Then, just as the closest one launched off its hind legs, its deadly canines mere feet away, I brought the power hands together in a quick, decisive movement.
Magic burst like a shockwave and as if in slow motion with Kaelun and me at the epicenter of the unbridled power unleashing in every direction.
The warm breath of the lunging beast hit my face like a hot, damp summer breeze carrying the scent of carrion, and as my magic radiated through it, that scent was the only thing left as it turned into silt.
Row after row of abominations disintegrated, floating away with their dead companions on the autumn wind until only Lothar and Njal remained.
I was numb by the time they were forced to throw up shields which nearly buckled under the strain.
I wobbled, and Kaelun caught me, steadying me by an elbow.
“You okay?”
“I think so. Just light-headed, is all. And a little weaker.”
His brows furrowed, but our focus snapped back to the treeline.
“Ny-leer-i-aaaaaa!” Lothar bellowed.
“I think he’s pissed,” Kaelun mussed.
I raised a bow. “What was your first clue?”
“The vein popping out of his forehead.”
I laughed despite myself, which did nothing for my light-headedness—or the commander’s temper.
Our humor quickly faded when they valenned twenty paces away. Instinctively, I stepped back from the dark power radiating off them in sinister waves.
Kaelun and I shared a worried glance, and the hairs at the back of my neck prickled.
They stood, features hard, hands out to the sides as dark mist poured from their hands like waterfalls. The grass where the slate met fertile ground hissed as it turned black and shriveled, the unnatural mist creeping toward us.
I swallowed hard. It felt… wrong in a way I could never adequately describe. Hand still on my elbow, Kaelun took us back a step, then another, until we were close enough to the cliff’s edge to see what lay below, and I knew what he was thinking.
Brow raised, he said, “Think we’ll survive?”
“As a human, definitely not.” The highest cliff Eithan and I had ever attempted to jump was thirty feet. We were only stupid enough to do it once, and only because it was into a lake.Thiscliff on the other hand was at least three—if not four—times higher than that, and while the river below was wide and slow, that didn’t mean it was deep.
We held each other’s gaze in silent conversation—last resort only.
Refocusing on the sinister magic, Kaelun and I tried throwingmagic at it, to no avail. If anything, it moved faster with each strike. I’d even tried one of Endymion’s blades, but the second it hit the mist, it was lost—and I mourned the empty spot where it should’ve returned.
“Can you use the spark?” Kaelun asked.
Pulling for it, white spots stole my sight, and I swayed.
“Stop,” Kaelun ordered.
“I’m sorry,” I said, needing to hold on to him until my vision cleared.
“It’s okay. The amount of power you just called on was no joke. We’ll find another way.”
With the mist less than ten paces away, we were running out of options.
“The offer still stands, little mouse,” Njal called out. “Come willingly and we’ll spare your friend.”
Spare my friend.
