Chapter 8 The Dreadmoor Curse #2
“She’s not wrong,” Ozirax said, strolling past without looking their way as he continued his investigation.
“This is too sudden. These beasts are getting smarter, and we’ve seen them working together to take down larger monsters.
That’s unheard of, not to mention how close this hiriivi is to the border. Something more is at play here.”
Kalypso was both shocked at his agreement and dreading that her observation might have been right. Next to her, Tonomoch had his gaze narrowed on Ozirax’s back, and it was only because she was looking at the gold demon that she caught the movement.
“Down!”
Her hand was already hooked through Tonomoch’s weapons straps, yanking him to the ground. He landed in a heap on top of her just as the gigantic flying beast swooped past.
His wide eyes studied her for a moment that seemed much too long for the shouts coming around them.
“Thanks,” he finally said with a nod, then pushed off the ground. “Stay down.”
“Mylioptera!” someone called, and Kalypso’s mind whirred to life as she recalled her reading.
Mylioptera. Solitary creatures. A giant butterfly-shaped thing with thick and leathery wings and a long stinger tail. Venom in its bite with a paralyzing agent that allowed them to feast on their prey while they suffered every moment of being eaten alive.
“I’ve got another!”
That was Ozirax’s voice, followed by another swoop over Kalypso’s head that told her there were at least three.
So much for solitary creatures.
The dark mass swung and turned gracefully, and Kaly watched it take aim again. At her.
“Joy,” she mumbled, bracing her hands and feet on the ground beneath her. Just as the mylioptera neared, she kicked up, connecting with its underbelly and driving it away from her.
“Spicy!”
“I’m fine,” she snapped, jerking to her feet. The sword was in her grip, metal flashing in the hovering demonlight. Which is when she noticed how wrong her previous assessment was.
There were a lot more than three of them.
Kalypso swore, then spun and slashed in time to catch one of the creatures across the wing. It shrieked, blood spraying as it careened out of the sky and crashed off the path. But she didn’t have time to celebrate her first victory, because another was diving for her.
The mylioptera twisted out of range just as her blade swung, but then something hit her back and she was knocked forward.
The weight latched onto her, and she was barely relieved to know the monster had sunk its teeth into her armor and not any of her exposed skin.
But she was once again defending herself against the beast still flying, hoping the one on her back didn’t decide to use that stinger tail before she had a chance to get it off.
She sidestepped a wing, steps slower with the additional weight attached to her, and then her sword was clipping another monster.
A third was on her almost immediately, and panic started to settle in. One or two she could handle, but they were coming from all angles.
Suddenly, the weight at her back was gone in a deafening screech, and another presence filled the space.
“Fuck, are you hurt?” Ozirax grunted, sickle slicing out at another monster diving at them.
“No,” she gritted out as she swung at another, eyes trying to pierce the fog that only seemed to writhe with the flying creatures. “Why are there so many?”
“Wrong question,” Garion shouted, joining their defense. “Why are they only attacking you?”
Even if they had the answer, they couldn’t respond as another wave of the beasts attacked. Wings clipped her head, tearing her hair from its braid, but even more screeches rent the air as blades hit their targets.
Kalypso swung again, but another impact at her side had her missing target. She batted another beast away just as Tonomoch’s mace clubbed the one that had attached its mouth to her side. Over armor once again.
“They’re going after her because she’s human,” he growled, fist grabbing hold of her shirt and tugging her back into the safety of the ring they created around her.
Panic and confusion clogged her throat as she watched the three demons move effortlessly around her, swiping away any mylioptera with tails, weapons, and claws.
But beyond them, down the path, Rand and the veilhound were still defending their own, smaller swarm, none of which seemed inclined to come their way.
“Bringing a human was a bad idea,” Garion snarled, claws piercing the underbelly of a creature before slamming it to the ground.
“They’ve never done this before,” Ozirax snapped back. “Something’s wrong.”
He was right. This wasn’t making sense. There were so many of them, and they were meant to be solitary creatures. They wanted blood, and were violently territorial, but none seemed to care that they were collectively going for the same target.
Kalypso looked down, noting the chunk of her leather cuirass that had been bitten off in the last attack. Her feet moved with the squad around her, but her mind was elsewhere, trying to put together the pieces.
Why go for her defenses when she had exposed skin? Their trajectories before… it hadn’t been for any of her flesh. They’d gone for—
“My armor,” she muttered, eyes going wide. Her head snapped to Ozirax who was already looking over his shoulder at her. “My armor! Get it off!”
“Uh, that’s the very thing keeping you alive right now!” Tonomoch shouted as he deflected another dive from a mylioptera.
Kaly was already fumbling with the straps at her side, but her hands were shaking, slipping over the buckles as she tried to tear it off. “Trust me! Please!”
And then there was silver slicing around her, straps of her armor springing free as Ozirax moved with precision, claws and blade easily tearing through the leather.
He yanked the cuirass off, nearly pulling her arm from its socket in the process, then flung it off the path so fast and far it was gone in less than a breath.
Nearly every mylioptera screeched and tore through the sky after it, even the ones around Rand.
The demons watched in confusion, but Kalypso was so on edge that she heard the flap in time.
Her sword swung fast and true, splitting the creature’s head down the middle before its weight collided with her.
The blade knocked back into her chin and lip as she was thrown to the ground, the metallic tang of blood filling her mouth. She choked as the breath whooshed out of her, vision going dark, but that was only the beast’s limp body crushing her.
Blessed relief and air came a moment later as it was shoved off her chest, a wide-eyed purple bastard leaning over her.
“Fuck,” Ozirax breathed, and that was real terror on his face a moment before he was yanking her bracer to his nose. Sniffing even deeper like he was searching for something. Fury filled the black of his eyes, every spike standing on end. “Noxscant piss. That’s why they wanted her armor.”
“Someone laced her armor?” Tonomoch asked, panting as he surveyed the area.
Ozirax offered his hand, and Kalypso was so stunned she didn’t argue about taking it. When she was on her feet again, he didn’t go far, his jaw clenched.
“Who?” she asked, her voice a deadlier calm than the emotion roiling in her gut.
“Drolmoth’s squad was on prep work. I should have double checked.”
“Oz, look at this.” The purple demon seemed reluctant to turn away from her, but he eventually looked toward Garion, who knelt over the beast. He was holding the split head, fingers spreading the eyelids of the mylioptera to reveal shining orange eyes.
“That’s not normal,” Ozirax muttered. “They’re supposed to be green.”
“This thing was more than feral, even with noxscant piss scrambling their brains.”
“This one too,” Rand said, calming the veilhound as he stepped away from another fallen monster. “It smells like—”
“Rotten eggs,” Kalypso said, words stinging as she was reminded of her split lip.
Tonomoch snapped his gaze toward them. “Magic?”
Ozirax shook his head. “Summoning.”
Garion recoiled like the creature burned him. “These things were summoned?”
“We tell no one,” Ozirax said immediately.
“What?” every demon questioned at once.
The squad leader held up a hand. “Something suspicious is going on. Last three squads attacked reported the same. These are… too well timed to our scouting schedule. It’s rare we have more than one attack a month, let alone one like this.”
“You’re saying it wasn’t my armor?” Kalypso asked.
He canted his head back and forth. “I’m thinking that made things a lot worse, but not the cause. But it’s someone familiar with our guard, and if someone is summoning these beasts, we can’t let them know we’re investigating.”
“Drolmoth?” Garion asked.
Tonomoch snorted. “That male is dumb as a rock when it comes to runes. Not a chance.”
“This feels bigger,” Ozirax muttered, more to himself despite his gaze lingering on Kaly. “But he will absolutely be reported for this stunt.”
His spikes were still raised when Rand stepped next to him, fingers glowing as he reached for her.
“No,” Kalypso snapped, stepping away from his magic. She wiped a braced forearm over her chin, studying the wet red of her blood left behind. “This one’s for me.”