Page 30 of A Touch of Shadows

She moved without thought, throwing herself backwards, towards the fire, just as Finn had instructed. Finn didn’t move, standing between her and the monster, blade waiting even as the creature burst from cover. It was huge, dwarfing him, even though he was not a small man.

His sword whistled through the air, an arc of silver, slicing into the shadow kin and bringing it down. For a moment, elation filled her. But then another burst from his left.

He swivelled to face it, his expression grim. Even as he ducked and danced back from the sweep of its claws, Wren knew how this was going to go. Another one came from behind him, bearing down on him, even as he registered its presence and whirled around to take on both at once.

Wren’s hand closed on a piece of wood jutting out of the fire. It was barely burning, only ashes and glowing embers now, but it was enough. It had to be enough.

She yanked the stick free and snarled as the darkness recoiled from her and flames burst up all along the piece of wood. She charged at the creatures, wielding it like Finn used his sword. It crashed against the nearest one and the creature screamed, the sound echoing brokenly through the night.

Finn ran another through, and turned, ready for the next.

But he missed it, somehow.

The biggest one of all, twice the size of the others, slammed into him, knocking his sword away.

And its teeth sank deep into his side.

CHAPTER 17

FINN

The pain was incredible, blinding.

Shadow kin were meant to be spun from darkness, but this was real and solid. Too much so.

Finn thought of the remains he’d found in the forest and for a moment his heart faltered. They were going to kill him. They were going to kill them both. That knowledge froze him, and a wall of agony closed around him like the jaws of the beast itself. He couldn’t help the scream that burst from him, but the answering cry was worse, torn from Wren’s throat, raw and desperate.

Flames engulfed the thing above him. It shied back, shock making it release him and then rear up, towering over the two of them. Wren ran at it, only a burning branch in her hands, but flames seemed to billow out ahead of her and the darkness shrieked as she approached.

Witchfire? Was that witchfire?

‘Get back from him!’ she yelled. ‘Get back!’

And to his eternal surprise, the shadow kin obeyed. All but the one that had bitten him. It hung there, as if caught in some kind of trap.

Wren hurled the burning stick at it, still screaming, the words incoherent now. It was a strange and twisted language that he almost knew. Pain made his consciousness wash in and out like the tide as he tried to place it.

The creature shook its head as if in pain or confusion, and then fixed its maddened eyes on her. Wren just stood there, unarmed, staring up at it as if mesmerised. Her hand dropped to her side, as if suddenly realising she didn’t stand a chance now.

The shadow kin’s maw plummeted towards her, like a wolf intent on a rabbit.

Finn’s hand closed on the sword hilt and he moved without thought, surging up in front of her, bracing himself, the blade aloft.

And the creature struck it.

Steel, hand-forged by the Maidens of the Aurum in the old days, blessed by its flames. A holy weapon created to combat shadow kin and all creatures of the Nox. A sword once blessed by the queen and still carrying that holy light inside it.

He staggered beneath the sudden weight as the beast impaled itself and then sank to his knees beneath it. It thrashed, almost taking him to the ground again, and then went still as it slid down to the hilt.

Just when he thought it would crush him, it was gone, like a twist of smoke in a breeze, drifting away.

Finn’s body went out from underneath him and he hit the ground harder than he would have imagined possible. It felt more like an unseen force had slammed into his back and laid him out, swatted him like a fly for defying whatever it had planned here.

The next thing he knew, Wren was beside him, turning him onto his back, her hands frantic at his torn and bloody clothes.

‘Talk to me,’ she whispered. ‘Please Finn, talk to me. I need to see the wound. Do you understand? Please, say something.’

He blinked back the darkness crowding in at the edges of his sight.