Grace growled and launched at the monster, tearing at the beast’s pelt, but the monster flung the wolf away, and Grace landed with a yelp of pain on her side.
The two monsters focused on Kull and me. I released another magical burst, but this time, the beast leapt aside, deflecting the blow, and my fireball struck the ice. The monster attacked me, its paws hit my chest and pinned me to the ice. The other monster did the same to Kull. I lashed out with my magic, intent on burning the beast to a pile of ashes, when the monster’s magic struck me, sucking the air from my lungs.
I couldn’t breathe, but I could still use my magic, so I grabbed the monster’s front legs, then let the magic explode from my hands. The power burst out and shattered the creature’s leg bones.
The air returned to my lungs. Panting, my magic and energy spent, I lay on the ice, watching as the remaining monster wrestled Kull to the ground. He reached for his sword, but it lay out of his reach. The monster snapped its massive jaws at Kull’s face, but the warrior rolled away from the attack, then he pulled a dagger out of its scabbard as the beast rushed for him.
The creature launched lightning fast toward Kull, knocking him back. Kull landed hard, causing hairline fractures to appear in the ice beneath him. The monster pinned him, trying to bite his face. Kull trapped the monster’s enormous skull between his hands, keeping its mouth only inches from him. The biceps in Kull’s arms bulged as he strained to keep the monster from tearing his head off.
Enraged, the beast roared, a low, bestial cry that echoed across the lake, mingling with the sound of the fracturing ice. Kull returned the scream, the battle cry primal as he jerked his arm up. In one swift motion, he impaled the blade deep into the creature’s eye. Blood gushed from the wound, spattering Kull’s face and shirt.
The creature stumbled back, roaring with rage and fury, the hilt of Kull’s blade protruding from its eye. The monster shook its giant head back and forth, but couldn’t dislodge the blade from its eye socket. Snarling, the monster backed away. It retreated the way it had come, back out into the darkness, leaving behind a trail of blood.
Kull got to his feet, his breathing ragged. We stumbled to where Maveryck and Heidel lay. Heidel had wrapped a makeshift bandage around her leg, and Maveryck clutched his midsection. Dark bloodstains saturated their ripped clothing.
“How bad is it?” Kull asked, kneeling beside his sister.
“It hurts,” she breathed.
“May I look at it?”
She nodded. Kull and I knelt at her side as we pulled back the blood-soaked bandage. The calf muscle had been sliced open, revealing the tendons, blood vessels, and part of the bone.
“Can you heal me, Olive?” she gasped.
“I’ll try my best.”
“How is Maveryck?” she asked.
Maveryck lay nearby with Grace resting at his side. He sat up slowly as he clutched his middle. “I’m all right,” he answered, his breathing ragged. “I used a spell to deflect the blow. It’s not deep. Heal Heidel first.”
I turned back to Heidel, calling on my magic, feeling it gather in my fingers and pool in my palms. Holding my hands over her leg, I released my magic. As the blue and amber glow enveloped her leg, the tissue slowly knit back together, leaving only a bloody scar behind.
With help from Maveryck and her brother, she stood. Grace trailed us as we once again set off for the hillside. As we drew closer, the fires illuminated the elves standing on the hill. We made it off the lake and trudged up the hill toward the elves.
Fear made my blood run cold as I saw nearly two dozen elves crowding around the fires, all armed with basita weapons.
“Stop,” a male elf called as he approached us. With every basita in the camp focused on us, I knew fighting them would be suicide.
We did as the man said and stopped walking. The bonfires crackled as he and several other elves made it to our side.
“Your weapons,” the man called. “Throw them to the ground.”
Kull’s hands twitched, but even he knew better than to try and fight them. He removed his knives and sword, tossing them to the ground; Heidel did the same. Maveryck and I didn’t have much in the way of weapons—a dagger for him and knife in my boot for me. We removed the weapons and placed them on the frozen ground.
The elven man approached us. In the light cast from the fires, I noticed that the man’s face was badly scarred, with a long, jagged line running from forehead to chin, bisecting his eye.
“Follow me,” he called, then turned and led us up the hillside.
We did as he said. I fisted my hands, wondering if it was possible to take down every soldier in this camp with my magic, but if I did that, would I be risking the safety of my parents?
We reached the top of the hill where the countryside turned to grasslands. A red-and-gold elven tent stood not far from an unassuming stone structure. Built of roughly hewn stones, with a single open doorway, the structure stood at the end of a long pathway.
The Hollows.
I felt its magic immediately.
I’d felt dark magic before, felt the taint of the Dreamthief and the Regaymor, been exposed to Geth’s magic, felt the all-consuming magic of Queen Euralysia’s powers, and been exposed to the power of Theht, but nothing compared to this place.
I stopped walking. A clammy sweat broke out, covering my skin.
“Keep walking,” one of the elves demanded, jabbing my back with his basita weapon. I stumbled forward, forcing my mind to stay calm.
The cavity’s black maw emanated magic; even from here I could feel it. It punched my stomach and sickened me at its taint and overwhelming power. It was an ancient magic, older even than
