Page 209 of Voidwalker
A sharper shock, when Fi came at her with a sword.
Obviously, Fi had considered helping Antal. But he was a big boy, fighting furiously to sever the bindings Verne left on his wrists. Fi grabbed for her sword hilt, ripped it from the snow then ran at Verne, swinging for her head—disappointed, to slice across her chest instead. The daeyari was fast, even limping on one leg.
A silver energy bolt struck Verne’s side. A second bolt of crimson hit her collarbone. She reeled, concern stark on her face for the first time.
Fi grinned like fury given form.
“You can still yield, Verne!” Antal shouted from his crouch in the snow, such a soft-hearted creature, even as Fi charged like a feral mongoose.
“Yield toyou?” Verne spat. She stumbled, avoiding Fi’s sword with a hasty shield of energy. “You don’t deserve this territory! You—”
She snarled as another crossbow bolt hit her arm. Immortal or not, Verne was injured, outnumbered.
Cornered animals were always the most dangerous.
She vanished before Fi’s sword found her throat. Verne re-appeared next to Antal, a tackle sending them both to the ground, that flurry of claws and tails when daeyari came together. Verne struck with slashes of searing scarlet across his ribs. Antal hissed and fought to hold her down, struggling with his wrists still bound.
Kashvi raised her crossbow.
“Don’t hithim!” Fi shouted, batting the weapon aside.
Verne yowled as Antal’s claws raked her side. One last flail of a trapped wildcat. Fi ran to help, scouring for an opening as the two daeyari rolled.
When Verne sank her teeth into Antal’s shoulder, he flinched. A split second for Verne to plant her foot. To grab him tight against her.
They vanished together.
Fi blinked at the empty space, marked by trampled snow and black blood. She waited for them to reappear. She waited for the prick of static on her tongue, the sounds of snarling daeyari.
Nothing came.
Kashvi spun her crossbow around the clearing, past Yvette crouched at Mal’s side, past the Beast still growling over an injured Astrid. “Where did they…”
“There,” Astrid said in a pained rasp, pointing over the trees.
In the distance, a snap of red lit the window of Verne’s chateau.
Fi churned with too much molten rage for her tired, mortalbody. That coward. That vile beast of velvet-clad Void sludge. Verne didn’t have to fight an outnumbered battle.
She could pick Antal off alone. Heal her wounds, then hunt down the rest of them.
Antal couldn’t face her alone.
He’d begged Fi not to fight alone, to let him stand with her.
“Shit,” Kashvi hissed. “Grab the nets. We need to move!”
“We can’t run there in time.” Fi’s voice shook. She’d seen how fast daeyari fights played out, how quickly teeth shredded spine.
“Then what do you propose—”
This time, Fi didn’t hesitate. She grabbed her sword and slashed open a Curtain, not bothering to look where it led.
Straight into the Void with open arms.
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Voidwalker
