Two roars echoed through the brisk air as Iryana watched three dakii launch off the edge of the cliff. Iryana watched, shock freezing her, as their blue-gray bodies twisted in the air. How far had she run? Was there a cliff this big so close to the fortress?
She didn’t have time to search through her mental map of the area to figure out where she was, because a deep snarl sounded from right behind her.
Iryana spun, pointing the deadly sharp tip of her spear at the two dakii that were prowling toward her. Their skin stretched even tighter away from their mouths as they growled, shoulders slinking up with each step.
Her chest hurt from how hard her heart was pounding; her muscles screamed at her for pushing them so hard. The adrenaline was failing her, and her hands were shaking.
The dakya on the right, the leaner one with a single pair of horns, leaped toward her. Iryana aimed her spear at the side of its shoulder and twisted at the last moment. The beast had too much momentum to turn and slid off the cliff with her spear embedded in its chest.
The dakya hadn’t tried to avoid her spear, avoid the cliff. It had meant to throw her off with it, fully aware it would fall. A shiver flew up her. The dakii had always fought past the point most creatures would surrender, always lacked much self-preservation, but this calculation went beyond that. A monster willing to sacrifice itself for her death.
She scrambled to her feet. Calling the forging back to her hands, Iryana pointed the spear at the last dakya.
This one didn’t race for her like she hoped; it stalked forwards, body vibrating with its growls.
Iryana charged the dakya, putting as much distance between herself and the cliff’s edge as she could.
The beast opened its mouth wide, aiming a bite at her shoulder. Iryana sunk the end of her spear into the beast’s shoulder, hitting bone. The force slammed up her arms and forced her back, heels digging into the dirt. Teeth gnashed right before her face.
She didn’t have space to retreat, to dance around the dakya.
Iryana slashed with her spear, swinging it in front of the dakya. She caught its leg and grazed the side of its head. The dakya growled behind the spinning spear, not wanting to charge into the blade. But one tactic never worked for long with the dakii.
With a cry, Iryana threw herself aside as the beast slipped past her spear with a perfectly timed lunge. She didn’t have time to form her shield, and a paw slammed into her chest. The spear went flying.
Pain erupted across her chest as the beast’s claws ripped back out of her chest, having sunk right through her leather armor. Momentarily stunned, she stared at the pine needles swaying above her against the pale blue sky. Was this how she’d die?
Realizing she was lying on the forest floor, vulnerable, Iryana forced her mind to clear and focus on the beast stalking toward her.
“No,” she screeched, as the dakya leaped toward her prone body.
With another scream, she threw the last bits of her unforged magic into strengthening her shield as the dakya landed on her, trapping her arms between the ground and the weight of the dakya against her meager shield.
It sounded as if there were more screams in the forest than could have possibly come from her.
There was no room to summon her forging, and she was going to die if she didn’t. Already her shield was about to fall.
Iryana tried anyway, fist pressed against the shield, which pressed against the beast. Her magic strained hard, but nothing happened. One couldn’t form into resistance, but she was about to die, and she knew it.
So she tried harder. Her veins screamed as she forced her magic harder than she ever had. The shield rippled. Pain ricocheted through her.
But then the hilt of her dagger was solid in her hands.
The blade solid in the dakya’s head.
Chapter Thirty
Iryana couldn’t stop staring at the forged dagger she had formedinthe dakya’s head. Black, soulless eyes bordered in blue-gray fur stared at her.
With a shudder, the beast collapsed beside her, jerking her arm that still held the dagger, and Iryana just kept staring. She couldn’t believe it had worked. She pulled back her magic, her blade disappearing, and blood gushing out of the wound.
“Iryana, are you alright?”
Iryana turned, eyes wide, head spinning, to see her team racing through the trees. It was Lidishta that was somehow closest. Her usual sneer was replaced with something softer.
“How did you find me?” Iryana asked weakly, not sure how to answer.
Had they seen what she’d done? Had she just imagined it?
