There, lingering in the folds of every Council member’s putrid silver cloaks stood an army of Asura. A single milky eye shuttered close, and Wynn’s beast sighed. While Calem had never gotten Leena’s Asura to ten, she had shared what would’ve happened if all those eyes closed.
Flanking my right, Kost barked out orders. “Count the eyes to determine the remaining hits necessary to break the shield. Do it quickly!”
We never got the chance.
A rainbow of colors shone from the Council members’ hands and mixed together into a blinding prism, making it briefly impossible to see. Invisible doors creaked open, and beasts crawled from the realm to stand before their masters. The air shivered, danger rolling heavy and electric off their bodies. Seven massive catlike monsters pawed to the front of the lines, sharp claws piercing the earth and rumbling growls simmering in the back of their throats.
Leena’s voice drifted through my mind.The Myad is one of ten legendary feline beasts.The quake of power snapping against my skin couldn’t have belonged to anything else. She might have been the only one with a Myad, but these other beasts were just as dangerous.
Flexing my hands, I eyed the white one at the head of the pack. Wynn’s. Violet and emerald wings sprouted from its front and hind legs, and the scaled plates of its chest glistened with each echoing breath.
“Good luck getting to us.” With the stroke of his forefinger on Leena’s jaw, Wynn gave her a disastrous order. “Summon the Myad. Prove to the Council you’ll fight for your home.”
She didn’t hesitate. Empty gaze trained on my heart, she splayed out her hand and called to her most prized beast. Even now, in the face of battle, the dark fury of the Myad stilled my chest. Following his master’s stare, his streaming blue eyes were riveted on me.
In that moment, I realized we were fucked.
I couldn’t kill him. I couldn’t murder the very thing she’d worked so hard to achieve.
Wynn waved his hand. “Raven, if you’d please.”
One of the Council stepped forward, her crushed-copper hair sweeping across her face. Sunken yellow eyes slid to her cat, a slender slate-gray beast with twin tails tipped in arrowheads, and she let out a bored drawl. “Mika, end this quickly.”
The cat shuddered, and every hair on its body rose to the heavens and solidified into sharpened points. It shuddered again, and an exact replica of Mika shimmered to life beside her.
And another.
And another.
Perfect copies littered the clearing, and we were surrounded. The other legendary felines sauntered in behind them, crouching low to the ground and waiting for the opportune moment to pounce.
“Enjoy the true strength of Hireath.” Wynn dismissed us with a wave, and the cats lunged.
I barely had time to dodge. The first copy streaked past me, and I dropped to the ground while slicing a blade upward. Flesh tore open, but instead of showering me in a spray of blood and guts, the beast disappeared into a puff of gray smoke. Another sped toward me, and I crossed my forearms to block its gnashing fangs. Teeth skewered my arms and I bit back a cry, writhing in place under the weight of the monster. My blood responded. Fine blades sprung from my wounds and scraped into the soft flesh of its throat. Once last gurgle, and it too vanished into mist.
Kost, Calem, and Ozias dashed toward me, and we pressed our backs together. Blood along my arm stretched and coagulated, forming a deadly weapon from elbow to fingertips. The more they ripped me apart, the easier it was for me to attack.
Calem swiped a blade at a copy, only to have his hands shredded by its fur. A gaping wound marred Kost’s calf. He grimaced, studying the furling shadows of our brethren. Between their enraged roars and the earsplitting yowls of beasts, it was impossible to tell who was winning.
“Stay together,” Ozias growled, and pummeled the face of a copy. With slick blades wedged between his fingers, his shadow knuckles ripped through the beast at his feet. But his skin shredded upon impact, too, and couldn’t heal fast enough before the next beast pounced.
Kost willed the darkness to form a slender rapier. Gripping it in his right hand, he speared the neck of the nearest feline. Safer than Ozias’s approach, but it took a considerable amount of energy and power to contain shadows in one form for so long.
A copy hurtled toward me, and I sent a flurry of blades directly into its open mouth. Smoke leaked from the wounds, and the beast winked out of existence. Peering through the throng of cats, I spied the watching Council. With the Asuras’ shields still in full effect, they didn’t bother to distance themselves from the carnage.
Dodging another beast, I shouted above the snarls, “The only way we can stop this is if we get to them!”
My brothers dipped low in their stances in preparation for the next round of attack. The legendary beasts slunk around the copies. Calculating. Waiting while we fought off illusion after illusion, our defenses weakening and our muscles giving. Then they’d strike. Lethal and fast.
Darting closer to the Charmers, I sent a wave of blades aimed directly at Wynn.
Only one smashed against his shield, sending a spiderwebbing ripple in the energy field before the surface returned to normal. Flinging themselves before the Council, the copies willingly abandoned their pursuit of the assassins to take blades to the gut, and the rest of my arsenal disappeared.
Ozias followed suit, peeling off behind me to get a better angle at Wynn. But as he wound his arm back to unleash a fistful of blades, one of the legendary felines intervened. Russet-brown with bone spikes along its spine, it slammed into Ozias and pinned him to the earth.
“Ozias!” I lunged, but a series of copies lashed out. Smooth claws ripped into my thighs, and I whirled in place, swiping my elongated forearm blade along their hides. Smoke escaped and I was free, but not fast enough to get to Ozias.
Devil-red eyes burned bright, and the beast reared its head back, teeth exposed. There was no saving him from those yellow fangs.
