20. Twenty

Twenty

Cyrus

A desperate, broken scream split the air.

Enchanter.

I pulled my runeblade from the ribs of a dark hunter as a shockwave shook the air. My metal greaves slid in the mud, but I drove my swords into the earth and braced against the power. It crashed into me, denting my plate armor with its force.

There she was. The Enchanter’s glossy hair rose around her head in a silver halo. She floated above the battlefield like a Valkyrie. I’d seen her do something similar before, wielding pure mana as a weapon. But the wave that burst from her was different this time. It was stronger. Savage.

Ari’s easily recognizable cloaked form stood below her, his back to me. Another hunter stood in front of him, a black staff in hand.

“Shit.” I kicked into a sprint, pushing mana into the runes on my legs.

Sebastian gazed up at the Enchanter, lips parted and eyes wide. He was in awe. He should be. But he didn’t deserve to lay eyes on her. I’d cut them out for what he’d done.

The Enchanter’s hands balled into fists over her chest. She tipped her head back and screamed again. I braced myself for another shockwave, but it didn’t come.

Solid black magic shot from her body. The thorny tendrils grew from her like the tangled branches of a rosebush. They broke concrete and tunneled through the dirt. Sebastian and Ari were the closest to her. Corruption pierced Sebastian and continued on to the next victim in their path. Ari didn’t flinch as corruption tore through him.

Why didn’t he shadow-walk away?

I held up my shield as one shot towards me. It glanced off the runed metal, but there were more. The next one cracked my shield, destroying the runes that strengthened it. The metal shattered like glass.

What were these things?

I stepped out of the way, narrowly dodging the branch that pierced my shield, but a dozen more raced toward me. All I could do was channel magic into my armor’s reinforcement runes, but the corruption easily drilled through the steel. I gritted my teeth as it tore through skin and bone. The corruption didn’t just slice. It burned . Like hot iron.

As quickly as they had burst from her, the branches of corruption returned. I grunted as the barbed surface slid back through my wounds.

The Enchanter crumpled to the mud and curled into a ball. Hundreds of cuts covered her body where the physical form of corruption had burst out of her. The black branches slithered back through the wounds and spread under her skin, coloring her veins black.

Sebastian’s wounds knitted together as he crawled toward the Enchanter. I pressed my free hand against the gash in my side as I stumbled across the distance to her.

I raised my sword and pointed it at Sebastian as he reached for her. “Don’t fucking touch her.”

“She’s hurt.” Sebastian’s eyes didn’t leave her. He sounded almost ... worried.

“She’s not your concern.” I glanced around the battlefield. Skye and Shael bled from deep wounds. Felix was unconscious. Quillon seemed to have fared the best. Blood oozed from a single wound on his arm.

He struggled to his feet and raised his rifle across the yard at Sebastian, looking down the cracked sight. A click and whispered curse rang above the pain-filled moaning.

Ari was the worst. He’d fallen and hadn’t moved since Arsyn’s attack.

“She’s mine.” Sebastian got to his feet and wiped black blood from the corner of his mouth. He moved slowly, but he’d healed. All around us, dark hunters rose, healed by their corrupt mana. “She’s always been mine.”

I ignored the pain that lanced my side as I raised my sword higher. “I don’t care about your twisted fantasies. Leave.”

Anger flashed on Sebastian’s face. “She’s running out of time. She’ll come to me. You’ll see.” He cupped his hands around his mouth. “Let’s go!” He looked me in the eye and smirked. “We’ve got what we came for.”

I kept my sword raised as dark hunters picked up members of the Morgan and Gray families and began pouring out of the compound. Shael gathered a small fireball and threw it weakly at a dark hunter as he approached a woman I recognized from the Gray family. The dark hunter sliced through the fire with a blade and slung the woman over his shoulder.

Shael collapsed into the mud, his last fireball sputtering and dying in his hand.

“Let them go,” I commanded through clenched teeth.

Skye glared after the dark hunters. He wasn’t one to forget. Or forgive.

A dark hunter approached the Gray Matriarch. She glared at him and struggled to her feet, holding her sword between them. “Try it, traitor.”

“Arsyn is dangerous.” Sebastian’s smirk grew into an eager smile. “You know it better than anyone.” I kept my face carefully blank. Was he referring to Ari? Did he know about the corrupt Luminary? “She’s only going to get worse. There’s nothing you can do about it. She’s already hurt everyone around her. Next time, she’ll kill them.”

The Enchanter whimpered and curled tighter into herself.

Sebastian backed away until he reached Elias Morgan, gravely injured and lying on his back. Sebastian picked the man up with one arm like he was nothing and jogged across the yard to join the others. Elias was unexpectedly quiet as Sebastian carried him away.

That was one hunter I wouldn’t miss.

When they were out of sight, I finally lowered my sword and clasped both hands over my wounded side. I braced myself against a wave of dizziness. I had to stop the bleeding. Max limped to us, sparing a heavy glance at the Enchanter and Ari.

“We need someone to follow them,” Max said. Silver blood stained her torn leather duster.

“You’re injured, too.” I shook my head. The Enchanter had so few people left in her life that she cared about. I could see it from their reunion. The two of them shared the weight of their love, grief and past. Max understood the Enchanter in a way none of us ever could. “If they were to spot you—”

“I’m a hunter, bennu.” Her gaze fell on the remains of the man she’d left with last night. Matthew. Her lips peeled back, baring her sharp teeth. “We hunt.”

I sighed. My fingers twitched to run through my hair. “Keep your distance.”

Max nodded sharply before jogging through a hole in the compound wall. I turned to kneel beside the Enchanter. She wasn’t healing like the other dark hunters. Perhaps she’d used too much power.

Small slash wounds covered her skin. But I feared her true wounds went much deeper.