Pachi, use your Solar Burn! I shouted. Her wings spread wide as she activated the spell.
The soldiers fell back, alarmed at the fire glowing in her eyes, then a pillar of light fell from the heavens and landed in the mass of enemies. They burned under the assault, and several jumped away from the area. Since it was easy to see them, I let fly, dropping three of the ratkin who were howling in pain as their bodies burned.
Solar Burn lasted a full minute, so I continued to fire until the enemies were no longer in sight. With the help of a soldier who was carrying a bow, we killed at least seven enemies. Unfortunately, a group of the ratkin had disappeared down a side alley, and several more ran along the lip of the pond and found a new place to enter the town, their silhouettes disappearing in the dark before I could take another shot.
Pachi took point, seething with the anger she always felt when she faced ratkin. I could feel the emotion bristling off of her and through our bond.
I drew my sword and ran, desperate to keep up with Pachi’s swift advance. Around another corner, I saw a ratkin jump out and sink a pair of knives in Pachi’s side. There were two more swinging long swords. I dashed forward, hoping to block the attacks, but I was too far away. My fears were nullified, though, as Pachi used Wing Storm, rising up on her hind legs and knocking the enemies back with torrents of wind.
Being so close to the attack, they fell away, one even slamming its head on the side of house and going limp. I dispatched the others with quick cuts of my katana.
Another was running from us, sprinting toward the town jail, and Pachi ran it down in three long bounds. I saw her take its skull in her mouth and I shouted out, “Stop! Keep the beast alive!”
I gave orders for the other soldiers to keep searching around, but no other ratkin were nearby. We needed to question this one.
Hold it down, I said to Pachi. I felt the rumble of her growling, keeping her rage in check only by hard-earned discipline. I promise, we will kill it when we’re done.
I reached them and kicked the sword from the ratkin’s grasp. Then I hoisted the creature up by its leather armor. “You are going to speak when I ask questions. And if you lie or try to keep quiet, I’m going to have my friend here eat you. I’ll have her start with your legs.”
Pachi shook her head in disgust. I will not be eating any such vermin. I’d rather eat my own tail!
I know, Pachi, but it doesn’t know that.
The ratkin searched my eyes, then glanced at Pachi. For a few moments it looked to be hardening its resolve, so I kept the ruse going. “Okay, then. Pachi, eat your fill, but save enough for me to speak with after.”
On cue, the enfield opened her mouth and placed one of the ratkin’s scrawny legs in her mouth. Blood welled from the cuts her razor-sharp teeth made, and even my stomach did a flip inside at the sight.
The ratkin soldier squealed, then began talking. “Okay, okay. I speaks. But it does not matter. We distracts you, and the old man will be dead, his heart source stolen by now.”
Fear gripped me, but I pushed it away. I had to get this information. “What do you mean, it does not matter? Who did you send after Quinn?”
The rasp of laughter filled the dark corridor we occupied, and chills ran along my arms. “You know less than you should. Doesn’t matter, because Karinon was called, and he will make sure the old man does not survive the night. The Karinon never fails.”
Pachi lashed out, quick as a snake, and crushed the ratkin’s head in her mouth.
I made to yell at her, but her voice erupted in my mind. The Karinon are as ancient as they are evil. We must go to Quinn now!
She turned and flashed away ahead of me. All I could do was sprint after her in hopes we could arrive in time.
As I struggled to catch my companion, shouts of pain and the clash of steel could be heard from different parts of town. A few fights had broken out near the gate, and more along the long fence to the north of town.
I glanced up, seeing movement in the sky, and gasped as a black humanoid figure dropped down toward the roof of Quinn’s shop, the unmistakeable shape of wings silhouetted by the silver moon.
Pachi! Do you see that thing? What in the nine rings of Saturn could it be?
She kept running until she skidded to a halt outside the shop’s front door. It is as the nezumi claimed. Only one of the Karinon, a race and an order alike, could have done so. I cannot go inside, so you need to be quick, Hana.
I reached her a moment later, and though I was breathing hard and my hands felt clumsy with fear, I pulled out my bow again and drew an arrow.
The sound of fighting came muffled and erratic from inside the building, and some unlucky defender was tossed out the window on the side of the shop. I opened the door and saw bodies scattered around the front room, a few still writhing in pain, but the door leading to the workshop in the back, where Quinn slept, was wide open.
I wove my way around the counter and sidestepped toward the door. Just before I peered back into the darkness, a wave of energy pulsed through the entire building. A ring of gold motes pushed me back a step. The few other windows in the front and rear of the building shattered outward. I shook my head and stepped through the doorway, arrow drawn and the light of Citlali already pouring into its point.
A blinding golden
