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“Let’s try and see.” He sets the arrow into his bow and aims it at me.
I don’t have much time to react. The arrow flies through the air, and I raise my sword, my body moving faster than I thought possible.
The arrow collides with my sword with ating!before flying off to the side.
Rasmus frowns, not expecting that, but he’s quick too, already loading another arrow. It fires at me, my sword deflecting the shot again just in time.
Then, it fires again, and I deflect it again, all while he’s slowly walking toward me, all while I’m slowly walking back. I don’t dare look over my shoulder to see if I’m about to stumble, nor to see how far I have to go to get to the safety of the Hiisi Forest. With the Magician still lying there, arrow to the face and motionless, I feel a deep sense of futility for the first time—like I truly am alone in the world, at least in this one, and no one is going to come and save me.
I told the Magician I would protect him, and I didn’t.
I don’t even think I can protect myself.
“I can stop, you know,” Rasmus says. “All you need to do is put down the sword and come with me, sister.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” I counter just as he fires another arrow at me, which I block just in time. Damn it, how many of them does he have?
“That was never an option,” he says as he raises his arm in a dramatic fashion and points at me. “Saada!” he commands.
Suddenly, all the flaming murdered children wail again in unison, their tiny mouths snapping as the inhuman, haunting sounds fill the air. They start running toward me. There must be at least twenty of them, and at first, I think I might be able to stay and fight them off, but then I look over my shoulder and see how close the forest is.
I take my chances. Once past the wards, I’ll be safe.
I turn and run as fast as I can, knowing that though the little fire spirits are fast, they are still children, and I’m faster, with a head-start.
Thwack.
I hear the arrow at the same time I feel it.
My right leg explodes in pain, as if it’s been torn off at the knee, and I collapse to the ground in a heap, rocks cutting my palms as I try to break my fall, red dirt smearing up my elbows.
I try to hold back a scream, but it comes out as an anguished cry. I am in pure agony; I can barely breathe through it, and I know if I don’t ignore it, it will become the death of me.
I twist around and look at my leg, at the arrow sticking out of my calf, the blood dripping onto the dirt. Right behind me is the swarm of flaming children coming to kill me, and behind them, the figure of Rasmus striding through the dark mist.
No, I can’t die here.
I grab my sword and manage to get to one knee, turning around to face the children. The closest one to me, a little girl with missing eyes and teeth and roaring flames for hair, jumps at me. I swipe my sword across her while she’s in mid-flight, severing her body in two.
Another child flings themselves at me, and I quickly bring the sword across their neck, moving just in time to do the same to another. I try to get to my feet, but my leg howls in pain, and I have to drag it across the dirt to get more distance between me and the Liekkiö, unable to use my sword in close combat.
More come at me now, jumping onto my shoulders, pulling my hair and bringing me down to the ground. I kick and scream, flames burning me, and I watch in horror as Rasmus appears just a few feet away, the arrow in his bow nocked and aimed right at my head.
“I’ll call them off,” he says with an acidic smile. “You just have to come with me.”
I grind my teeth together and growl in response, knocking a child’s skull off their body with a throw of my elbow, the flames licking my skin, glancing down to kick another one that’s grabbed hold of my foot in the face.
But when I look back up, Rasmus is no longer holding the bow.
And he’s no longer alone.
There’s someone behind him, holding an arrowhead, the sharp point pressed against the side of Rasmus’ neck, enough that it has drawn a trickle of blood.
The hands are gloved, the arms robed.
The Magician!
His galaxy face appears just behind Rasmus.
