Page 135 of Keldori By Daybreak

“Tell me what was so special about the library!”

“No!”

A monstrous bellow formed at the back of my father’s throat. It was now or never. Ciarán’s time was up.

“Tell me!” Ferrin yelled. “Or be eaten by your own father!”

Blood pounded in my ears, and Maxwell screamed a ghastly howl, but through the noise, Ciarán whispered a warning in my head.

“Brace yourself.”

An explosion rocked the camp, and Ferrin stumbled to the side.

My hands were still bound, but it was easy to disintegrate my arms and reform them ahead of myself, bone blades already drawn, and Ciarán’s orange magick glowing in my fists.

Brown hair turned blue and tumbled forth as I grabbed my father by the shoulders. His eyes locked with mine, full of too-Lucid horror, and I rammed my bone blades into his gut.

He fell in a pile of dust across my boots just as a second series of explosions shook the tent.

“Find the Grimguard!” Ferrin bellowed at Caitria, and she bolted between us to exit. Ferrin squared himself at me, glowering as green magick swelled in his fists. “I should’ve known the whelp would be around, and I should’ve known you’d try something like this. Where’s your real body then, Nightmare?”

29. Ambush Tactics

I kicked my father’s dust from my boots and then straightened up, relishing the look of shock and loathing on Ferrin’s face.

The opal forest surrounding Willow’s Grave was miles wide. Ferrin could search through day and night for the next week straight, and I’d bet my grandma’s cat he wouldn’t find the cave hiding beneath the grove of trees where we’d left my real body.

Ciarán never would’ve agreed to using my real self as the distraction, though he was hesitant to leave me sleeping and unprotected in the woods as well. The cave was nestled underground, however, perfectly hidden and cozier than some of the places we’d stayed.

If I focused on my body, I could feel the dirt floor against my sleeping body’s back, smell the earthy scent of exposed dirt, and feel the Saergrim magick I’d used to turn my retinas blue running through my veins.

A third explosion cast the silhouettes of trees against the tent canvas, and Ferrin morphed in the flickering light.

“Can’t say I blame you. It’s a useful trick, after all,” he growled, and I realized too late what Tiernan had been so quick to notice when I’d impersonated Ferrin in the mountain.

Ferrin wasn’t wearing his goggles.

His arms sharpened into mantis-like spears as he commanded his own form to become a weapon. He was a Nightmare too.

I charged, but he ripped through the tent canvas, escaping into the camp on Skal-strengthened legs that now looked more like the haunches of a beast.

Through the stone trees, running bodies, and burning tents, flashes of gold met orange where Ciarán fended off Caitria’s attacks. Una’s silhouette took up a defensive crouch as Ferrin crashed towards them.

Magick heated my hand, and an orange flail formed as I drew back my arm. I whipped it forward, releasing the handle, and watched as the flail zipped through the clearing and tangled around Ferrin’s engorged ankles.

He howled and fell in a mess of magick and monstrous limb. Una abandoned Ciarán’s fight against Caitria to pounce at Ferrin, but he batted her off with an oversized arm. She smashed into the stone trees, yelping as she fell.

“Ferrin!” I screamed, mostly out of anger but also to keep his attention on me.

He shook off the tangle of flail around his ankles, the bare skin of his leg still smoldering where the magick had burned him. Another explosion split the forest, and orange flames reared through the trees to our right, but I kept my gaze on Ferrin, bone blades at the ready.

Ferrin took the bait.

His mouth, now more like a snout than a human jaw, contorted in a tooth-baring grin, and he charged.

A small squadron of soldiers running from the most recent explosion ran between us, but Ferrin speared through two of them with his mantis-arm and cast them to the side out of his way.

The brutality of it gave me pause, and I let my guard down as I waited for either of them to stir in the dirt, but neither did.