Page 159 of Soul Forge

Lillian grunted, drawing Elda’s attention. Sparks decorated her skin, Abraxos’ mace finally freed of the gloop. His rictus grin was fierce, lightning reflecting in his eyes as the spikes of his weapon stuck deep in the fae’s back. She staggered away, shaken but alive, moving out of reach of the searing bolts with her katana raised.

Sypher was still chasing Cynthia. The shriek of the remaining wraith rattled the skies. Elda knocked an arrow, aiming for its beady black eyes as she let energy radiate through her, filling the bow until her arrow shone. Her grip relaxed, the projectile streaking towards its target. It missed the eye but struck the flesh beside its beak and ignited. Elda’s eyes widened when fire began to eat through its feathers instead of frost. How, when Irileth’s gift was ice?

She didn’t have time to ponder further. The wraith screeched and shook its head, blinded by flames. Its wings tipped precariously, and Cynthia stumbled across its back. Sypher snatched her up, his gloved fist gripping her throat and yanking her upwards as the blind bird careened towards the dunes.

Elda was in its path. The sharp beak pulled her focus, reflecting the firelight as it came down to skewer her. Thefighting around her faded, drowned out by the roar of the demon, and Elda threw herself to the side. The beak missed, the sand surging upwards to toss her away when the wraith smashed into the ground and fell silent. She rolled, grit speckling her lashes.

Shaking dust away from her face, Elda squinted at the giant bird. Its eyes and beak were open, the flesh consumed by fire, its eyeballs shrivelling in their sockets. Satisfied that it was dead, she turned back to her companions.

Lillian and Abraxos still traded ferocious blows on the ground, sparks flying with every swing. Both of them were snarling at one another, the clash of blades ringing through the wasteland.

Above her, Sypher dangled Cynthia in the air by her throat, his wings beating steadily to keep them aloft. Her poisonous dagger was stuck blade-down in the dunes below, and her face was turning red from the grip on her windpipe.

“This is your last chance,” Sypher ground out between his sharpening teeth, Vel surging forwards to show his rage. “Tell me where Arden is before I tear out your throat. You’re outmatched.”

“That’s what you think.” Cynthia coughed, a grin on her face despite the fingers constricting her oxygen. Her hands gripped Sypher’s wrist to try and lift some of the pressure from her throat, so he squeezed tighter.

Cynthia swung her legs up, snapping a boot into Sypher’s chest and twisting her body lithely out of his grip. She didn’t care that his fingers left red marks on her skin when she wrenched herself free, catching his ankle as she dropped and sticking two fingers in her mouth. Her shrill whistle seemed to freeze the very air around them.

Sypher’s head whipped towards the rubble where the mountain once stood, his face going slack the second his eyes hitthe horizon. Elda couldn’t see whatever had spooked him, but Vel was given control right in front of her.

Cynthia dropped to the ground and landed on her feet, the sand cushioning her fall. She snatched up her dagger and looked between Elda and Lillian, weighing up her choices. Elda waited for the witch to leap at her, heart beating hard in her ears.

Cynthia’s smile was cruel. “I’m saving you for later,” she giggled, and then she turned towards Lillian. Elda knocked an arrow and missed, the sand freezing beside Cynthia’s boots. She fired another and caught the witch’s ankle, knocking her down before she could reach Lillian and take her head.

Two more wraiths flew over the remains of the mountain, neither of them Behemoths, but both bigger than any Elda had seen before. One of them broke away to swoop down towards her like a storm cloud. Its huge wings flapped, kicking up whorls of sand on the ground below.

The princess lifted her bow and took a deep, slow breath. In the back of her mind, the pinprick of light that was her bond with Irileth shone. Energy streamed from it in frosty tendrils, wrapping around her in a comforting embrace. Despite all that had been done on behalf of Aeon, Elda was glad to have Irileth by her side.

She pulled the string back on her next inhale, those frosty tendrils extending through her and outwards, gathering in her weapon. She waited, feeling the slight burn intensify as she stored up whatever she could before the wraith reached her. When she was staring right down its throat, watching those serrated teeth come close enough that she could feel its hot breath when it screamed, she let go.

Ice swallowed every feather, sweeping down its throat and shattering it apart, bursting outwards until the giant beast was nothing more than gory snowfall under the hot sun. The blast whipped Elda’s hair back, and when the dust cleared, only tinyfragments of it remained, each one glittering with frost as they tumbled downwards.

The second wraith cawed for its lost companion. Elda aimed and fired, determined to deal with the monsters if she couldn’t help with fighting the Corrupted. It twisted aside, dipping one enormous wing, and her arrow sailed past, exploding harmlessly against the sand. She expected it to come back at her, but instead, it turned away.

Its claws raked across Vel’s spine when it swooped down towards him, opening a deep slash between his wings and throwing him forwards. Cynthia laughed, tossing her bright red hair over her shoulder and beckoning to her bird. Elda saw Vel pick himself back up out of the sand while the beast banked low, shunting Lillian roughly aside with one taloned foot and collecting the two Corrupted in the other. It wheeled upwards, its two passengers already climbing up its leg.

Vel shot back into the sky and set his sights on the beast, letting out a vicious hiss. His sword gleamed in the sunlight, arcing towards the demon when it pecked at him. Every movement he made was determined, lightning-fast, and in danger of tipping him beyond being able to regain control. His sword left wounds wherever it touched, dampening the feathers with thick grey blood. The Corrupted clambered up to its back, and Cynthia raised her dagger as though she intended to throw it.

Elda’s aim was perfect, her arrow striking the wraith in its underbelly and launching both Corrupted into the air. Once again, ice ate through its skin, freezing it from the inside and breaking it apart. Cynthia hit the sand first and rolled, Abraxos landing beside her.

The Soul Forge whipped round to fix Elda with a stare, and her heart skipped a beat at his expression.Rage. Vel was completely in control as he let out a growl and pelted the sand with shadowsthat turned sharp, intent on skewering his enemies. They earned some new wounds, but they were nothing more than shallow slices, the pair successfully surviving his darkness.

Another wraith appeared at Cynthia’s command, not as big as the previous two, but still formidable. It swept down to land in the desert, swinging its massive wings to knock Vel backwards, flattening him in the sand. Lillian kept out of range, assessing it from a distance just like Elda had been forced to do.

The Corrupted clambered onto its back and it lifted off. More sand kicked up, and Elda raised an arm to protect her eyes. When she looked back, Lillian was no longer on the sand, and Vel was preparing to follow the creature upwards. Elda took aim but didn’t pull back the string, quickly realising that the smaller bird was too fast for her. It dove and wheeled in the air, wary of the attacker on the ground.

From her vantage point, the princess watched Lillian step out of a portal on its back, raising her katana to cleave Cynthia in two. The witch spun and knocked the blade aside, countering with a thrust of her dagger that Lillian barely dodged. Abraxos’ mace swung, and the fae danced around its spiked head, her katana singing as it clashed with the twisted weapons. Vel dropped down beside her and faced off against Abraxos, throwing up a barrier of darkness to deflect his lightning, then bursting through it to crack a gloved fist across his jaw.

Elda’s heart raced, her muscles freezing as she watched her companions put themselves in harm’s way. She was useless on the ground. The giant bird was wise to her attack pattern, flying in sharp turns and steep dives to keep itself away from the aim of her deadly bow. She had no way up to its back, and her close combat experience was still too lacking to be anything more than a liability.

Frustration boiled in her veins, her weight shifting from boot to boot, but she was stuck on the ground. Even if she couldreach them, she was reluctant to get in the way. It was one thing to train for a fight. It was another entirely to witness it. Watching the person she cared about most fighting without her was torture.

Vel leapt into the air, beating his wings once to gain some height, then dropped a shoulder and slammed into Cynthia. His weight flattened her against the feathers of her winged mount as she buckled beneath him, knees folding like twigs. The force of Vel’s landing caused the wraith to panic, its flight slowing. Lillian raised her katana and brought it down towards Cynthia's eyes, but Abraxos’ lightning coursed through her before she could deliver a killing blow.

Elda saw her opening and fired, her arrow catching Abraxos and encasing his torso in ice. His arms were clamped to his sides, and Lillian raised her blade to take his head. Her strike missed, thrown off balance when the wraith turned sharply back towards the crumbled mountain.

A shriek sounded on the horizon, loud enough to rattle Elda’s teeth. A shadow passed over the desert, blotting out the sun when another creature approached. Its wingspan was double that of the wraith Abraxos and Cynthia rode, its sharpened beak gleaming in the daylight. Lightning crackled around its wings, and Elda’s heart leapt into her throat.

---