He fights them like he knows what to do.
Because he does.
He has fought the Torailians before. Hemusthave. But when and why?
We are at war with the Issen, but never the Torailians. Or at least, that was what I believed.
But everything I believed is falling into ash around me.
As my gaze shifts towards the other bonded pair, Fen takes an arrow to the shoulder. Yet rather than retreating, he winces once, then pushes any pain down before he tears through their line with brutal grace.
We need to think less and act more, Little Raven.For a moment his words make no sense. After all, we are fighting for all we are worth to evade these fucking nets and stop any of the others taking an arrow to the chest. But then, it clicks. Of course! IfIcan’t anticipate what is going to happen, then neither can the Torailians.
It is not like when I channelled the vines to grow to secure Fen or when I wrapped them around the Rottings’ ankles before the Myrkr siphoned my powers. This time is unlike any time I have ever used my magic before.
All restraint is gone, and in its place there is only rampant recklessness.
I tear at the ground and roots snap up, throwing the Torailians off balance. Then I will the weeds to explode with bristling thorns that twist this way and that, without reason or direction. Such randomness ruptures the earth, taking even me by surprise, and that’s a good thing. Because if I don’t know where the plants are coming from, then they don’t either.
‘Shit!’ Ruben yells as a blade skims his ribs.
Benny is there instantly, back-to-back with him.
‘They’re trying to box us in!’ Caz shouts.
Kyor fires back and a thin streak of lightning bisects the sky. But it’s too thin. He’s running out of energy and needs to stop. ‘Rose,’ he shouts. ‘They want you. But they’re not here to kill you.’
‘Really? I hadn’t noticed,’ I shout back drily.
‘They want to take you.’ He looks across at me, eyes fiery with passion. ‘I won’t let them.’
Nor,I think,will I.
A Torailian lunges for me, but Fen intercepts, jaws closing inches from her throat. She stumbles back, horror etched across her face. They have never touched him, I realise, a flicker of hope sparking in me. They have shot arrows at him, tried to pull me off him, but never touched him physically or mentally. As if to touch his mind directly and not access his thoughts through my knowledge is something that they cannot or will not do.
Whichever it is, it doesn’t matter.
The wolves are our advantage.
‘You sullied yourself for such a foul creature,’ the woman snarls at me, but I don’t dignify her with a response.
I’m going to disconnect from you,I warn Fen,so they can’t read your intent throughme, through our bond.
I feel his chagrin.I should have done so already, he says gruffly.My apologies.
It’s hardly the best situation within which to disentangle my mind. Steady breaths are never easy to take mounted on a moving dire wolf, but definitely not one that is moving as erratically as he is. But this is it. This is our only chance. I don’t have a choice.
Trusting that he will keep me safe, I close my eyes, draw in the earthy aroma of the air around us, and disentangle my mind from Fen’s.
I bury my hands into his fur and strengthen the grip of my legs around his body.
‘Attack them, Fen!’ I say aloud to my wolf.
He needs no further command. He surges forward, causing my body to lurch and slam into his back.
Without the connection, staying astride is a thousand times harder. There’s no way of knowing where his paws will land or which direction he will twist his body in, but I cling on with determination as Fen tears into our attackers with malicious glee. And they, unable to anticipate his moves through me, fall.
Blood drips from his maw as he launches himself through them. The random turbulence is almost fluid, as if he too has fought them before – with Zelle.
