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part of her, like a log fueling a fire. Her breathing labored as she fought to
hold the foul creature.
She knew she could not do this herself. Her eyes spotted Meric. The glow about
his body had returned after pulling the lightning down. An ally stood ready.
His lightning alone did not harm the beast, and her
grasping branches also failed to budge it. But maybe together? She bit her lip
at the thought. Elv in and nyphai had not joined spirits since the land was
young. Could they bridge the chasm of ill blood between them?
Meric faltered as he drifted closer to the skal tum. The elv in seemed
determined to give his life for the child. Nee lahn had trouble reconciling
the nobility demonstrated here with the ember of hate in her heart.
She bit her lip. Could she trust him?
The skal tum wrenched in her grip, and she felt the elm s branches break. Pain
shot through her. She slipped to one knee. Meric s eyes swung to hers, his
face tight with strain.
His lids narrowed, and she knew his thoughts flowed with the same
consternation.
But it was time to ignore heritage and forge a new alliance.
She signaled Meric with her eyes; he nodded slightly.
Another bolt from above struck the beast. The skal tum writhed but still
remained unscathed. Its pained thrashings shook it partially free from the
elm s grip.
But Meric s bolt gave Nee lahn the time she needed to alter her song. Her
fingers clawed toward the sky. Roots erupted from the soil and snared the legs
of the beast, wrapping tight and digging into its morbid flesh. Nee lahn
fought the beast s hold on the mud. If she could free its claws, the branches
could drag the creature from Elena s side.
Meric struck again. But this time, his bolt failed to reach the ground,
striking the air over the skal tum.
Meric wavered on his feet. His hair hung limp to his shoulders, the ghost
winds gone.
He tired as much as she. Their faces had grown pale; their breath had grown
ragged. The release of such power had ravaged them both.
Nee lahn found herself on both knees now. Her muscles quivered with effort.
Several of the larger branches began to bend back to the tree no longer
striking toward the skal tum.
Meric s next attack was only a flash of light, without even a snap of thunder.
The second skal tum noticed their faltering attacks and swung to aid its
partner, ripping a root loose.
Nee lahn gasped with the pain and fell to one hand.
They were doomed to fail.
AS THE SKAL TUM FOUGHT TO FREE ITS BRETHREN, KRAL saw an opening, an exposed
flank. He charged with his ax raised. He knew he could not kill it, but he
hoped to draw its attention to himself and keep it from aiding the other
skal tum tangled in the roots.
Arcing over his shoulder, his ax swung toward the beast s flesh.
Krai gasped as his blade cleaved the tender belly of the skal tum and gutted
the beast. Black innards spilled forth from the wound like a foul tongue from
a dying mouth.
Man and beast stood frozen at the sight. Krai s ax dripped blood down its
hickory shaft. The skal tum stared with huge black eyes at its sliced belly.
Then its gaze swept up to Krai. Its eyes narrowed, and with a screech, it flew
at him.
Krai barely had time to raise his ax and block a rake of razored claws at his
throat. He was much too slow to stop the other claw from grabbing his calf.
The skal tum snapped the bone of his leg.
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Pain had yet to reach his awareness as the beast yanked him into the air.
Before the agony of his broken limb could drive him into blackness, Krai
hardened his heart against the pain.
He was a rock. Rocks did not feel pain.
Hanging in the beast s grip, Krai bent at the waist and blindly swung his ax
toward the wrist that held him.
The iron blade shuddered slightly as it passed through the bone of the
creature s arm. He was allowed only a moment of satisfaction before he fell
and struck his head on the ground.
Dazed, he rolled away from where he thought the skal tum stood, hugging his ax
to his chest. Blood flowed from a wound on his forehead, obscuring his view.
He rolled to his one good knee, unable to stand, and swiped his ax before him.
It encountered nothing. He rubbed the blood from his eyes and saw the skal tum
clutching the stump of its arm, trying to stanch the black river spurting from
its wound.
Krai stared at the creature s injured belly and arm. His weapon had truly
pierced its dark magick! But why? How? He silently thanked the gods of his
people. Whatever the reason, he now had a chance to wipe the shame from his
heart. With a coward s tongue, he had fled from these beasts earlier. This
time he would show his courage!
The beast finally realized the futility of its effort to halt the bleeding and
dropped its wounded arm. Blood hung in thick clots from the severed wrist. It
again stalked toward him, more cautiously this time, wings raised in wary
readiness.
Behind it, Krai spotted Elena s face glowing in the flashes of lightning. She
was caught in a claw of the other beast. Her captor still struggled to free
its legs of the entangling roots and its wings of the clinging branches.
Before he could help her, Krai needed to dispatch the beast who now approached
so carefully.
Krai eyed the creature, looking for weakness. It still had so many weapons: a
clawed hand, two daggered feet, and a mouth of ripping teeth. And the beast
was now alert, thinking instead of reacting. It would not again act rashly and
underestimate its quarry.
Krai knew what he must do. He had to draw the beast closer.
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