The creature pulled itself out of a deep hole, and swamp water showered into the deep crevice left in its absence. Small fish wriggled on the now-damp earth, and frogs leapt toward the safety of thegnarled forest.
All the men—her friends—watched in frozen horror, only now coming out of their stupor.
Roslyn and Lili stood their ground, swords in hand, and screamed for everyone to run. The Rangers were shouting the creature’s name: Nahrin.
This was exactly the sort of creature the village was likely protecting itself from. And she’d run directly into its nest.
Gus and Turos crossed overtop the swamp siren, raining it with fire, but their flame didn’t penetrate its thick, bumpy skin. The attack only enraged it.
The Nahrin roared, strings of green-black saliva pulling between razor teeth. Gigantic tentacles slapped at the earth and rocked the ground, shaking the men off their unsteady feet. Half of them dropped to their knees, feet sliding under them as they fought to get back up. Tentacles wrapped around trees, pulling the siren’s large body across the wet, soggy ground.
“I’m beginning to think you’re bad luck,” Petrina said, twirling her blades from their sheaths. They were long and glinted in a thin shaft of sunlight.
Selene palmed her own knife—when Petrina had given it to her earlier, it was for protection against a human. She had half a mind to just toss it. What good would it do against this creature?
The Nahrin swept a tentacle across the ground, and two Blades went flying into a tree.
Roslyn pushed two of the Rangers out of danger, then spun to catch a descending tentacle with her crossed swords. With her feet spread and teeth gritted, she pushed and strained, holding the strength of the beast back until finally—finally—it gave up.
The massive creature pushed up and hauled itself closer to the two downed Blades. It took one of the men by the ankle, slapped him against the ground, and then tossed his body into its mouth.
The crunch of bones filled the clearing.
Selene’s stomach dropped toward the ground and spun.
Lili, face spotted with mud and her braid soaked, hacked at one of the tentacles with her cutlass. The blade didn’t so much as scratch the beast. It shoved her hard toward a tree that she narrowly missed, and she skidded across the soft earth instead.
“Lili!”
Augustus.
He wobbled to his feet on the far side of the clearing, his cutlass in hand, but hanging down the length of his leg. He staggered toward the Nahrin, jaw set, eyes determined. Any other day, Selene might feel sorry for whoever stood on the other end of that focus, but not now.
“Augustus, no!” she shouted, sprinting into the clearing.
Petrina kept pace and spun into a battle against a flailing tentacle. She moved as if carried by the breeze, without the hitch of the ground’s suctioning mud.
Selene ducked and rolled beneath a tentacle.
Augustus, still too far, stared at her with wide eyes.
The siren roared and hefted its body up and toward him. Augustus lifted his gaze, taking blind steps backward. A tentacle slithered and unfurled across the swamp floor, seeking his ankles?—
Blaze hurtled into Augustus at full speed, and the two men rolled out of the way.
The weight inside Selene’s chest lifted, but only temporarily.
The siren turned. The vertical slits over its yellow eyes shut, and when they parted again, its focus was on her.
Selene let instinct take over and flipped the knife up to grip the tip. She pulled her arm back, then, with her free arm acting as a guide, she threw.
She didn’t breathe as the blade flew?—
End over end.
A perfect arc.
Straight into the creature’s right eye.
