But in that very same instant, I’m aware of an even darker power rushing toward me from within the creature’s heart, meeting the energy I’m streaming into it.
In that moment, I have a horrifying realization.
Itwantsmy power.
I sense my energy rush through its limbs, sense the surge of strength and the coiling of muscles in all of its legs, as if it’s feeding off my magic.
Growing stronger with every second that I press my palm against it.
I’m screaming, but Erik’s roar is clear in my ears. His body is a blur as he rams into the beast, knocking it to the side.
Its claws were already descending into my flesh so it takes me with it for a second before it lets go. I don’t have time to check, but I’m nearly certain the cuts are shallow.
I roll to the side, coming up at a crouch, my heart pounding.
Several paces away from me, Erik stands between me and the bear. His hunting knife is buried to the hilt in its neck, but the blade barely slows the creature down.
Erik has already nocked two arrows, letting them fly the moment the beast rears up on its hind legs. They meet the creature’s chest, but once again, the beast doesn’t slow. It charges forward, swiping at Erik.
Its claws slash across the air so fast that I can’t follow them. Every cut could disembowel or dismember him, but Erik is fast, evading the strikes. As he leaps backward, he’s nocking two more arrows and letting them loose.
It’s only been seconds, but I prepare to launch myself back into the fight.
I can’t use my raw power. It only made the bear stronger—although I have no idea how.
But I have plenty of weapons at my disposal.
My spear is three paces away, where the bear’s initial strike forced me to drop it.
I leap toward it, intending to throw it through the bear’s head, only to trip and fall, nearly impaling my hand on a jagged bone in the snow.
What the fuck?
I’m suddenly face down in the ice and trying to understand what I tripped on. I was aware of every bone, conscious of the uneven ground. Idon’ttrip. Not even in the Sunken Bog with all its rotted vines.
Twisting, I seek the source of my downfall.
At the same moment, a shadow rises over me.
Oh, fuck, no.
Nearby, the tree is unwinding itself and one of its woody ropes is hooked around my ankle.
Nearer to its trunk, it holds Milena’s unconscious body to the side, dangling her as if she were a doll, while other parts of its trunk strike toward me. Thick, slimy wood snakes around my feet, wrapping all the way to my thighs and yanking me toward it.
I manage to twist so I’m facing upward, using my stomach muscles to stretch toward the rope.
I slap my left hand against it.Dust!
But the moment my power streams through my palm, I sense it energize the tree, just like it did with the bear.
Dark power streams visibly toward the tree’s trunk, which splits in countless places, and then my vision fills with woody stems and crimson apples that suddenly fully untwine in a mass of black and red threads.
The boughs above me thump down, smacking into the snow, as if they would crush me, while the woody stems from the trunk race across the ground, wrapping around my legs and toward my neck.
Once again abandoning my raw power, my thoughts fly to the weapons I can make with my medallion. Fuck it, I’ll use the dragon-imprinted medallion if I have to.
As I twist as fast as I can, evading the crushing thumps from above, my left hand slaps across the medallion on my arm and a command flies through my mind.
