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But praying is useless. The dark elf gods do not answer human prayers. Nobody does.
We’re alone.
I am alone.
3
VALKUS
“It is time to head home, I guess,” I murmur to Nexus when my legs start to strain and the likar begins to lag behind me.
But then everything changes.
Nexus senses it before I do.
Danger.
We both hear the choked, strangled screams.
I catch up with Nexus moments later. I can smell it in the air. Fear and violence.
We’re in the theater district. I’ve been walking for hours, just strolling around Pythos. Sometimes I stop in at a tavern or a bar for a drink. But Nexus is very rarely welcome indoors, so I never stay for long. Besides, I have come to prefer being outside at night, and I can drink at home.
We round a corner near the edge of the theater district and see the source of the danger.
She’s beautiful.
She’s human.
I see her face for only a second as she struggles against a tall dark elf who has her pinned up against a wall. Her skin, creamy and warm, shines in the moonlight. Her eyes are large, brown, and rimmed with thick, dark lashes. Her eyebrows are straight and dark, and I am sure that her face, heart-shaped as it is, is usually sweet.
But now her face is twisted in fear and pain.
And that should not be happening.
She should not be afraid.
No!
Nexus does not only sense her fear and the violence. He also senses my rage.
And he knows exactly what to do.
He goes leaping through the air, snarling, ripping, and clawing at the dark elf, while I dart forward to catch the human girl as she falls to the ground.
The dark elf fights against Nexus, struggling to get back to the human girl he was attacking.
The girl goes slack in my arms, and for one heart-wrenching moment I wonder if she is dead.
But then I feel for her pulse, and it is there, faint, fluttering, and frenzied. Her head lolls to the side while Nexus swipes his claws at the dark elf who is on his back on the ground.
“Hey, hey,” I whisper, stroking her cheek. “Are you okay? Please open your eyes.”
Pythos is almost completely dark. The only light comes from a local bar.
They must have heard her screaming. And they did nothing.
I drag the human girl away from the fight between Nexus and the dark elf.
