Page 47 of Forged By Heart and Claws
A shadow wolf appeared over Thalira’s body, looking toward us, fangs bared. I tensed and straightened on my knees.
“He’s lunging!” Rhielle shouted.
The shadow wolf dove low, and I took the brunt of its weight on my forearm. Its teeth snapped an inch from my throat a moment before Vad’s blade cleaved clean through its skull with a wet crunch. Shadow mist exploded like smoke.
“Stay low,” he barked, already spinning to face the next wolf. They collided midair, claws and steel meeting in a brutal crash.
“She’ll bleed out,” Quen wept. “We have to stop it, we have to?—”
Tears burned my eyes, and I had to fight to say the words. “She’s gone.” My voice cracked under the truth.
Another wolf rammed the wall beside us, dust and pebbles raining down. Veralt’s war cry rang out, and the beast flew across the room and smashed like a rag doll into a pile of broken furniture.
I couldn’t breathe. The metallic stench of blood, the endless snarls, the screams pressed in on me. Still, I knelt beside Thalira. My hands trembled. My chest cracked open, and a raw, quiet wolf howl ripped out of me, curling into the smoke above us.
The air pulsed like a shockwave through my bones.
Vad linked,What are you doing?Panic echoed down the bond.
I lifted my head. All around the chamber, the wolves had frozen in place, ears flattened, their eyes glowing like twin suns locked on me.
The far wall tore open with a gurgling sound. Another gash split the stone, wider this time. Black mist poured out like a tide, curling through the room in skeletal tendrils.
The spell shattered. Every wolf turned and howled in unison, their rage renewed.
Of course, we couldn’t have a moment’s rest. Fate kept pushing us, and I wasn’t certain how much more I could take.
“Grab what you can and gonow!” Vad’s roar cracked the air.
His sword sliced through another beast with terrifying speed, shadow blood spraying across the floor as it collapsed.
I couldn’t move. If I did, I had to leave Thalira. I looked at her face, her blood congealing on my hands.
Briar!Vad connected, causing me to jerk my attention to him.“Get to the larder path on the right!” He clawed a wolf off Silus’s back.
But I still couldn’t get myself to stand. Another friend lost to cruelty and hate.
I jolted as a heavy hand clamped around my upper arm. “Move!” Vad snarled into my ear. “She wouldn’t want you to die here!”
He was right. And the longer we stayed, the more lives could be lost. Letting out a shaky breath, I gave Thalira’s lifeless body one last look, then tore myself away, grabbing Quen’s sleeve and yanking her to her feet.
I clenched my jaw and shoved down the grief threatening to split me open. As I turned, a wolf hurtled at Vad. He snarled and swept up his sword, his long claws gripping the hilt and cutting into his own palms. The blade sliced through the wolf’s throat, releasing a hot spray of blood over both of us. The wolf fell to the ground.
Up ahead, Rhielle pivoted, gasping, her sword catching another wolf’s shoulder as it lunged. Veralt clubbed the wolf, and Rhielle grabbed two bags and slung them over her shoulders. A wolf seized the third, and she kicked it.
Veralt seized the wolf by the scruff, muscles bulging, and slammed it into the wall. Its neck broke with a sickening snap. He spun, picked up his fallen sword, and hacked at the next, wild-eyed. “We can’t hold them off forever!” he barked.
“Don’t wait for us,” Vad shouted. “Grab the lights and go. Follow Silus.”
Silus was already fighting his way toward the door, striking at the wolves and pulling Elara along. He had two bags on one shoulder and the other arm gripping Elara, who was trying to wield the sword, rage and terror in her eyes as she bared her teeth. Elias stumbled along behind them, a sword clutched in one hand.
The crowns lay beyond the wolves near the wall. Elara hesitated as if debating dodging the wolves to grab them, but Silus glared at her. “We’ll come back for them!”
Elara set her jaw but complied. “May the beasts rip apart anyone who is not of our line who takes those crowns!”
Quen scooped up a bag and three lamps. She blew out two and tucked them under her arms while holding the third tight to her chest.
“Where are Thalen and Myantha?” The words screamed out of me.
