Lore sent tornadoes at them. Ice. Every elemental power he could dream up, some I’d never seen him use before. But the witherrroots continued to crush Moira and Calista’s vehicle while they shrieked inside. More creatures poured from the woods, their limbs stretching out to attack our vehicle. Us.
I closed my eyes, feeling for magic threads. There—a current crackling with power. I grasped it, opening my eyes to find sparks dancing along my finger.
A bolt lanced out of me in a whip of white-blue fire, hard enough to send me stumbling backward. I gritted my teeth and secured my boots to the ground. My lightning struck the witherroot and archedbeneaththe bark.
The witherrroot convulsed and collapsed, its limbs spasming, the bark around its torso blackening. A hole gaped where my lightning had punched through, spreading. The creature dropped to the ground and with a flash of light, it turned to ash.
Farris yipped, scrambling back to stand between me and the fallen tree, as if daring the mound of ash to rise again.
Lore pressed his back to mine, speaking over his shoulder. “That’s new.”
“Seems they don’t like my pretty light.”
More witherroots lurched toward us. I fired again. Missed, my lightning scorching a tree behind it.
“Reyla!”
I spun as Lore drove his blade through a root curling up from the ground, stretching its limbs toward me. The witherroot shrieked, and I used the opening to aim and strike again. Lightning hit, and its trunk convulsed and burned to soot that the wind caught and carried away.
Coughing, I waved a hand in front of my face and pulled in more of the new threads, sending lightning out in precise strikes. I burned away the witherroots encasing the second carriage, then shifted to the side and sent magic at the ones trying to drag down the zephyl pulling our own, leaving only mounds of ash behind.
Around us, guards shouted as they engaged the witherroots that kept pouring from the forest around us, others thrusting their way up through the road itself. They also battled with magic—shields of force, bursts of wind, spikes of stone—without much effect. Two guards were dragged down, screaming. Before I could sear away the beastly trees holding them, one disappeared under a mass of writhing roots, dragged beneath the road. The other broke free, and limping, battled once more.
A root whipped toward Farris, snaking across the ground. I flung a bolt in its path, searing it to ashes before it could reach him. My little furry friend didn’t even flinch.
With a snarl, I raced toward a tree cluster, trusting Lore to cover my back. My bolts weren’t infinite. Each pulled from threads only sparsely floating in thearea.
I fired again and again, my lightning cutting through bark and burying deep, scorching through the witherroots’ core.
The zephyl harnessed to our vehicle let out a bellow and charged at a wall of approaching witherroots, its horns lowered. Impacting with the mass, it slashed through, severing limbs and leaving twitching rubble behind. The zephyl reeled around and still pulling the carriage, lashed through another group of witherroots, sending them scattering.
I wielded lightning, my insides twitching when it got harder and harder to find the threads of power that would generate the only magic that seemed to make a difference.
I caught a glimpse of Moira and Calista through their vehicle window, their eyes wide. They clutched each other but were safe for now.
Lore stood close by, flames wreathing across his blades. He slashed out at a witherroot lumbering in our direction. “We need to finish them. Whoever sent them is inside the forest, watching.”
I also sensed something waited out of sight to see if we would fail.
But there were only a few left to battle. One of the creatures jerked toward us from our left. Lore met it head-on, putting himself between me and it, but only nicking at its bark with his blades.
Farris darted beneath the beast’s lashing limbs, a blur of teeth and fury, distracting it long enough for Lore to land a second strike.
I dropped to one knee, pulled power, and struck. My lightning lanced into its chest, and the tree collapsed in a whoosh of ashes.
More. One after another until the few remaining started retreating. Though there were barely any power threads left, I gave chase, driving the monsters back into the ground where they came from.
When the last one slithered away, the forest seemed to hold its breath a moment until it exhaled. The pressure and tension scraping down my spine eased.
Our guards stood nearby, panting, bloodied but alive. We’d lost one. Two others had been wounded. Lore went to them and healed their injuries.
The road ahead was torn and scorched, with a few roots still smoldering. I straightened, my chest heaving and my fingers tingling with aftershocks.
Farris trotted to my side, ash dusting his fur. He pressed against my leg with a quiet huff, his gaze moving between me and Lore.
Shadows lurked in Lore’s gaze. “Interesting use of your finger light, love.”
“I think it cuts magic, disrupting it in some way.”
