Page 34 of Dance of Stars and Ashes

He gave her a small smile. “It’s a deal, Swamp Girl.”

She looked out on the blight again and then squinted. Something was moving in the trees. Maybe it was the missing soldiers.

“Do you see that?” she asked, pointing into the distance.

Yasen leaned in, following the line of her finger.

“See what?”

“There. You don’t see something moving?”

She gripped the stone railing, quickly realizing it wasn’t the guards.

It looked like a large mass sweeping along the earth, like a huge wave rolling over the ocean but dense and made of shadows.

Yasen shook his head.

“I don’t see anything. Just the forest. Are you sure?”

Zarya continued watching as it moved, pooling across the ground like thick puddles of smoke.

“I… maybe it’s nothing.”

She stared at their surroundings as the mass began to take shape, drawing closer. She realized it wasn’t a singular entity but hundreds of bodies moving together. But that made no sense.

“Zee, what is it?” Yasen said, his gaze moving between Zarya and the point where she was staring.

The foreign presence kept moving until it hit the treeline, moonlight spilling over it and revealing an army of demons with horns, razor-sharp teeth, and long, deadly claws, all wearing beaten black metal armor.

“Zee? What’s going on?” Yasen asked her, and she shook her head.

“I don’t know. You don’t see that? Please tell me you see that.” She clutched his arm, squeezing it hard.

“See what? Zee, you’re scaring me.”

She lifted her hand to her throat as the army ground to a stop. They weren’t quite solid where they stood but had the consistency of apparitions or ghosts. She noticed the way the wind made them ripple like they were made of the softest silk.

What were they, and why was she seeing them?

The demon army halted at the edge of the blight and waited, just staring at Dharati’s distant walls, making no attempts to move closer. She should do something. But what? Could she call on her nightfire? She still didn’t know how to use it but vowed she would practice—starting tomorrow. Hopefully, Row or Professor Dhawan could help her.

“Zarya!” Yasen said, wrapping his arm around her. “What is it?”

“I see…” she said. “There’s an army.”

“What?” he asked, alarm coloring his expression.

“There’s nothing there, Zee.”

Her mouth gaped. “I don’t know how to explain it, but there are hundreds of them.” She swallowed hard and then whispered, “I see them.”

“You’re sure?” he asked, and she nodded slowly. Was she sure? Was this just in her head?

“Then we need to alert the Khada immediately.”

She finally tore her gaze away.

“Let’s go,” Yasen said. “Zee, we need to tell them.”