Page 102 of An Honored Vow

Gerarda’s eyes immediately fell to Dynara. “Where is El?”

“She’s alive,” Dynara answered. “Gwyn too.”

Relief flood through my chest.

Dynara grabbed Gerarda by her vest. “Can you cover the field in blackness like you did before? As tall and as wide as you can manage.”

“Yes.” Gerarda’s brow crinkled. “But not for long.”

Dynara opened another portal and yanked Crison through it. The rage in her face broke the instant she saw Dynara. “How many Unnamed could you summon with your gift?” Dynara asked her.

Crison’s face paled. She had only heard of the Unnamed but had never faced one yet. “Several. But I don’t know how much control I would have over beasts like that.”

Dynara smiled. “You won’t need to.”

She let out a low whistle in two long tones followed by two short ones. It was the same signal that the scouts along the portal at Myrelinth used when the Unnamed Ones were spotted along the trail in the Singing Wood. Every Elverin fighter who could retreated for the higher plains, abandoning the valley completely. The ground began to rumble, and one by one our remaining fighters were pushed into the air far above our heads on towers of rock too strong for even the Unnamed’s claws to strike through.

My chest tightened with concern for Feron, but I couldn’t let it crowd my thoughts. Nikolai would take care of him. He had too.

“Be silent.” Dynara ordered as she opened a portal. It was almost completely black on the other side, but I could see the twisted trunks of the Singing Wood through the layers of shadow. A soft breeze blew through them, and a child’s giggle echoed through the field.

The soldiers turned toward the sound.

“Now!” Dynara shouted to both Crison and Gerarda.

Dynara grabbed my hand and broke into a run, Fyrel following close behind as Gerarda covered the field in darkness. It settled like a dense fog, claiming each of the soldiers until the entire battlefield was covered and the city was left untouched. I knelt, feeling for Gerarda through the earth and pushed her out of the darkness on a pillar of stone.

Crison stood beside Dynara, her eyes amber beacons in the darkness as she called the Unnamed Ones toward the portal. They stalked on four legs, with fangs as long as the antlers on their heads. Rotten flesh left their jaws and ribs exposed—tender spots they would defend with their sharp, black claws.

Soldiers shouted and lit their torches as the first guttural cries from the Unnamed sounded in the valley. I wrapped my arms around Dynara, Crison, and Fyrel and shielded us in a circle of stone. I left a sliver of space to watch from, but there was nothing to see. All we could hear were the screams.

In every direction, the soldiers shouted and cried, not realizing they were beckoning a bloody death toward them every time they struck a match. That was enough to ignite a deadly rampage. Within minutes, the shouts had gone silent. Gerarda’s shadows thinned. An Unnamed hissed as the moonlight hit its skin and ran for thicker shadow. The darkness around us dissipated and I dropped our shield.

Crison’s eyes glowed once more and she and Gerarda worked together to send the Unnamed back through the portal, Crison with her magic nudging and Gerarda by creating snakelike paths of darkness that converged at the mouth of the portal threshold. I touched the ground and felt the last of the beasts step back into their wood.

Dynara silently maneuvered around shredded bodies and over scattered armor. I held my breath as she smashed her fist through the portal and it shattered. I exhaled, knowing the Unnamed couldn’t make their way back onto the field.

Torn bodies covered the grass in every direction. Most were in pieces too small to recognize, but all oozed with black decay. I lowered the stone pillars holding the Elverin back to the ground as awaateyshircircled overhead, cautious and quiet.

Dynara opened a portal to the city center. A soldier backed away from the mist in fear. He spotted the amber glow of Dynara’s eyes and raised his sword, but Elaran pounced on his shoulder. His sword fell to the ground and so did he.

El ran through the portal to Gerarda. She pulled her into a quick embrace before addressing the rest of us. “The Halflings that were inthe streets are back in Myrelinth with Rheih.” She turned to Dynara. “The portal is still open.” Dynara nodded and ran into the streets of Volcar to close it.

Gerarda wiped the single streak of blood from Elaran’s cheek as Dynara ran back through the portal with Riven. My chest heaved with relief. His face was splattered with blood and ash, but he was alive.

His eyes locked on me, filling with the same relief, but then settled on something over my shoulder. A pile of torn-apart bodies began to move and from it stood the Dagger. His magic eye was thick and pulsed amber. It seemed as though Damien had enough knowledge of the Unnamed Ones to hide his host in a pile of dead soldiers. The Dagger smirked, the pendant along his chest glowing bright once again.

That was why thewaateyshirakhad stalled their attacks. I glanced up and saw all three circling in orbit above us: one leaking fiery shadow from its bent wing and the others hungry and waiting. My eyes fell to the pendant. It was our only chance to save whatever Halflings were left in the city.

I ran without thinking. The others shouted behind me, but I couldn’t stop. I grabbed a handful of arrows from my full quiver and shot them at the Dagger, my gusts carrying them toward his head. He rolled onto the grass, using the body of a dead boy to block my shot.

The amber pupil went still at the impact. I snarled as the Dagger, now in control of his own body, started to run. I picked up a spear mid-stride and threw it at him. The shaft reverberated, hitting the ground right where he would have been, but he stopped. He turned to face me once more, his pendant glowing once again. I recognized Damien’s smirk as the threeshirakscreeched and dove toward Volcar.

He pulled the pendant from the Dagger’s leathers and threw it to the ground.

“No!” I screamed, stumbling on a piece of armor.

Damien slammed the sword down onto the pendant. The glow pulsed but the glass didn’t break. Damien raised his arm again. The blade was long and covered in the sticky black venom.

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