All of a sudden, the light blinks out. Like a candle snuffed.
A hound leaps at him, and he barely blocks in time. He staggers back, sweat pouring down his neck, and I see something raw in his eyes.
Fear.But not of the hounds.
Ofhimself.
My shadows lash out and yank the beast away before it can strike again. I dart to his side. “Are you alright?”
He nods too quickly. “I’m fine.”
“You’re not.”
“I said I’mfine,” he snaps with a shaky voice, but he won’t meet my gaze.
I stare at him a second longer, but there isn't time for arguments. The forest is full of snarls and rotting breath.Another dozen hounds stalk the edges of the trees, glowing eyes flashing like torches in the dark.
I turn my focus inward, calling the shadows deeper.
Where are you hiding…?
Something shimmers farther west. A bend in the air.
I follow it, weaving through the fog-covered trees. Dimitri reappears beside me. “You feel it too?”
I nod. “Northwest. Maybe a hundred paces.”
“Go,” Koen calls. “I’ll hold them here.”
I almost argue. Almost. But one look at his drawn blade and clenched jaw says he means it.
Don’t die,I think. But I don’t say it.
We run over the thick forest roots. The air grows colder. Heavier. My shadows scream in warning.
A tall, skeletal figure stands between two dead trees, wrapped in decaying robes. He’s holding a long, cane-like wand in one bony hand, and at its tip swirls a small orb that’s clouded green and black and pulsing with unholy light.
A nemorak.
My shadows recoil as they near him.
“Found you,” Dimitri whispers.
The skeletal figure stands motionless, his wand digging slightly into the moss beneath his feet. The swirling green-and-black orb at its tip crackles once, resembling lightning caught inside clouds.
My shadows coil tightly around my limbs, ready to strike.
Dimitri stops at my side, but slightly ahead, protectively, whether he means to or not. His blades gleam in both hands,reflecting the strange green glow that pulses from the figure’s empty eye sockets.
The nemoraktilts his head.
“Well, well,” he says in a voice that's like a brittle echo. “A dark faecloaked in shadows that don’t belong to her. A vampire reeking of old blood. And a human touched by a magic that shouldn’t exist in this realm.”
I stiffen.
The bone mage makes a low and raspy sound. A laugh, maybe.
He taps his wand once against the earth, and the ground beneath him blackens in a perfect circle. “I have seen you. Heard of you. Felt the tremors of your steps. You being here will stir things in the underworld of Varkahen that are better left sleeping.”
