Page 101 of Woven Souls

“You’re not killing them, right?” Kwil asks as we jump over their forms.

I roll my eyes. “No, just pulling their souls out for just a second. They’ll be back up and moving in about a minute.”

“Good.”

“It’s not like they wouldn’t deserve it though,” I continue as we duck under branches, dart around trees, and kill another demon. “They’re trying to kill us.”

“They’re just following orders.” Kwil drops back as the ground shakes harder. “And they’re not trying to kill us.”

I snort. “Tell that to the bullet holes left in the trees behind us.”

“They haven’t been aimingatus, just around us.”

Kwil snarls. I turn to catch him slicing a demon straight down the middle. Above us, the sky grows dark. When I look up, I cry out and throw my hands up. Dark mist pours into the woods around us, and as the armored hand reaches for me, it disappears into the Veil. The rest of the Utikyie is sucked back through the Veil.

But it’ll be back.

They keep appearing. No matter how many times I send them away, they pop up a few minutes later somewhere else. After nearly two weeks of no sign of them, it’s like they’ve decided to make up for lost time. Their eagerness spurs their movements to be faster than before. Or maybe they’ve been magicked to move faster? Who knows, I’m not sticking around to ask.

Kwil sticks close as we run. I hate that I’m holding him back. Kwil could do circles around our enemies if it weren’t for me. I silently curse how out of shape I am. After this, I swear I’m going to start exercising. As another wave of bullets sweeps around us, getting way too close for comfort, I cringe.

“It certainly feels like they’re shooting at us.”

“They’re trying to herd us towards the entrance,” Kwil snarls. “If they wanted to hit us, they already would have.”

“Or their aim is just sh—” My power cools my veins and overheated skin as I open the Veil again. The three demons charging at us run straight into the open Veil. I drop it as we continue to run.

The ground trembles harder as the three Utikyie suddenly reappear with a burst of energy and run after us. Kwil swears as we both stop and turn around so I can handle them. Just like the demons, they run straight into the opening of the Veil I’ve summoned. Their screeches of anger are cut off as I shut the Veil.

“What are those things?” someone asks in the woods.

“I don’t know, but our bullets aren’t doing anything to slow them down!” another guard shouts.

They sound way too close.

I huff and puff as Kwil redirects us away from the perimeter of Everlast. At first, I thought it was to lure as many guards as we can away from the large wall that splits the Fae from the rest of the world. That way, when the others escape, they’ll have no problem getting out. But it’s clear after a few hours of this, we’re just trying to survive and put some distance between us and the mayhem.

As we burst through a thicker patch of trees, we stumble right into a herd of demons. My breath catches in my throat even as my power pools through my body, ready to be used. Kwil gets to work slicing and dicing. I wish this wasn’t a life-or-death situation. I’d love just to sit back and watch Kwil move. His movements are just so fluid, almost like he’s dancing.

But wearein the middle of a life-or-death situation, so I focus on killing rather than admiring the man beside me.

Pale green flames erupt around us as I kill these monsters. Their ashes get caught in the breeze and swirl around us. A round of bullets goes flying. Three demons drop dead. But every time one goes down, a few more keep popping up. Gunning for the two of us, they drop from branches, leap out of the bushes, and rush around the trees. Letting out a frustrated grunt, I throw up a wall of green flames around us. The flames creep upwards, almost eight or nine feet into the air. Instead of heat, they give off a freezing chill. Each time a demon attempts to cross the flickering barrier, they’re turned to ash. After several attempts, the creatures pace around us, willing to wait us out.

Kwil and I back into one another.

“Okay, what’s the plan? We can’t keep doing this.” I eye the tree branches directly overhead. If these things were smart enough, they’d climb up there and come at us from above.

“We have to.” Kwil points the tip of his sword at something through the flames.

“Shit, do you see that guy’s face?” a woman’s voice shouts in alarm.

“It’s a Tangleling in disguise!” someone else answers before letting out a yelp.

I glare in that direction.

“Don’t listen to them, Kwil,” I tell him through clenched teeth.

“I’m not.”

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