“Ōbhin!” Avena gasped and rushed back across the alley. Purple light flared from the end of her binder. She slammed it down on the jackal’s back. The band of energy sprung around its torso, illuminating its dark form. It hugged its midriff tight.
Did nothing to impede it.
“Niszeh’s Black Tone!” he snarled and slammed his foot down on the dog’s foreleg. The bone cracked.
The beast didn’t whimper. It stumbled and pulled harder, struggling to stand on three legs. The reek of death filled his nose. Green light from the emerald on his sword glowed in its milky eyes. The primal terror rose again.
Is it dead?
The impossibility of an attacking corpse sent fear spilling across his skin, an icy bath of sweat coating his body.
“Ōbhin!” Avena gasped. “There’s another.”
She gripped her binder in trembling hands. He had to do something. Claws scrabbled. More of these dead beasts approached. He couldn’t shake his sword arm free. The jackal gripped him tight, teeth struggling to penetrate through the tight weave of chains. He swapped his sword to his left hand, holding the blade awkwardly.
The hum of the sword swelled in pitch as he slammed the curving blade into the beast’s belly and slashed downward. The hide split open like a turkey too-long roasted in the oven, skin cracking. Rotten entrails, practically liquefied into a brackish muck, spilled out of the hound’s innards.
Its head shook with a violent pull, jerking Ōbhin off-balance. The foul viscera slicked the cobblestones as Avena shouted. The scrabble of claws rushed at them. Ōbhin battled to stay upright against the corpse hound thrashing with unliving strength.
Horror curdled Ōbhin’s innards at the monstrosity before him. Something birthed by foul Niszeh’s Black Tone, a dissonance so powerful it perverted the laws of nature and animated the dead. How do we fight such abominations?
Avena’s binder swung, the purple light flashing as she screeched in tight terror.
*
Heart beating faster than a scarlet hummingbird, her binder slammed down on the repulsive hound leaping out of the dark. Her body acted as her mind cowered. All her practice had trained her limbs to strike hard.
I’m going to die! gibbered through her. I’m going to die going to die going to die!
She hit the hound’s chest beneath its teeth-filled jaw. Purple energy flared from the gem, a projection of its innate energy channeled out into the world. It flared around the beast’s torso and tangled its forelegs moments before it slammed into her stomach.
She screeched, her mind almost consumed by terror as she fell backward beneath the bulk of the rotten hound. Her skirts flared, tangling about the snapping jaws of the jackal. She crashed onto her back. Air exploded from her lungs. Bright spots danced before her eyes, fuzzing pain rippling around the back of her skull.
The beast thrashed. Cloth tore as it ripped at her heavy skirts and layers of petticoats. She scrambled to escape, bathed in the purple light from the binding energy tangling about its forelegs. She kicked hard, catching it in the throat and pushing herself back. She scrabbled across the dirty muck of the alley, passing as Ōbhin battled with his disemboweled horror.
“Avena!” Ōbhin snarled.
Emerald flashed. The air hummed before her. Something streaked down as the jackal lunged at her, propelled by its free hind legs. She heard a snicker and then a crunch. The jackal’s head parted from its body. It landed at her feet, jaws snapping at her booted heels, ripping at the heavy leather of her sole. A foul ichor poured out of the severed neck as the body collapsed. Ōbhin grunted, wrenching his blade free of cobblestones it had buried into, slicing through them as cleanly as the beast. His chainmail rattled as she kicked the head away from her, shrieking. She scrambled back from the still-snapping head, milky eyes fixing on her. She crashed back into a crate.
“Elohm, shine your blessed Colours on the darkness spilling into the world,” she babbled, her body shaking. Cold hands clawed through her mind. “Drive away the Black that pollutes the world.” Tears fell down her cheeks. Every part of her shook, the binder in her hand trembling.
Ōbhin’s sword plunged into the severed head. Orange light burst from its jaw, a flare of smoky brilliance. He jerked his blade back as ichor poured out of the beast’s unmoving head. Ōbhin snarled in triumph, his blade flashing down at the hound savaging his arm.
Orange exploded through the alley a second time as she stared at the whispering curls of smoke billowing out of the first beast’s eyes. She hugged herself, retreating into the emptiness. Safe. Secure. Nothing could touch her if she didn’t feel anything.
Someone called her name. It came from a distance. Across a vast sea of fog thicker than the mist billowing through the alley. Darkness grabbed her shoulder. She shrieked and swung her binder at the new danger, a wild strike.
A black-gloved hand seized her wrist, arresting her attack.
She blinked at Ōbhin’s face peering at her. His lips were moving. He held her shoulder with one hand, the other gripping her wrist. He squeezed hard and then hauled her to her feet with little effort. Her tattered skirts swirled.
. . . don’t fall apart on me . . .
She blinked again.
. . . avena . . .
Sound crashed into her ears. She gasped as her name ignited her senses. She panted for breath, ice pouring through her veins. Her entire body shook. Sweat drenched her. She felt her chemise sticking to her stomach and back, slick sweat pouring down her face and mixing with her tears.
“They’re dead,” he
