I wanted to grab the Autumn King by the collar of his shirt, but the monster exhaled on a clump of trees, instantly turning it into ash.
Clearly, I had bigger issues to deal with. “What is it?”
Fell scoffed. “That ignorant, are you? Of course you would be—”
“Fell!” I shouted. “Just tell me what it is and how to beat it!”
“It’s animated by shadow magic—the same kind from the movie theater.” Lord Linus stepped through the gate, Chase and the others right behind him.
The fae lord’s eyes locked on the monster with worry. “But it looks like it’s been combined with necromancy of some sort. Beating it is going to be next to impossible given its size.”
“How would I defeat something like that, then?” I asked.
Lord Linus rubbed his chin and shook his head. “Beheading would be the simplest matter, but unless you can get yourself a sword big enough to stab through its limbs, it won’t work on a monster that size.”
“Light, possibly,” Chase said. He looped a lead rope around Fax’s neck, and then a second around Bagel’s, securing the less fierce geldings for their safety. “The shadow snakes reacted negatively to light.”
Lord Linus shook his head. “The amount of light you’d need would be extraordinary.”
“I’m calling in my men. We’ll get multiple warriors on it,” Chase said.
“Fine. I’ll distract it in the meantime,” I said.
“You’re wasting your time,” Fell said. “You can’t beat that thing.”
“Then what do you suggest wedo?” I snarled.
Fell shrugged. “The only thing you can do. Dump it in the human world.”
“Are youinsane?” I shouted. “I’m not doing that! It will kill people! It could smash its way through half of Magiford before the Curia Cloisters could contain it.”
I pointed to the monster, which was clacking its teeth.
We’d popped out by the massive lake in the middle of my territory—a good distance away from the monster—but even this far away I could smell its putrid, rotting scent.
The monster whipped its tail in a wide arc, smashing into the magical barrier, which sputtered and flashed.
My stomach dropped, and fear made my ears ring.
If we don’t do something, it will take out the wards.
“You’ll have to choose,Leila. Sacrifice your realm, or set it loose on the humans for the Curia Cloisters to deal with,” Fell sneered.
I turned Eclipse toward the monster. “Ihateyou,” I told Fell. I then squeezed my heels into Eclipse’s sides, and she was off like a bolt of lightning.
I wanted to whistle a call to the others, but there was no way I was letting go of Eclipse’s neck, so I just screamed at the top of my lungs all the way to the monster.
I probably sounded like I was officially losing it, but I didn’t care. I had bigger problems to behead.
Eclipse was the fastest of my night mares. Effortlessly, she took the lead even as the rest of the night mares charged behind us.
We closed in on the monster—its putrid scent was thick enough to make me gag.
This close, I could hear the way its body unnaturally clicked whenever it moved and better see the shadowy magic that tied it together and made the monster jolt along.
This is either proof Fell is the one who has been trying to kill me, or proof that it’s someone else entirely.
When Eclipse braced her legs and skidded to a stop, I licked my lips, tucked my fingers in my mouth, and whistled.
