Page 35 of A Heart of Crimson Flames
The panic that was gripping me tightly began to ease. We were winning.
I stole a fateful glance at Grae when the snow erupted in front of us. I shook off the powder, a keening note cutting through the air. It was the sharp, trilling sound of a tin whistle. I looked up the hill to see a human standing there—a thin metal pipe held to his mouth. Was that one of Ora’s ilk? The ones who wielded song magic... a Songkeeper? Whoever he was, he was clearly our enemy.
I only had a moment to study him, when my eyes darted towhere the snow was exploding, leaving a giant pockmark in the earth. And in that hole? My eyes flared, my heart booming. A creature emerged from the snow—dozens of translucent white hands and spiky rows of teeth. It grabbed one of my human guards and brought him to the central ring of sharpened teeth, chewing and shredding as the guard screamed. Blood sprayed everywhere as the beast shredded through its prey.
The lines broke, soldiers fleeing at the horrifying sight.
I heard scrambling behind me and turned to find Mina climbing atop the roof of her sleigh, violin in hand. Her limbs trembled but her violin sang over the sounds of fear and death. The beast seemed to pause for a second to her music. The Songkeeper on the hill stopped his playing to laugh and shake his head.
Even with keen hearing, I could only barely hear him say, “You think you can control my creature, Mina?”
My gut clenched—they knew each other.
I didn’t have time to dwell on the exchange as I was bowled over by another Wolf. I scrambled back to my paws, fighting and snapping my teeth. The sleigh rocked with the force of the rushing Wolves and the music stopped from behind me.
Mina!
Grae scruffed the Wolf atop me. “Go!” he shouted in my mind. “Protect her.”
I was already moving, twisting onto all four paws and leaping over the toppled sleigh. I jumped in front of Mina, catching one Onyx Wolf in midair as they leapt toward her. The Wolf yelped as I knocked them back.
Blood misted the air as the monster behind us shredded through the group. I had planned for a Wolf attack, but monsters? That I hadn’t bargained for. We’d only heard of one from Sadie—Rasil—the one who betrayed them, the head of the Songkeepers. Was that him on the hill? Had he and the Onyx Wolves allied with the Ice Wolves? Were they moving to take Taigos?
Four Wolves of white and black started inching forward toward us. I stood in front of Mina, guarding her from the attack, but Iknew, no matter how I calculated, we wouldn’t be able to take them. I frantically looked around, seeing if there was a path of retreat—
A flash of blinding emerald light exploded all around us. Lightning cracked, a white-hot bolt striking one of the advancing Wolves. The others paused in horror, taking in the sight of their comrade’s sizzling body.
I knew that magic, felt as though that lightning bolt had carved its way through my own body once. But Sawyn was gone, which meant...
I looked to the east. At the head of the caravan stood a cloaked black figure—green lightning dancing around her fingertips as she shot bolt after bolt at our attackers.
Maez was here. Maez had come to save us.
But all the relief flooded from me when I saw who cowered next to her, covered in blood.
Briar
I SHIFTED AND STARTED RUNNING THE SECOND I SAW THEIRrust and gold fur. Calla. I darted through the snow, practically bowling my twin over.
“You’re alive!” Calla exclaimed into my Wolf mind.
“I’m alive. I’m okay,” I replied, scrambling for my words. “Though as much can’t be said for you.” I followed Calla’s line of sight and spied the Songkeeper on the hill running away, his monster in tow. Even a monster was no match for a sorceress. “It seems the tides are turning...”
“Coward,” Calla spat, turning to look me over and studying the bloodied nightdress shredded in the snow beside me. “We came to rescue you.”
“And yet here I am, rescuing you.”
“Where are you hurt?” they said, ignoring my joke, their eyes frantically searching me, sniffing my fur for blood. “What happened?”
“I’m okay,” I reassured my twin. “It’s not my blood.” The sounds around us began to morph from panicked orders to calmer ones. The battle was over, not a single Wolf having been permitted to retreat. In one blaze of Maez’s power, the attackers lay dead, sizzling smoke rising from their bodies.
So many bodies.
Horror flooded through me at the sight of so much carnage.
“It’s time for me to go, Princess,” Maez’s voice called from behind me.
Calla snarled and took a step in front of me. “You do not touch her.”
