Silver in the Bone (Silver in the Bone #1)(113)
Author: Alexandra Bracken

 

The revenant stood at the boundary of the protective magic, the emotionless shell of dirt and skin that was her face taking in the Children before her with glowing eyes. They formed a scattered line between her and us, knowing only one instinct—to protect their mother.

 

The creatures at the front threw themselves into Caitriona’s magic blazes, screeching as they were reduced to smoldering lumps of char.

 

The High Priestess growled like a thundercloud and the others were unleashed in all their bloodlust, using the burned bodies to vault themselves up over the flames. They hurtled toward where Caitriona stood alone. Her foot slid back in a defensive stance as she fought to raise her sword, her face screwing up in agony. Her armor glowed in the maelstrom of fire she’d unleashed.

 

Emrys moved to stand at her right, and I took my place beside him, adrenaline and terror pounding in my blood. The creatures galloped on hands and feet as they circled us, their spidery limbs tangling, their hooked fangs chattering with excitement.

 

“Stay close!” Emrys shouted, turning so his back was to mine. Whatever else he might have said disappeared in a chorus of barks and yelps as the Children leapt, launching themselves at us with teeth bared.

 

I gagged at their rancid breath but held my ground. I swung the axe wildly, hacking at anything that tried to slash or grab me. My chest burned and it was several moments before I recognized that I was screaming, the sound ripped from somewhere primal inside.

 

As she cut an expert path forward, her blade slicing through soft skulls, legs, claws, Caitriona called back to us, “With me!”

 

We tried to follow, but the Children flooded between us and swarmed her from behind. Claws pierced the back of her metal breastplate.

 

“Cait!” I screamed.

 

The girl took two staggering steps forward and then dove. As she rolled over the protective boundary of magic with a cry of raw pain, the Children clinging to her were thrown back with a tremendous pulse of light and magic. They yelped and stilled as they crumpled to the ground.

 

“Tamsin—trade!” Emrys called, and I turned. In that split second, he had already tossed the sword to me, and I had no choice but to take it and throw the axe toward him. He caught it by the handle and swung it up, but the heavy sword hit the ground, and I had to rip one of the Children away from it with my bare hands.

 

It clawed back, slashing through my already wounded arm. Pain lanced through me as the creature bit into the back of my neck. I choked with the pain and terror, falling to my knees.

 

“Tamsin!” Emrys shouted.

 

I grabbed the sword hilt. Fire ignited along the blade with a furious whoosh. Twisting back with a scream, I rammed it through the head of the creature, and only then did it release me.

 

Hot blood spilled down my front as Emrys fought his way back toward me, but my eyes stared ahead, where Caitriona was facing the High Priestess.

 

The revenant darted forward, the athame aimed at Caitriona’s bare throat. Deflecting it with her sword, Caitriona spun around, slashing down across the creature’s chest. The movement tore open her healing wound, flooding the front of her armor with blood. Pieces of grass, wood, and mud fell away from the revenant, only to rise again as she re-formed.

 

“Cait!” I panted out as we finally fought our way to the edge of the protective magic. She had to get the revenant to cross the barrier, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to help her.

 

Caitriona’s dark eyes widened, sweat dripping from her face. She turned, looking past us, but her shouts were lost in the tumult of monstrous shrieks. I followed her gaze to where more of the Children had appeared at the top of the hill.

 

She threw out her left hand, the other limp at her side, struggling to hold on to her sword. Her lips formed the words of a song I couldn’t hear. Mist rose on the hill, thick and churning, but before it could ignite, the revenant struck again, gripping her by the neck and throwing her toward the ground.

 

Caitriona hooked her legs around the revenant and twisted, sending the creature flying toward the edge of the barrier, her head and arms falling across it. I lunged toward her with my blade, swinging it down, but the creature was too fast, and the flaming sword hissed as it severed only one of the revenant’s hands.

 

I brought my foot down hard on it to keep it pinned there. Frustration tore at me when I realized it was the hand with the ring, not the athame.

 

The revenant’s screech was like a knife in the brain. I screamed with her—all of us did—and even the Children shrank back from it. The revenant rose to her full, terrifying height and turned to me with burning eyes.

 

A voice like midnight slashed through my mind, drowning out the high-pitched keening.

 

I know you.

 

I gasped, dropping back onto my knees. The sword fell from my hand.

 

I saw you born in my dreams.

 

“St-stop—” I managed to choke out. My hands squeezed against my head, trying to drive the words out. “Stop it!”

 

He does not know what you are . . .

 

The air between us brightened, shimmering, then faded to nothing.

 

I heard Olwen’s voice as if it had traveled across worlds. “Now, Neve!”

 

“Wait—” I tried to say. “What does that mean?”

 

The wave of blistering light had already been unleashed.

 

Sensing that the magic was gone, the Children sprinted toward Caitriona as she fought to rise from the ground. Neve’s magic threw them back, incinerating them.

 

The revenant stood before us, her back to the throbbing power, letting it burn away her edges. A flicker of humanity appeared on her face.

 

“Caitriona.” The voice that emerged from it was as sweet as the first day of spring, and achingly tender. “My Cait.”

 

The revenant reached out to her with the athame, her body cracking and tearing as the light broke through it. The young priestess stumbled forward, tears streaming down her face as she reached out a hand.

 

“Why?” she begged. “Why did you do this?”

 

In her final moment, the revenant whispered, “The power . . . I could not stop . . . what had already begun . . .”

 

Her body disintegrated, crumbling back into bone and earth. As Neve’s light faded and the air cooled, the athame fell to the ground, glowing with heat and power.

 

Caitriona cried out into the sudden silence, her sob catching in her throat as she dropped to the ground.

 

My body felt hollow as I slowly knelt beside her. Hesitating, I wrapped my arm around her shoulder.