The pain was excruciating as the Atrometos slammed her into the ground, yet Ihra knew she had gotten lucky. The lack of rapidly spreading fuzzy fur and a new set of legs told her that, despite the pain that wracked her body, the beast’s claws had failed to hit anything critical.

  Her vision swam as the Atrometos loomed over, its lips split in a ghastly grin that revealed its razor-sharp teeth. “Hokairos-” Its voice was so deep that the words were barely discernible, sounding more like the rumble of distant thunder than true speech, but Ihra wasn’t in the mood to listen anyways.

  Freeing the misericorde from its sheath, she stabbed blindly at the arm holding her, hammering the blade into its flesh with a flurry of frenzied blows. The rumbling stopped abruptly, and her pain crescendo as the beast lurched back, ripping deeper wounds as it pulled its claws free from her.

  She clutched tight to the misericorde as she collapsed to her knees, and tried to summon the strength to stand. Ihra's ankle wobbled beneath her as she rose shakily, and she collapsed to her knees as the Atrometos roared, sending a wave of debilitating fear cascading over. “Hokairos-”

  Its speech was interrupted again as a long, slender shaft burst through its chest in a shower of blood and gore. With an angry snarl, the troll lord wrapped its claws around the spear and tried to snap it, but despite its delicate appearance, the shaft held firm. Abandoning its attempt to break the spear, the Atrometos threw itself backward, hoping to pin its unseen attacker beneath its substantial bulk.

  The spear surged forward as the shaft hit the ground and, still not breaking, was shoved through to the other side, but its wielder had already abandoned it. A dark shadow rolled to the side as the Atrometos slammed into the ground, and catapulted into the air.

  The shadow’s arm snagged the spear as it flew above the Atrometos, ripping the weapon free, but the beast had lightning-fast reflexes for its size, and its arms lashed out, catching the shadow in the stomach.

  The shadows surrounding the attacker dispelled as it fell, revealing Nissila?t who landed a few feet away from Ihra, still clutching her spear. With a flick of her wrist, the butt of the spear slammed into Ihra's ribs. “Snap out of it,” the warrior hissed, and the paralysis the Atrometos had cast on her melted away beneath the flood of pain.

  Ihra had no time to thank the woman as the beast surged to its feet and, seemingly unperturbed by the blood gushing from the tear in its chest, thundered toward them. The two scattered as it approached, and Ihra darted toward the road, spying her bow on the ground where it had fallen.

  She’d made it fifteen feet before her shadow was swallowed up by another, and she dove to the side. She grunted in pain as loose gravel ravaged her injured back, but her instinct had not been amiss.

  The Atrometos stumbled as it slashed its clawed fist through the empty space she’d been in, catching itself with surprising grace, it pivoted towards her and roared again.

  This time, though, the fear that washed over her wasn’t enough to paralyze her - if anything, it galvanized her into action. Her adrenaline surged as Ihra rolled to her feet and dodged deftly beneath a blow from its meaty arm. Her misericorde lashed out, scoring a long, bloody gash on its leg, and her eyes caught sight of her bow again, now trapped behind the Atrometos. Before she had time to second guess her decision, Ihra threw herself forward.

  The claws whistled past her as she dived between its legs and, catching her fall with her hands, somersaulted forward. A shadow blurred past her as she raced the bow, followed by a bellow of pain.

  Snatching the bow off the ground, Ihra whirled around to see Nissila?t dragged across the ground as the Atrometos tried to wrest the spear free. The warrior had scored another wound, lodging the spear so deeply into the beast’s armpit that its left arm hung limply, but even one-handed, the beast was more than a match for her in strength.

  With an angry growl, the Atrometos dislodged the spear and used the butt to pin Nissila?t to the ground. Its sheer strength was enough to push the blunt end through the warrior’s arm and punch through the flesh below as she writhed in pain, and Ihra’s hands flew into motion.

  The beast staggered as an arrow pierced the wound in its chest, and its grip on the spear loosened as the second hit the wound in its arm. The third, despite her perfect aim, bounced off its throat, not powerful enough to punch through undamaged flesh, but it got the beast's attention.

  The spear fell limp as the Atrometos released its grip on Nissila?t and pivoted to face her. “Den eprepe na-” It babbled in its unfamiliar tongue as it charged toward her and Ihra quickly diverted her aim, dumping all her piercing into the shot. Moonlit Shards. The arrow splintered as it hit the earth, multiplying into dozens of shards that spread out like caltrops, but the beast didn’t notice them until the first of the shards punctured its foot.

  The Atrometos stumbled but retained its balance until the second foot came down and was also pierced. Finally losing its footing, the beast crashed into the ground and roared in agony as it was pierced in a dozen places by the caltrops. Her piercing rose rapidly as Ihra peppered it with a handful of arrows, but arrows alone were not enough to keep the monstrous beast down.

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  Its massive claws dug into the earth as it pushed itself to its knees, and bared its teeth at her. “Ho-”

  It shuddered as a bloodied but unbroken spear punched through its chest again, and blood seeped from its mouth. “Hok-” it began again, and Ihra released her arrow.

  This time, her piercing was high enough for the tip to pierce through its heavily armored throat, and the Atrometos was silenced as a burning arrow sliced through its vocal cords. Hate flooded its eyes as it swayed on its knees, struggling to find the strength to rise, and then Executioner’s Arrow activated. A red-hot blade expanded from the arrow’s shaft to slice through flesh and bone until it lopped the beast’s head off.

  The Atrometo slumped to the ground, and Nissila?t followed, collapsing on top of its carcass as blood pumped freely from the gaping hole in her chest. Kruvas?.

  Ihra winced in pain as she slung the bow over her back, and the bowstring brushed across her wounds, but Nissilat’s were more pressing. As she bolted forward, she glanced around the jungle clearing, hoping Jasper could help with the ritual, but he was still locked in combat with twoAtrometos. Going to have to do this by myself.

  The woman stirred feebly as Inhra slid to a stop beside her, and from the pallor of her skin and the weakness of her movements, Ihra could tell the warrior didn’t have long - she’d die soon from the blood loss if nothing else. She fumbled in her bag for a healing potion and, ripping the cork off, pressed it to her lips.

  The sweet liquid spilled all over her face, but the woman choked down enough for some of her wounds to seal. Ihra knew, though, that a potion was unlikely to be sufficient, not with the severity of the wounds she’d received. She scooped Nissila?t off the beast’s body and lowered her to the ground.

  Her hands shook with haste as she cleared the sticks and leaves around her and then, dropping to her knees, dug through her pouch for the ingredients for a healing ritual.

  “My lady!” Ihra jumped as a male voice cried out from behind her, one that didn’t belong to either Jasper or Erin. A moment later, Tabilu sank down beside her, casting a troubled glance at her prone figure. “What happened?”

  “Got stabbed with her own spear.” Ihra shoved him to the side as she traced the circle around the girl and confusion dogged his face.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Ritual,” she repeated shortly. “Either help or step aside.”

  “Tell me what to do.”

  The sergeant proved to be a good listener, and the circle was nearly completed by the time Jasper had finished offing the third beast and jogged over. “Is she alright?”

  “She will be.” Waving Tabi?lu aside, she let Jasper help her finish and, plopping herself in the circle, reached for the pool of mysterious power. The situation was not conducive to casting a ritual; her mind was still racing and her body was beginning to crash from the former adrenaline high, but with deep, purposeful breaths, she forced herself into a calm and the power snaked through her. Light filled the shadowed jungle floor as the runes lit up, and the hole in Nissila?t’s chest knit back together. Only when the flesh was fully sealed did she allow herself to collapse.

  “You’re up!” Jasper’s exuberant voice filled her ears as Ihra stirred. “Next time, take better care of yourself,” he scolded her. “Your injuries weren’t even that bad - you just passed out from the blood loss.

  Ihra ignored his rebuke. “Was I out long?”

  “Half an hour?” He asked speculatively. “Not entirely sure. Tabi?lu and I have been searching the bodies,” he added with a grimace.

  She sat up gingerly, running a finger over the newly repaired skin on her back, which was still a bit too tight. “Did we get them all?”

  “Hard to say, but at least no more boulders have come our way,” he shrugged. “Once Samsadur caught up, he had his men fan out and search the jungle, but they haven’t returned yet. I have, however, figured out why they were here,” he said, holding up an oversized satchel that she guessed had belonged to one of the trolls.

  Her brain was still a little groggy, but it wasn’t hard to make a guess. “Something to do with Nissila?t?”

  Jasper nodded. “Yep. It looks like the mind mages weren’t the only ones making dealings with the Atrometos. These papers are a contract from her uncle, with orders to strike if she ever left the safety of the army. Dude really didn't want to let her win,” he added wryly.

  “Are there more of them, then?”

  “I doubt,” Jasper replied. “Three Atrometos plus a small squad of Gemlirians would have been more than enough to take her out - he couldn’t have predicted we’d intervene. We’ll see if Samsadur’s men find anything, but based on the contract I found, I think this is all of them.”

  “Thank Selene,” Ihra sighed. “We have enough to worry about with Samsadur’s assassins; we don’t need another group gunning for us.”

  “You don’t enjoy our little fights?!” Jasper teased her.

  “You weren’t the one who got your back sliced open,” she shot back.

  “Well…not this time, but I-”

  “Lady Ihra?” Jasper’s words were cut off as Nissila?t and Tabi?lu approached. The woman moved gingerly, but her blood-soaked garments had been replaced with a fresh yellow tunic, and the color in her dusky cheeks had almost returned to normal.

  “Yeah?”

  “My sergeant told me I would have bled out if it was not for you,” the woman replied. “I am in your debt.”

  Ihra nearly shrugged the praise off. She hadn’t saved Nissila?t out of any desire to incur debt; it was simply what one did when a party member was bleeding out, but the words died unspoken on her tongue as she remembered the conversation she’d had with Jasper earlier.

  “There’s no need to thank me,” she replied. “But perhaps we can start fresh - a clean slate?”

  The pain that surfaced in the woman’s eyes told Ihra she had understood what she was saying, but Nissila?t nodded slowly. “I believe we can.”