“We rage within you, no release.”They wailed now, pained and screeching. “No release. Building and building with nowhere to go. We will consume you if you do not—”
My eyes flew open to golden light, bright and burning as my throat rasped on a groan.
“Syra, are you awake?” Rena’s voice was panicked, the golden light sparkling from her palm wavering as her hazel eyes assessed me. The sob that wracked my body was deep, had my lungs quivering with the effort as I shook my head.
“No more,” I cried, “please, not again.”
“You need to getup.”Rena was pulling at my arm then, hands shaking. “The nightmares aren’t real, Syra. It’s some sort of creature feeding from our deepest fears.”
I stumbled from the tent after her, and our little camp was already in ruins–tents torn, supplies scattered, chaos wrecking through the small clearing.
My eyes found Roan first, heart pounding in my chest.
Thick black liquid was smeared against his skin and clothing, both of swords in his hands–moving like extensions of his own body, brutal and precise. Snow and ice churned around him in a violent orbit, his blessed magic a shield and a weapon all at once. A creature lunged and he didn’t even turn. One blade flashed back, severing a leg mid-strike, the other driving clean through its body.
It didn’t stop moving.
Itshriekedas it thrashed upon the snow covered forest floor. Its wicked looking pincers snapping wildly until a spike of ice drove up through its underside, pinning it in place.
I didn’t have time to watch him finish it.
I spotted Bran as I drew my daggers, my cousin locked into a fight of his own. The creature eyeing him was monstrous. Shaped like the common house spiders that hide in the dusty spots of the potions shop, but the size of a goddess-damned boulder. Its eight spindly legs stabbed into the frozen earth like spears, each step cracking frozen ground. Its pincers snapped inches from his face, dripping with that same foul black substance Roan was covered in.
Bran ducked one strike, but the second clipped his shoulder, sending him stumbling back.
“Bran!”
He recovered quickly, teeth bared, driving his sword—his fathers sword—up through the creature's underside. It pierced deep, but the beast only shrieked, rearing back.
Ice slammed into it from the side. Roan.
The creature buckled just enough for Bran to rip his blade free and spin clear of its reach. Snow and ice surrounded him too, thinner, uneven–Roan stretching himself to shield them both. The memory of his oath to Merle slamming into me.
Another shriek cut through the night.
A burst of Rena’s golden light raced past me, warm and blinding as she ran towards Kairen. He was surrounded, three of the creatures circling. One darted in, fast as a viper, forcing him to give ground. Another came from the side.
Rena’s light flared brighter, cutting through the darkness—burning into one of the creatures, but the other two adjusted quickly. Closing the gap, far smarter than any inhuman creature should be.
I moved to help, until I heard it.
Loud and sharp, to the left—a clicking sound.
I immediately dropped, rolling. Heart racing.
The creature hit where I’d been standing only seconds before, its weight slamming into the ground hard enough to send a jolt through my bones. Snow burst into the air. One of its legs punched deep into the frozen earth, embedding there for half a second too long.
I scrambled to my feet, boots slipping as I hauled myself upright. Heart hammering against my ribs. That hit would’ve sliced me right in half—Nine Hells.
It yanked its leg free with a sickening crack and turned on me.
One of my daggers soared end over end through the air striking and burying in a cluster of one of the damn things many blinking eyes.
The creature shrieked and recoiled, but it didn’t fall.
“Shit—”
I dove to the side, pain ripping through my shoulder as I hit the ground wrong. Cold flooded my senses, snow in my mouth, down my collar, stealing my breath even as the adrenaline surged.
