53
Valen
I fight my way toward the tree as a dark figure emerges from the center of the blazing trunk. Through the smoke, I see Gensted stumble from the base of the tree.
“Gensted!” I make it to him as Delkin, Benj, Suveo, and Wren run up behind me. “Are you all right?”
Delkin lets go of his wolf. With a worried glance at the tree, he asks, “What’s happening in there?”
“They’re inside. Tania and Aphelian.” Gensted braces himself against the nearest tree. He holds up his hand and gives it a shake. “She’s about to lose control, and I’m useless.”
“I don’t understand,” Delkin says.
“I know.” Gensted looks at me, expression heavy. “About my father. Aphelian. Tania… Her Autumn magic was dormant. I…I activated it.”
The air drains from my lungs. “You what?”
“What about your father and Aphelian?” Benj shifts and comes up alongside Delkin. Suveo and Wren join him.
I sigh. “Tania is half Fae.”
“Half Autumn Fae,” Gensted adds.
Delkin breathes out, realization settling in his eyes. “Avastad.”
“Yes,” I answer. “And now she’s in trouble.”
“Why?” Suveo snorts. “She has Autumn Court magic and half of all druid magic. Surely that’s enough and then some to destroy Aphelian.”
Maybe it is. Maybe it isn’t. Aphelian isn’t my concern as much as Tania is. Add my magic—which Wren and Suveo don’t know about—to the already volatile power brewing inside Tania, and it’s a recipe for disaster.
Court magics can’t mix.
Gensted looks at me. He’s got to be thinking the same thing. “We need to rush the tree. Take—” There’s a loud crack, and a surge of flame rocks the clearing.
Suveo shields Wren as a shower of flaming debris rains down on our heads. Benj knocks Delkin to the ground, while Kopic pushes me down and uses his body to cover mine. When I look up, the tree is gone, and standing in its place is Aphelian—and Tania. Face to face.
Forming my ice sword, I rush the two druids. Behind me, a dragon roars and a wolf howls. The ground shakes, and a fierce wind blows, pulling most of my hair from its binding.
Aphelian sees us coming. She raises both hands and shouts something I can’t quite make out. The snow in the field is disturbed, and hundreds of… things emerge. Part plant, part dirt and stone, the creatures lumber to their feet. They’re similar to the golems that attacked the estate. Except these are larger. Angrier.
Kopic staggers back. Normally unflappable, he stares at the beasts, his mouth hanging open. “What the fuck…”
I brace my feet and lift my hand to the sky. Concentrating, I send up a massive squall, high above the trees. The signal. The guards will come to us now—I just hope they make it in time.
These new monstrosities stand at least ten feet tall with vine-like arms tipped with razor-sharp talons. They’re covered in what appears to be armor made of rock and moss, and they have fangs dripping with viscous green gel.
“The guard is on the way!” I shout. “Spread out. Teams of two.”
Everyone gathers at my back and splits. Suveo and Wren. Delkin and Benj. Kopic and me.
“Gensted,” I say, “try to help Tania.”
He doesn’t hesitate, breaking away from our group.
We face off against the nearest beast. Kopic dives to the left, and I the right. He swings his sword as he goes, pivoting and twisting to drag it down the back of the thing’s leg. The creature howls and makes a single swipe. For an instant, it seems as though Kopic has cleared it.
He drops to his knees and slides safely away in the snow. But as the monster brings its massive arms back, one of the tendrils snaking off its wrist catches Kopic in the shoulder. The blow is massive. The force of it is enough to send him several feet off the ground, careening into a nearby rock ledge.
“Kopic!” I rush to his side but only get three steps toward him before the thing wraps its vines around my right ankle. With a massive jerk, it has me off my feet and dangling in front of its gaping, dripping maw.
The thing stares at me, head tilting to the left and then to the right. It opens its mouth wide and brings me closer. The fetid stench of its breath wafts over me, and I gag. Eaten by an overgrown pile of mud with an attitude problem? Not how I intended to go out.
I focus on the vines wrapped around my ankle. Cold washes through me, seeping throughout my limbs. The vines freeze, and the creature rages. Its movement shatters the ice, releasing its hold on me. I crash to the ground.
“Valen, here!” Kopic crawls to his sword and hurls it toward me.
I catch it, spinning and hefting up with all my might. The blade cuts a swath through the center of the monster, cleaving it nearly in half. Thick green ooze bubbles from the wound, and the thing sputters for a moment before falling to the ground, lifeless.
The tree line rumbles, and seconds later, the battalion of Winter Guards burst through the brush. They charge the creatures, swords drawn. They’re not alone. Behind them, a fury of hoofbeats sound. Twenty—maybe more—massive horses barrel into the clearing, Daroose’s black-and-purple visage at their lead. The kelpies arrived in time. I never thought I’d be happy to see an army of kelpies , yet here I am.
To our left, Suveo and Wren are taking down their own beast. Wren raises her hands, and a massive crater forms in the ground. The monster steps into it, and the earth closes, trapping the beast from the neck down. Suveo spreads his arms, and a torrential wind kicks up. It shakes loose several branches. They’re hurtled toward the thing, impaling it several times and leaving it still.
Behind us, Delkin and Benj wage their own war. Benj swoops down from the sky and snatches one of the monsters up, ascending high into the air until he’s no longer visible. Several seconds later, the thrashing beast plummets to the earth, all but exploding on impact as Delkin tears another to shreds several feet away.
A few yards in front of me, Gensted is cornered by two of the things on his way to where Tania and Aphelian must be. The smoke is too thick to see clearly, but the sound of melee drifts through the fog.
Gensted holds his own. The first beast is incinerated in a blaze of fire and smoke while he keeps the second at bay, surrounded by a circle of flame.
Kopic and I make our way across the clearing. Delkin and Benj, having shifted back into Fae form, approach from the other side.
“Not much of a fight if you ask me,” Benj says as they reach us. “A little disappointed.”
Delkin glares at him but says nothing.
“Everyone okay?” Wren calls as she and Suveo jog to us. Daroose, back in human form, jogs up behind them. He wipes a smear of blood from his mouth, grinning.
“Obviously we won because my kelpies arrived.” Daroose winks.
Delkin’s brows draw downward. “Tania?”
“Somewhere in there,” Gensted says, pointing to the smoke.
I look at them and square my shoulders. “Then that’s where we need to be.”
There’s a hushed chorus of agreement—begrudgingly from Suveo—and we all turn and start forward.
We don’t get more than twenty paces before a thunderous explosion rocks the clearing. The thick smoke lifts, and I see her.
Tania.
Locked in battle with Aphelian.