48. Chapter 48
They moved through what remained of The City’s wall, climbing over jagged chunks of sandstone and stepped into the open dunes, the heat slamming into them on all sides. As Isla climbed through the gap, something made her turn back, risking a glance over her shoulder.
One street away, a Hollowborne soldier halted abruptly in front of the Dunovarian guard it had been barreling toward, tilting its head slowly to the sky, like an animal catching a scent.
Isla froze, the sudden buzzing in her ears so loud she could barely hear Vaelin’s voice urging her on.
The shadow turned its hooded head then, until Isla was certain it looked directly at her.
It loosed an unearthly screech that split the air, and it sounded…
excited. Horror washed over her as nearby shadows turned their own heads, a voice seeming to drift on the winds…
Isla.
“Go! Now!” She jerked, as though pulled from some strange haze. Vaelin was at her side, pushing her into the sands, urging her forward.
She ran, straining desperately at the shifting sands beneath her feet, trying to put more distance between them and The City. All those innocent people… Focus.
“Keep going,” Evric barked at her right, casting a glance back over his shoulder. “Away from the wall!”
A resounding crack snapped through the air, and Isla glanced back to see a portion of the wall nearest them crumble in an avalanche of dust. Massive chunks of stone crashed to the ground, sending clouds of sand billowing toward them, completely obfuscating their vision.
Blind, Isla reached for Vaelin, clutching the sleeve of his tunic. He wrenched her suddenly to the right, and out of the path of an incoming chunk of the rise, the vague outlines of Evric and Aurelia lurching in the opposite direction.
“Aurelia!” Evric’s voice cut desperately through the sand, and she called back a reassurance. They must have been separated by the falling debris.
With a grunt of effort, Vaelin sent a powerful gust of wind outward, scattering the sands and restoring their vision. And not a moment too soon.
The Hollowborne seeped through the cracks in the rubble of the rise, advancing like a wave of black ink. Isla felt the air around her charge, recognizing the sensation as Vaelin, Aurelia, and Evric each pulled on their magic, spooling it tighter and tighter… and then everyone moved at once.
The Hollowborne fell upon them, and Vaelin sent the wind whipping against the shadows, scattering the larger hordes.
Evric’s flames leapt hungrily after those left in Vaelin’s wake, sending the creatures screeching and recoiling from the heat.
The earth shook as the dunes shifted unnaturally, knocking the Hollowborne off balance and swallowing them beneath the sands — Aurelia’s contribution.
And all the while the fae moved — slicing, spinning, striking at the shadows — each of them wielding their flame-wreathed blades with striking precision.
Isla spun, piercing one of the creatures directly where a human’s heart would lay beating. She winced at the contact. It didn’t feel like tearing flesh and muscle, but the Hollowborne screamed nonetheless. It fell at her feet, dissipating into a dark mist.
“Get down!”
Isla dropped to her knees without question and Vaelin’s sword sang through the air where Isla’s head had been just moments ago, slicing the shadow that had loomed behind her in half.
Isla turned as the creature shrieked, watching as what remained of its body was swallowed by the shifting sands.
Vaelin pulled her to her feet, as she swallowed the shock that threatened to consume her body, hurling herself back into the battle.
They put down wave after wave of the creatures, Asmarin’s lightning crackling overhead as the Seer did what she could to help from the city walls, lightning-wreathed arrows flying from archers atop what remained of the wall.
But still, they came, an unrelenting tide.
Evric grunted, hurling another wave of fire to meet the shadow, fighting his way toward Aurelia.
Isla felt something wet spray her arm and she startled, turning to see Vaelin stagger back a step, a deep furrow slicing his forearm — he hadn’t had time to bear his vambraces.
Her throat tightened in fear, but he didn’t miss a step, his massive blade flashing through the air in a blur, ending three of the shadows at once.
A blaze lit the air along with a furious roar and Isla and Vaelin jerked, looking to where Evric faced three oncoming shadows alone. Isla and Vaelin moved to flank him, but Evric shook his head, sending a renewed wave of flame at the approaching Hollowborne. They screeched in annoyance.
“Don’t worry about me,” Evric growled, “ I can’t get to Aurelia. The debris—” He cut off, hurling a flaming dagger at the remaining shadow. It found its mark buried deep within the creature’s hood, and it dropped like a stone, turning to mist, the dagger laying unmarked in the sand.
As Evric stooped to snatch the dagger back, Isla looked to the debris that separated them from Aurelia.
A massive, curved section of the rise had remained intact as it had fallen, forcing Aurelia to one side and Evric to the other.
The way it had fallen had trapped her against the outside wall of a nearby ruin.
There were enough cracks in the sandstone that Isla could see what her friend faced, and it was like watching a nightmare unfold through a window.
No fewer than six of the Hollowborne descended on Aurelia, two imminent, and four more seeping through the cracks in the rubble, making their way toward her.
She stood, chest rising and falling heavily, inky black mists curling around her feet — evidence of those she’d ended thus far.
Her jaw was set in grim determination as she surveyed the Hollowborne, adjusting her grip on her flame-wrapped dagger.
She lifted her chin calmly as the first two shadows struck.
A scratching sound had Isla wrenching her eyes from the gap in the rise to see Vaelin sliding down the smooth sandstone he had attempted to scale, grappling for hand and toe holds that did not exist. He hit the ground and roared his frustration, whipping up the desert winds and sending them blasting over the wall and through the cracks in the debris as Evric did the same with his flames.
The wind and fire knocked back the second wave of shadows, buying Aurelia more time as she put down the first two attackers.
But she was tired, and Isla’s breath caught painfully in her throat as she watched her friend drop to one knee, blood blooming on her tunic.
Vaelin snarled viciously, punching the stone in frustration, his knuckles splitting, leaving a bloody trail.
Isla felt a sob climb up her throat as the second wave of shadows descended. Aurelia still hadn’t stood up.
A black blur leapt overhead, clearing the top of the crumbling rise and landing before Aurelia.
It was enormous. Isla’s heart stalled in her chest as tears slipped down her cheeks without permission, fear snatching the air from her lungs — a shadow wolf.
Aurelia couldn’t possibly stand alone against one of those beasts, with or without the Shadowborne bearing down on her simultaneously.
But as the massive wolf turned, no shadows dripped from its maw, and no metal claws scraped against the stone.
The beast seemed to look at Aurelia, and then to the enemy and snarled, almost…
smiling? It pulled back its lips at the Hollowborne, baring its white teeth, many as long as Isla’s fingers.
Its eyes glowed a deep red, struck through with fissures of flame.
The recognition hit Isla like a blow. This was no shadow wolf — it was Draevrik of the Emberclaw.
The Hollowborne paused, uncertain, and Drae needed no further opening.
He tore out their throats, spitting inky black shadows onto the sand as the creatures screamed.
For the first time, the shadows sounded afraid.
Drae moved so much faster than should have been possible, given his size.
The shadows lurched, backpedaling, swiping wildly with their own weapons, and Drae dodged, catapulting himself off of the scattered debris.
He landed on their shoulders, their chests, ripping into their flesh with teeth and claw.
He tore them limb from limb, without hesitation or urgency.
It was done before Isla had taken another breath.
The Hollowborne in shreds, the wolf turned and padded slowly over to Aurelia, as they turned to mists in his wake.
Isla watched as her friend stared at the wolf, her lips parted in something like wonder.
She raised a hand to the wolf’s muzzle, without a hint of fear, no trembling.
Drae seemed to lean into her touch, whuffing an exhale and Isla could have sworn she saw relief shining in those red eyes.
"Help me with this!”
Evric’s voice pulled Isla's focus away. She turned to see Vaelin move to Evric’s side as they both gripped one end of a massive slab of sandstone piled atop the rubble separating them from Aurelia.
"We're coming Aurelia!” Isla called through the small crack in the stone she’d been looking through.
Isla turned back to where Vaelin and Evric grappled with the debris, grunting with effort.
They looked every bit the warriors they were, drenched in sweat, blood, and sand.
Their muscles strained as they pulled on the slab, nails scraping over the unforgiving stone.
Isla’s eyes darted around wildly as she held her weapon at the ready, looking for more Hollowborne.
All she saw was sand, and she nearly fell to her knees in relief.
“Godsdammit!" Evric yelled, and Isla turned back in time to see him slap the rock in fury.