Chapter 52
This is the creature we’re meant to be looking out for.
Not the serpents.
Not the six-eyed beasts.
This one.
This giant thing made of all black, with sharp claws and blazing red eyes. Wisps of black shadows waft off its body in place of fur.
A wolf.
It must be a wolf…only it’s three times the size of a regular one, with teeth as long and sharp as swords.
“Shadowhound,” Thane breathes in disbelief. He throws up a hand and hauls Algar out of the way before the shadowhound can swipe at him, too. Algar grunts as he tumbles to the ground. As his body goes down, his head hits a rock. He lies motionless.
The shadowhound snarls again, lowering its haunches and glaring at Thane.
“Oh my gods,” I whisper.
“Hide, Zaira. Now.” Thane sinks into a defensive stance, bracing himself for the creature’s attack. I sprint toward Rynthea, who groans as I approach.
“Oh my goodness. Rynthea? Are you okay?” I drop to my knees, inspecting the damage. Her hand is pressed to her waist, where she is unsuccessfully trying to stem the bleeding from three deep gashes.
My blood runs cold.
She could bleed to death if I don’t find a way to stop the flow.
I glance over my shoulder. Thane is now in a standoff with the shadowhound, walking slowly in a semicircle with his swords locked in hand. Algar remains unconscious on the ground. But that’s okay. Hopefully, he’s only playing dead, which is better than actually being dead.
“Okay, let me see…” I set down my rucksack and fish through it until I find an old chemise.
It’s too small to wrap around Rynthea’s entire midsection, so I fold it in half and press it to her wounds.
She hisses through her teeth. I can’t help thinking that her wounds appear eerily similar to the scars on King Draedor’s face.
“I have a healing elixir in here, too,” I say, digging through the rucksack again. “Don’t judge me, but I stole it from Immalon.”
“You steal?” Rynthea sputters through gritted teeth. I can tell she wants to smile but is in too much pain. Her eyes are starting to glaze over.
“Not usually. Here.” I pop the cork and bring the elixir to her lips. “It’s high strength, so it should work faster.”
Her face scrunches as she gulps it down. “Ugh. That’s fucking disgusting.”
A growl splits the air. From the corner of my eye, I can see the shadowhound pounce forward. I turn to see Thane throw up a hand and force the beast back with a mighty whorl of gold. The shadowhound flies backward but lands on all fours.
It lowers its stance, flaring its nostrils, assessing Thane again before going in for another attack. This time, it has anticipated Thane’s magical blow and lunges to the right. When it circles back around, it slams the top of its head into Thane’s back.
Thane grunts as he falls. The beast attempts a bite at him, but Thane flips onto his back and shoots it in the muzzle with a stream of gold. It whimpers and backs off, giving him just enough time to roll away and jump to his feet.
However, while he fights one shadowhound, another shows up. It notices Algar, yellow teeth bared, sensing an easy meal.
“Algar!” I yell.
Another shadowhound appears a short distance away from me and Rynthea. It growls low, red eyes flaring, whispers of gray smoke surrounding its head. One pounce forward and we’ll be lunch.
“My scythesword.” Rynthea’s words are strained as she points behind me. I dive for her weapon.
The shadowhound snarls and launches itself toward us as I toss Rynthea her scythesword.
An agonized yelp splits the air as Rynthea roars, swinging her scythesword at the beast. She hits it directly in the chest, and the shadowhound goes down.
Grunting, she kicks it off her blade with a hoof.
It lands beside her like a lump of meat, its teeth mere inches from her thigh.
The short tip of her scythesword is drowned in black blood.
“Get. Algar,” she croaks.
Right. Algar. The shadowhound is right above him now.
“Hey!” I scream, scrambling to my feet. “Get away from him!”
This beast lifts its head, and its snout quivers as it reveals glistening teeth and magenta gums. I let it lock its sights on me.
What now, Zaira?
Thane can’t help me. He’s still fighting off his own shadowhound, and Rynthea can hardly move.
I panic as the creature stalks toward me.
I frantically search my surroundings, looking for anything to help me fend off the shadowhound.
There’s a cave off to the left, just big enough for me to squeeze into.
I dart for it, and the shadowhound belts out a vicious bark as its paws pound into the ground.
I feel it closing in on me, the heat from its savage pants warming my back.
I duck into the cave just as the creature speeds headlong into it with its teeth bared.
I hear a hard snap as its fangs break off on the entrance.
Catching my breath, I slide backward and burrow deeper in the cave. Holy Crystal. I can’t believe I made it.
The growls echo, and the shadowhound sticks a paw inside, swiping left and right. I move back as far as I can, pressing my back against the rocky wall. This is a shallow cave, though. It could still reach me.
The shadowhound keeps clawing inside with vicious snarls. While it does, I grab my dagger. There’s hardly any light, so I can’t see exactly where to strike, but I go for it anyway.
Raising my arm, I yell as I slice downward. The dagger penetrates its flesh, and the shadowhound yelps like a wounded puppy. I snatch the dagger back out, and it jerks its paw away.
Breathing rapidly, heart hammering, I wait to see if it’ll run off. The paw drifts away from the cave, and I catch it limping off. Even though it’s leaving, I don’t dare move.
I close my eyes for a fleeting second to pull myself together and collect my breath. My lungs burn, and my heart feels like it’s about to burst out of my chest. My hands shake, and my veins pump with more adrenaline than I’ve felt before.
I’m safe for now.
Suddenly, something pierces through my skin, and white-hot pain floods my thigh. My eyes fly open, and I unleash a high-pitched scream. The shadowhound’s other paw has silently made its way back into the cave and has impaled my upper thigh—and the claw is stuck.
I wail as it tries to yank its paw backward, taking me with it.
I’ve really pissed this thing off.
I lift the dagger again, fighting through the agonizing pain, and give its other paw several stabs. The shadowhound yelps and rips its claw out. It hurts more coming out than going in.
“Fuck!” I wail. “Oh gods. Orvena, help me.” Hands shaking, I study my leg as best as I can in the dim light. Blood gushes from a massive gash, running onto the gravel. “Oh goodness. Okay. Okay, breathe, Z. Think.”
Hands trembling, I remove my rucksack and pull out a pair of pants, ripping them into three sections with my dagger. I tuck one piece of the fabric under my thigh to soak up the pool of blood forming. I bite down on another piece, readying myself for what’s about to come next—the tourniquet.
My muffled scream bounces off the walls of the cave as I give another piece of fabric a yank above my wound, tying it as tightly as possible. With tears swelling in my eyes, I look down at my leg. The tourniquet is useless. My blood is soaking right through the fabric.
“Damn it,” I whimper. I rifle through my bag again and pull out the last bottle of healing elixir I took from Immalon. I pop the cork and chug it down. It tastes like shit and burns like acid.
“Zaira!” I hear Thane call.
My breathing has turned ragged. Blood is soaking the whole tourniquet.
A shadow appears at the mouth of the cave.
Gods. Please don’t let it be that hound again.
“Zaira.” Thane’s voice echoes in the cave, and I nearly cry with relief.
Oh, thank Orvena. “I’m…I’m in here!”
He hurries inside, crouching low.
“Gods, what happened to you?” He goes to touch my leg but pulls back, seeming unsure how to proceed.
“One of those shadowhounds got me with its claw.”
He tosses up an orb of gold light to illuminate the cave. I belt out a scream when I see a corpse to the left of him, resting against one of the walls.
“That corpse will have a friend if I don’t get you out of here,” he says, eyeing my thigh.
“It’s bleeding a lot,” I tell him. “But I drank a healing elixir, so it should stop soon. Where’s Rynthea and Algar?”
“Whatever you gave Rynthea worked. She just killed two more of the hounds…but not easily. They struck her again. Fortunately, it wasn’t as bad as the first strike.”
“And Algar?”
“He’s fine. Still a little out of it, but fine. We need to get you out of here.”
When Thane throws my arm over his shoulders and hauls me up against him, I bite back a pained cry. He crouches forward, assisting me out of the cave while keeping me close to his body.
Near the temple, I catch Rynthea sitting next to Algar. In the center of the field are five dead shadowhounds. One is so badly mutilated, I can’t tell which part is the head and which is the tail.
“How did you know what those were?” I ask as Thane guides us toward our friends.
“It’s one of Xaimur’s creations,” he answers. “Read about it during academics when I was with The Divine. Most people think they’re myths. I’m sure you’ve heard the stories about how Xaimur created wicked creatures to combat Orvena’s virtue?”
“Yeah, I have.”
“Well, The Shallows wasn’t always a bad place, according to the books. This place was called Noreven once before. It was a paradise, and Orvena spent a lot of time here among the mortals. This is where Azidel resided.”
“Okay,” I reply with a groan. To keep him talking and to distract myself from the pain shooting in my thigh, I ask, “But what does that have to do with Xaimur?”