She shouldn’t have left the group.
She shouldn’t have run off on her own.
How was she supposed to fight something that didn’t have a body?
Cutting in every direction, she swung her sword around aimlessly hoping to make contact with something solid. Shadows would take form for a moment showing creatures with glowing red eyes, a mouth full of long, sharp teeth in many rows, and horns that protruded from their heads. Heads that no matter how many times she swung at, wouldn’t fall from the creatures’ shoulders.
With no other option, Ambrose ran straight into the trees, batting away any shadows that reached for her as long limbed creatures clawed at her skin, gouging her as she ran. Talons raked every inch of her body, tearingflesh from bone as her screams were muffled with their excited cries. The chittering vibrating her body as blood seeped from her wounds.
Every hungry swipe cut her deeper and her energy poured out of her with the blood that created a trail behind her.
The woods grew thick, making it harder to see as she tripped through the forest, holding her sword clumsily in her hand. A scream tore through her throat as her feet beat the forest floor and something large on the ground knocked her to her knees.
She twisted her body and even through the darkness, there was just enough moonlight to see two white eyes shining against the cold ground, and a red beard blazing against the grass.
Felius’s body was mangled almost beyond recognition. Contorted in unnatural ways, his head was completely turned around to the back of his body. Everywhere the eye could see, his limbs had been clawed to pieces. Leg shattered and twisted in an unnatural direction, his skin had been peeled from his body. If it weren’t for his bright green eyes and red hair, Ambrose would have had no way of knowing who she was looking at. All traces of the fae ripped to shreds. His mouth hung open in his final scream.
She pushed herself away from him, her scream dying in her throat as she backed into something large and decaying. All around her bodies littered the ground.
When she turned to face the mound behind her, her eyes landed on the same sandy blond hair that Mary shared with her mother and ocean blue eyes like Antony’s. There was no other way to know this was Artie’s missing son as his body had been so mangled, chunks were missing entirely, his skin filleted as his fingers clawed into the dirt as though he’d been desperately crawling for his life when he died.
Bile rose from the back of her throat and Ambrose released the contents of her stomach. She pressed her eyes closed, hoping that maybe it was all in her head. She was having a nightmare. She had to be. This couldn’t be real.
This couldn’t be real.
The chittering screeches closed in on her from all sides.
This was real.
She had to move.
“Run!”the spirit roared in her head.“Now, young mage!”
She was so tired but she picked up her feet and forced them to carry her away from the creatures. Away from Felius.
The claws reached for her, one tearing a gash in her thigh that surely had to have taken a chunk of muscle with it but she kept running, refusing to look at it as the pain crawled up her side with every forced step.
Another tore at her shoulder, almost dislocating it in the process.
Ambrose’s screams mixed with the excited chittering as though playing with their food was their favorite pastime. She swung her sword but it was no use. Tears spilled down her face as she wondered if Felius had been this terrified during his last moments.
She fell to her knees as the shadows surrounded her, tearing at her skin one swipe at a time. They grew red eyes and mouths that stretched open from the shadows as saliva poured from their teeth.
She was going to die.
After everything she went through, she was going to die.
It was impossible to fight an enemy with no body. There was nothing to cut. It was a fool’s thought to believe she could save anyone. She couldn’t even save herself.
She hoped that her foolish escape had at least given the rest of them time to run. Time to escape.
She hoped wherever he was, Akadian was far away and out of their reach. No wonder he’d been so afraid. He was the only one whose magick could’ve protected her and she ran the other direction. She was a fool.
But if the rest of them got away, then at least her death would be worth something.
“You will not die tonight,”the voices rang over the chittering.
That familiar blinding light burst from Ambrose’s chest and encased the surrounding forest. The Alkijin shrieked—this time from pain—as the light seared their flesh.
