4. True Bond

four

Night had fully fallen by the time Adrian found himself sprawled on his belly in a small dip in the ground. He studied an approaching watcher patrol warily, his muscles tensed like coiled springs. At least, his weak aether made him more difficult to track even without a proper shroud.

Heartrender, unfortunately, was another matter. He'd tucked the daemon into his satchel so its glow would be harder to spot, but that did little to mask its aura. As beings comprised of pure aether, all save the strongest daemons struggled to maintain shrouds for more than a handful of minutes. The only reason they'd evaded capture as long as they had was Heartrender's clever use of illusions.

The pair of watchers stopped a couple hundred paces ahead. A fiery halo of light from one of their daemons illuminated the nearby hills. Beyond, Adrian glimpsed his intended destination. What better place than Overlin Forest to hide while he figured out his next steps? Too dense to survey from the air and too vast for an extended search on the ground, the woods lay beyond even Serenity Corp's pervasive reach.

If anywhere is, he thought with a grimace. In a mere handful of hours, Serenity Corp had mobilized more watchers from the surrounding area than Adrian had seen since visiting the Bulwark with his parents as a child. Those watchers had patrolled the ramparts at all hours of day and night, vigilant for an impending invasion. It was difficult to believe Serenity Corp saw him as a similar threat.

A sweeping wave of despair tightened his gut. It would be so easy to stand and wave his arms until he caught the patrol's attention. Then, he could relax in the soft grass, close his eyes, and wait for someone else to decide his fate.

As if sensing his train of thought, Heartrender poked its snout out of his satchel and fixed him with a three-eyed stare. The creature chuffed softly, in a tone Adrian took as encouraging. We've come this far, its eyes seemed to say. We can make it a little farther.

And so, he gritted his teeth and settled in to wait. A few minutes later, the watchers resumed their patrol along the forest's edge. Once they'd crested a hilltop, Adrian rose and snatched up his satchel. Without the watcher's daemon to illuminate it, Overlin Forest was little more than a suggestion of black shapes against a black backdrop, but if they walked straight ahead, they should eventually reach its sheltering canopy.

He set off in a low, cautious crouch. His eyes were near useless in the pitch blackness, so he strained as best he could with his exhausted aethersense for signs of other patrols. Trailseeker's enhanced perception would've been a blessing here, but he didn't dare manifest the daemon in case its additional aura painted him an even bigger target. Instead, he crept toward the line of trees, every ounce of his will fixed on that distant point.

It was Heartrender's quick thinking that saved him. One moment, the night hung silently around them like a shawl. The next, an illusory duplicate of his likeness shimmered into existence beside him right as a massive fist swung through the air. Instead of colliding with him, the blow smashed through the image's chest. The illusion wavered, leaking aether as it broke apart.

Almost instantly, an identical copy formed a few paces from the first. The attacking daemon—Adrian caught only glimpses of it in the dark, but it looked as large as a man with massive forearms and a hunched back—fell for the bait and charged the new apparition.

Sending a silent prayer of thanks to Heartrender, Adrian channeled his own aether to summon Trailseeker. Blue flashes of aether lit up the night, a second daemon joining the first while Heartrender conjured more illusions to add to the growing chaos. The enemy daemons must've used shrouds to cloak their auras and mask the inherent glow of their aether in the darkness while they approached.

When Trailseeker finished manifesting in a low crouch, Adrian melded with its mind and used its enhanced senses to scan the area until he spotted a pair of shrouded watchers lurking nearby. Cancelling his meld, he ordered Trailseeker past the battling daemons toward the nearest watcher. The watcher tried to stumble away, but he was too slow. He screamed as Trailseeker's Bolster Body-enhanced bite punctured his arm. Blood splattered the grass, a darker swash of black in the nonexistent light.

As Adrian had hoped, the enemy daemons rushed back to defend their masters. This is our chance to slip away. Muffling a faint pang of guilt, he ordered Trailseeker to hold the watchers' attention and fled toward the forest. If he could put some distance between himself and the watchers while they were distracted, then—

A deafening roar reverberated through the meadow. Every muscle in Adrian's body instantly seized up. He pitched forward, stiff as a plank, and hit the ground with a helpless crunch.

A paralysis technique.

That had to be why he suddenly couldn't so much as twitch anything except his eyes. He sensed Trailseeker's matching helplessness, followed a few seconds later by its aether shattering apart for the second time that day. The poor beast hadn't even had the chance to defend itself.

Massive hands grabbed Adrian's shoulders and flung him over. Light flared, illuminating the grassy knoll. He squinted in the harsh glare.

A large, ape-like daemon towered above him. Translucent azure scales covered its skin except for a slit in the middle of its chest that parted to reveal a fanged maw encircled with disturbingly human teeth. His aethersense identified the creature as Tremorfist.

The daemon seemed familiar, and he realized why when its master stepped up beside it, leering down at him. "Caught like a rat," Watcher Seymour said. "Why am I not surprised?"

Sharp pain erupted in Adrian's side, and he groaned.

Another man joined Seymour—the same blonde-haired watcher Adrian had narrowly eluded in Hillvale. He held a blazing torch in one hand and waggled his other arm, slick with blood, in Adrian's face. "Think you're clever siccing your daemon on us? We'll see who's laughing once we tear you apart, traitor."

The watcher kicked him again in the stomach. Adrian strained against the paralysis as he hunched into a protective ball. A few droplets of blood from the watcher's arm splattered across his cheek.

"Enough," Seymour said, forestalling the next blow. "He's not worth the energy, and I'd rather not spend all night out here. Any sign of the rogue daemon?"

The enraged watcher glared at Adrian a moment longer before giving Seymour a puzzled look. "The daemon's dead, sir. You helped me kill it."

Seymour rolled his eyes. "Not that daemon—the one we were sent here to find! The one spitting out those illusions like a spirit-cursed magician conjuring cheap tricks."

The watcher shrugged. "It must've run off before your daemon used Stunning Howl. Or maybe it resisted the effect." He spat into the grass beside Adrian. "Even a runty daemon like that's got more aether in it than him."

"So much for an early night," Seymour sighed. "All right, help me tie him up. I know, I know," he added at the other watcher's snort. "The precaution hardly seems necessary, but I don't want to have to chase him if he tries to run."

The second watcher produced coiled rope from a pack. By the time they'd finished binding Adrian's hands and feet—the other watcher taking pleasure in tying the knots painfully tight—he'd regained enough control over his body to wiggle his fingers and toes.

Seymour spoke quietly to the second watcher out of Adrian's earshot. The watcher didn't appear happy, but he nodded and gave a curt salute. It was easy to forget that Seymour, young as he was, had already risen to the rank of captain—an appointment he'd earned by passing the stringent exam barely a year after joining the Watcher Division. Just one more way he'd left Adrian far in his wake.

The other watcher passed Seymour his torch and flared his aether. That's when Adrian noticed the daemon hovering beside him. It looked like a cross between an owl and a snake, with a sinuous feathered body, curving talons, and wide wings. In a heartbeat, the watcher's flesh disintegrated into a flow of aether and melded with his daemon. Letting out a half-cry, half-hiss, the daemon slithered into the sky and vanished into the night.

Shifting away from the sight, Adrian found Watcher Seymour staring at him, his lips curled into a disgusted scowl. All at once, Seymour's petty hatred of him seemed one too many indignities to accept on what was shaping up to be one of the worst days of his life.

"What's your problem?" he snapped, his speech slightly slurred by his awakening muscles.

Seymour's emerald eyes narrowed. "My problem? My problem is that you're a disgrace to daemon masters everywhere! Your weakness was a bad enough blight on your parents' legacy before you betrayed every ideal they held dear. That such noble patriots could give birth to a pathetic wretch like you is proof of the spirits' cruel sense of humor."

Every word the watcher spat twisted in Adrian's gut like a knife. Hadn't he often laid awake at night, wondering what use the spirits had for such a failure in their grand design? Yet, faced with Seymour parroting his greatest fears back at him, anger gripped him rather than despair.

"I am not weak! I struggle every spirit-cursed day to overcome my lack of aether. The rest of you have the world handed to you on a silver platter. Not me!" Adrian bared his teeth in a savage snarl. "Nothing comes easy. Nothing comes free. But I give it my all anyway because the alternative is giving up, and I will never give up. That is how I honor my parents' legacy!"

Seymour's mouth hung open as if he'd been the one paralyzed. Adrian's breath came in quick gasps, practically panting from the turmoil of emotions roiling within him.

A shadow of Seymour's sneer returned as he recovered. "Maybe the world has treated you unfairly. But so what? We all face our own challenges. What matters is how we rise to the occasion. And what have you done?" He leaned over, his intense gaze boring into Adrian's. "You've hidden. You've cowered. And now, you've revealed your true colors. What were you thinking, running off with a stray instead of doing your duty? A traitor like you deserves your fate."

"I'm no traitor!" Adrian writhed against his bonds, stretching toward his half-open satchel. "The proof is in there, written in Old Man Crastley's hand. He discovered a truth Serenity Corp would kill to protect."

"What truth? What are you talking about?"

Adrian launched into a truncated explanation of his adventures at Crastley's cabin. When he got to the runic circle and the possibility of a true bond with a willing daemon, Seymour's face darkened. "Enough! You're as insane as Crastley if you believe a word of this rot."

"But what if he was right?" Adrian insisted. "What if Serenity Corp aren't the saviors of humanity they pretend to be?"

"Without Serenity Corp, there'd be no humanity left!"

"Maybe not," Adrian conceded. "But if there's nothing to Crastley's claims, then why does Serenity Corp care so much about a madman's journal, a rogue catcher, and a single stray?"

Seymour hesitated, a slight hitch appearing in his brow.

Adrian took that as permission to press on. "I think it's true, or at least enough of it. If Serenity Corp lied about the bondstones, then who knows what other secrets they've been keeping? I'm not the one who broke their oaths, Seymour. They're the ones who—"

"Shut up!" the watcher said, looming over him. "I won't listen to any more of this!"

Adrian opened his mouth to speak, then quickly shut it when Seymour raised a glowing fist in warning. Tremorfist mimicked the motion. Gazing up at Seymour's furious expression, memory of the last night they'd spent together as friends prickled his awareness.

They'd been fourteen—almost two years since his parents had died and one year into the training every League citizen went through to master daemon bonding. By then, the flaw in Adrian's aether had become painfully obvious as he fell further and further behind the others. Seymour had tried to keep his spirits up, but Adrian could sense his friend's rising disappointment at his failure. Slowly, Adrian had come to accept the irrefutable truth—he would never be a watcher. Never be a hero like his parents.

The growing tension between them had finally come to a head that night when he'd confessed as much to Seymour. Instead of comforting him or acting like the friend he was supposed to be, Seymour had fixed him with the exact same look he wore now—fury laced with profound disgust. He'd branded Adrian a pathetic coward. They'd come to blows and, well…things had never been the same between them since.

Movement caught Adrian's eye, and he tore his gaze away from Seymour's face. His breath caught when he registered the defiant blue form crouched protectively over him.

Heartrender. The daemon had returned to save him yet again.

Seymour stared at Heartrender as one might an unsolvable riddle. "Why does this mongrel defend you? It's unbonded—feral! It should be running for its life, not rescuing its would-be captor!"

"I told you, that's no ordinary daemon."

"Rubbish." A hint of uncertainty crept into Seymour's voice.

Adrian shook his head, exhaustion weighing too heavily on him to reply.

"Let's say, for the sake of argument," Seymour began, "that a kernel of truth lurks somewhere in your ridiculous story. What proof can you offer for any of it?"

"Crastley's journal—"

"Beyond the word of a lunatic! Or your own word, that of an alleged traitor."

Although Adrian wanted nothing more than to close his eyes and rest, he rallied the last of his energy toward the question. Seymour had a point. While Adrian's own experiences compelled him to accept Crastley's tale, he was operating on pure intuition. Even if Heartrender was a Serenity Corp experiment, that only corroborated Crastley as a thief. There had to be some way he could prove—both to himself and to Seymour—that Crastley's claims held genuine weight.

"I have an idea," he said slowly. "Get the journal from my satchel. Not for you to read," he added at Seymour's expression. "There's something in it I need to see."

"This is a waste of time," the watcher grumbled. "I can't believe I'm entertaining this farce."

Despite his words, he did as requested, tossing the journal past Heartrender into the grass by Adrian's bound hands. Heartrender kept a watchful gaze on him but made no move to interfere.

"There, you've got your precious journal. Now what?"

Adrian ignored Seymour's question. It took some finagling with his hands tied in front of him, but he eventually managed to flip the journal open to Crastley's note and the symbol sketched there. Just as it had in the Arbiter's office, his aether tried to form the unfamiliar configuration. This time, however, he didn't resist, directing every drop he had into mimicking the curved lines laid out on the page.

"You want proof?" he said through gritted teeth, praying he wasn't about to make a colossal mistake. "Here's your proof!"

The last segments of the runic circle snapped into place, creating a glowing symbol etched onto his palm. The aether roiled as if searching for somewhere to go. For a span of breaths, nothing happened. Then, Heartrender met his eyes. Its aether reverberated with what he instinctively recognized as acceptance. The daemon had felt the call of his aether and agreed to let it in.

Needing no further invitation, his shaped aether surged into Heartrender. The daemon collapsed, and Adrian froze, watching in horror as it yowled and writhed in the grass. He'd meant to prove Crastley's claims to Seymour, but what if he'd done the opposite? What if he'd messed up the pattern or lacked the proper control?

What if I inadvertently killed the only creature that believed in me?

Before panic could fully overcome him, his injected aether snapped into place, and a deluge of alien sensations flooded his mind. Heartrender's thoughts, he realized, his skin prickling with wonder. Crastley's true bond hadn't transformed the daemon into an empty husk like the bondstones did. Instead, its will was a tangled knot in the back of his skull. The daemon wasn't in pain, as he'd feared. Instead, it was…happy. Its joy radiated through their bond, filling him with warmth.

Notit, he thought. Her. The daemon's sense of self was crystal clear in his mind. This was what a genuine connection between daemon and daemon master ought to feel like. Not the slavish obedience and the empty eyes, but this shared camaraderie. How broken his bond with Trailseeker seemed in comparison. How broken everyone's bonds seemed in comparison.

"Impossible."

Seymour's whispered denial jerked him back to the present. Heartrender shuffled closer, nuzzling Adrian with her smooth snout to lick at his sweat and blood. Her concern for him pulsed steadily through their fledgling bond like a second heartbeat.

"Not impossible." He pressed his weary face into Heartrender's side. The hairs on his cheek rose at her crackling touch. "Simply unknown. Until now, at least."

The astonishment on Seymour's face gradually faded to an unreadable mask. Adrian half-expected him to command Tremorfist to attack, or maybe take a few swings at Adrian himself. But the watcher appeared lost too deeply in his own thoughts.

Footsteps rustled the grass, and Adrian twisted his head to see a woman step into the light of Seymour's torch. She wore a fine silver tunic, its sole adornment the spiked crescent moon of Serenity Corp pinned on her chest. Her face was beautiful despite its harsh lines, and her eyes, twin flecks of gray ice, measured Adrian coldly. When she unveiled her aura, its raw power left him gasping for breath. Even Seymour winced and took an unconscious step back.

"Hello, Adrian," Shadowlash's master said, her glacial voice the same as he remembered from the Arbiter's transmission. "I told you it was only a matter of time."

She fixed him with a mirthless smile, and he shivered. No sign of Shadowlash, but judging by the twin daggers strapped to her waist, she didn't need the daemon's help to eviscerate him.

"I-I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage." He was proud to catch only a faint tremble in his voice. "Who are you?"

"You may call me Kali."

She hadn't named a division affiliation or even a title. Did that mean she operated outside of Serenity Corp's official channels? Arbiter Janice had called her an agent, and the watchers seemed eager enough to obey her, but that might be a product of her aetheric might. Adrian knew how difficult it was to refuse an order from someone who could squash you like a bug.

"It's an honor to meet you, Kali." He bowed his head as respectfully as he could while lying trussed up on the ground. "Though, I wish it were under better circumstances."

Kali didn't reply. She crossed her arms, studying him.

Watcher Seymour cleared his throat. "The fugitives are in custody, as you requested. Shall I transport them back to town?"

Kali's gaze shifted to Heartrender. "The daemon doesn't look restrained to me."

Seymour grimaced. "The beast fled before we could subdue it and has only just now returned. I have several bondstones if you…" He trailed off, likely remembering the bonding ritual he'd witnessed minutes earlier.

Adrian had no idea if a bondstone would still work, nor any intention of finding out. "No! No bondstones." He draped his restrained arms around Heartrender, pulling the daemon against his side. "She won't try to run. You have my word."

"She?" Seymour said.

"It's fine, watcher," Kali said with a wave of her hand. "We can forgo the bondstone for now, so long as they both cooperate. As for transportation, that won't be necessary. I think it best I conduct my interrogation here. Alone."

Seymour looked about to protest before squeezing his mouth shut and issuing a rigid salute. "Of course, ma'am. I'll remain within shouting distance in case you need me."

With one last parting glance that lingered overlong on Heartrender, the watcher trudged toward Overlin Forest, Tremorfist trailing after him. Darkness swallowed Adrian and Kali without Seymour's torch, their only light the moon's faint radiance and Heartrender's glow.

"Tell me everything that happened to you today," Kali said once the watcher was gone, her voice adopting a business-like quality. "Leave nothing out, no matter how insignificant."

Adrian inclined his head again, thoughts racing. "Of course. But I've already given a full report to the Arbiter."

"It's your interpretation of events that interests me, not your Arbiter's. And before you protest again, let me clarify that this is not a debate. You will answer my questions thoroughly, without complaint, or I will manifest Shadowlash and have the beast whip you until your voice is raw from screaming. Do you understand?"

It wasn't the threat of violence alone that sent a shiver down his spine. He'd faced plenty of those from daemon masters more powerful than him. No, what struck him was the disinterested way Kali said it, as if she saw brutally torturing him as nothing but an irksome chore.

And I thought Seymour was heartless…

He swallowed. "I understand."

"Good. Now, give me your report, starting from the beginning."

Adrian obeyed. He closed his eyes as he spoke, both to avoid meeting Kali's emotionless gaze and to pretend he was back in the Arbiter's office, when an end to this nightmare had still seemed imminent.

As he recounted his adventures for a third time, he racked his brain for a plan. His aetheric reserve was slowly replenishing while he spoke. Perhaps he could sustain a full meld with Heartrender long enough to flee into the forest. That would at least get him out of his bonds. Coupled with a clever enough illusion, it might work.

He issued a mental command to Heartrender, instructing the daemon to ready its technique for a distraction. To his astonishment, she did something he'd never seen a bonded daemon do before—she refused.

It shouldn't have come as such a shock. With so much of Heartrender's personality maintained through their bond, it made sense she'd keep her free will too. Hadn't he always wished for bonded daemons to be more than unthinking automatons?

"Tell me about this journal," Kali interrupted once he'd reached his discovery in Crastley's lab. "I assume you have it with you?"

He considered lying, but until he arrived at a proper plan, honesty seemed his best hope of remaining alive and unharmed. He nodded.

"Good. Did you read it?"

"Later, in the Arbiter's office. Most of it was indecipherable, except for a note at the end."

"I see. And what did the note say? Leave nothing out, or I'll know."

Again, he tried to convince Heartrender to craft an illusion, and again, the daemon refused. He shoved down his annoyance. In general, he was ecstatic to have a bonded daemon that wasn't mindless. But did she have to be so spirit-cursed stubborn?

"Crastley spoke of his work for the Seeker Division on Project Paragon. He said he'd fled with a specimen and described an aetheric symbol that allowed bonding a willing daemon."

Kali expressed no surprise at his outrageous claims, nodding as if she'd expected no different. Either she'd already known all this, or she didn't care.

"I will, of course, take that journal with me when we're through here. Anything else you wish to tell me before we continue?"

Heartrender chose that moment to send him a series of impressions through their bond—the beginnings of a rough plan. His eyes widened before he could school his expression. She couldn't be serious…could she?

I really hope you know what you're doing, he responded. The flash of assurance he received felt far less certain than he'd have liked. Still, he took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and met Kali's bored look with a defiant glare. Time to intentionally antagonize the most powerful daemon master in the region.

"You know, now that you mention it, there is something else. Are you aware that your employers are an enormous fraud? The entire organization deserves to be shut down, and anyone who willingly supports them should be brought to justice as traitors to the League."

Kali quirked an eyebrow. "You realize you work for Serenity Corp, right? As did the man you know as Crastley before he fled here with their property in a vain attempt to escape their reach. Nearly a quarter of the League's citizens serve in one capacity or another."

"Perhaps. But once Crastley realized the truth, he repented. As have I. You and everyone else in the League will do the same if you have the slightest bit of sense."

"Sure, we will," she said dryly. "No doubt it will work out as well for us as it did for him." Adrian fought down a shudder as she all but confirmed what he'd suspected of Crastley's fate. "Now, as amusing as this little outburst is, I believe I've heard enough. Tell me more about—"

"No," he interrupted. "I'm done talking to Serenity Corp lackeys. This interview is over."

Kali sighed, her aether pulsing around her like an azure halo. He winced as the pressure of her aura bore down on him. "I warned you what would happen if you didn't cooperate. Perhaps a few minutes alone with Shadowlash will soften your stubbornness."

Spirits below, this isn't working!He'd hoped insulting Serenity Corp would strike a nerve, but Kali was proving remarkably levelheaded for a murderer. If she manifested Shadowlash, any chance he had of escaping would vanish. He needed to find a way to throw her off balance.

"What's the matter?" he asked desperately. "Not willing to get your hands dirty, so you need your daemon to do it for you? Oh, but I forgot—the last time your poor daemon tried to harm me, it ended up at the bottom of a river. Is that why you're afraid to face me yourself?"

Kali moved swifter than his vision could track. One second, she stood a few paces back, regarding him impassively. The next, she crouched beside him with one fist still buried in his gut and the other wrapped loosely around his throat as he struggled to wheeze in air.

"Nothing scares me," she hissed. "Not anymore. I take no pleasure in hurting you, boy, but one way or another, tonight ends with your death. The only question is whether I will make it quick…" Her fingers tightened around his neck. "Or slow."

Looks like I found her sore spot.

Heartrender growled, but Adrian sensed she recognized the futility of attacking. An echo of his own frustrated helplessness reverberated through their bond. Fumbling at Kali's side, his bound hand wrapped around a hilt, and he drew forth one of her gleaming daggers.

Kali chuckled. "Be careful with that, or you'll put your eye out."

A blush colored his cheeks. She was right to laugh. He could barely wield the thing, let alone manage a strike capable of puncturing her aether-hardened skin.

This is what I get for taking advice from a spirit-cursed daemon,he groaned inwardly. If we'd gone with my plan, we would've at least stood a chance.

Heartrender sent irritation through their bond, followed by…something else, something he'd never experienced. Waves of aether crashed over him, surging through his tired body and reinvigorating him until he felt better than he had all day. Better, in fact, than he ever had before.

Is this what everyone else feels like? Like they're full of pent-up energy longing to be spent?

Kali didn't appear to have noticed his newfound strength. She was too busy describing in excruciatingly vivid detail how she'd punish him if he refused to cooperate. He ignored her, marveling again at the windfall of aether. Where had it all come from?

When Heartrender sagged against his side, he realized the answer. Daemon masters could share aether with their daemons, but he'd never heard of a daemon capable of performing the same feat in reverse. Was that another benefit of the true bond over Serenity Corp's bondstones?

There'd be time to figure it out later. For now, he sent his gratitude to Heartrender and focused his attention back on Kali. The assassin leaned in, her cold eyes boring into his own. When she noticed his renewed interest, the barest hint of a smile flitted across her lips.

"Perhaps the reality of your situation is finally sinking in. I have enough to complete my report. Any last words before I learn exactly how much punishment your body can withstand?"

"Yeah," he said, gathering the aether roiling within him. "Give Shadowlash my regards."

The rope coiled around his wrists restricted his range of movement, but thankfully, he didn't have far to go. Kali's eyes widened, shock slowing her reflexes as he jerked the dagger still grasped in his right hand up with all his borrowed might. She'd barely begun to pull away when the dagger's tip gouged into her left eye. Blood splattered Adrian's tunic. The assassin screamed, flailing backward while clutching at the blade and wrenching it free of his grasp.

Adrian didn't wait to see how much damage he'd caused. He scrabbled on bound hands and knees for his satchel and Crastley's journal. Then, before the last of Heartrender's lent aether could fade, he used what remained to dissolve into a stream of energy and flow into Heartrender.

With Trailseeker, a full meld had always left him completely in control. This felt different. Heartrender's will pushed back against his own, maintaining command over her own body and leaving him a passenger rather than the pilot.

All right, girl, let's get out of here.

Heartrender yipped in agreement and bolted toward the waiting trees. She'd barely traveled half a dozen paces, however, when a black shape cut off her path. Adrian's stomach lurched at Shadowlash's familiar sleek form. Kali had managed to summon it despite her wound. The dark tentacles already writhing across its back gouged divots in the dirt as it charged.

Heartrender dashed to the side, conjuring an illusory duplicate beside her. She split to the right, sending her image to the left. The deception made little difference. One of Shadowlash's tendrils shattered the illusion while another whipped toward the real Heartrender.

Before the blow could connect, a muscled arm wrenched the tentacle aside so that it smashed harmlessly into the ground. Heartrender skidded to a halt, and Adrian watched through her eyes in disbelief as Tremorfist pounded its chest, the extra maw there releasing a deafening roar. Shadowlash's movements slowed as it strained to regain control of its paralyzed muscles.

"What are you doing, you idiot?" Heartrender whirled to reveal Seymour dashing past them toward the treeline. "Unless you have a death wish, I suggest you stop gawking and start running!"

A mental nudge from Heartrender snapped Adrian back to his senses. She was right—explanations could wait. For now, he urged her after the retreating watcher, away from the battling daemons and toward the ancient boughs of Overlin Forest.