Elias lowered the knife from Delilah’s throat.He grinned.“I knew you were a smart boy, Kieran.Now, just toss the Hilt and the Stave this way, and you’ll be out of here in no time.”
“Of course.”Kieran reached into his pack, hands tightening around a hilt.“Just toss it, you said?”
“That will be fi—”
In one fluid motion, Kieran withdrew Sebastian’s spare throwing knife and flung it straight into Elias’s shoulder.The impact sent him reeling, the chain in his hand dropping as he bellowed a scream.Delilah scrambled backward out of his reach.
“Now!”Kieran cried.
Shock froze Briar in place, but Sebastian immediately leapt into action.He grabbed two knives from his belt and flicked both at Elias.One hit him square in the chest, but the other missed him as a mercenary shoved him out of the way.Elias roared and stumbled, barely keeping his footing as blood stained the front of his collared shirt.At the same time, the other mercenaries charged.
“Briar!”Kieran called.“Use Ariel’s wrench to break the chains around Verbena!Seaweed, help her!Sebastian and I will hold them off!”
Briar nodded, swinging her bag around and pulling it free.A mercenary advanced on her.She whipped around and slammed the wrench into his temple with athwack.He stumbled, eyesfluttering, then collapsed.A second one tried the same, and Briar struck him with a similar powerful hit.While this one didn’t fall, he did cry out and jump back.Seaweed immediately dove at him, ripping at his ankles with her teeth.Briar, meanwhile, used the distraction to scramble over the mossy rocks surrounding the pool, making her way to Verbena.
Kieran jumped back as another mercenary with a dagger ran at him.His mind raced—he was out of knives, and if he couldn’t hit them with magic, what could he use?He grabbed a large fist-sized rock and launched it forward.The throw went wide.Shit, shit, shit—
“Kieran!”Sebastian called.He had shifted into his vampiric form, fangs shining in the moonlight.He stabbed his clawlike fingers straight into a mercenary’s solar plexus.“Duck!”
Kieran looked up just in time to see a knife flying at him.He tried to duck but stumbled back and hit a mushroom.The mercenary’s blade nicked the side of his face and embedded itself in the mushroom stalk behind him, making the whole thing shake.
Suddenly, Kieran had an idea.
He spun and pulled the knife from the mushroom.As he did, an arrow struck it an inch above his head.He jumped behind the stalk just as another arrow pierced it.Pulse thrumming, Kieran took the knife and began sawing at the mushroom stalk.Arrows and knives sailed by as he hacked at it, two mercenaries bearing down on him.They were barely five feet away, then four—
The mushroom stalk began to wobble, and just as the two mercenaries were about to reach Kieran behind it, he stepped back and kicked the stalk with his heel.Instantly, the giant mushroomtoppled forward.The mercenaries barely had time to yelp before it slammed to the ground.One mercenary was entirely pinned beneath it, struggling even to scream, while the other would up with a leg trapped.
“Well done!”Sebastian shouted.He held the final mercenary against his chest.The man in black looked deathly pale, which made sense, considering the blood on Sebastian’s face.
Kieran felt a warm flutter in his stomach.He bowed as if he’d just completed a spectacular solo onstage.“Thank you.”
“Guys!”Briar called.Kieran found her and Seaweed standing beside Verbena, Seaweed holding a piece of iron chain in her mouth.Briar had managed to break the rocks the chains had been anchored to with Ariel’s wrench and was in the process of unwinding them from around the old witch’s body with the lake spirit’s help.“The pool!”
Kieran and Sebastian both spun.There, at the edge of the pool, was Elias.He was bleeding heavily from where Sebastian’s knife had pierced his chest, and Kieran suspected his heart may have taken the hit.Blood dribbled from the corner of Elias’s mouth, and his face was sweat-slick and chalky.
“Very clever, Kieran,” he spat out, meeting the boy’s eyes as he tried to reach the pool.“But I’m not giving up that easy.”
“You fool!”Verbena cried.“You cannot control raw magic on your own!”
But the next moment, Elias used what little energy he had left to pull himself to the lip of the pool.With an agonized cry, he managed to slip into the water.
For a beat, everything was silent.But then the pool lit up withblinding blue-white light.Kieran had to throw a hand over his eyes to protect them from the flash.
Verbena screamed.
The ground beneath their feet began to shake.Kieran had to fight to keep his footing, blinking away red starbursts.As they cleared, he saw a dark shadow rise from the pool.Seaweed squeaked in horror.
It was maybe three stories tall and absolutely hulking.It had thick shoulders and long arms like an ape and a face deformed by patches of mushrooms growing out of it.Moss coated its body, more mushrooms growing out of it and glowing with a faint pinkish light.Sparks collected around the thick, gnarled fingers.Kieran recognized that sideways smirk on the creature’s face, even twisted by raw magic.When Elias spoke, his voice sounded deeper, croaking almost like a bullfrog.
“You,” he said, holding up a massive finger and pointing at Kieran, “are not leaving this forest alive.”
Kieran’s heroic response was to half yelp, half squeak,“Shit.”
He dove behind another mushroom just as an electric bolt of magic shot from the monster’s finger.It hit the cap, and shimmery spores rained down.Kieran scrambled out of the spore cloud, heart punching at his ribs.
Across the clearing, Delilah slammed her wooden handcuffs against the rock, busting them to splinters.Finally free, she stepped into a ledrith stance and shot twin fireballs at Elias.They struck him in the side, but they barely seemed to do anything.
Elias fired off another spell at Kieran, who sprinted as fast as he could to get away.He had to dive forward to avoid the bolt ofmagic, landing hard on the mossy rocks.The wind flew out of him with a gasp.The spell whizzed through the air above him, and Kieran craned his neck to see it strike a mushroom.
