The drone had long since passed beyond her ability to detect, but he must be able to sense it, because Raff oriented himself straightaway, running west with complete assurance.
The wind felt lovely on her skin, and the sun was high in the hills, perfect weather for such an outing. For these brief moments, her worries blew away like dandelion down. Her vedda beast had grown fat and lazy while she studied maps and pondered strategies. On impulse, she let out an ancient Eldritch war cry, shrill and bloodcurdling.
Raff glanced back to check on her and stumbled, claws slipping on a half-hidden cascade of rocks. Before she thought, she was on the ground checking on him—and that impulse saved her life.
A red bolt of light singed the tree Guthrie stood under, charring the bark to ash. Raff lunged at her, knocking her out of the path of the falling fir, and they hit the ground hard.
I wish I had my bracers.
She rolled to her feet, knives dropping into her palms. “Prepare to fight.”
Almost before Thalia spoke, Raff had a lock on their enemies.
Fucking Eldritch. If they were trying to murder the princess, they couldn’t be her people. Leaping ahead, he raced into the undergrowth to hunt down the rotten devils. They all smelled different, these elfkin. The ones he was currently tracking reeked of herbal smoke, underscored with a deep fungal rot, as if they’d crept out of some underground burrow.
Another burst of red light spattered the ground as he ran, a hiss of steam and stink of charred earth. They had powerful weapons, but it wouldn’t help. Raff used the forest to cloak his motions and drew their fire. Thalia came on behind him, screeching and fearless. Knives flew over his head and he heard the muffled thump of a body hitting the snow, smelled the coppery tang of blood in the wind.
How many left?
If this was a war party, they might have bitten off more than they could chew, but he had the battle in his blood. Raff let out a howl to send word to the rest of the wolves that there was a real quarry to face and then spun as movement caught his eye. Eight Eldritch crept out of the trees, ringing them slowly.
Thalia gave no orders as she vaulted atop her mount, but he took his place behind her, dwarfed by her vedda beast yet he had no worries that she would trample him. The creature seemed calm and ready to fight, rearing in warning when the nearest enemy crept closer. A blade sang past him, slamming into a pale forehead. One down. Raff leapt at the next, sinking his fangs in deep. The Eldritch slashed at him with clumsy hands; clearly, he had no idea how to fight an Animari. He bit down and snapped the ulna. The weapon plopped from the warrior’s bloody hands, and then the screaming started.
Raff spat. Even the blood tasted wrong, sweet and sickly at the same time. There’s something the matter with these Eldritch. It was eerie how none of them had spoken a word and they attacked in mechanical motions. Raff glanced at Thalia, but he couldn’t tell if she’d noticed the abject wrongness of their foes. The smell of damp decay intensified, until he could barely breathe. Ignoring the stench, Raff circled and went for his prey’s Achilles tendon this time. More rancid blood in his mouth.
Four down, five left.
He checked on Thalia with a lightning-quick glance, and hand to God, the princess stole his breath, so lovely in her graceful violence that he nearly forgot to finish off his kill. She had risen to her feet on her mount’s back, flinging knives like a goddess of the blade. He had no fucking idea how she could stay on the beast as it stamped and spun, but she was light on her feet, nimble as a flying squirrel. She dropped two more as he watched.
No need to fret about her.
He dodged a barrage of red light and ran through the burn patches on the ground. With full strength, he launched himself and knocked the Eldritch back, the light gun somersaulting out of his hands. Raff went for his face and simply bit through the hands that came up in a protective reflex. Another look at Thalia.
No blades left, she dove across the vedda beast’s horns and she twirled across them, as he’d seen acrobats do on rings or bars. Then her body became a weapon, lashing out with precise kicks. The vedda beast moved in unison with her, hooves striking out as she did. Blood sprayed in their wake as they stunned and tramped their hapless opponents. Reassured, Raff dove back into the fray, finishing those she dropped.
The last one produced a large weapon that looked like it was Golgoth made. Raff raced toward him as the bang sounded, and a metal slug slammed into Raff’s shoulder, driving him into a tree. He spat red and charged, sprinting beneath the vedda beast. Without either of them speaking a word, she went high, and he went low. The final enemy screamed as Raff gouged his femoral artery and Thalia caved in the left side of his skull. Their bodies were still warm and twitching as she dropped to a crouch beside one.
Hurts. Sodding hell, my whole body is on fire.
Raff wished he could speak because she needed to know that this wasn’t a normal gun, but something devil made, designed to hurt Animari. But how the hell did they know she’d have Animari in her lands? There were disturbing implications to this line of thought, but his brain felt scrambled, and he couldn’t quite connect the dots on why he should be troubled. Trembling, Raff sat before he fell over.
Breathe. It’ll probably pass.
“What do we have here?” With deft hands, Thalia searched their corpses. Raff couldn’t ask but she must’ve thought he’d be curious.
And he would
