Alar shook his head. “There isn’t any other … not one that will get us to The Shattered Crown before Gateway.”
“The Hog’s Back it is then,” Vyr said, with a hearty tone that didn’t quite match his expression.
Uneasiness rippled through the air.
At that moment, Lara noticed something had changed. “The Gaulas has stopped,” she murmured. Around her, the others glanced up at the star-sprinkled heavens.
“Thank the Gods,” Ruari huffed. “Some reprieve. I was beginning to—”
The seer never finished his sentence, for a piercing shriek cut him off.
Lara froze.The Slew.
Next to her, Bree spat out a curse.
“They’re late.” Alar rolled to his feet. “Dusk fell a while ago.”
Heart hammering, Lara struggled up and fumbled for her cairn stone. As she did so, she twisted west. Winged dark shapes moved fast over the face of the waxing moon.
Mor craned her neck, staring up at the sky. “So many.”
“Aye.” Alar’s voice cut through the darkness somewhere to her left. “Dozens. Maybe a hundred.”
Silver light erupted around the fireside, Cailean and Ren calling their magic. The sudden brightness seared Lara’s vision, turning the Shee into shadows. Her companions stumbled backward, weapons scraping from sheaths.
Ren’s voice ripped through the night, raw and primal; a song that raised every hair on Lara’s arms. The tethered clag-doo answered with a terrified howl.
“We need to light more torches!” Sablebane shouted.
“It won’t be enough!” Cailean snarled back. “Ready yourselves!”
Lara’s gaze snapped upward.The Slew were diving now, arms outstretched. Long hair and tattered cloaks swirled around them.
Her pulse hammered against her ribs. The cairn stone in her right hand had gone slick with sweat. She raised her left hand, fingers snapping straight.
Fire shot skyward.
Screams answered: thin and terrible, like iron scraping bone.
Heat slammed into Lara’s body, a wave that stole the breath from her lungs. It blistered across her skin, scorched through her veins until it felt as if her blood were boiling. The fire wanted more. Finding that quiet, still place inside herself—the place where she could wield flame without fear or fury—was impossible when the air itself was screaming.
She sucked in a breath that tasted of ash and forced her fist closed—and then opened it again.
Flame erupted from every torch, a wall of light and heat that painted the night in shades of gold and crimson. The cairn stone pulsed against her palm, burning now, and theOrd-ree sealon that same hand blazed like a fresh brand.
She sent tongues of fire skyward. Again and again. But the Slew kept coming, wave after wave of them pushing against her barrier. For every wraith that wheeled away, screaming, two more dove through the gaps.
Her breath came in ragged pants now. The pressure of holding the flames steady was an iron band crushing her chest. Her raised arm screamed, muscles locked in place, trembling with the strain. Her legs shook so badly she wasn’t sure how much longer they’d hold her.
Movement flickered at the edges of her vision. Their small band had fractured: Shee fought on one side, and Marav on the other. Even now, even with death diving from the sky, theycouldn’t unite. Bree’s blade flashed as she cut at grasping hands. Roth bellowed something Lara couldn’t hear over the roar of flames and screaming. Cailean moved in a silver blur of speed. Skaal’s teeth snapped at shadows. Behind them, smaller figures—Annis, Ruari, Eithne, Duana—huddled, iron daggers clutched in white-knuckled grips.
Alar fought alone, no one at his back.
The Shee formed a protective circle around Mor, their blades singing.
A cry—different from the others, higher, tinged with real terror—cut through the chaos. A Raven lifted off the ground, a Slew gripping each shoulder, her legs kicking uselessly at empty air. Two figures leaped, grabbed her ankles, and yanked her back to earth.
Lara forced her focus back to the fire. She couldn’t help them, couldn’t afford to let her concentration slip even for a heartbeat. They’d have to save themselves.
