Page 116 of A Soul to Guide

From what she knew, no one could enter Merikh’s ward, so she wasn’t sure why she thought she saw someone through some magical essence. Maybe she was imagining the scent, or hadn’t noticed it before because she’d been distracted?

It smelt kind of floral, although she couldn’t remember if she’d seen flowers when Merikh had used his sight to show her the area.

As she turned her face away, shaking off the idea that someone was there, the white essence returned in the corner of her sight.

Raewyn didn’t get the chance to turn and look. On the opposite side of the stream through the Veil’s forest, the crunching of earth debris and snapping of sticks drew her immediate attention.

Something, or rather, multiple somethings were heading this way.

Raewyn stood and turned towards them as she slowly crept towards the cave entrance. She wasn’t afraid; she had no reason to be. Merikh’s ward was keeping her protected in one of the most dangerous places on Earth.

She just wanted to be able to leave quickly, in case it was more Demons. They liked to loiter around the ward and hiss at her, say cruel and unpleasant things from the distance. She’d rather avoid them if she could, especially since they always made her skin crawl.

Keeping her eyes on the red ward’s boundary, she knew the moment the strange creatures broke through the tree line.

Then two shadows hit the ward as they passed through it. There was a shuffle, one snapping its fangs while the second snickered, followed by a loud thud.

Raewyn sucked in a sharp breath and froze.They’re inside...Whatever they were, they sounded massive and hostile.How did they get inside the ward?

“Do you see her?”one asked.

“I don’t see her, but she went this way,”the other answered.

They had similar voices, a warm baritone that swelled with a totally inhuman roughness.

Both had a different, strange timbre when they spoke, growly but at the same time mixed with a human’s voice. She’d only ever heard Merikh speak like that.

“She did not stop to play with us.”

“Maybe she did not notice us.”

Then, at the same time, they said,“Strange.”

Unsure of what to do, considering they hadn’t noticed her or perhaps didn’t care, Raewyn snuck an inch closer to the cave.

One of them had been speaking but quieted as soon as she moved, and she cringed. Did they see her? Perhaps she shouldn’t have done anything and pretended to be a tree.

Two pairs of yellow sparks flashed in her vision, leaving a glowing trail as though they’d tilted their heads in opposite directions. Unfortunately, they’d obviously been facing her.

It did, however, highlight what they were.

Only Merikh’s orbs create such magic.They were Duskwalkers, two of them, from what she could tell.

“What’s this?”one of them said while slowly moving in her direction.

The other followed, practically in time with the other’s footsteps. It was like they were one moving unit.

“There’s a human here.”

“What’s a human doing here?”He sniffed with deep, snorting huffs.“It doesn’t smell human, though.”

Raewyn slowly retreated backwards but was forced to halt when two pairs of flame sparks flared red before fading. She couldn’t flee, not even slowly, or she’d ignite their hunger like Merikh had warned her.

She stood her ground, hoping if she didn’t agitate them, or smell of fear or blood, that they may be ‘friendly’ like Merikh.

“H-hello,” she said, offering them a weak smile.

Yellow sparked in her vision.

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