“Minx—” Kaleb's warning fell short as the Fae huntress wound up and lunged toward the visitor with a balled fist.
Minx's blow came within inches of connecting with the stranger's grinning face, but for all the energy she put behind the punch she couldn't connect. Her knuckles tensed as they met some impassible barrier, invisible to the naked eye. She reared back in an effort to throw another, but a sudden gust of hot wind took her off guard. The hooded figure before her seemed to be the source of this phantom gust, warmer than the heat of the fire, and its intensity was sufficient to throw her off her feet. Minx was launched high into the air and sent rolling toward the trees, her clothing singed for the ferocity of the sweltering blast. What the—!
She landed with a thud on the ground, gasping. Her skin felt hot and chapped, as though she'd just stood at the mouth of an active volcano. She patted at her arms and legs, finding bits of her clothing still holding onto embers. She was too shaken to mount a fresh attack, too baffled at the stranger's immense and mysterious power.
He'd dispatched her without raising a finger.
Minx had faced many enemies in her day. She'd fought against foes of every stripe and combat style. Never had she been humiliated like this, though. She'd been quite literally tossed aside and hadn't the faintest idea how the stranger had done it. Even her loss to Kaleb hadn't been this humiliating.
Kaleb moved in without warning. Rushing at the hooded stranger, he loosed a savage roar and went to grab him with both of his armor-plated arms. The figure was roughly Kaleb's height, but not nearly as bulky as the dragon shifter, making a tight bearhug a simple thing. The stranger made no moves as Kaleb's powerful arms were wrapped around him, delivering a sudden burst of crushing force that only a dragon could generate.
But here, Kaleb had finally met his match—an immovable object that could stand up to his incredible force.
The hooded man did not flinch, displayed no signs of discomfort whatsoever.
Instead, it was Kaleb who began to wince.
The dragon shifter suddenly let go of his captive with a gasp, reeling backward and nearly losing his footing. His face was drained of color and white smoke poured from the seams in his armor. He hissed as though struck—but once again, Minx hadn't seen the hooded figure move a muscle. The reddish flecks in Kaleb's armor began to glow more brightly and the panels creaked as he fell to his knees, thrashing.
“Kaleb!” Minx staggered toward him, reaching out and taking his arm.
Immediately, she let go of him with a yelp.
Her palm had been burned. The plates of Kaleb's armor had been superheated somehow, and the thinning steam that escaped from between the pieces had been cooking him from the inside out. He waved her away, clutching up handfuls of earth and squeezing them to stave off the pain. “I'm... I'm all right. Don't go near him, Minx,” he said through grit teeth.
The hooded figure drew in a slow breath and then looked across the camp. “Any other takers?” he asked, his dark gaze settling on Mau.
The Faelyr shrank from his scrutiny. What is he?
Minx didn't have a good answer for that. This stranger was using powerful magic—that much was certain. It was of a flavor she'd never encountered before, however. Stay back, Mau. He's the real deal...
The figure beckoned to Alla once again. “Let's leave this place, leave these pests, Alla.”
“Don't hurt them, Torrent...” Alla took a few steps toward him. “If I come with you, will you spare them?”
“Don't go near him, Alla!” shouted Minx. She moved to restrain the half-Fae, but made it only a few paces before she felt another burst of that singing wind. It struck her side, launching her into the air and into a nearby tree, where she connected with a terrible crunch. She slipped to the ground with a moan, the world spinning all around her.
She heard Kaleb's rage as he launched another attack, but was too dazed to see him. “Don't you lay a finger on her!” he warned, his armor rattling as he broke into a sprint. He appeared on the verge of donning his dragon form, but before he could do so he was knocked back by an unseen barrier.
Torrent, the hooded figure, had raised one of his green fists as though boasting a shield, and in doing so had inexplicably limited Kaleb's reach. The barrier, for all of Kaleb's wild strikes, was impenetrable. The mysterious figure had walled himself off with nothing but a movement of his hand. When he splayed his fingers moments later, there was a flash of light and a sound like shattering glass. He had, through some spell or technique, ruptured the invisible barrier, and now lowered his arm, pressing his palm to the ground.
As though gravity itself had turned against him, Kaleb fell upon the grass with jarring force. He struggled to breathe as he was pressed into the ground by an invisible weight. His heavy armor sank into the earth and his limbs were so weighed down they could hardly writhe in protest. He was firmly subdued and would soon be crushed like an insect.
“No!” cried Minx, hardly able to stand. “Leave him alone! Don't hurt him!” she pleaded. In any other fight, she would have been making demands from a place of authority; watching Kaleb get punished in this way set her heart thumping and summoned tears to her eyes, though. Her pleas echoed pathetically. She never could have envisioned herself begging for someone's life, but watching Kaleb suffer had broken something within her. “Please!”
Torrent smirked, drawing his hand back into his cloak.
Kaleb sucked in a hard, labored breath as the pressure eased, and Minx crawled over, draping her arms around him.
“Are you... are you all right?” she asked, trying to tug him into a seated position.
The dragon shifter nodded, but was
