Page 32 of Soul Forge

But then she noticed it ebbing and strengthening when his focus shifted, allowing her more movement whenever he got distracted. The more wraiths that appeared out of the gloom to join the fight, the weaker the band became. She began to picture the possibility of sliding off his back to her death while he was busy fighting.

He slashed suddenly, lopping off the wing of a bird that drew too close in one violent swing. It tumbled to the ground with a pained cry, and the Soul Forge turned and rounded on the next one. Fire ignited in his palm, and he tossed it, consuming another wraith until it was nothing but ash. Reiner drew closeenough to smash the wings of two more before they could try to pluck Elda from her perch.

The Behemoth rejoined the fight, directing its wrath towards them in the form of a lightning bolt that Sypher deflected with his shadows. A second bolt struck Reiner’s mace and ricocheted, shooting harmlessly into the storm. The third bolt missed completely, destroying another wraith in an instant, but there were more circling around them.

Elda pressed her face into Sypher’s back when she saw them swoop, getting jostled around by more talons bouncing off her cloak. Her back would be bruised, but none of the sharpened digits broke through. Whatever the garment was made of, it had saved her life many times in the last few minutes.

One of the demons got a solid grip on the fabric and tried to yank her away, the clasp squeezing her windpipe enough to make her gag. Sypher snarled and twisted, snapping his boot across its pointed beak. Elda flinched when he gripped the sharp appendage in his gloved hand and wrenched, breaking the creature’s neck in one violent pull. His attacks became more vicious with each kill, dark blood spraying at every swing of his sword. A snarl vibrated through his chest, the magic surrounding him becoming so overwhelming that it left an odd metallic taste on Elda’s tongue.

Reiner was equally ferocious, dancing across Atlas’ back like she was standing in the sparring ring, her kicks and jabs as lethal as the spikes on her mace. Each one was bolstered by the power, strengthening her muscles and crackling in her hair. Atlas did just as much damage, his hooves deadly in the torrential rain.

Sypher banked, then rolled and banked again. Elda’s stomach turned, dropping into her boots and leaping back up to her throat when the sharp twists and turns became frequent and more forceful. He picked up speed until her eyes watered, tears mixing with the rain splashing her cheeks.

She started to feel the wind dragging at her when Sypher’s attention became focussed on killing scores of man-sized, raven-like monsters, all of his shadows diverted towards attacking the flock. He swooped down towards the Behemoth with a dozen smaller wraiths on his tail.

Elda’s hands began to slip from their chokehold, fingers straining to maintain her grip when he tucked his wings into another death-defying roll. Reiner was too far away to catch her, and there were too many beasts in pursuit of them to slow down. Her thundering heart kicked up into a roaring thrum.

Sypher’s wicked black sword sliced across the back of the giant, severing the spine in one powerful swipe. He didn’t let up the speed, outpacing the crippled body of the Behemoth and making a hard left, tipping sideways to turn back on himself and drive his fist through the closest pursuer. Elda slipped again, her hands scrabbling for something to hold onto.

“Sypher, I’m falling!” she gasped. He snarled and grabbed for her, but his fingers closed on empty air when razor-sharp talons snagged Elda’s cloak and tugged her away. Her scream was strangled by the fastening constricting around her throat, the air beneath her terrifyingly empty.

The Soul Forge tried to reach her, taking his eyes off his opponent for a second too long. The princess gagged when one of the wraiths forced its beak through his stomach, the sharp tip bursting through the front of his armour, coated in his blood. He snarled when it withdrew, leaving a gaping hole in his torso. Elda struggled for breath while he cut the bird to ribbons, black spots dancing in front of her eyes.

In her periphery, Reiner’s violet rage still flared brightly amid the storm, the dark shapes swooping around her keeping her too busy to come to the rescue.

The wraith shook Elda, and she dropped like a lead weight through the rain when the cloak finally slipped from aroundher neck. Her body pinwheeled, turning over and over while the tempest pelted her from all sides. She didn’t know which way was up or down. She lost sight of the purple light, lost sight of the flock and of Sypher. Her heart fluttered in her throat, and her stomach sank down to her boots. It was only seconds, yet it seemed her descent was endless.

Suddenly, she glimpsed hills through the murk, the ground rushing up to shatter her bones and crush her organs. She couldn’t make her eyes close.

You’re going to die, that insipid voice in her head whispered.Your first day as a wielder, and you’re going to die before you even reach Saeryn. The Spirits chose wrong.

Strong arms caught her at the last second, shunting her sideways with enough force to make her ribs creak. Sypher tucked himself around her, his feathered wings obscuring her view the moment she realised it was too late to stop the crash landing. He was going to take the fall for her.

When the ground finally rose to meet them, the impact jarred Elda’s teeth in her skull, knocking all the air from her lungs, even with the Soul Forge cushioning the blow. His arms stayed tightly around her, wings remaining tucked against her sides until they finally settled. When the bouncing stopped, his arms and wings fell limply to the dirt, exposing them both to the pounding rain.

Her face was pressed against his chest, which she realised was no longer covered with armour. Through the throbbing ache of her muscles and the rush of blood in her ears, she heard no pulse. No breath. The saviour of Valerus was still and silent.

She lifted herself slowly so she could look him over, praying she was wrong, that she was too rattled from the fall to see or hear clearly. Her body was weak – perhaps her mind was simply playing tricks on her.

When her gaze found his face, she froze. The sounds of the storm faded to silence, all noise cancelling out for several seconds while she processed exactly what she was seeing.

Sypher’s wings were broken in several places, blood no longer pumping from the gaping hole in his gut. With no magic to sustain it, his armour was gone, leaving his scarred torso exposed to the elements. Every inch of bare skin was littered with marks of varying age, inked through with dark, swirling runes she couldn’t understand, his odd, warped metal pendant splattered with blood and rainwater where it rested on his chest. A petrified sob stuck in her throat.

His eyes were coal black, all the red extinguished. His mouth hung slightly open, revealing two rows of sharpened teeth stained with blood. Dark veins spidered outwards beneath the skin of his left eye, creeping across his cheek and down to join the runes tattooed on his throat. She’d seen eyes like that in books, in nightmares, in the forests.

He was a demon.

Elda didn’t hear the wraith shriek from above her. She didn’t notice it descend, still clutching the lost cloak in its talons. When she looked up to find herself staring into a gaping throat filled with rows of serrated spikes designed for grinding meat, she couldn’t drag up the fear she knew was supposed to be there.

The saviour of everything she loved was ademon.

A gloved hand shot out and gripped the wraith’s lower jaw before it could snap shut on her skull, yanking it downwards. Sypher sat up, his other hand reflexively flattening against Elda’s back. She stared at the hand around the beak, watching it ignite. Black fire swallowed the shadowy plumage until the wraith was reeling and screaming. The fire kept consuming until the creature fell in a heap and didn’t move again, the smell of charred flesh and burnt feathers permeating the air.

The demon with Sypher’s face looked back at her.

“You’re n-not Sypher,” she stammered, frightened tears welling up in her eyes. The pouring rain disguised the ones that escaped to roll down her cheeks, but there was nothing to be done about the pounding pulse at her throat. The creature was probably already wondering how she’d taste when it killed her.

“No.”

---