“Packmothers,” he sneered.
“Two at least,” Resh added.
He and Zarrek knocked their weapons together, the aethersteel ringing in the hiss of the crusty, burning air.
“You take the left,” Zarrek said. “Bring her on top of me.”
Resh nodded a split second before something hit the wards again.
The shield groaned.
Then cracked.
From above, two shadows fell like meteors, so heavy the ground sundered beneath their weight. Resh went left. From the black mass, a face appeared. Part human. Part—somethingelse.
It looked at him with huge white eyes; its maw opening to reveal rows of sharp-edged teeth. Ichor leaked from its convulsing throat, and just as Resh raised his hand to set its limbs ablaze, its voice called out—
“Kailorien…”
Time stopped.
“Kailorien…help me…”
Resh couldn’t breathe. Without a doubt, it washervoice.
No.
No, no, no.
That wasn’t—
That couldn’t be—
Auryn was alive.
Shewas alive.
But the hounds only took voices of the dead.
He turned. Couldn’t stop himself. Back to the tetheryard, where the horses were. His rune of foresight, Perthro, turned him back.
He dodged.
Rolled.
A breeze passed by his neck.
He flew to his feet, blade at the ready, centuries of bloodbaths steeling his will against a rising fear.
“Kailoriennnn…”the voicewailed again.
He tuned it out, snapping his fingers to bypass incantations. The armor sank its teeth into his spine. The pain was welcome. Grounding.
He jumped again, landing on top of the writhing packmother and sinking his blades into her skull. She shrieked and bucked. As he flipped backwards off of her, a chain of light followed his flight. Grasping the mana chain in both his massive hands, he pulled the beast around. Mid-charge, it was forced to change trajectory. Resh ran toward Zarrek, who was fighting another packmother on his own.
The two beasts collided. Voices rose to fever pitch, overlapping until they morphed into a single wail. Zarrek vanished then reappeared in the air atop both monsters. Flipping forward, he cleaved the air with his huge axe. A blade of light came down and cut the packmothers clean in half.
Resh didn’t wait. He looked—desperate—toward the horses. A scream broke out. Fully human this time.
