The arrows of darkness quivered a moment, tugging on their leash. My heart stuttered in its hammering.
Evony shoved through the crowd and called to the creatures, “Stand down! She’s a friend!”
What in Tynan’s Hell…
Ti’s responding snort echoed my disbelief.
The small beasts looked up at her in irritation but obeyed. They clamped their mouths shut and stayed their weapons.
Evony’s bright blue eyes shone in the light of Renova, widening with disbelief as she choked out a sob and raced for me. I reined in the darkness, the Obscura mumbling its disappointment as I forced it back down.
Evony slammed into my chest, knocking the wind from me as she wrapped her arms around my waist and wept into my shoulder. I released my breath, taking her in my arms and squeezing as hard as I could.
I ran a hand over the back of her head before pulling her face away and giving it a good scan. Evony’s long, curly brown hair had been plaited in tight, coiling braids that hung past her shoulders. A few scratches lined her cheeks.
“Where is she?” I asked, doing my best to hide the panic in my voice.
Evony blinked. “Who?”
Hundreds of beasts continued to gather in the pass. They filled the space between us and both cliffs, many still hanging down from branches or ropes.
“The Stone Witch,” I breathed, still uncertain of our safety.
Evony frowned at me, following my gaze.
Silence rippled through the pass at my words. A scrape and thud muffled to our left, and the vibration of Tiberius’s massive hooves hit the ground as he flanked me.
“She’s okay,” Evony said to the one-legged creature whose knit trousers had seen better days. “She’s safe. I know her.”
The creature narrowed its beady eyes at me.
“Gork,” I murmured, remembering the name the Stone Witch had used last year in Crown Peak.
The creature mumbled something in its own language before looking at Evony. His malevolence dissipated as he turned his attention to the girl.
“Gork,” Evony said, turning to him. “Is that your name?”
He nodded his response before turning away and barking a command at the others, who retreated up the cliffside. He stopped, turning and motioning us to follow.
“Come with me,” Evony said, gripping my hand.
We sat in a small,damp cave. I’d sent Tiberius back to Demon’s Door to communicate who and what we’d found at Skyscape Pass with Aquila. He would return with Vienah the next morning.
A makeshift cot sat in the corner, with mountain goat fur draped over the edge and a small sack of straw for the pillow at its top. And though Evony seemed at ease, even pouring a minty tea into a cup carved from birch bark, I couldn’t shake that sense ofotherness.
“Dad’s face started showing up on wanted posters shortly after he left for Odessa,” she said, sipping out of her own bark cup. “I was already up at Mum’s haven when the soldiers came, but I’d run down to the house on occasion to grab more supplies.They must’ve been staked out for some time because they caught me on my trek down one day.”
My stomach churned. “But Dad had built in a couple of traps along the path, ones I knew to avoid. Problem was, they’d seen where I went in. So, I had to leave.”
“And you went deeper into the mountains?” I asked, noting how her warm, light brown skin seemed pale in the light of the flames.
Evony nodded and popped a couple of dried berries into her mouth. “Mhmm,” she murmured, matter-of-factly. “And then I ran into the Ganels.”
I blinked. “The what?”
She shrugged, nodding at the beastly creatures that shared the network of caves beneath the mountain.
“Ganels. Angels, in old Votruvian. Mum spoke it, and I know a fair bit. Anyways,” she said, now grabbing a chunk of mountain goat meat and shoving it into her mouth. “They don’t speak the common tongue, but they can understand it. I have no idea who the Stone Witch is… There’s been no one else since I joined them.”
