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Mayn shifted, placing himself protectively in front of me.
But the Vendikar had us surrounded, their numbers overwhelming.
They were hideous creatures — covered head to foot in thick brown tufty fur and long snouts that brought to mind oversized rats.
And I’m going to turn into one of them?
That terrified me more than anything else.
One stepped forward. “You!” he snapped. “You come with us!”
I howled in fear and shuffled back.
Mayn’s entire muscled body coiled. “Over my slain spirit!”
The Vendikar nodded. “Very well.”
He growled an order and the other Vendikar rushed forward.
Suddenly, the inexplicable hunger, the craving I’d felt earlier, morphed into something else.
An adrenaline surge, perhaps, or a side effect of the poison.
But it gave me strength — strength I didn’t know I possessed.
Reacting on pure instinct, I lunged at the closest Vendikar.
My hands, seemingly of their own accord, aimed for his throat.
The agent was taken aback by my sudden onslaught, and we tumbled to the ground in a tangle of limbs.
My strength was raw, untrained, and my attacks clumsy, but they were fueled by desperation.
Mayn, meanwhile, skillfully fended off two agents, his movements swift and precise.
Yet even with his combat prowess and my newfound strength, the odds were not in our favor.
An especially large Vendikar lunged at Mayn, knocking him off balance.
Two others grabbed my arms, pinning me against the cold brick wall of the alley.
The sense of doom was almost palpable.
But then, Mayn did something unexpected.
Closing his eyes for a split second, he summoned a deep, resonant energy.
With a tremendous bellow, he released it outward in a radiant burst.
The alley was momentarily engulfed in a blinding light, forcing the Vendikar to shield their eyes.
Seizing the opportunity, Mayn grabbed my hand and pulled me along, weaving through the momentarily disoriented agents.
“What was that?” I yelled, not sure if I was referring to his blinding pulse of light or my own crazy outburst of pure rage.
“There is much you do not yet know,” he said. “First, we must escape.”
Our feet pounded against the cobblestones, echoing our frantic escape.
