Page 37 of Dance of Stars and Ashes

Suddenly, two mounted figures wearing the uniform of the queen’s guard burst through the darkness, screaming.

“Run! They’re coming!” the guards shouted, and Zarya realized these must be the missing soldiers they’d been meant to relieve on the watchtower earlier.

The guards stampeded towards them as the eerie sounds of the forest drew closer, and the vibrations under Zarya’s feet intensified.

The guards careened to a stop as they approached the line.

“What is it?” Vikram shouted.

The soldiers’ faces were pale, their eyes rolling with terror.

“Monsters,” one of them whispered, and the word expanded over the gathered assembly like a curse. They turned to face the forest as the shadows of the army parted like a curtain, revealing the horror that lay beyond.

“Good gods,” Kindle said as he stepped back.

“What the fuck are those?” Yasen asked.

Zarya made a low noise in her throat at the line of giant bronze scorpions that now stood facing them, their tails arched and poised to strike.

“Ajakavas,” Apsara said, her voice raw with dread. If Apsara was frightened, what chance did the rest of them have?

“Let me guess?” Zarya asked, her voice shaking more than she would have liked. “Another creature of myth that shouldn’t be here standing in front of us right now, ready to tear us to shreds?”

Apsara nodded grimly. “Precisely that.”

“Great,” Zarya said with a wry huff. “That’s just perfect.”

The ajakavas assembled along the treeline, assessing their opponents. Maybe the only comforting thing about their entrance was the fact that her ghost army had melted into the ether. Had they been here to warn her? Or had they been responsible for bringing these monsters to their door?

Zarya didn’t have any more time to wonder because that same whispering they’d heard from the trees churned into a discordant melody akin to the chitter of insects. Gods, she hated bugs. This was a literal nightmare come to horrifying life.

As a unit, the scorpions began to get louder, their tales snapping and their pincers clicking. Zarya could have sworn they were laughing at their pitiful army gathered at the wall, white-knuckling their meager weapons.

A row of bronze shells gleamed in the moonlight like fortified caverns designed to protect a horde of treasure. Zarya already suspected they wouldn’t stand a chance against them.

And then the monsters charged.

“Ready!” Vikram yelled, holding up his sword. “Show them no mercy! Attack!”

Their line surged as Zarya and Dharati’s army ran across the open plain that spread between the city and the forest, her arms pumping and the wind blowing her hair.

They came upon the ajakava in a clash of swords and screams.

Zarya estimated there were about fifty scorpions, and while their force numbered in the hundreds, it became quickly apparent it would take a small battalion to bring down each one.

Screams echoed in the air as the scorpions’ tails swung, biting into the backs of the soldiers, piercing easily through their armor with sharp stings as fighters screamed, foaming at the mouth before their eyes rolled into their heads and they collapsed to the ground.

Ahead of her, Aarav and Yasen fought an ajakava along with a group of soldiers as they surrounded the demon, trying to reach its bronzed shell.

Zarya approached from the side, swinging her sword, vibrations numbing her arm as it glanced against the monster’s carapace, leaving a long scrape like a diamond scratched over a mirror. But it was obvious the creature hadn’t felt a thing.

Aarav ducked as the demon swung out a pincer, attempting to sever him in two. Yasen fought on the other side, aiming for its face where it seemed like it would be most vulnerable.

A flash of light caught Zarya’s attention, and she saw Rabin shooting beams of copper light towards the monster, the magic bouncing off its shell and ricocheting into the sky.

Row sent alternating bolts of fire and lightning towards the monsters as he lifted an arm and made a slicing motion before a forked bolt of lightning hit an ajakava in the head, right through the line of its many eyes. The scorpion screeched and flipped over on its back from the force of the blow, its horrible needle-like legs scrabbling in the air.

Rabin sprinted for the fallen creature, leaping in the air and landing on its stomach in a crouch before he used both hands to spear it with the point of his sword.