but his truck would never be the same. The claw marks served as a badge of honor, signaling his triumph over a monstrous creature capable of tearing a man apart as easily as Aaron would tear open his lunch bag.
He looked down at the crimson sword in his hand, admiring the fine engraving running up and down the edges of the blood groove. Outwardly he pledged never again to use the blade, but inwardly he knew that was not true; there were other monsters dwelling in the Forest, and he was all that stood between them and the small village he now called “home.”
A small hand touched his as it gripped the hilt, his knuckles white with tension. He looked down and saw Dara’s piercing grey eyes gazing into his. There was something about the child that frightened him, but it was his duty to protect her, and he would not fail. Behind that frail exterior was power he could not begin to imagine existed, at least not before these last two weeks, when his world was turned upside-down. He would keep her alive, at least until they could reach the Jade Temple. After that, she would most likely have to keep him alive.
“Let’s go home, now,” she said softly, urging Aaron in the direction of the village.
Aaron stole a moment to look back into the Forest, sighed heavily, and turned back to Dara, saying, “Yeah…let’s do that.”
