Page 103 of Dark Elves of Ardani

Vaara took off toward the other side of the village, where Crow was dodging the sword of one of the Paladins. She ripped off her glove and reached out, managing to grab the throat of the Paladin. The man froze as her magic took over his mind. When she let go of him, he turned around and began viciously attacking the other Paladins, as if he no longer recognized them.

Nero suppressed a shudder. Watching Crow fight never failed to send a chill up his spine.

Nearby, he saw Devana fighting beside Naika, who had erected some kind of magical glowing shield in front of them both. Another Paladin ran up behind them to attack, and Nero opened his mouth to shout a warning. Before he could speak, Basira and a group of other villagers surged forward to overtake the Paladin and haul him to the ground.

Nero did not see Zara anywhere, however.

He sensed movement behind him, and he spun, raising his rod just in time to deflect a blow from a Paladin. He swung the metal rod at the Paladin’s head, and it connected with a gruesome crunch. But the man’s body had barely hit the ground when three more Paladins appeared, surrounding him.

Nero’s fade masked his movements, but didn’t hide him entirely—there was too much light from the fire and from the torches the humans held. As the Paladins took turns swinging at him, he struggled to fend them off.

A familiar sound reached his ears. Hoofbeats drummed the ground, rapidly approaching.

He turned to find Changa barreling toward them. And on her back, looking like the goddess of war herself, was a pale, ghostly human woman. In her hand was a long stick with a sharpened end.

Nero sidestepped as Changa barged through the group. Zara struck with her spear as she rode by, jabbing it into one of the Paladins. Changa’s antlers picked up one of the others, flinging him effortlessly aside. There were screams and metallic crashes as the men dropped. Nero took the opportunity to trade out his metal rod for one of the men’s swords.

Zara pulled Changa’s mane and the behelgi skidded to a stop, turning around to face the last Paladin. The man turned and ran, and Zara didn’t bother to chase him, instead heading toward Nero. She didn’t stop, but took Nero’s hand as she passed and helped him climb up. He mounted behind her, wrapping his free arm around her waist.

“You look beautiful,” he said, which was a ridiculous thing to say at that moment, but she awed him.

Now she did pull Changa to a stop. She turned halfway around to look at him. Then she kissed him. He pulled her tight against him, and she moaned softly in a way that could have been either emotional or sexual, but it sent a jolt to both his heart and his nether regions either way.

“I thought I might not see you again,” he said.

“Did you think I would not come back for you?” Her eyebrows came together, and her hand reached for his. “I would not let anything happen to you.”

That ache in his heart was so strong now that it felt like it might crack. He’d never felt anything like it.

Something flew through the air by their heads, narrowly missing them. Someone had thrown something at them. Zara quickly turned around, urging Changa onward.

“We need to find Theron,” she said.

He nodded. Then he remembered the burning shed. “The mage blew up your house.”

“I know. Basira and I volunteered to sacrifice it for our ambush. I would rather they take my little shed than someone else’s home.”

She talked about it like it wasn’t a big deal. It made him sad for her. “But that was your home.”

She shrugged. “Not anymore.”

As they cantered across the village, they passed a group of dead Paladins. One of them had Vaara’s wooden spike driven through his eye.

Theron was nowhere to be found, which was odd. Nero had expected him to be fighting with the rest of them. Theron was many terrible things, but he was not a coward.

And then, suddenly, something bright was shooting through the air toward them.

Chapter 31

Zara ducked low against Changa’s back, and Nero bent over her, his arm wrapped around her as he pressed into her back. Something bright and hot shot over their heads. It collided with the ground behind them with a thump and a hiss. Changa snorted and stomped nervously.

The projectile was an arrow, now sticking upright in the ground. It looked massive by Varai standards, and it was on fire. Flames engulfed the head and the shaft entirely, somehow melting the snow around it without burning through the arrow. The flames looked off somehow, a little too dark red to be natural. And as if that wasn’t eerie enough, the flames then began to twist and creep across the ground like snakes. Naika, spotting the arrow, broke away from the fighting and raised her hands to try to magically tame the flames.

Zara lifted her head enough to peek up at where the arrow had come from. There, on a spit of rock sticking out of a cliff in the distance, was a lone figure in Paladin’s armor, a red cloak fluttering behind him: Theron. He was nocking another arrow, and as Zara watched, the arrow burst into flames. He didn’t react, as if he felt no pain from it.

“Magic?” Nero asked, startled.

“Demon magic,” Zara said. Nero looked down at her in surprise.

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