Chapter 25 #2
Magic rushed over my fur, and a second later, the cold night air flowed over my skin as I crouched. Maybe next time I saw Roth, I could ask them to craft a spell that made clothes magically appear. Or better yet, armor.
For now, I’d have the joy of battling a fifteen-foot insectoid monster completely naked.
I summoned my axes, holding my position.
This wasn’t my first time fighting a kùsu.
They were fairly common around Drudonia and especially in the Moroi realm.
The kùsu were ambush predators and liked to set traps.
I knew from experience that it was better to wait for them to rush you.
Otherwise, you’d find yourself knee-deep in a pit they dug or tripping over exposed roots while trying to dodge their pinchers.
I hated having to stay here while Ryker was out there, being hunted by only the gods knew what. But getting myself killed wouldn’t help him. Still . . . I could speed this along.
Slowly, I lifted one of my axes and dragged the blade down the back of my forearm. The scent of my blood filled the air. Within seconds, something chittered rapidly in the dark.
Pulling my axe back to my side, I redistributed my weight on the balls of my feet.
The kùsu must have been hungry because I didn’t have to wait long. It burst out from between two trees, and my heart was in my throat at the size of the damn thing. My guess of fifteen feet had been wrong. Really, really wrong.
I rolled to the side as two foot-long pinchers snapped in the air where I’d been a second ago.
Springing to my feet, I whirled and slammed an axe into one of its legs right at the joint.
The kùsu let out an eardrum-piercing shriek as it reared up.
I had to tilt my head back to keep it in my sight as it raised itself ten feet off the ground.
It’s long body stretched behind it, curling around me, supported by way too many fucking legs.
“What the fuck have you been eating?” I growled. The biggest kùsu I’d ever encountered had been just over twenty feet. This one had to be closing in on thirty.
A sharp bark echoed through the trees. Ryker was in trouble.
I didn’t have time for this. My fingers tightened around the axe handles, and I drove forward. I didn’t have to kill the kùsu, just maim it enough so it couldn’t chase after me. Unfortunately, it had a thousand fucking legs, so that was a bit of a challenge.
My axe bit into its side, right where a leg joined the body.
Dark purple blood sprayed me. I yanked my axe back and hacked at another leg, dancing away before it could cut my body in half with those fucking pinchers.
Solid black eyes tracked me for a few seconds before it skittered after me.
I took another step back, only to trip over the back half of its body that it’d cleverly moved behind me.
The kùsu lunged forward, pinchers spread wide as my back slammed into the earth.
I barely got my axes crossed in front of me before it could take my damn head off.
A scream tore from my lungs as the kùsu ground down on me, the tips of its pinchers cutting into my arms even as my blades dug into its face.
My muscles strained as I pushed back against it.
It was too big for me to win this contest. The best I could hope for was to get it off balance and slide out from underneath it. The pincher on the left dug deeper into my bicep. I gritted my teeth through the pain and tried to gather the strength to heave it to the side.
Suddenly, the kùsu reeled back, letting out another nightmare-inducing shriek. I started to scuttle back only for someone to yank me to my feet. A very pissed-off Cade glared at me.
“I totally had that,” I said immediately.
“Sure, Princess.”
A feline snarl had both our heads snapping to where the kùsu flailed around, doing its best to dislodge the black panther ripping into its back. Silver flashed in the night, and it took me a moment to realize Cade had shoved his broadsword through the beast’s neck. Must have missed the spine.
Even still, that was a mortal wound. It was just too stubborn to die and would try to take some of us with it before it did.
Ryker’s howl rang through the night.
I was running towards it before Cade could stop me. He and Bastian could finish off the kùsu.
“Rynn!” Cade yelled after me. He said something else, but I couldn’t make out his words. Nothing mattered but getting to Ryker. Because there had been an edge to his last howl that had the bond between us burning.
The trees flew by as I raced through the forest. Nothing as large as the kùsu challenged me, but more than a few denizens of the night tried to block my desperate dash.
By the time I made it to a large clearing, I was coated in blood that was a mix of mine and others. Barely an inch of my skin was showing.
My heart froze in my chest.
In the center of the clearing was Ryker, his silver coat practically glowing in the moonlight. At least the parts not streaked with blood.
Two large monsters made of pure shadow flanked him. One was shaped like a large winged reptile and the other morphed just as I arrived, its slender form collapsing in on itself to reform into a feline body with spikes running down its back.
Wraiths.
Suddenly, I was wishing it was Strigoi hunting this night. I’d take them over wraiths any day.
Yet again, I had to force myself to wait.
Wraiths were tricky, and just because there were two out in the open didn’t mean there weren’t more lurking in the darkness of the trees.
If there were more, I needed to take them out first. If it was just the two close to Ryker, then I needed to time my attack perfectly to catch one of them by surprise.
My new axes would hurt the wraiths, even in their shadow states, but it would be easier to strike a mortal blow in that brief window they were corporeal.
The wraiths continued circling Ryker, occasionally taking a swipe at him.
My breath hitched when the feline one raked his sides and an alarming amount of blood began to flow.
But a feral smile broke across my lips when Ryker snapped his jaws around the wraith’s leg, causing it to hiss in pain and vanish into shadows before reforming several feet away.
Nothing else moved along the edges. I’d waited long enough.
I hated the feeling of the drying blood against my skin, but on the plus side, it helped me blend in as I crept closer, pausing next to a tree. Only ten feet separated me from the wraiths and Ryker. The problem was that the last bit of ground was completely out in the open.
Ryker went still. He didn’t look at the tree I was hiding behind, but I had no doubt he knew I was there. A flicker of irritation and relief flowed through the bond, and I had to swallow my sharp inhale. Did that mean our mating bond was growing stronger? I’d never felt emotions through it before.
That was a problem for tomorrow. Tonight was about survival.
The wraith Ryker had bitten was back in its feline form and stalking around him while the one shaped like a dragon had its back to me, wings arching up before breaking apart into wispy shadows. I would have preferred the feline one because it was shorter, but I could make this work.
Ryker and I moved at the same time. He spun around and lunged at the feline wraith just as it tried to take another swipe at him, exposing his back to the dragon wraith, which seized the opening.
I raced forward, closing the distance between us before pushing off the ground and leaping straight towards the dragon’s neck.
Cold shadows surrounded me as I passed through its wings a second before the wraith solidified.
The wraith jerked, trying to twist its jaws that had been aimed at Ryker towards me.
I swung my axes from both sides, tearing through its neck.
The wraith screamed and something hit my side, sending me careening away from it.
I crashed into a tree, the impact making me lose my grip on my axes.
Pushing through the pain, I staggered to my feet just in time to see Ryker tear out the throat of the feline wraith.
The wraith exploded into shadows that skittered through the forest. It would unfortunately survive that, but at least it was retreating.
I watched as the dragon wraith morphed into a vaguely Fae shape, clutching at its throat as black blood poured into the ground. It dropped to its knees, slowly falling over and twitching a few times before going still. Slowly, the wraith’s body broke apart until only a pool of dark blood remained.
Guess the magic in my axes still worked. I’d read the reports but hadn’t seen it in action for myself. Whatever spell the Fae had crafted, it disrupted the wraiths in their shadow form. And if you landed a blow in that brief moment they were corporeal, it trapped them in that state.
The wraiths were still deadly, but it evened the odds tremendously. I flexed my fingers, recalling the axes back into my palms.
Across the clearing, Ryker’s ice-blue eyes met mine. He took a step towards me before faltering.
Oh no. I raced towards him. Five feet away, something grabbed me and yanked me back.
Hot agony sprouted from my chest, and blood spewed from my mouth. I looked down to see a dark silver sword coated in blood sticking out of my chest.
My axes fell from my fingers. Ryker’s growl filled the air, and I was vaguely aware of him struggling to get back to his feet.
Someone gripped me to them, close like a lover, even as they twisted the sword they’d shoved through my back. “Always knew you were a traitor,” a cruel voice whispered in my ear.
I could feel my body shutting down, frantically trying to stop the bleeding. One word passed my lips before darkness claimed me. “Warrick.”