Page 83 of Vow of the Shadow King

Instinct flares. Death is coming, coming,now.

I roll, lose my helmet, and narrowly avoid the swiping claws of a devil. I lash out with one arm. Bracer spikes bash the side of awoggha’ssnarling face. Pulling myself up into a crouch, I face three devils. They circle me. Their long tongues waggle and drag on the ground, dripping streams of greenish foam.

My sword. Where is my sword?

The first devil lunges. I get my hands up just in time, catch it by the jaws. As its sharp teeth pierce through my gauntlets, I force its jaw wider, wider. It roars. I roar back. The sound bellows up from the depths of my soul as I scream into that monster’s ugly face. Something cracks. Thewogghafalls at my feet, writhes. Goes still.

There’s no time for triumph. A second devil hits me in the side. I fall beneath it, twisting, fighting, lashing out with my bracer spikes. One razor-sharp claw glances off my breastplate. I cannot let it pierce my armor or I’ll end up gutted like the others. Somehow, miraculously, I find my feet again. Two devils close in on me, heads low. One of them growls softly. I brace myself, arms out, body low. The first one lunges. I hit it with the bracer spikes, knock it off balance, but the second goes for me in the very next breath. I don’t have time to recover.

I hit the ground hard. This time, I know I won’t get back up. This time, it’s got me pinned. Wrenching one arm up, I stick my bracer into the beast’s open mouth, drive a spike into its tongue. It doesn’t care. Its teeth crush into my armor. I feel the bones of my arm ready to break. Its claws scrabble at my chest plate, trying to crack me open like an egg. One gnarled hand slices at my head. I dodge, but a claw scrapes across my temple. Hot blood gushes.

The beast lunges harder. Foul breath blasts into my nostrils. I stare into that awful maw. It will be the last sight I see.

Faraine.

Her shining eyes, laughing at me from beneath that trolde-style tiara.

Lorstlight soft and gleaming in her hair.

Her lips, curved in a warm smile, full of promise. Full of hope.

I’ve failed her. I’ll never reach her in time.

She will die. Horribly. Wondering where I am. Wondering why I do not come to save her.

36

FARAINE

A sickening crunch.

Pain shoots up my ankle, a white-hot line that shocks the breath from my lungs. I fall, limbs folded under me, and land in a heap on the gravel path below the window. Curses leap to my tongue but cannot get past my grinding teeth. Sucking in a determined breath, I brace my arms, push myself upright. Somehow, I get to my feet, but when I put weight on my left foot, pain spikes again, and I crumple.

Somewhere, far off, Hael is shouting. I cannot make myself hear her. All my concentration is on rising again, hobbling forward three agonized paces into the garden. The circle of tall stones feels like a whole world away to my pain-sparked gaze. I must reach it. Somehow.

Heavy breathing. A low, guttural growl.

I spin to my right. A cave devil approaches. It creeps along with its belly close to the ground between clusters of crystals. Just as I spot it, it seems to become aware of me. Its nostrils flare, and its tongue tastes the air in little flicks. Then it crouches. Powerful muscles bunch, prepare for a single, deadly spring.

I have one moment in which to act. I can either try to flee on my damaged ankle, be knocked flat before I’ve taken two steps, have my spine snapped by those powerful jaws, or . . .

I drop to the ground. Plant my palm.

Even from a distance, the deep resonance of the Urzulhar stones vibrates beneath me. It calls to all otherurzulcrystals in the vicinity, great and small, draws their voices into a profound harmony. The vibration wraps around me, a small maelstrom lashing at my soul. I take hold of that power, that energy. Raising my other hand, I point at the cave devil. Just as it begins its leap, I send the resonance ripplingout.

It catches the monster in midair. The beast drops to the ground in front of me, its mouth open, its hideous claws tensing and relaxing. It breathes out a long gurgle as its purple tongue spills over the cage of its teeth.

So we remain—me in a crouch, one hand to the ground, the other extended—the beast before me, held in stasis. Even its mind, so full of savage bloodlust, stills. But underneath that stillness . . . trapped beneath the resonance of the stones . . .

Something rages.

Something dark.

Something terrible.

Something . . . other.

Who are you?I whisper.

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