Page 38 of When Storms Ruin

He held my gaze for a long, heated moment. I desperately hoped the sweat and exertion of the sparring match hid the flush of pink I knew painted my cheeks.

“Yield,” he conceded, taking a reluctant step back.

I dropped my arm back to my side with a deep inhale, his eyes never leaving mine. I had thought he would happily flattenme to the mat…but he had let me win. Or had I simply caught him by surprise? I could practically feel Warrick’s disapproval from the sidelines.

“Intoxicating,” Nik murmured as he stepped back, loud enough for only me to hear.

My eyes blazed, and I hated myself for the reaction my body still had towards him. That his words could still raise the hair on my arms and set my core on fire. I narrowed my eyes and his gaze only intensified, a spark of electricity taught between us.

Tess cleared her throat, loudly, and broke whatever spell I had fallen into. I stepped away, rejoining her at the side of the mat and guzzling back the remainder of the canteen.

I needed a hot shower.

Or maybe a cold one?

I pinched my fingers on the bridge of my nose and internally cursed myself. How could I let myself feelanythingbut anger towards him?

The sun was beginning to set, leaving the meadow swathed in pink, dusk sunlight. I couldn’t wait to wash this day off and crawl into bed and stay there. Preferably for the next several days.

“What was that?” Kenna asked, pointing towards the forest.

“What was what?” Saanvi asked, turning.

“That black figure…” Kenna trailed off as we all turned towards the tree line.

Without much natural light to see by it was difficult to make out the shape of the figure, but it was certainly nothingI had ever seen before. Thethingthat emerged from the trees was a creature from the deepest depths of hell, or my darkest nightmares.

It had the legs of a spider, long and spindly, the creature standing at least ten feet tall or more. Its body was round, with a head that was distinctly human-like, but it was completely eyeless. Its teeth were razor sharp with long, protruding fangs. It had a barbed tail that swished about in agitation.

Or was there more than one tail? The creature moved in the dim light and my eyes had difficulty tracing its movements against the backdrop of trees.

“What…the hell…is that?” My voice came out small as I backed away, Stormslayer tight in my grip. “Are theremonstersin Istmere?”

“No.” Nik replied, his jaw tight. “At least…there weren’t.”

The creature advanced, moving rather quickly despite its immense size. It was flanked by two more, and as the sun set behind us the horrible creatures let loose a bone chilling shriek.

What the hell were those things?

“Get behind me,” Nik instructed, pushing me back and shielding me with his body.

The creatures advanced and Warrick moved to meet them, slashing forwards with his sword. He was able to slice off one of the creature’s many legs and it howled in pain, easily reaching out with another of its legs and knocking him to the side effortlessly.

Nik moved to advance on the one before us, jumping up and trying to slice his sword and catch the creature in the head.It reared back with a horrible sound, and Nik slashed out, lodging his sword directly in its forehead. He pulled it loose with great effort and hacked forwards again, slicing its head clean in half. It fell in a heap at his feet, and equally as fast it disintegrated into a puff of black smoke, leaving nothing but black sludge in its wake.

Was that black liquid…its blood?

“What the…” Tess spoke from beside me as we continued to back away.

I wasn’t ready to face any real threat, I hadn’t trained enough. What were these things, and where had they come from?

As Saanvi jumped onto the back of another creature and drove her sword down through the top of its head, I had a sinking feeling these creatures were sent by Donika.

“Diana, watch out!” Warrick’s voice rang through me as a spider-like leg lashed out and knocked me off my feet as if I weighed nothing at all.

I hit my head against the ground as I landed in a heap, Stormslayer skittering from my grip. I tried to crawl through the grass to reach it, but the creature placed a hairy, spindly leg on my back to stop me. I could hear the wet, grinding noises it was making as it lowered its head towards mine. I tried with all my strength to push out from underneath it, but I couldn’t budge. Nik was still too far away, and I wasn’t sure where Warrick or Puck were.

My magic surged up without even calling on it, as if to remind me it was right there, waiting. As I dipped into the core of my energy, a whirling ball of fire in my palm, a wet, gushingsound filled my ears. Someone was on top of the creature and had beheaded it, its head rolling to the ground beside me in a sickly, wet thud. Its eyeless face met the dirt and came to rest mere feet from where I lay.

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