Page 27 of The Midnight Arrow
I’d only ever seen Severs from a distance. Through thick trees, walking aimlessly in the forest, and only ever at night.
But this one was so close I could practically smell it—like rotting leaves and forest decay. Sweet, almost. Sickeningly pungent.
It was lurching toward us, its heavy feet crunching over branches that splintered like bone.
The Sever’s skin was a pale gray, nearly translucent. Black veins spread underneath the flesh, like the veins of Lorik’s wings. Dark horns were curled back from his head, one broken in half. The Sever didn’t have any wings, but there seemed to be something protruding beneath its cloak where they may have once been. Cut?
It looked like Lorik. An Allavari-Kylorr male, only…a horrific version of one, as if it had been living in darkness, consumed by something unseen. It looked like its flesh was rotting away, its bones too sharp. I almost felt pity for the Sever, until it began to make a dull hiss in the back of its throat, its pace quickening toward us, scarred arm outstretched.
Peek pounced into the clearing, his fur standing up, a low growl rumbling from his chest. Mybraydus’s eyes were pinned on the Sever, and he slowly stalked toward it.
“Peek, no!”
“Get inside the cottage, Marion,” Lorik told me, maneuvering me around him so he was between the Sever and me. “Now.”
“But Peek?—”
“I’ll take care of him. Go!”
I only hesitated for another moment before I darted away. There was some part of me that trusted Lorik. I wouldn’t leave mybrayduswith him if I didn’t, I realized.
When I made it to my cottage, I bolted the door and scurried to the chest I kept tucked underneath the counter. There was a bow and a quiver of wooden arrows inside. I was a fairly decent shot, my hands steady, though they were trembling now. I could still smell the Sever in my nostrils, churning my belly.
I went to the window, pushing the glass forward on its rusty hinges. I could hear horrible sounds in the darkness: the Sever’s hiss that made the hairs on my arm stand on end, Peek’s warbling growls, and the quick gust of wings. Lorik.
He was weaponless. I went back to the door, throwing it open.
“Lorik, I have?—”
I stilled on the path. I hadn’t made it even a few feet when I heard the sickening crunch. It happened so quickly. But I watched as Lorik made a quick twist of his hands around the Sever’s neck, popped off its head like it was a doll’s stuffed with feathers. The Sever’s body slumped to the earth, and it lay still on the edge of the forest. The wet plop of its decapitated head joined it.
Lorik’s sharp breath seemed to reach me, even from a distance away. His eyes were glowing in the darkness, like one of the glowflies’ hives at midnight.
In the quiet, I watched as Peek investigated the remains, sniffing the cloak before he was satisfied, sitting at Lorik’s feet. The quiver and the bow felt entirely too useless in my hands.
“Go back inside, Marion,” came Lorik’s voice. Soft and incredibly gentle for someone who had just decapitated a monstrous creature with his bare hands.
And it had been easy for him,I thought.
I approached, ignoring his words.
“You’re still recovering, Lorik,” I said slowly, eyeing the Sever on the ground, avoiding looking at its head that had rolled near Peek. I felt oddly…calm. Was I in shock?
Lorik crouched down by the Sever, shifting its cloak so that he took hold of its arm. He pulled back the fabric, exposing the wrist.
Scars.
No…brands.
There were symbols etched into its skin, and Lorik huffed out a breath looking at them before he tossed the arm back to the ground with more force than necessary.
“What…what are those?”
“Crimes,” Lorik answered, standing. “Marion, go back inside. I need to get rid of the body before it draws others to the area.”
“Others?” I rasped. “Other Severs?”
Lorik scoffed. “This isn’t a Sever. Not anymore. Or maybe he is the truest Sever, at least according to the Allavari. Get back inside and take yourbrayduswith you. I’ll be back soon.”