The creature burst apart.
Skonk blinked.
“…I am extremely good at this.”
Despite the chaos, a strange feeling crept into my chest.
Hope.
Stonewick was holding.
The Priestess still stood in the mist at the far end of the clearing, watching the battle with that quiet, unsettling smile,but the shadows were no longer swarming the way they had been.
They were losing ground.
Nova must have felt it too.
She stepped forward and unleashed another blast of green flame that forced the remaining shadows away from the center of the clearing.
Another shadow wrapped around my arm as the mark seared with pain, and I saw the Priestess smile as Luna came to my side. She closed her eyes and began chanting something as I heard Nova yell commands.
I closed my eyes briefly as the pain singed every cell in my body, and Luna worked against the shadows. I blinked open my eyes to see Bella dart through the opening and tackle another shadow before it could regroup.
Luna wrapped something around my shoulder and upper arm. “It’s the best I can do right now,” she whispered and took off to help the fight.
The compress steadied the pain. It didn’t take it away completely, but I’d take the relief.
Orcs pushed forward beside her, roaring with approval.
The shadows shrieked as the pressure mounted, and for the first time since they’d appeared, they looked disorganized.
Uncertain.
And the Hedge magic, twisted though it still was by the mark on my shoulder, began to respond again.
The vines surged outward, thickening along the edges of the clearing.
They snapped toward the nearest shadows and dragged two of them down into the thorns.
Rendel noticed.
His eyes flicked to the hedge, then back to the battlefield.
“Good,” he said quietly.
And I believed he felt that way. Another wave of shadows tried to dive toward the witches.
Keegan intercepted them.
He tore through the first, scattered the second, and drove the rest back toward the trees.
The clearing erupted in cheers from the orcs.
The Priestess’s smile faded.
Only slightly.
But enough.
