The screams of legacies punctuate the air nearby, and we all step into formation around Maven as another group of legacies rushes toward us. No—I realize it's several quintets, and they're not running toward us but away from something else. They pass by, shouting and darting in different directions to scatter away from whatever horror is slowly approaching.
We're all confused, but then a strangely lyrical, otherworldly screech fills the air. Maven tenses, her eyes widening slightly.
"A harbinger," she breathes. "Fuck."
I frown. "A what?"
She grabs Crypt's and Everett's hands, turning to lead us in the opposite direction of the unfamiliar shadow fiend. She mutters something under her breath that I don't catch—but it must piss Baelfire off because he grabs her arm to stop her with a growl.
"Hell, no. You arenotgoing after that motherfucker alone."
"Try and stop me," she snaps back.
Let her go.
This is how we'll get rid of her,another voice in my head agrees.
Death to the revenant.
I shake my head hard to clear the aggravating echoes. "Why the hell would you want to fight it alone? What is a harbinger?"
In all our studies of monsters and fiends, I've never heard of it, and clearly, neither have the others. But the way Maven's gaze darkens as she looks behind me, toying with her adamantine dagger, makes it clear she's come across this kind of fiend before.
"Harbingers are incredibly rare because Amadeus drove them to near extinction. He enjoyed using them in his arena because there was no winning for anyone who fought this creature. Either it kills you, or you die when you kill it." She looks at us seriously. "Anyone who hears a harbinger's song and slays it immediately dies with it. Which means if it attacks any of you and you kill it in self-defense, you'll be dead. I'll take care of it."
What she means sinks in immediately, and I snarl. "Absolutely not. You're not going to fucking sacrifice yourself to take down that thing."
"It's hardly a sacrifice since I'll come back," she rolls her eyes. "I'm literally the only person in this maze who can destroy it and make it out alive."
"Just let someone else kill it so it thins out our potential enemies," I growl, grabbing her hand to pull her away.
Maven snatches her hand back, shaking her head as she glares at me. "What if Kenzie's quintet runs into that thing? They don't know how it works. They would die trying to take it down."
She has that same determined gleam in her eyes that she did when she told us about her promise to free the humans in the Nether. Godsdamn it, why must my keeper be so unfailingly selfless when all I want is to keep her out of harm's way?
"Too bad for them, then," Crypt drawls. "It's not worth having to watch you die again, so let's get on with it, shall we?"
When he, too, makes a move to grasp our keeper's arm, she moves so fast that we're all left blinking in shock when she brutally twists Crypt's arm behind his back and pins him face-first against one of the massive concrete walls with her uncanny revenant strength.
"You all really need to stop trying to fucking manhandle me," she warns darkly. "It's getting on my nerves."
Crypt exhales roughly, resting his forehead against the concrete. "Now isn't an ideal time for you to give me a boner, love."
"Right, because that was obviously her intention just now, you fucking deviant," Everett huffs, repeatedly adjusting the pocket zippers on his uniform. The frost coating his hands has crawled up past his elbows, and I'm fairly certain most of the snow coming down now is his fault. "Oakley, no one needs to kill that thing. Let's just focus on getting the hell out of here."
She grits her teeth before releasing Crypt and adjusting her gloves.
"Fine. I'll leave it be. Let's go this way," she nods down another pathway in the maze.
We obediently move down that pathway as she walks behind us, all of us on high alert as we wait to encounter even more threats. The screams and wailing have reached a fever pitch, echoing around the maze—but abruptly, I realize I don't hear Maven's footsteps behind me anymore. I halt, closing my eyes.
"Gods-fucking damn it," I curse.
Maven adjusted her gloves. That's her tell.
My blood blossom was fuckinglying.
Yes, she's a liar. Let her die,a voice in my head urges.
