Page 116 of Thief of Souls
Creatures you can barely see until they’re upon you.
The questing beast roars its rage to the pack, and then it lunges toward them, teeth snapping. A hound vanishes into a curl of mist as its ruthless teeth close over it, but another darts beneath its belly, angling for the back of its front hoof.
“Move.” Soraya shoves me further into the blackened cave.
A low, echoing growl rumbles from within. I skid to a halt as she slams into me.
And then a creature appears, huge and wolf-like and carved of glowing light. Its eyes shine with blue light—empty and emotionless, but the growl tells me everything I need to know.
“What’s it looking at?” Soraya whispers. “Isn’t it supposed to respond to the horn blower?”
“Define ‘respond,’” I reply grimly, “because Keir said something about how they guard the horn. Maybe itisguarding it.”
“Guard?Guard? It’s looking at you like you just murdered its firstborn.” Soraya draws her knife and the pair of us glance at its glowing blade.
“What’s it doing?” I whisper. “Is it supposed to be doing that?”
“Not that I know of.” She whips the knife through the air in a threatening arc. “Stay behind me.”
It’s been years since we’ve worked together like this. My back meets hers, and while I draw my own blade, I doubt it’s going to do much.
“They’re impervious to steel,” I tell her. “The only thing that effects them is silver.”
“Good old goblin-forged weapons,” she says with a smirk. “Come on, you mangy cur. I dare you.”
The enormous grymhound stalks toward us. It has to be the alpha of the pack. Others turn away from the questing beast at its growl, falling into place around us.
Then they’re upon us. Glowing teeth snapping for my face. The heavy weight of rancid wolf slamming into me, the impact numbing my arm to the wrist.
I Sift out of the way, but something catches on my sleeve as I go, and the ice-cold burn of teeth grazes my wrist. The second I reform, the pain drives me to my knees.
“Z!” Soraya lunges toward me, driving her glowing knife through the heart of the alpha. It vanishes in a swirl of mist, but those glowing eyes reform barely ten feet away.
Teeth chattering with the pain of its bite, I stagger to my feet. “It doesn’t like your blade.”
“Recall them!” Soraya yells.
Two sharp blows of the horn will draw them back to the Other World from which they came. I blow sharply. Once. Twice.
Instantly the hounds evaporate, curls of light eddying into nothing.
The questing beast looks toward us before it hesitates. Its gaze shifts over my shoulder—into the black interior of the cave—before it makes a desperate sound and limps away, vanishing into one of the smaller caverns that branch out from this one. Blood drips from the bite marks slashed into its hide and the braying sound it makes reminds me of mournful beasts heading for the slaughterhouse.
It’s not the poor bastard’s fault it was brought into this game.
Both of us sink to the floor.
I can’t get over the sensation of how close we came to death. I can feel the beast’s breath on the back of my neck still. I can hear its wheezing roar.
“Why didn’t you Sift out of here?” Soraya demands, pushing to her feet and offering me a hand.
A tingling sensation burns through the bite marks in my wrist as I let her draw me to my feet. “It all happened too fast.”
Soraya makes a growling sound. “You lying wretch. We spent years testing your reflexes. You had more than enough time. You stayed because of me, didn’t you?”
The words lie trapped behind my teeth.
Yes, I stayed. I always will, because I can no sooner leave her behind than I ever could.
