There was a rustling below me. Gently beating my wings, I edged back from the wall just as a mound of fur scuttled past me. It didn’t give me any notice, even though I was only a few inches behind it. The beasts had no idea I was here. Yet.
With a trembling hand, I lifted the horn to my lips and blew with all my might. The sound was like a mournful wail, a shout of pain that echoed through the mountains. The beasts on the wall froze, but I shot away before they could turn their heads in my direction. A brutal wind slammed down on me, but I battled against it, pushing away as fast as I could.
And as I shoved against that wicked wind, thick with the stench of death and rot and pain, the beasts on the wall screamed as arrows rained down from the Kingdom of Shadow.
Forty-Five
Tessa
Staying away from the wall to avoid the storm of arrows, I soared back to the city above. The burning oil lit the darkness, an eerie orange hue that cut through the mists. Kalen was pacing along the battlements, his jaw tense. When he spotted me, relief crossed his face.
I landed on the battlement, away from the archers. He rushed over and scooped me into his arms. I pressed my face into the crook of his neck, smiling.
“I was gone for ten minutes. At most,” I murmured to him, relishing in the scent of his mist-scented skin.
He lowered me to the ground, wrapped his hand around the back of my neck, and kissed me fiercely. “One moment, knowing you might be in danger, is torture.” His eyes hardened at the growing roar of the beasts that were scaling the mountain, and he turned toward the archers as they sent another round of arrows. “Stay with me. The fight will be upon us soon.”
And so we waited. Toryn stood on Kalen’s other side, holding tightly to his spear. Fenella took up residence beside me with her two daggers, while I’d opted for that heavy sword. I’d had little time to train in the past weeks, but the weapon felt solid and comforting in my hands. Better this than anything else.
Better this than the death I carried in my hands.
Kalen had his own sword at the ready. And as a light wind pushed the mists away from his face, just for a moment, I drank him in. He looked like an agent of death himself, even with his power as muted as it was. Strength and terror pulsed from his body, beating with the rhythm of his heart.
And then a claw curled around the wall. A shadowfiend’s glinting fangs appeared a moment later, just in front of an archer. The fae lifted his bow to shoot the creature, but its jaws clamped down on his body before he could release the arrow. The crunch of bone and the spray of blood felt like the slice of a sword through my heart. I flinched, gritting my teeth, but I forced myself to keep my focus on that creature. I would not look away.
Several of the archers screamed and stumbled back.
The beast moved to swipe at the nearest, but Kalen was in motion before those wicked claws could make contact. He was a whirlwind of shadow and speed. Even without access to his elite fae powers, he still had his strength and his skill with the blade. He swept his sword at the beast’s neck and cut its head clean off. The severed head fell and vanished in the mist.
Thick crimson blood dripped off his blade as he turned to me. A slight smile lifted the corners of his lips, and I couldn’t help but smile right back. Something stirred in my heart. For so long, for centuries, Kalen had hated what he was and what he could do, but there was nothing of that in his face now. No regret, no shame. Nothing but the understanding that his people needed him, and he would gladly fight for them.
Kalen turned as another beast hauled itself over the wall.
“Fall back!” he shouted to the archers when three more shadowfiends leapt onto the battlements. The archers scrambled away. And then he sprang into action, cutting through flesh and fur like a whirlwind of death. The mists swirled and parted around him, as if responding to his frenzied attack.
Fenella and Toryn stood on either side of me, waiting. The moment he started flagging, or too many beasts entered the fray, we would join the fight.
“The mists still move with him,” I murmured to Toryn. “Do you think that means his power—the one that flattens anything in his path—is back?”
“I don’t know,” Toryn said, “but he would never use it in close combat like this. It could take out this entire wall.”
On my other side, Fenella let out a hiss. I turned to see blood bubbling on her arm where she’d dug her own blade into her skin. Droplets splashed onto the stone. After a moment, she pulled a scrap of cloth from her pocket and wound it around her arm.
“I’m not healing,” she said, her face paling. “Whatever is muting our powers, it’s still out there, and it’s worse than before. I was able to heal back in Gailfean.”
Dread pumped through my veins, and several more shadowfiends leapt over the wall. Their claws crashed into the stone, and chunks of crenel broke free, tumbling down the side of the mountain.
“To arms!” Toryn shouted as he raised his spear and dove into the fray.
Heart in my throat, I gripped my sword and rushed forward, Fenella by my side. A shadowfiend landed before us. Its fangs dripped with venomous drool. It turned toward Fenella first, and its claws clicked against the stone.
Fenella roared and slashed her daggers at the beast’s throat, but it dodged to the side. I swung my sword at its back, but somehow, it sensed my presence and flicked out its tail. It slammed into my side, knocking me off my feet. Pain radiated through my backside when it collided against the stone.
I blinked away the pain and climbed to my feet just as the beast swung a claw at Fenella. She ducked low, and then danced out of the way before whirling toward the creature. Her blades flashed in the darkness. The creature backed up, swishing its tail at me once more, but I saw it coming this time. I slammed my blade down on its tail, cutting through flesh and fur.
The tail came clean off. A spray of blood coated my arms as the roar of the beast shook the stones. I swallowed down the nausea shoving up my throat as the beast whirled to me and screamed into my face. Its hot breath blew my braid over my shoulder, and the scent of that rot and the roiling death washed over me.
Heart pounding a frantic rhythm, I angled my sword and pointed the sharp tip at the beast’s bulbous red eye. It took a step back. Fenella roared from behind it and drove both her daggers into its flank. The beast screamed, whipping toward her, its jaws widening. Through the sweat and blood, and maybe even fear, Fenella’s hands slipped from the hilts, and she lost her daggers in the beast’s flesh.
