“Will you help me find my brother?” I asked, searching its body, wondering how it could see me.
Releasing an eerie hum, the scáde turned and trotted through the trees, wings folded at its side.
Brighid hummed. "I think it understood you." Hiking up her skirt, she marched after it.
Hefting my sword, I followed.
Fog rolled over the ground, growing thicker as the trees thinned. A mountain painted the distance black, but a strange halo outlined its silhouette. The fog rose like a wall beyond the forest’s end, glowing with unseen light.
A man’s silhouette stood out against the mist. Liam.
He wasn’t alone. A creature emerged from the shadows, though I could make little of it out. Wings, torn and jagged, extended from its back, and it moved with an unnatural gait. It reached toward him, with clawed fingers.
I moved without thinking. Taking three dancing steps forward, I threw myself at it. Lightning enveloped me as it had in Tsuyan, ferrying me to my brother in a blink of electric light.
Static shock rippled around my body as I leaped from the spell and brought Cierthine down on the creature’s head. It reared out of the way with unnatural speed, and I caught a glimpse of its face.
It was a woman, pallid and gaunt. Like a corpse.
Then she was gone. The mist enveloped her and parted to reveal only silence.
My heart hammered against my chest. Whatwasthat thing?
Liam crumpled to his knees, and I dropped to his side. That horrible fog shrouded his irises, trapping him in its spell. Grabbing his shoulders, I shook him.
“Liam!” I hissed. “I . . . I’ve threatened to kill you for far less than this. You’d best have a damn good explanation.”
He shook his head, as though trying to escape from a dream. “It was calling me. I had to . . . ” One trembling hand lifted and reached under his coat.
When he pulled it out, his palm was slick with blood.
Gasping, I ripped his cloak back to see a tear running across his right shoulder, crossing his chest, and ripping across his upper arm.
Light flared beside me as Brighid summoned a flame in her palm. “That’s a fresh wound.” She stepped back, looking around. “Whatever did this must have been scared off by the scáde song. But it can’t have gotten far.”
All was mist. Anything could emerge and catch us unawares. Distant sounds traveled through the fog—the unearthly calls of some other beast.
A low, nervous rumble echoed in the scáde’s throat.
Brighid caught my arm. “I know a safe place. If your friend will let us borrow his wings.”
“A safe place?” I balked. “Back over the wall? Reese will?—”
“I am not talking about Reese,” she hissed. “It is time you learned why I sought you out. Why Bláth was waiting for you in Gwynford, that day. I’d tell you to trust me, but you have little choice.”
Tearing off my cloak, I shoved it into her hands. “Try to stop the bleeding.” Glancing back at my dazed brother, I approached the scáde, hand held out.
It lowered its head, pressing its cold, smooth scales to my palm. The hum quaking through its throat shook my bones.
“May I borrow your wings?” I asked quietly.
The scáde raised its head, and something clicked into place. A warmth in my breast that had not been there before. A feeling that told me this was right.
I heard something—the thud of feet and claws against the earth. Spinning around, I pointed Cierthine toward the wall of mist.
A shardwolf pounded into view, its eyes at height with mine. Frigid veins of ice pulsed down its thick fur, and horns rose from behind its ears. One was broken in half.
The scáde nudged me, placing itself between the beast and me. To my surprise, the shardwolf backed up and sat, head tilted behind it—like a dog awaiting its master.
