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Their shapes were all different. Some looked like a wasp and a human combined. Others had bones for horns, as if an elk had been stuck onto a human skull. They wore armor made of black metal—or dark stone, perhaps.
When they screeched, the entire forest fell silent. Nava swallowed the bile that rose in her throat, attempting to settle her nerves. The Zorren hadn’t seen her yet, but they were attacking Aristaeus all at once.
Nava screamed and dashed toward them. Half of her body was still air, the other half human. She called on nature as she’d done many times before, and the earth beneath her rumbled, right before massive roots shot from the ground, slamming into a demon and preventing it from hurting Ari.
It battled with the ropes of tree roots as branches dropped from above and pinned it to the ground. But the wooden prison wouldn’t hold the demon for long. She needed to use her power to subdue it, like she’d seen Ari do before.
She rushed to the fallen Zorren and jumped on top of it, ignoring the blisters that formed on her palms as she clawed at its neck. Her stubby human nails grew into magical claws. It hurt like hell, but she persevered, digging them into its head, avoiding its sharp teeth.
The screams of the forest grew louder inside her ears, feeding her anger and lending her strength.
She dug into the creature’s slimy throat until she met the gristle of muscle and bone. Her magic burned hotter, and the scream of the Zorren drowned out the cries of the trees.
Her magic flowed through her fingers, swirling over the demon’s body like wooden vines. They charred but didn’t break when they wrapped around its burning skin.
It bucked under her, nearly throwing her off despite her iron grip. Her aura glowed yellow, and she ignored the intense pain shooting up her hands and arms. Instead, she tightened her magical claws around its throat until she heard bone break and the demon slumped within her grasp.
Nava transferred away just as the forest rumbled beneath her in a furious call. It demanded to be fed by its enemy, and the dirt underneath the demon cracked open into a giant hole that swallowed the Zorren’s body whole.
Fire rained down on them as Nava moved across the battleground toward Ari. Everything hurt, even in her non-corporeal shape. But Ari couldn’t fight the remaining demons on his own and close the portal. There would be time to lick her wounds later.
All of a sudden, a claw reached out from the shadows of the forest, hidden by the thick smoke, and sank into her. Nails that shouldn’t be able to grab at her when she was just air dragged her down by her ribs, ripping through layers of clothing, skin, and muscle.
The wound burned deep, and her body flickered into its solid form as the demon threw her forward into a pile of brush. Sharp sticks, fallen branches, and small sharp rocks dug into Nava’s crumpling body as she screamed in agony.
The Zorren’s claws had been knife tips, curling under her ribs and tearing her flesh. The demon snapped its mandibles in her direction, walking to her with an unnatural gait that made her blood run cold.
So much pain flooded her body in waves that she could no longer move her limbs. Her body became a dead weight on the ground. It was too hot here. Too suffocating.
She gasped for air. Her fingers and legs had gone numb. All she could see was the trees around her, moving in unison and swinging their long branches at the demon that was coming for her.
A rough, guttural scream echoed through the burning woods. The Zorren growled and surged forward, its claws glowing with fire as it moved to strike her down. The leaves in the canopy shifted above her just before her vision blurred and darkness welcomed her in its soundless embrace.
19
ORION
Orion followed the pull of their bond toward the fire, gliding over the treetops and across the column of smoke that stung his eyes. He couldn’t just land in there, not when he had so little visibility and it could cost him his life.
Instead, he flew a league away from the main source of the fire. Twigs snapped under his feet as he landed as gracefully as he could, folding his wings between enormous trees. Then he ran like hell through the deep wall of smoke that burned his lungs like acid.
He pulled out the handkerchief Leela had stuffed in his pocket that morning and tied it behind his head, covering his nose and mouth. It was woven from raw silk, the weave so fine it would help filter the air.
An icy wind blew around him despite the fire, raising the hairs on the nape of his neck. A crackling energy that felt and smelled familiar, like his magic coming to life. Perhaps it was the filthy stench from the demons or the weird scent that usually emanated from the portals.
It didn’t matter. He didn’t have time to linger. Through the bond, he could feel that Nava was nervous—she was probably getting closer to the fire as well.
“A Dark One is hiding nearby,” a soul in his aura whispered, pulling him back to the present with a sharp spike of adrenaline. “It thinks we can’t see it—him.”
Fear stripped what little remained of Orion’s sanity as he followed the pull of his shadows, trying to find whatever it was referring to.
A Dark One? Could it be one of the king’s guards had found him? He was closer to the castle than he would have liked, and they might well still be on the lookout for him and Nava. The tree where his mother died wasn’t too far away, either.
The smoke hovering near a tree shifted ever so slightly, as if a large body had vanished from the shadows of two knotted tree trunks, leaving a gaping hole in the middle.
Orion’s throat went dry as he discovered a trail of ebony mist crawling across the forest floor like tiny claws. To an untrained eye, it was almost imperceptible in the surrounding haze. But Orion was familiar with this form of disguise, only used by his kind. His father’s guards had kidnapped him by shielding themselves in the same manner on Grey Island.
Whoever this fool was, he wasn’t even twelve feet away from Orion.
