She felt the slowing of time until it seemed to have stopped. The only sound was her breath. She exhaled and a flash of red edged her vision.
Her body was consumed by fire, crackling across her skin until she no longer felt tethered to reality. She spun, swords connecting with the nearest soldier. After hacking off his arm, she turned toward her next target. Her movements were effortless; her speed in relation to the soldiers she felled defying space and time. The power of her bloodlust took over and she grew more powerful, more savage, the longer she fought.
The pulsing within her ears and the red haze dissipated abruptly and she fell forward onto her knees. Her eyes felt heavy as she looked up at the others. Her brow furrowed as Vassori swam in and out of focus, rubbing something at her chest as her lips moved in a litany Terena could not hear.
She tried to rise, but a wave of dizziness so sharp consumed her and made her rock sideways.
“Terena!” Rydon caught her under her arms.
“What the fuck happened? Is she hit?” Gabriol yelled as he caught up, sliding to his knees at her side.
“There she is!” The shout from a nearby Heylisian soldier signaled the end of their reprieve. More soldiers poured out of the woods ahead of them.
“Run! Run!” Gabriol shouted.
“I need to talk to your sister!” Orry cried out as he ran to catch up to Croak.
“Oh, you thinknow’s a good time?” Croak snapped.
The clash of steel and the soldiers’ roaring surrounded them. Rydon lifted Terena roughly, moving them far from the fray. Terena opened her eyes to see Orry, Cassandra and Croak huddled near the riverbank with Migela. The assassin stared back at them wide-eyed before turning and signed something at Croak and Orry.
“What’s happening?” she asked, her voice faint. Rydon didn’t answer. Water splashed up, and Terena opened her eyes.
A group of Heylisian soldiers were running toward them and gaining. Her eyes widened as one of them lifted a bow, an arrow trained on her and Rydon. Terena cried out and jerked hard enough to make Rydon lose his balance. He fell, and they rolled together.
Crawling, she made to stand just as wolves attacked Captain Soros and his men from all sides. Her eyes finally registered the large wolf racing toward her and she stumbled back. At the last moment, Rydon hacked at its shoulder with his sword. Croak shouted from somewhere behind them and she turned, her head heavy, watching her brother fight off two soldiers.
Rydon grabbed her arm and yanked her behind him as more wolves came at them.
“Loose!”
Rydon and Terena ducked reflexively as a volley of arrows rained down around them. The wolves closest to them fell over dead or ran off, their whines and yelps fading as they disappeared back into the woods.
Terena turned to see Soros with some of his archers getting ready to release more arrows. Rydon yanked her back and they ran. Croak came forward to cover them, snarling as another Heylisian soldier fought his way through Soros’s men. Vassoripushed a dead soldier off of her and Migela helped her up just as Gabriol roared at them to move.
“Stay with her,” Rydon shouted at Croak, then turned back to the fighting with Gabriol at his side.
“What’s wrong with you?” Croak yelled in her face, half dragging her into the shelter of a tree whose hollow was large enough to shield her. Cassandra dropped down beside Terena and held her hand, smoothing away the hair plastered to her brow. Orry bent down next to her, his lips trembling as his eyes searched her face.
“This is what I was trying to tell her,” Orry snapped at Croak. “Something’s drained her powers. There must a cypher nearby!”
“Do not kill him!”
Rydon’s head snapped up as Soros ran toward him and Gabriol.
They had just struck down the last wolf when Rydon saw a young man crawling along the ground. He clutched at his arm, and from the way he held it, Rydon could see it was broken. An amulet glowed faintly at his chest, the amber light hidden when he turned to look desperately for an ally.
Soros caught up and yanked the man up by his collar. The man let out a yelp, his legs kicking out ineffectively.
“You know him?”
“I know his kind,” Soros spat, shoving the man but not letting go. He dragged him to the nearest tree and pushed him so his back cracked against the bark. The man was young, afew years older than Terena, perhaps, and the wild look in his eyes betrayed his fear. He pressed his lips tightly together and cradled his arm.
“Where the fuck did the wolves come from?” Gabriol gasped, wiping his sword on his breeches. “Solon’s got animals fighting for him now?”
“This piece of shit is a cypher,” Soros said again, his arm at the man’s throat. The man’s grey eyes widened as his gaze darted between Soros and the others. “What’s your power, boy? How do you control the wolves?”
“He what?” Rydon asked.
