Sounds faded; my heart was in my throat as I ran.
A sudden fracture of light cracked in the space around Ozias, and the beast recoiled.
Jax emerged, lumbering beside Ozias with ire in his glowing white gaze. He’d come of his own accord, wasting no time in sinking his teeth into the beast and tossing it back into the throng of monsters.
As one, the Council’s eyes widened. I sent another barrage of blades at Wynn’s face. This time, two struck home.
Six more to go.
Wynn’s white legendary feline emerged, running side-by-side with the russet demon, and they launched at Jax. Volcanic walls shot from the ground, sizzling the air with their red-hot veins, and he let out a roar from the pit of his belly. The legendary beasts smashed into the rock and hissed, leaping aside as the smell of burnt hair singed the air. Ozias slipped behind one of the walls. With his blind side protected by Jax’s defenses, he began attacking another brigade of beasts.
We were making a dent in the copies. Their numbers started to dwindle to the point where I could breathe for a moment before a fresh one lunged. Kost and Calem worked back to back, facing off with a liquid-blue legendary beast that had snaked through with the ease of water.
The beast slipped through their defenses, and thick claws sank into Kost’s thigh. His shout cut through the backdrop of cries, and I froze. Calem yanked him back out of reach, but not far enough. The water legendary crouched. Launched into the air.
The ground rumbled, and a vein of red streaked beneath my feet, rushing toward Calem and Kost. A rock wall exploded from the earth. The legendary crashed into it, his watery skin erupting into steam. With a violent yowl, he retreated and slunk back into the throng of copies.
“Jax, there!” I turned to see Ozias pointing at another fallen assassin. Jax glanced between me and Calem and Kost, and then focused his power across the clearing. Another one saved. Ozias gave him a proud grin before lunging back into battle, taking down what beasts he could while keeping an eye on Jax.
And the rest… Not all of us were warriors before the transition, and it showed. It was one thing to kill with the element of surprise, and another thing entirely to wage a war.
Gone. So many were gone. Eleven men and women lay strewn about, bodies snared in tree roots or beaten senselessly into the earth. The fields were more red-brown than green, and the slush of our steps in the grass had little to do with the mist of the falls.
“Watch out,” Emelia shouted, diving to her left to spear a copy at my rear. Smoke crawled up the edge of her glittering halberd, and she offered me a sadistic grin before spinning on her heels to parry another monster. Iov flanked her side, and he buried his ax without fault into the forehead of a copy.
I grunted my thanks before shooting another flurry of blades. Another showering of smoke as copies faded. A few snuck through and battered against Wynn’s shield, and four eyes closed.
Two left. My gaze slid past him to Leena. Motionless aside from her eyes, she followed the path of her Myad across the battlefield.
Crouching low into the ground, I prepared to sprint toward Wynn, delivering a series of blades along the way so when the barrier broke, I would already be on top of him.
I never made it.
The sick splattering of claws embedding in flesh sang through the air. A few feet away, Iov dropped to his knees. With a heavy roar, a beast retracted its nails from his shattered shoulder and reared back to finish the job.
“No!” Emelia shrieked louder than the falls. Gripping her halberd with two hands, she propelled herself forward and impaled the beast’s side.
Instead of mist, blood poured to the earth. The force of the blow knocked the cat to the ground, and the remaining copies shattered.
Leaving Mika pinned, Emelia retreated to her wounded brother. “Iov. Iov, no. Iov…” Tears bisected her face. A dribble of blood trickled from his mouth to his chin, but he managed a shaky wave as he slumped into her body.
“Mika!” Raven bolted from her place behind Wynn, rushing to her beast’s side and casting the air around her into deep-red light. The rest of the Council froze, their beasts slinking back to their masters. Instead of returning to the Council’s side, Raven and Mika vanished. Sanctuary. The beast realm would provide.
My assassins didn’t have that luxury. I couldn’t raise them again.
Rage fueled me, and my blades flew true, crashing into Wynn’s shield and breaking it entirely. He stumbled, wild eyes spearing me from across the clearing, and I couldn’t help the manic grin tugging at my lips. “Got you.”
Wicked and dark, he laughed. “Not yet.”
Barreling toward me with otherworldly speed, seeming to burst from the shadows themselves, the Myad launched himself into the air. Wind pulsing under his wings, he gained momentum and targeted my chest, fangs and claws readily poised. He must have thought I was aiming at Leena, because nothing but sheer rage burned in his eyes. It was the kind of fierce loyalty reserved for protecting his own.
Time slowed to a standstill as I realized there was no escaping this. I had only enough time to get my blades up to skewer the beast—and that I would never do.
Glancing back at Leena, I drank in the sight of her one last time.I’m sorry. For everything.
Bracing for impact, I kept my weapons at bay—but the hit never came. Flesh ripped, but no pain arced through my body. No lancing heat. Only the dank and metallic smell of blood coupled with a body slumping to the ground at my feet. The Myad retreated out of reach before I could fully understand what had happened. My gaze dropped to the ground.
Calem.
