This was not my best day.
I grabbed my blade’s hilt as the wraith whipped around once more, but my blood-slicked fingers slipped, and I lost my grasp. The wraith, covered in flaking, reptilian skin, laughed—a rattling sound that made my skin crawl.
Its face was a meld of reptile and human; its lower jaw was elongated with protruding fangs, which reminded me more of a goblin. The creature fought like a demon, using a magical knife that burned when it touched my skin.
It lunged for me and I darted back, this time managing to stay upright. I pulled the small knife from my boot and hurled it at the creature’s neck. The knife flew with swift accuracy and embedded itself deep in the wraith’s flesh. The beast’s scream ripped through the air, yet the wraith still rushed toward me.
Stupid beast. Why wouldn’t it just die already?
With one knife in its back and another in its neck, I was losing weapons fast.
“Maveryck,” I yelled at the man fighting alongside me. “I need a weapon.”
Maveryck fought two beasts at once. He was a professional thief, not a fighter, which made me wonder how he’d managed not to die yet. It helped that he wielded a magical staff with ridiculous amounts of power. Gripping the staff tight, he knocked both of the monsters back, but one of the beasts grabbed him and pulled him to the ground.
Wrestling the beast away from the staff, he darted a glance at me. “Can’t you see I’m busy? What happened to all your weapons?”
“They’re stuck in the monster’s hide.”
“Then pull them out!”
I growled under my breath. He was useless. Had I been fighting alongside my brother, we’d have killed the monsters hours ago and been drinking mead by the fire.
The beast, still pierced with my knives, loped toward me with an unsteady gait.
I was done with this dance.
Spinning around, I kicked the monster flat on its back, jumped on top of the beast, and planted my knee in its solar plexus. Its filmy yellow eyes bulged as I ripped my knife from its throat, and then I made quick work of cutting through skin and tissue and severing its life’s vein.
Its death came quickly.
“Heidel,” Maveryck screamed. The only remaining creature pinned Maveryck to the ground, the staff between them as the monster tried prying it from the thief’s grasp. The runes etched into the wood glowed a faint bluish color as I approached. Was it normal for the staff to react in such a way?
“Heidel, get back,” Maveryck yelled.
“Get back? I thought you needed my help.”
“No! Get back!”
I clenched my fists, the knife’s hilt warm in my hands. The wraith moved its hands from the staff and gripped Maveryck around the neck, choking him.
Although I was tempted do as Maveryck said and back away, I also knew he would die if I didn’t come to his aid, so I ignored him and rushed forward.
“What are you doing? Get… into the forest!” Maveryck choked.
The staff glowed brighter. Its light pierced through the dark evening, making me shield my eyes. The sound of cracking ice echoed through the forest as a fissure opened in the frozen pond beneath us. I fell, but I managed to crawl to my knees.
Maveryck lost his grip on the staff as he pried the monster’s hands away from his neck. Ice broke apart, spraying freezing water into the air. The staff rolled over the ice toward me, its magical glow reflecting against the surface.
I crawled away from the staff, but its magic made a loud roaring wind fill the air. The world became a blur of swirling colors as the feel of the freezing ice beneath my hands disappeared.
“Maveryck,” I called, but I barely heard my own voice over the wind. My stomach lurched. I felt as if my body were flying. I knew this sensation—I’d experienced it before. The staff had opened a portal, and we’d been caught in it.
The screaming wind drowned out any other sounds. I wanted to clamp my hands over my ears but had no control over my body. I floated, weightless in an immense void, as my body was transported from one world to another.
Panicking, I felt the magic surrounding me. I’d never liked magic. It was too uncontrollable, too powerful. Slowly, the swirling void faded and the howling wind died as I landed in a heap on a stone floor. I sat up and opened my eyes, but dizziness made me close them again. My head throbbed, so I took several deep breaths as I waited for the lightheadedness to go away. When I opened my eyes again, I was at least able to focus without feeling as if I would faint.
Sounds of scuffling came from behind me.
I turned to find Maveryck passed out on the floor, blood smeared on his face and chest. A creature resembling the wraith crouched over the thief. Crossing from one world to another must have changed the monster’s appearance. Without its snout and reptilian scales, it now looked more human than animal, though its skin and hair were still dingy white, and its eyes still shone a pale shade of yellow. As the creature stood straight, I got the impression that the crossing had changed more than just its appearance. Intelligence glinted in its eyes as it clutched Maveryck’s staff to its chest. I could no longer think of this being as merely a monster. Although still an abomination, now, it—he—seemed human.
“Give the staff to me,” I demanded.
“It belongs to the silverwitch,” he hissed. “I shall take this back to her, and then she will kill you both!”
“Give it to me!” I rushed at him, knife raised, intent on slaying him the same way I’d killed his companion, but as soon as I reached him, the staff reignited with blinding light, making me falter.
I stumbled back, tripped over Maveryck’s body, and then for the third time in one day, fell unceremoniously on my backside.
Enveloped in the swirling magic, the wraith disappeared along
