Page 37 of Shardless

Three gunshots rang through the air as Taly pulled out a pistol—the old metal firearm he had made her last year—and fired. The harpy stumbled back and screeched manically. Three more shots. Skye knew she was aiming for the beast’s vulnerable points—head, heart, and knees. And while Taly was a good shot, harpies were notoriously hard to kill. Their skin was like iron, and the bullets most likely just embedded themselves beneath the beast’s scales. Nothing more than an irritation.

Taly lifted the gun to fire off the last two shots she’d likely get before the shadow crystal powering the gun’s firing mechanism depleted itself, but the harpy had already recovered. It slapped the pistol out of her hands. Scrambling away, Taly rolled and somehow managed to stand, but her leg immediately gave out beneath her.

Aimee hadn’t given up yet. She was back on her feet, feebly flinging whips of water magic at the enraged beast. But it still wasn’t enough aether to tempt the creature. Its rage-filled eyes never wavered as they followed Taly’s retreat. It took a step, shaking off a spray of mist as Aimee continued to pelt its retreating form with long ribbons of water. Taly’s scream carried on the wind as the harpy reached for her, raking a claw across her back as it dragged her across the ground.

Skye was starting to run low on shadow crystals—he’d stupidly left his pack back with the horses. His legs began to burn as he pushed himself to go faster, trying to drag out every last ounce of magic that he could muster as he clung to the augmentation spell. “Hey!” he screamed again. His palm had already healed, so he dragged the dagger over the mended flesh, deeper this time. The harpy finally looked at him, its unblinking eyes riveted on the blood dripping from his fist.

That’s right. Come and get me. You want me, not her.

But once again, the creature didn’t do what Skye expected. It just gave him a disinterested snort as it turned back to Taly, and the pained wail that tore from her lips when it dug its claws into her back cut him to the core. It started to beat its wings, lifting her into the air just as Skye finally got close enough to reach for her. He jumped, just managing to grasp at her fingertips.

“Skye!” Taly cried, struggling to hold on. But her hand, slick with blood, slipped away, and he began to fall.

Skye slammed a fist into the dirt as he landed, the ground trembling from the force of the blow. The entire field shook, and small fissures opened and branched out across the surface of the red dirt. “Taly!” he screamed, despair in his eyes.

But there was nothing he could do.

Sinking to his knees, he watched the harpy carry her across the field and out of sight.

Chapter 7

-An excerpt from the Bestiarium Compendium: A Practical Guide to Staying Alive When Vacationing on Tempris Island

Though small, Tempris is home to a wide and varied array of wildlife. Wyverns, basilisks, grendels—as a result of the many dimensional gates found on the island, populations of creatures that were once separated by both time and space have migrated and now live side-by-side.

Those traveling from Lycia to Tempris for the first time may be particularly surprised to see that this island is home to one of the few remaining undomesticated populations of harpy. It is highly recommended that tourists refrain from approaching these animals. While the Glynadwyr and Lycian harpies are inordinately docile creatures, making them popular household pets among the nobility, Tempris harpies exhibit highlevels of aggression and are extremely venomous. A single scratch could prove fatal if not treated properly.

Taly felt weak.

There wasn’t a single part of her that didn’t ache. The back of her body was completely soaked with blood, both from the puncture wound that had reopened during their mad dash back to the forest and from a new gash that ran across her back.

The pain was excruciating as it pulsed and throbbed, keeping time with her erratic heart.

The harpy’s claws were still wrapped around her, and she winced when she felt one of the rigid talons pierce the flesh of her shoulder, burrowing deeper and deeper with each flap of its wings. The forest canopy loomed below her, looking more like a woven tapestry than a real forest. Leaves of all different colors—varying shades of brown, green, yellow, even red—all woven together in a chaotically beautiful display of imminent springtime renewal.

Shards. This couldn’t be real, could it?

But the bile rising in her throat, as well as the continuous swells of pain assaulting her senses, told her that this was indeed very real.

Questions bounced around Taly’s mind. Why had the harpy chosen her? Why hadn’t the creature gone for Aiden or Aimee? Or even Skye when he cut open his hand and waved it around like a big, red target?

Idiot.

She didn’t even try to convince herself thatthey would find her at this point. While they might have been able to pursue her on horseback around the Aion Gate, skirting around the uneven terrain, they had almost certainly lost the trail after the harpy veered off over the forest. The tree cover was too thick, and there were no roads on this part of the island. It would be impossible to track the creature’s path from the ground.

Well, if she was going to die, at least she had the satisfaction of knowing she was right. Bringing Aimee was a terrible idea. And that outfit was ridiculous. They might have made it to the safety of the forest if her skirt hadn’t caught on a stray piece of scrap, forcing them both to stumble and fall to the ground. The harpy had been pursuing Skye and Aiden until it heard Taly’s cry of pain and turned.

Taly groaned as the harpy readjusted its grip and jabbed a talon in her side. “Watch it!” she grumbled weakly.

The harpy’s head swiveled, and it eyed her in irritation before giving her a rough shake.

Taly cried out as she felt her wounds deepen. “I’m going to turn you into a feather duster, you heinous bitch!” she screamed. The screaming helped—helped her fight against the wave of blackness that threatened to drag her under. It would be so easy to give in—to let herself drift off and leave the pain behind.

But sleep meant death.

Another long stream of cursing tore from her lips followed by an enraged shout when the harpy gave her another jolt. Apparently, it didn’t like its meals to talk back.

The harpy was headed east, towards the seaside cliffs on the northeastern edge of theisland. Taly had only been there once, shortly after she had taken up salvaging, and she’d vowed never to go back. The harpies nested on the far side of the cliffs, and there would be hundreds of them out right now as they waited for dusk to fall. If she ended up there, Taly knew that she would die slowly and painfully as her flesh was ripped from her bones. Her last moments would be spent screaming in agony as she prayed for the painless peace of oblivion.

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