fenris) novel Chapter 481

Sera

"Stop!" a voice yelled behind her.

The dirt was cold and gritty under her bare feet as she ran. Her breath came in short gasps. Thorns scratched her ankles. The night air stung her face.

She saw the world in flashes. Roofs tumbling, sparks spiraling. A giant furry shape dragging someone by the leg. A line of people with neck ropes stumbling. A body on the ground that she had to jump over. A dog barking into empty space.

The oven was burning. Hesper's oven, where she baked bread each morning.

She prepared to leap over a body in the smoke-filled path, but her feet faltered when she recognised the well-worn boots with their mismatched laces, the tousled blond hair, the faded blue shirt with its patched elbow.

"Wicket," she whispered. She wanted to run to him, to touch his shoulder, to shake him awake. But the men were behind her, their shouts and the clash of steel and the cries of her people. She couldn't stop.

She kept running, her heart shattering. One last glance over her shoulder as she passed him. His eyes were open, staring at the gulping red sky. Unseeing. I felt the girl's tears drying on her cheeks, her heart hammering. She was running, her feet pounding the earth, but inside her, I could only scream.

She sprinted through the burning village, not daring to glance back.

She weaved between two carts, their rough wooden frames blazing. A fallen pen fence barred her path. She slipped through a gap in the splintered boards. A hanging net snagged at her hair but tore away as she ducked under it.

"Fuckin' rat!" The one-eyed man's voice, close behind her. "Wolf's whelp! Little bitch!"

At the edge of the village, a fallen log stretched across the narrow path. She dropped flat and crawled under it, bark scraping her back. I felt the rough wood rake her skin. She scrambled out the other side, gaining precious seconds.

Behind her, the men crashed into the log, swearing as they struggled to climb over or go around it. Smoke stung her eyes and seared her lungs. She coughed, gasping for breath, but kept running.

"Fuckin' little bitch!" The one-eyed man snarled. "We'll find you!"

Her bare feet pounded the earth, numb and slick with blood. Her father's blood. She had to get away.

She burst from the trees and skidded to a halt. The ancient oak loomed before her, its massive branches reaching up into the night sky. Safety. Had to reach it...

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