The fire started at her feet, orange and yellow tongues rapidly licking their way up the bear’s thick furry body. Suri heard it, a sound like the single downstroke of a giant bird’s wings. She felt it, too. Air sucked from the back of the cave brushed by her as the fire took a breath, grew, and enveloped the beast in a massive plume of brilliant light and blazing heat.
Minna jerked away as Grin became a torch.
“Minna!” Suri cried. “Over here!”
The wolf darted around the flaming bear, which rolled around on the dirt floor. Minna barely cleared the distance. With most of the flames extinguished, Grin let loose a horrible wail. She jerked and raced out of the cave in desperation.
Suri caught Minna and hugged the wolf around her furry neck. “Thank you, Minna! Thank you for saving me!”
Minna pressed her weight against Suri and looked up at her with an I-am-so-glad-you-are-all-right-but-we-are-definitely-going-to-talk-about-this-later expression. The wolf wore a belt around its neck, the rest of which trailed on the ground. “Since when do you wear leather?”
Then Suri remembered Maeve.
—
All Raithe knew was that Persephone had gotten past the men and into the trees. He and Malcolm had given her the best chance they could. He felt good about that—surprisingly good—as if the accomplishment was the first truly worthwhile thing he’d done in his life. His father would have scowled at his stupidity, but he imagined his mother and sister would have been proud.
Having recovered from his bash with Konniger, Malcolm had miraculously returned and pressed his back against Raithe’s once more. The former slave and current storyteller extraordinaire was doing well.
Raithe had picked up Persephone’s dropped spear and thrown it, dropping one man. Then he severed the points off three spears with Shegon’s sword and split a shield, scaring the man holding it so badly that he fell and tripped the person behind him. Two spears were thrown. One went over his and Malcolm’s heads; the other glanced off his fancy shield from the Dherg rol.
Raithe howled as loudly as he could and scared the lot of them into jumping back. He counted six remaining men. And even though he and Malcolm were just two, the group of men was terrified—terrified of the God Killer and his strange friend who dressed like a god.
“Where’s Konniger?” one of them called out. “Is he dead?”
The ring of men paused and regrouped. Two went in search of the spears they’d thrown, leaving only four to watch them, none of whom looked happy.
“How you doing?” Raithe asked Malcolm.
“Splendid!” the man gasped. “Is bear hunting always this much fun? If so, let’s never do it again.”
“They’ll probably gang up on you this time.”
“Lovely! Any advice?”
“Pray.”
“Which god?”
“All of them.”
Raithe tightened his grip on the Dherg shield and Shegon’s sword, then looked around for Konniger, but he couldn’t see him. “Did you kill Konniger?”
“Just knocked him down,” Malcolm replied. “I think he ran away.”
The men surrounding them were hesitating longer than Raithe had expected. Several were looking over their shoulders into the trees, probably wondering why Konniger had abandoned them to fight the God Killer alone.
“Giving us a good long rest,” Malcolm whispered. “I like that, but is this normal?”
Off in the darkness, near where one who’d overthrown his spear had gone, someone screamed.
“Palton?” another man called out, and ran in the direction of the noise. A moment later the snapping of tree branches erupted as the same man came back—sailing through the air as if thrown. He struck a tree to Raithe’s left, bounced, and fell to the ground.
The thinning circle imprisoning Raithe and Malcolm broke apart as the men lost all interest in them. One man, only a pace away from Raithe, screamed and fell. After that, the rest scattered. In the darkness of the trees around them, Raithe saw nothing. He and Malcolm waited, listening. Snapping branches were followed by screams.
“It’s like the forest is eating them,” Raithe whispered over his shoulder, pushing harder against Malcolm. He peered out into the moon-dappled darkness, unsure what he’d see next.
Monstrous trees with gaping mouths? Ravenous beasts?
They waited, eyes darting with every crack or snap. Within minutes the sounds faded and then vanished. Only the breeze rustling leaves remained. Even the crickets were silent.
Raithe and Malcolm remained back-to-back, holding their weapons up, waiting. Raithe could feel Malcolm breathing and felt him shifting his head left and right.
“You scared?” Malcolm whispered.
“Little bit.”
“Me, too—little bit.”
Without sound, ghostly figures emerged from the black. The first thing that came to Raithe’s mind was ghosts—ghosts, ghouls, wraiths, or—
“I hope those weren’t friends of yours, God Killer,” Nyphron said.
As he approached, beams of moonlight splashed across his features, turning Nyphron’s hair silver. Raithe saw that his sword was out, the metal stained dark. At his side walked Sebek, with Tibor and Nagon gleaming in the moonlight.
“Not friends of ours, no.” Although Raithe was happy not to see carnivorous pines, he wasn’t certain if the Fhrey were a better alternative. Seeing them with blades drawn was as disturbing as seeing even a familiar dog with its teeth bared.
“Good.” Nyphron smiled. After wiping his blade, he sheathed it. “We’re in search of the little tattooed one. Do you know where she is?”
“Suri? Why? What did she do?”
Nyphron shrugged. “I have no idea, but for some reason, Arion—the one your slave friend leveled with that rock—insists that we find and protect her. Anwir tracked the girl this far. I thought she was part of this mess.” He gestured at the dead man who had been thrown.
The Fhrey weren’t there to kill anyone. Konniger’s men had just gotten in the way. Raithe allowed himself to relax a bit, lowering sword and shield.
“We were looking for her, too,” Raithe said. “We think she’s in a cave up there.” He pointed with Shegon’s sword at the moonlit path.
Nyphron looked and nodded. “Best be moving, then.”
The whole group of Fhrey shifted like a school of fish, and in an instant they were gone.
“Wait!” Raithe shouted. “Did you see Persephone?”
No answer.
“What about Konniger?”
Only silence.
Raithe and Malcolm stood alone in the trampled circle in the moonlit glade. They looked at each other, then at the bodies at their feet.
“We’re alive,” Malcolm mentioned in disbelief.
“What about Persephone?” Raithe began walking around, terrified he would stumble over her body.
“She got away.” Malcolm pointed into the trees. “I saw her racing into the forest. I think she’s fine. If she got to the rol, she’s safe.”
Raithe shook his head. “She didn’t go to the rol.”
“What are you talking about? That’s what you told her to do.”
“If I’ve learned anything about that woman, it’s that she’s unlikely to do what she’s told.”