“The kills are fresh, perhaps an hour at most,” Ronan said from where he knelt beside one of the beasts.
“That would have placed the attack right around sundown,” Lucian replied.
Kieran’s voice shook slightly. “That’s in keeping with what I Saw. The sky was still painted orange in my dream.”
Ronan coated a stick in the blood and held it up to his nose, lurching back in disgust after giving it a sniff. “Rancid,” he declared.
Lucian and Kael exchanged frowns.
Kieran was staring at the bodies in confusion. “How is that possible if they’ve only been dead an hour?”
“It’s the corruption,” Kael announced, his eyes turning a glittering emerald as he accessed his power.
“What could have done something like this?” Effie asked, the scene before her not making sense.
“It looks like they turned on each other,” Reyna murmured as she moved carefully around the bodies.
“No, look,” Kael said, pointing to one of the creature’s sheathed claws. “They didn’t even have a chance to defend themselves. Whatever did this attacked before they had a chance to fight back.”
“How could it have caught this many of them unaware?” Effie asked.
“Magic,” Lucian answered.
Understanding dawned. “They were asleep when they died,” Effie gasped.
Lucian nodded. “It seems so.”
Completing her circuit, Reyna returned to Ronan’s side. “So, they were put to sleep, dragged here, and then slaughtered . . . but why? That level of calculation suggests a greater purpose than mere murder.”
The shimmer in the air was their answer. Effie’s eyes snapped to the water churning beside them.
Lucian’s jaw ticked as he arrived at the same conclusion. “They wanted to poison the water supply.”
“What better way to ensure the corruption spreads far and wide,” Ronan growled.
Shock had leeched Kieran’s skin of all color. For someone who had Seen this, he looked more horrified by the implication than the rest of them.
“Is there any way to stop it?” Effie asked.
“We can burn the corpses, but if it’s already in the water . . .” Kael trailed off, his unspoken words ringing loudly in her ears.
Too late. If it was already in the water, it was too late.
Defeat made her shoulders sag. Until they found a cure, they were going to continue to run into this problem. The damage that would result in the meantime would be catastrophic.
“Burn them,” Lucian ordered, his deep voice edged with fury.
Ronan called upon Fire, a smoldering ball of red flame swirling in his hand. Before he could release it, shrill cries filled the air.
The hair on the back of Effie’s arms and neck lifted, an overwhelming pressure settling hard and fast in her chest. Lifting her head, Effie’s eyes landed on a furred face half obscured behind a massive leaf.
That couldn’t be what set her warning off. The lajhár were peaceful creatures; even the black markings on their brown and gray fur granted them a perpetual smile. Notoriously slow, they spent the majority of their time sleeping high in the trees, far away from other predators. The only thing remotely threatening about them were the needle-like claws jutting out from their paws.
The lajhár crawled forward on the branch, and Effie’s heart started to race. There was nothing peaceful about the feral snarl on its round face, or the blood that dripped from its claws.
“Lucian.”
His name was the only warning she could give before death began to rain from the trees. Faster than she could count, furred bodies dropped from the branches, their cries filling the air.
Around her the others unsheathed their weapons.
“I never liked these little fucks,” Ronan bit out as he swung his ax and sliced one of the lajhár in half. “Cute and cuddly, my ass.”
Reyna snickered darkly as she hurled her blades into the air, killing the creatures before they could reach the ground.
Kieran was busy stabbing and kicking the small animals, his moves so frantic he appeared to be doing some kind of bizarre dance.
Blood dripped down Kael’s arm where his flesh had been shredded by one of the lajhár’s claws. The creature was still clinging to his shoulder, shrieking as it tried to go for his eyes. Kael ripped it off and threw it hard at the base of a tree. The lajhár bounced with a screech and scrambled across the floor, heading right toward her.
Effie flung her dagger, pinning its body to the ground. It was an instinctive move, but not her smartest. She was now down one weapon.
“Move!” Lucian roared, swinging his sword whose edges had turned to dark smoke.
Effie jumped out of the way as he decapitated the creature before taking out three more in one fell swoop.
No matter how fast they moved, or how many they took out, the creatures continued to come at them. Effie’s hands were slick with sweat and blood as she worked her way through the ones closest to her.
Pausing only long enough to shove her curls out of her eyes, Effie’s eyes flew wide as two of the creatures flung themselves at Reyna. She had her back turned and had no clue of the danger coming her way.
“Reyna!” Effie screamed, her throat burning with the intensity of her cry.
The Night Stalker spun at the sound of her name. Ronan was already moving, his ax spinning through the air as he took out one of the insidious beasts. The other one landed, its claws raking across her face and throat, before Reyna was able to tear him free and kill him. Ruby streaks dripped down her face, but she didn’t stop, continuing to battle the next wave.
Sharp pain tore through Effie as one of the lajhár sliced through her leg. She’d been standing in place too long. Furious with herself, Effie stabbed the creature with more ferocity than she knew she possessed.
“They’re still coming,” Kieran gasped in warning, his hair matted to his face and neck.
Effie lost track of time as the battle raged. She panted, her lungs burning. This should have been an easy battle for them. The lajhár were hardly a threat against so many battle-tested warriors. But their sheer numbers were overwhelming, and those knife-like claws were coated with some kind of poison. She was starting to lose feeling in her leg.
“How many of these little fucks are there?” Ronan asked.
“Too many,” Kael growled, stomping on the head of a nearby lajhár with a wet squelching sound.
Lucian looked torn, his desire to fight warring against the need to keep them safe.
The jungle floor started to vibrate as a roar came from the east.
“All this blood is attracting something far more deadly,” Ronan cautioned, sparing a glance in that direction.
The lajhár, whose protective instincts should have sent them fleeing at the sound of approaching danger, only grew more frenzied.
“Lucian, we’ve got to get out of here. We can’t fight the whole damn jungle on our own,” Kael insisted, his right arm hanging limply at his side.
The vibrations grew more intense as whatever was coming for them moved in closer. It didn’t take more than a passing glance to tell that their group was in no state to take on the unknown monster. At least three of them were injured, the lajhár’s poison starting to slow their movements down as it worked its way through their bodies.