“Go,” Zev snarled as black claws extended from his fingers. “You cannot be around me when the Other appears.”
Then his yellow eyes rolled as his body warped and grew. He cried out with every brutal snap of bones, black fur sprouting across his skin. A long snout extended from his face as he rose on two legs. A beast that was part man and part wolf. Howling, it sprang on the hounds, ripping the head off one and disemboweling another.
The Other tore into them viciously.
Its feral eyes fixed on him.
Rawn quickly backpedaled and sprinted down the alleyway. He knew better than to stay. The sounds of carnage and keens followed him.
It did no good to keep running like this. It was best to leave Dwarf Shoe first and regroup with the others. As if by some miracle, Rawn spotted a ladder resting against the wall of a distillery. He rapidly climbed up to the roof and kept running. The roads were full of soldiers. He keptlow on the roof, using the shadows and crevices for cover. He wasn’t far from the ocean?—
An explosion tore through the air. It rocked through the town of Argent Cove in a sharp wave and knocked Rawn back into the building. His ears rang from the sound, and he shook his head to focus. Flames flared high from the docks at the pier. A ship was on fire.What happened?
“Roof!” Came a call from below, and an arrow zipped past his head.
A unit of Red Highland archers stood below with loaded bows pointed at him. Rawn threw himself out of the way as arrows rained down. Scrambling to his feet, he ran across the rooftop and leaped for the next. He kept going, loading his bow as he leaped. He spun around and released his arrow. It shot through the shaft of another that would have taken his back. He landed on a cloth canopy over a merchant stall and bounced off to land on the ground in a crouch.
Whickering called from a distance.
The familiar call had Rawn spinning around. Fair came galloping around the corner, and he smiled with such immense relief, his eyes welled. Rawn sprinted toward his horse. Fair greeted him with a head bump to his shoulder.
“It’s good to see you, old friend.” Rawn patted Fair’s neck and leaped up onto the saddle.
The rattle of horses and shouts of soldiers interrupted the reunion. Red Highland soldiers were spilling in from every street and crawling over the roofs like ants.
There were too many.
A mist stung Rawn’s eyes, and he took a breath as he accepted one thing.
He wouldn’t make it out.
After twenty years of running from his past, it had finally caught up to him. The image of his wife carrying their son surfaced in his mind. If it was his time, that was his fate. But when she received word of his death, it would be said he fought to the death and took as many Elves as he could with him.
“What do you say, old friend?” Rawn asked as he took Fair’s reins. “One last ride.”
Fair reared with a neigh in what could only be a war cry. Kicking his heels, they raced down the street. Rawn shot arrow after arrow at the archers posted on the roofs, hitting every mark. Arrows came for him in return. Fair galloped with the speed of invisible wings. They managed tododge as close as they could. A couple nearly took his head. An arrow sliced past his arm, but his adrenaline took the pain. He kept shooting every target that came his way until his quiver was empty.
Magic came next.
Spells blasted through the air for him. Rawn dropped his bow and whipped out his sword. He may not have learned new spells, but he certainly learned how to move faster. His blade cut through each attack until one got past his defenses. Rawn was too late to react, but the spell bounced off an invisible shield and disintegrated.
The clover Dyna had pinned to his shirt was still there.
Rawn almost laughed from the shock.
The elves were startled, some not moving fast enough to dodge the attacks he sent right back to them. Blasts roared through the town as the shocks destroyed buildings and black smoke spiraled into the sky. Bodies were scattered in their wake.
Rawn moved and fought on pure instinct now. There was no reason to think; he only needed the action of swiftly ending as many lives as possible.
He waited for a blade or for an arrow to finally hit him.
Yet he rode through the burning streets and left the veil of smoke alive.
Rawn tugged on the reins as they came to a crossroads. His heart hammered in his chest; his breaths ragged as he saw no one else pursued him.
Had he made it?
But as his eyes swept across the demolished streets, he heard the steps of a lone figure striding through the smoke. He squinted, trying to make out if it was friend or foe. The answer came when he recognized that face.
