Page 61 of Hunted
“We’re never going to find out with that attitude,” Tallin asked. “How about you put some of that new magic of yours to the test?”
“I don’t have sigils prepared! My magic will be totally unpredictable, and violent.”
“I would suggest we need a bit of violent given the circumstances, wouldn’t you agree?”
He was right. Running from this thing wasn’t an option. Fighting it also wasn’t an option; it was too fast, too difficult to hurt. All any of those courses of action did was buy us some time and exhaust us. But what was the point in practicing these Earthly abilities if I never used them?
Now was the time to put them to the test.
“It’s going to catch up to us,” I breathed, “The moment we slow down.”
“It shouldn’t be able to trap us as long as we’re outdoors,” Valerian said, “At the very worst, we start running again.”
Tallin bounded a few steps ahead of me as I came to a slow stop. I turned around, pushed myself onto my hind legs, and took on my Fae form, allowing my back to elongate and my wolfish features to recede into my steaming skin.
I tried to catch my breath, every exhale leaving a trail of warm air in its wake. The creature wasn’t here yet, but it was out there, somewhere, waiting at the edge of the darkness. There were few trees around here, only a meadow covered in snow, and rising and falling hills all around us.
Valerian stood beside me, his eyes low, and focused. “I don’t see it,” he said.
“It’s out there,” I said, “I can smell it.”
“Smell it?”
“The dark magic that surrounds it, that taint it carries with it. If it is Fate, or some kind of avatar, it’s definitely been corrupted by something foul.”
“You think it’s actually being used?”
“More than ever.”
“Maybe that’s something we can use to our advantage.”
I looked up at him. “How?”
“I’m not sure yet. I’ve been thinking about this creature a lot while we’ve been here, I’ve never encountered anything like it before in my travels. But whenever I’ve come across a creature corrupted by foul magic… they always have some kind of weakness.”
“It didn’t seem to like light.”
“No. But shining a light in its face only deters it. It won’t stop it.”
“We need to get creative.”
I looked up at the night sky. The stars were still gone, but the moon was visible, if only barely. “I know the sigil for light,” I said, “I think I can summon it. But…”
“But?”
“I can’t control my powers. I could just as easily blind us all.”
“We’ll close our eyes,” Tallin said. “But we have to do something.”
Nodding, I turned my attention back to the encroaching darkness that had been following us. Though there were paths in the fields we were running through, and the occasional smattering of trees and bushes, I could no longer see them.
Tendrils of inky darkness rolled over the land, signaling the creature’s presence. It wasn’t far, and it was getting closer. Though it wasn’t able to trap us as long as we remained outdoors, there also wasn’t much we could do to protect ourselves without having somewhere we could defend.
Out here, we were prey that could be hunted to exhaustion… only I intended to be the kind of prey with sharp teeth.
“Better close your eyes, then,” I said, “Because I have no idea how this is going to go.”
Tallin buried his face in the snow, while Valerian held one hand up in front of his eyes. He could still see me and the darkness ahead of us, but he was ready to protect himself if things went absolutely haywire. I nodded at him, raised my hands, and traced the sigil for light into the air.