One more day until the trial.
It had to be enough.
As the sun dipped below the horizon, the huntresses left one by one until only Mavka and Aloisia remained with the shaman and the scholar. Runes ran the length of the chains, the shafts of several arrows, and the bars of the cage.
Ezra collapsed onto his back, his chest heaving with the toll of the spells. His eyes fluttered closed, and his cheeks drained of colour. Inari didn’t look much better, his face drawn as he wiped the back of his hand across his forehead.
“Let this be enough,” Aloisia murmured. “For Fynn’s sake.”
Inari sighed. “And ours.”
Aloisia was the first awake the next morning, her quiver filled with the enchanted arrows and her bow strapped on her back. She wound a braid around her finger as she paced back and forth before Mavka’s hall. The sun had risen at least an hour ago and, with each passing moment, they were losing time.
Finally, the others joined her. Inari and Ezra appeared fresher than they had the evening before, the colour returning to their faces. Aloisia, Morgan, and Mavka gathered the chains, while Dhara and Kaja pushed the cage with them as they headed into the Dead Woods once more.
Aloisia led the group, Inari and Ezra to either side of her and her sisters following behind. If they could replicate what they had done yesterday, if they could hold the Forgotten God a little longer, if they could get it into the cage… She had to believe this would work. The alternative did not bear thinking about.
They stalked through the woods; their footsteps silent as they pressed deeper within the trees. When they reached the stream, Aloisia paused.
“Where are they?” she muttered.
“Give it time,” Inari said. “We’ll find them.”
They turned back, covering more ground. Heading west, they passed Inari’s hut, which stood empty and dejected. The door had been knocked down, and the furniture cast aside.
“The Forgotten Gods must have come back after I left…” He frowned at the hut.
Aloisia was glad he hadn’t returned to it.
They continued on and, when they reached the cliff edge, turned back. After another hour of searching, even with Ezra leaving a blood trail to lure them, they left the treeline without finding even one Forgotten God.
Neiris spotted them leaving the forest and sprinted towards them.
“What news?” Dhara asked.
The huntress’s dark eyes were wide, her face ashen. “Guards just arrived. Magistrate Vester wants us in the town. The Forgotten Gods are in Littlewatch.”
Aloisia blanched. “What?” She ran for the stables, the others racing behind her.
Oda and a couple guards sat atop their own horses, speaking with Valda.
“They’re in the town?” Aloisia asked.
Oda nodded. “There are dozens of them.”
“Dozens?”
“We’re getting as many people to the Temple as possible. We’ve sent runners to Ravencross for the Warriors, for what little good that will do. If we cannot push these creatures back, find some way to get them out of Littlewatch, then the townsfolk are but sitting ducks.”
Stable hands brought out their mares. Aloisia swung up into the saddle, offering a hand to Inari.
“What can we do?” she asked.
“Try to force them back,” Inari answered as he settled into the saddle behind her. “And hope our enchantments hold.”
Dhara and Mavka roped the cage to their mares.
“You go ahead,” Dhara said. “We’ll follow with this. I imagine it could come in useful.”
