Drayce was gone.
Chapter 23
Time slowed as all the blood drained from my face and into a heart that beat so hard that my eardrums rattled. The creature’s golden gaze filled my vision and blazed against my skin with the intensity of a crackling fire.
Even in the dark, I could tell this was no dog or a wolf or anything with a snout. I didn’t know what manner of creature had pupil-less eyes and a wide maw of grinning fangs.
Thoughts raced through my mind. The creature stood ten feet away on my left, and the vines twenty feet straight ahead. If it was some kind of cat, it might pounce on me if I ran. But this was no cat—their pupils were slitted.
Each of its hot, snickering breaths fanned against my skin, making my flesh want to crawl off its bones. I took a tentative step back, only to feel against my back the ghost of something warm and furred and breathing equally as hard.
Panic punched me in the heart. I sprinted to the vines, my pounding pulse urging me to go faster. The first step felt like crushing dry leaves underfoot, and the second as steady as a tree.
Something snagged a lock of my hair, but I continued up the vine, letting it tear out from the roots. After the third, fourth, and fifth steps, it felt like I was bounding up a stairwell with a handrail that pulsed and twitched under my fingertips.
Loud huffing and snorting shook the vines, and something large and soft pressed into my back. My teeth chattered. My bones trembled. My eardrums quivered in unison with the sound.
“Help,” I screamed, but nobody came.
Something pulled at my skirts, and hot, damp breath fanned my bare legs. I twisted around, met those golden eyes, and kicked.
The howl that rent the air made my ears tremble with alarm. I scrambled up the vine, my feet slipping over rotted leaves, my hands clutching at rough stalks. Thorns scratched at my armor, pulled at my hair, tore at my skin, but the terror coursing through my veins dulled the pain. If I didn’t reach high ground before that creature recovered—
A large body slammed into my side and knocked me off the vine. My torch slipped from my fingers, and I fell onto my side with a thud.
I rolled onto my back, unsheathed the Sword of Tethra, just as the heavy weight crushed my chest. I thrashed and squirmed and kicked, but it pressed harder.
“Get off me,” I snarled through my teeth.
It answered with breathy snickers.
Clenching my teeth, I plunged the sword into its flesh. The weight flinched, taking the pressure off my lungs. Inhaling a deep breath, I pulled out the sword and readied myself to attack again, but the weight slammed down with harder force.
Lightning bolts of pain struck across my ribcage, and I cried out both from agony and from crushing failure. A satisfied huff of breath warmed the side of my face. I jerked my head away, and warm droplets seeped into my hair.
Slowing my breaths, I tried to fill my lungs, tried to calm my thoughts and think my way out from under this monster. Stabbing blindly wouldn’t work. The creature would have killed or eaten me by now if it wanted, so it was probably restraining me until someone could drag my body inside for Melusina.
I had to destroy its limb with the sword’s full power and combine my attack with the cornerstone’s magic. The stone pulsed against my skin, urging me to use it.
Releasing the sword’s grip, I eased my hand past its guard, down its blade and squeezed. It sliced through my flesh, but I didn’t flinch, didn’t hiss, didn’t make a sound.
Musk and fur filled my nostrils, and panting breaths filled my ears. I ran my bloody palm over the blade, pushed it up to coat the metal with more of my blood, and kept going until I reached its point.
The creature tugged at my hair and chewed. Channelling all my determination into the piece of cornerstone that pulsed against my skin, I snatched the sword and drove it straight into the creature.
Its howl shook my flesh, rang through my bones, and seeped into my marrow. A platter-sized patch of daylight opened up three feet from my head and pulled the creature into its depths. I squinted against the disc of afternoon sun, my heart soaring.
A flat-faced monster stared back at me with wide, yellow eyes. Its pale, tawny fur gave it the look of a bearded man with a shocked, open mouth of sharp teeth. Before it could bark or snarl or whine, the rift closed, plunging me into the dark.
I scrambled off my feet, gripped the sword with both hands, stretched out my arms and spun. The blade caught on something that yowled, and I lunged. This time, water gushed out from my sword. I staggered back in the dark, cringing as the creature I struck snarled. Heartbeats later, the sounds of water and struggling ceased.
Tension flooded out of my body, and I doubled over with relief. With the help of the cornerstone, I’d just moved the monsters into other Courts.
Something glowed about twenty feet away—my fallen torch. I rushed toward it and was about to pick it up when my gaze caught a figure struggling on his back. It was Cathbad. As I approached, the glowing light illuminated the outline of a creature with long, angular ears.
I charged at it with the point of my sword outstretched, hoping there was enough blood to send it away. The cornerstone pulsed twice as though to say it would help. The Sword of Tethra sliced through its flesh, and with a gut-churning sucking, the creature vanished from my blade.
“Are you alright?” I reached down and offered Cathbad a hand.
“Thank you, Your Majesty.” He picked up the torch and shone it over the ground, illuminating his bag and staff.
After picking them up, he muttered, “Confounded
