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Callan.
Nia’s grip tightened on me, pulling me flush against her side. “Shadow beasts,” she said grimly, her eyes scanning for enemies. “We need to get out of here. Conjured from the depths of ash under the fire royal’s palace, they leave nothing but death and destruction in their wake.”
“Fabulous,” I breathed, trying not to make too much noise and get discovered. Shadow beasts sounded ominous as fuck, and I really didn’t want to learn why they went by that name.
‘NIA!’ Aura’s shout was one we both could hear, and Nia swore before gripping me tighter and running off, deeper into the smoke. She ran like she was on a mission, and I realized she must be able to pinpoint where Aura is through their bond.
After a few seconds Aura swam into view, surrounded on three sides by these shadow beasts. I blinked a few times as my eyes skirted over them. They wavered where they stood, as if I couldn’t quite focus on their form while looking directly at them. They were made of smoke, large and hulking, greatly resembling a wolf pack. Sharp, glinting teeth hung menacingly from their mouths as they surrounded their prey. Aura was bleeding, one of her wings torn and oozing, but still she fought, her talons whipping toward them. The shadows disappeared for a moment when she sliced through them, but within seconds they reformed and were back on the attack. Aura was tiring, her movements slowing as her breathing became more labored.
“Target the eyes,” Nia told me as she readied her sword, her free hand already summoning the water from the pond. “It’s their weakest point, their power center. Take out both eyes and they’ll stay dead. And don’t use your lightning powers, they’ll only absorb it.”Stay dead?With that, she launched forward, sword slicing and water whipping like an avenging angel as she tried to help Aura.
The shadow nearest to me backed up at Nia’s explosive entrance, pivoting to turn to me with a snarl. I bent my knees slightly, leaning forward with my dagger death-gripped in my hand.
I was not going to die here.
With no warning he launched at me, a much higher leap than I was expecting. I stabbed my knife out just when he was about to land, a strange sensation enveloping my hand as it just went through his body. He solidified, knocking me onto my back, going straight for my throat.
I brought my arm up just in time, my knife piercing through his chin, the blade peeking at me from between his open jaw and he went limp above me.
Did I kill him?
My breath panted as I looked in his face, mere inches away from mine. Nia said to destroy the eyes, but he seemed pretty freaking dead to me. I shrugged him off my dagger, pleasantly surprised when the blade pulled away clean. I look around for Nia, who was busy dispatching the last shadow beast, her blade slicing through one eye as an ice blade she had formed in the other stabbed straight through his remaining eye. With only one foe to face, Aura had already killed her opponent, his body lying in a limp heap in front of her.
I looked around the clearing, but it was still permeated with smoke, and I drew in closer to my companions as I searched frantically. Where were Callan, Oliver, and the other pagus?
Bang!
There! An explosion to our left, deeper into the surrounding trees as a bright explosion of fire flickered beyond the smoke. “We have to go help them!” I shouted to Nia as I started off in that direction, not bothering to look back at them as I raced to help my friends.
“Rowan, watch out!” Nia shouted as she started running toward me, but it was too late. I was knocked face-first into the dirt, my knife skidding out of my hand, grateful for my armor as he tried to slash through it but couldn’t. I screamed when his teeth bit into the skin of my exposed neck, taking a chunk with him as he ripped away. A loud roar ripped through the night, an ebony panther darting over me, flinging the shadow beast backward off me with a sickening crunch as he hit the ground. A small grunt of effort came from Nia as she finished the animal off, her sword lancing through his eye.
“I told you through the eyes. Always through the eyes,” she huffed as she withdrew her blade from his face, ever present and alert as she scanned for more enemies.
Callan’s panther nudged my face as I rolled over, giving me a gentle lick of his scratchy tongue which I pushed away. “I’m fine.”
He dipped his head, setting a heavy paw on my leg as I sat up so he could talk in my mind.‘Oliver needs our help.’
“Where are Varus and Lithia?” I questioned as I pushed myself up, reclaiming my blade and following Callan through the trees, Nia and an injured Aura trailing behind us.
‘They snuck up on us while we were asleep, and Lithia got injured. I lost sight of them in the scuffle, until I saw them. Flying away.’Rage quivered in Aura’s voice, mixed with pain and a loathing I didn’t understand.‘I told you they shouldn’t be on this mission.’Her anger turned toward Nia, who recoiled slightly under the brunt of Aura’s disapproval.
Another loud bang broke us into a run, Nia’s judgement was something to be questioned later once we found Oliver. We halted as we ran through a gap in the trees, sweat immediately sticking to my back as we came upon Oliver and the source of the loud explosions became immediately apparent.
A loud cackle came from the halfling as he danced within his protection, surrounded on all sides by at least a dozen shadow beasts. They snarled but didn’t approach the flames, cautiously skirting around him. A raging fireball was being weaved in his hands, and when it was finally big enough, he launched it through the flames, attacking his target like a heat-seeking missile as it tried to turn and run. The second the flames connected, a loud bang sounded, the shadow creature exploding upon impact, disintegrating into dust. He immediately went back to building up the next one, hands weaving as sweat dripped down his brow.
“Risen by the ashes, destroyed by the flame,” Nia commented as she eyed the situation keenly, calculating the best way to approach this new information. The shadows hadn’t noticed us yet, and Oliver was making fast work of his giant fireball. “Aura and I will take the right, you guys take the left. That should cause enough of a distraction that Oliver can take out the rest.” She turned to go, before quickly pivoting back to look at me. “And what are you going to do, Rowan?”
“Stab them in the fucking eye,” I ground out, my neck itching where the edges of the bite started to heal. It didn’t make it hurt any less, and I was rabid to enact my revenge on its spawn mates. Satan siblings.
Whatever.
‘Stay behind me,’Callan said as he brushed against me, prowling towards the nearest beast. He was a vicious shadow as he pounced on the nearest one, diving straight for its eyes and quickly dismantling it before moving on to the next. I stayed close, my dagger held out in front of me defensively. A burst of fire from the right drew my attention for a brief second, a giant flame bursting from Aura’s mouth and incinerating one of the shadows.
Holy. Shit.
Two more shadows turned towards me and I lasered in on them as they advanced with a predatory stillness, widening into a half circle, boxing me in. Weighing my options, I lunged toward the one on my left, figuring the element of surprise would be my only chance. I hissed as a claw embedded itself into my hip, just managing to slip in between the pieces of my armor. I plunged my dagger into one eye, grimacing as I gripped and twisted, pulling away with a wet squelch. The beast weakened, and I pulled the knife back, grimly sinking it into the next eye.
A loud growl behind me caused me to pivot, yanking the dagger out as fast as I could as I turned, the beast crumpling limply to the ground as I stared into the face of the next. Callan, sleek and powerful in his feline form, tore into my opponent before I could react, rendering him dead within seconds. As our last enemy fell, so did Oliver’s, the final shadow beast igniting with a blast, the wall of fire dissipating. The only evidence of its existence was the scorched earth where it had stood.
