Page 151 of Flame and Sparrow

We made it only a few miles before a wave of bitter cold overtook us so swiftly it stole my breath away.

Zell veered wildly to the left before starting to slow. I shot upright, thighs gripping tightly to maintain balance, gaze searching. I immediately saw what was causing him distress: A strange fog had rolled in behind us.

Zell galloped faster, trying to stay ahead of it, but tendrils of the grey and white clouds were reaching out, swiping at our path, wilting every blade of grass they touched.

The tendrils grew thicker, heavier.Colder.

I heard a pounding within them, like the thunder of Zell’s hooves magnified many times over.

This was no random fog, not some strange phenomenon of the magical landscape. Something concealed within it was alive and pursuing us.

Gaining on us.

The fog drew closer, and I recognized shapes emerging from the rolling clouds—silver fur, lithe bodies, antlered heads, long snouts snapping at Zell’s heels…

Veilhounds.

An entire pack of them.

Chapter41

I pressed closerto Zell’s back once more, urging him faster, shouting cries of encouragement. He lifted his head and his strides soared longer. Flames kicked up behind him, drawing multiple high-pitched yelps from the pursuing pack as the smell of singed flesh and fur filled the air.

I heard bodies tumbling, scuffling with one another and falling behind—but when I glanced back, I counted seven hounds still following us.

I made eye contact with the one leading the charge. It sped up, barreling closer as though fueled by the fear in my expression.

The flames building around Zell’s hooves flared hotter and higher, nearly reaching up to his flanks and igniting my legs in the process. He could have ignited himself entirely and been rid of the beasts, I realized, and maybe he was thinking the same thing—that I was a burden keeping him from escaping.

I hastily scanned our surroundings for some way I could help.

After nearly a mile of searching, I spotted a river snaking its way through the tall grass. Hydrus vibrated against me at the exact same moment, as if trying to catch my attention and make sure I didn’t overlook the water.

I wasn’t sure I fully trusted the sword or the magic of the Ocean Marr that it contained, but I was desperate for help.

I guided Zell toward the river. He was obedient at first—until he got close enough to realize the waterway was too wide to leap across. It looked like a dead end.

But the sword was insistent, shaking so violently within its sheath that it nearly rattled free on its own. The hounds fanned out behind us. We couldn’t turn around without turning into the jaws of at least one of them, so I urged Zell onward, whipping Hydrus from its sheath as I did.

The veilhounds on the outer edges of the pack sped up, racing nearly parallel to us and drifting closer and closer, pinching us in.

The river loomed.

Zell’s cries were terrifyingly frantic as his hooves struck the shoreline.

He leapt.

I swung the sword forward, feeling its magic tremble through the blade. The waters parted for an instant—just long enough to allow us to bound across a drained riverbed of slippery stone and mud—before crashing back over the veilhounds, sweeping four of them off their feet and carrying them away.

The other three slammed to a stop on the shore behind us. They paced for a moment, long snouts lifting into the air, an eerie chorus of low-pitched howls rising between them. As the water settled back into an easy current, they began to swim across.

Downstream, one of the beasts the water had swept away pulled itself from the river, gave a quick shake, then resumed the chase, quickly closing in on us.

“Faster, Zell!” I cried.

We spun away and broke into another gallop only to find ourselves facing a wall of grey and white clouds just ahead—more fog like the kind the hounds had emerged from.

I didn’t want to know what would happen if we tried to race through it.

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