Page 160 of Soul Forge

A second Behemoth. After everything they’d been through, a second Behemoth was coming for them. The air around her charged with the static electricity its storming wings generated, clouds pulling in behind it to cover the mocking blue of the sky. The weather turned humid and muggy, sticking her hair to her face and making every breath feel damp and thick.

On the back of the Behemoth was another rider. She strained to see who had joined them, and her eyes focussed on the auburn hair of a tall, human male. He looked young, though it was hard to tell from a distance, and he carried a bo staff in his right hand.

Lillian turned and squinted. Her face paled, violet eyes widening. She spoke, the sound whipped away in the wind, but the wraith was close enough that Elda managed to read her lips. Goosebumps prickled her scalp.

Arden.Vel saw it too, and his roar was furious.

Arden drew close enough on his monster that Elda could see the dark markings tattooed on his cheeks even from the ground. Blue fire flickered from the ends of his bo staff, the lightning framing him from behind. He was younger than Elda when he’d been selected and had spent his life making sure the people of Valerus were safe. Arden the kind. Arden the generous. His name had prefixed various honorifics denoting his gentle nature. Every story she’d read with his name in spoke of his generosity and softness.

Now, he was Arden the Corrupted.

Cynthia cackled, and Elda’s stomach hollowed out, dread filling the empty space. Her hands shook around her bow.You can’t fight three Corrupted together,that poisoned voice whispered to her.You’re outmatched, outnumbered thanks to their wraiths, and out of your depth. You’re going to die.

“Nice of you to join us,” Cynthia called out to Arden. “I was beginning to think you’d gotten lost.” He gave no indication that he heard anything she said, his Behemoth continuing its steady course.

“What did you do to him?!” Lillian demanded from the back of Cynthia’s wraith, standing shoulder to shoulder with Vel. They flew low enough that Elda could hear them shouting over the gale, those massive talons only metres above her as the wraith hovered, waiting for its new friend. She was too stunned to raise her bow, the adrenaline that leant her speed and clarity just moments ago finally beginning to work against her. Her muscles locked up, eyes fixed on Arden’s blank stare.

Abraxos smiled. “Lord Malakai enlightened him. The runes took a while to settle, but he’s here just in time.”

Arden didn’t look enlightened. He lookedemptyon the back of that monster with no expression on his face at all. The runes looked like they’d been branded into his cheeks, the skin puckered and scarred. He was too close, and his giant mount wasn’t slowing down. Elda raised her bow at last, firing an arrow that glanced off the monster with little effect. A second one did the same, and then it was too late.

“Look out!” she cried.

The Behemoth crashed into the wraith, showing no care for the smaller bird as it drove it out of the sky, intent only on killing Lillian and Vel. Cynthia and Abraxos were already running, both of them grinning. The wraith pitched dangerously, struggling to stay aloft, until the Behemoth’s talons sank into its side and tore it open. It wailed, its wings jerking, and the Corrupted leapt from it to join Arden on his Behemoth. The stormbird released its grip, and the wraith fell, tossing Vel and Lillian into a freefall.

Elda’s chest was tight, her breaths coming in quick, frightened pants. Her knuckles were white around the bow, nails biting into her palms as she watched Vel struggle to right himself and reach out to Lillian. His fingers closed around her wrist, and her katana flashed, ripping through the atmosphere. The portal swallowed them just a few feet from the ground and closed up, leaving no trace of its existence.

Elda didn’t see where it spit them out. Her eyes were drawn to Cynthia, smiling atop the Behemoth. Arden and Abraxos flanked her on either side, looking down at the elf standing alone among the dunes.

Cynthia’s whole form began to radiate an inky darkness from the back of Arden’s Behemoth, drawing on the death in the air. It soaked into her in a dark mist, rising from the ashes of Ose and the remains of the fallen wraiths. Elda realised then that the vanquished demons had been there for more than just picking off her friends. They werefuel.

The massive stormbird screamed, the sound so loud it rattled Elda’s ears, and dipped into a dive, intent on swallowing her whole. She raised her bow and fired an arrow straight down its exposed throat, but the creature simply coughed and carried on.

Vel slammed into its side and sent darkness soaking through its vast frame, smothering the lightning that crackled along its feathers for a moment. Elda gasped when his shadows stretched upwards to cover Cynthia and snuff out Arden’s fire. Abraxos’ mace stopped its sparking, a blanket of darkness covering the three Corrupted. It solidified and constricted, crushing inwards hard enough to make the bird squawk. Sweat beaded on Vel’s forehead, his sharpened teeth gritted against the strain. Magic poured from him, so much that Elda could see the agony in his expression as he fought to contain them. Inside his darkened prison, Cynthia’s own power swelled.

Elda raised her bow and let her energy flow into her next arrow, tracking every movement the stormbird made as it struggled to stay aloft. Vel’s power pressed inwards, and the skies answered, thunder vibrating through Elda’s bones when the Behemoth called on its storms to try and break free. Vel grunted with the effort of keeping it and its riders shackled, a thin stream of blood trickling from his nose when lighting slashed down to pelt the prison.

Still, Elda poured power into her arrow until her entire body buzzed with it. Her head began to pound with the effort of channelling so much magic, the centre of her chest burning like her heart was being roasted over a fire, but she gritted her teeth, following the Behemoth’s wobbling path with her eyes until finally –finallyshe let it go.

The stormbird screamed, its wing blown apart by Irileth’s power, but the body remained intact and very much alive, barely managing to get its feet beneath it as it crashed into the desert. Plumes of dust shot upwards around its massive talons, the galekicked up by its one remaining wing blowing grit into Elda’s face. The weight of its landing knocked her backwards, her bow slipping from her hand when she lost her footing and rolled down a steep dune.

Cynthia’s magic tore through the restraints, oily power ripping the shield open and driving Vel to his knees with an agonised roar. Elda slipped down the sandy hill just in time to see his hand clutch his chest, body curling in on itself as he suffered the backlash of the witch’s escape.

Boots sliding on the loose sand, Elda scrambled back up the dune, eyes scanning the desert for any sign of Lillian. Had she been hurt and retreated to recover? There was nobody sat at the base of a dune nursing a wound, nobody sprawled out in the sand.

She reached the top of the dune in time to see the Corrupted jump down from their wounded mount, and Elda saw the black whip form in Cynthia’s hand, coiling around her arm. Their approach was steady, unhurried, until Cynthia slipped a thinner, more ornate knife from her thigh sheath and tossed it, spearing Vel through the shoulder.

Elda yelped, her eyes widening when the blow knocked him flat on his back, the poison coating the blade searing the wound. He grimaced and yanked it free, getting to his feet before they could get close enough to touch him.

The princess fired an arrow at the sand, sending it shooting up towards the sky. Vel’s shadows crept forwards, snatching Lazarus from the sheath at Cynthia’s hip and pressing the blade into his waiting palm before the dust could settle. His wounds stayed open, his breaths ragged as he swayed on his feet. Elda hurried forwards when he staggered, keeping him upright. His dark eyes met hers, and he sucked in a breath, rolling his neck and lifting his wings.

Through the fading dust, lightning arced from Abraxos’ mace, and Arden’s bo staff lit up from end to end, blue fire shining in his eyes. Elda looked around for Lillian, praying she was nearby and ready to help them. The desert around them was empty.

A blast of black split the ground, and Vel’s arms constricted around Elda’s waist, his wings beating hard to carry her out of harm’s way, but her bow slipped from her grasp, dropping to the sand. She saw it slide down the slope of a dune, buffeted by Cynthia’s attack.

Without her vestige, Elda couldn’t use her power. She could feel Irileth calling to her, but there was no way the Corrupted would allow her to retrieve it. She was defenceless against fighters far older, far stronger, and much more ruthless.

Vel seemed to sense her distress through their bond because he pressed Cynthia’s blade into her hand the moment they landed. He spat blood into the sand and drew the daggers from his boots, his own sword also missing.

---