They have thetelumtrapped.
But Maven doesn't look nervous. In fact, she's glaring back at Somnus so murderously that some of the hired legacies standing behind him start to look nervous.
"Apologize," she says in a flat voice.
He scoffs. "As if I would ever apologize to a reven?—"
"Not to me. To Crypt."
Crypt wipes some of the harbinger's black blood off his face. "Darling, I don't want his apology. I want his head rolling on the ground."
"You'll get both."
Somnus's nostrils flare with rage, and he motions at his hirelings and Engela. "Enough of this. Kill them all, but I'll be the one to end this arrogant little cunt."
Things happen all at once after that. While Everett launches spikes of ice at the nearest hirelings and I prepare a powerful spell to hopefully wind Engela, Crypt launches toward his father. But Maven…reaches up and grabs onto Baelfire's collar.
Right. Since she killed the harbinger, her magic now has fuel.
The collar crumbles in a flare of smoke-like black tendrils, and Baelfire darts into the midst of the hirelings just before he shifts for the first time in days. Blinding royal blue fire explodes around him, and the rival legacies shout in alarm. Some of them summon shields of fire or magic or manage to leap out of the way, but others aren't so lucky. Others begin hurling countless deadly attacks at the massive beast, but his scales take most of the brunt as he roars and snaps at our foes.
I deflect a deadly hex from one of the hired casters and prick another of my fingers to send a devastating attack toward Engela. A solid slab of stone shoots up from the ground, shielding her from my magic, but it rebounds and hits another one of their hired hands.
Where is your precious little keeper, little Crane?a voice in my head mocks.
I do a double-take. Damn it. WhereisMaven? This fight has dissolved into deadly chaos, and I startle when I see Crypt unconscious on the ground, his own sword impaled through his right shoulder as a severe injury to his head heals slowly.
When did that happen?
Another attack spell careens toward me, but I counter it in time. Flashes of deadly light and smoke from Baelfire's dragon fill this section of the maze. Meanwhile, Everett is fighting off a trio of vicious wolf shifters, bright flares of his white magic creating a haunting glow to the smoke filling the air.
These hired legacies are powerful and have more experience than we do. I roll out of the way of a fire elemental's attack before throwing out enough magical attacks to give myself cover as I strain to see where Maven could be.
From the corner of my eye, I finally see Maven reappear—hanging onto fucking Somnus DeLune's back as she wrestles him into a headlock. With a start, I realize that he's covered in thousands of tiny, bleeding piercings that look extremely painful. She must have used her bronzeblend spell already, but…how is she surviving when he took her in and out of Limbo?
"Getoff!"the immortal roars, slamming his head back into Maven's jaw.
I hear a crack, but she just grunts in pain and tightens her hold.
I can sense the angry surge of his incubus powers all the way from where I'm standing. Several hirelings fighting closer to him drop to the ground in a deep sleep as they're affected—but a flare of Maven's dark magic shatters through his power. She twists hard to one side, using her momentum to slam the immortal into the ground.
Somnus cries out. He pulls an obsidian dagger from his waist and tries to jam it back into her side, but she twists out of the way, grapples his hand, and uses it to plunge the blade into his back instead.
Somnus howls. "You fucking cunt! Zuma! Help me!"
Baelfire's dragon roars in pain, the sound deafening, and I look up just in time to see Engela drive a thick spike of rock up through the beast's stomach. Alarm courses through me—shifters are hardy but not invincible. That could be fatal if he doesn't heal quickly. I send another blast of magic toward Engela to drive her away from my quintet member.
She again blocks it with stone. But then, as if in slow motion, I see her look over at where Maven now has Somnus flat on his back, screaming in pain as her magic courses through him, dark shadows writhing around both of them.
"Zuma!Now!"he screeches. He manages to finally drive his obsidian dagger into Maven's thigh. She barely reacts, as if she's entranced by her dark magic, eager for his death.
The immortal earth elemental has no expression. She waves her hand, and one of the other pathways of the maze opens up again—and then Engela Zuma simply walks out of the fight unscathed without a single look over her shoulder at her dying quintet member.
I don't have time to linger on how strange that is. Instead, I race toward Baelfire, who has shifted back into his human form and is wrestling with another shifter despite the gaping wound still trying to mend itself on his stomach.
As I run to him, a sharp cry from Somnus draws my attention. I dodge another magic attack and see Maven carving the immortal up with her adamantine blade. Neither of his arms seems to work.
One moment, he's cursing her out and promising her an agonizingly slow death—but then she pulls something out of her pocket. I realize it's the totem Crypt left her, and she sets it on Somnus's chest.
