I hastily folded the map and thrust it inside my pocket. Withdrawing my blade, I scanned our surroundings. We were on a trail through tall grass that grew in a waving blanket, broken in patches by large tumbles of stone taller than two or three men high. It was the perfect place for an ambush; there was a million places for someone or something to hide.
Or a whole damn army. “Hsst,” I hissed, catching Tinn’s attention where he lead the group. Those large ears grew rigid, quivering faintly.
Wenn and I brought up the rear, and he chittered something I couldn’t understand, staying right at my side.
‘What is it?’ Londe asked silently. We were still moving, but he herded the foals with nudges to walk closer together. Marces’ tail lashed, and Colete complained when it stung her flank.
‘Danger.’ I was suddenly sure of it. We’d talked, not sure if the dots on the map were meant to be friends or foes. Something was very wrong.
The world around us had stilled. All the insects and tiny creatures had fallen silent. A predator must be approaching. ‘If we are attacked, take the foals and flee. Go back the way we came. I’ll find you.’
‘But—”
‘Please.’ I wasn’t above begging. My stomach churned with the thought of my family being hurt again. I hated that I brought them with me on this quest; I should have found a way, a place, for them to be safe.
‘Don’t let me down,’ Londe said. His tail swished, hitting me.
“I—”
“Above!” Wenn cried.
The faintest buzz preceded the attack. The bloated, ugly Being who’d hurt my Colete had somehow found us, or we’d found it. Her dull gray body was still bulbous, the stinger emerging from the end of a pulsing abdomen as it dove down to sting from above.
Colete screamed and reared, leaping back. But she was not the target.
That sharp tip glistening orange at the tip wasn’t coming this way. Not at me. Not at the foals. No, she went for Tinn.
He curled, rolling into a ball and backing away. The Being hissed in rage at the missed strike and rose, her wings flapping so quickly they were nearly invisible. Her dark eyes glittered as she feinted.
Enraged by the sound of my daughter’s terror, my fear dissolved, and I became a bearer of retribution. This foul beast should have died before the sun set on the day I’d taken my children back from the trolls, but she’d escaped me.
Not this time.
My vision bled to white at the edges, and I leapt forward, not caring how close I came to grazing that stinger. I shifted faster than I’d ever done before, my nails lengthening and thickening into claws to rival any wolven.
But I’d learned my lesson. I didn’t go for that armored body. I went for a wing, raking down the translucent filament to the connection at the Being’s back where I dug in and twisted, the flesh tearing with a pop and sucking release before she howled and spiraled to the ground.
That body was too heavy to hold up with just one wing. I flung the other away, flourishing my blade. “You will die!”
She scuttled onto her rear legs, the outward joints allowing her abdomen to bulge between them, her stinger facing me. Her front legs with the wicked hooks that had damaged Colete’s neck so cruelly snapped open and shut. “Not if you die firssst,” she hissed.
“You’re outnumbered.”
Tinn had uncurled to rise, and Wenn stood by his side. They held stones in their hands. Londe had herded the foals to his rear, away from the fight.
“My mastersss know you’re coming. They will have the conduit and the pure onesss. Your kind will be doomed!” Her grating laugh came from a mouth that should not be able to make that hideous sound. “And you… soulless one… will be alone forever!”
“Never!” She spoke of what could not be said. In front of my family. Unable to hold back, I attacked. Whirling, I thrust backward, catching one claw and ripping it apart with a single spin of my double-edge blade. Her other claw clacked in front of me, nearly taking a chunk of my ear and cheek with it. My skin stung, and hot liquid dripped onto my collarbone.
I stumbled back, off-balance.
“Papa!” Colete shrieked, distracting me. I took my eyes off the Being for just a split second to ensure we weren’t being attacked from another angle.
Her abdomen suddenly thinned, the segments sliding apart, and her stinger hit my cloak where I’d hadn’t yet gotten out of the habit of belting it into a pouch for Tinn’il.
But it was empty, and all that disgusting goo just oozed onto the fabric, eating a whole into my cloak. She shrieked, and I grinned evilly. Before she could retract her overextended stinger, I brought the gleaming blade down, the fading sun catching on the honed metal, and sliced through one of the edge of one of the segments, cutting it clean off.
The orange ooze streamed down, along with writhing balls of… ugh. She had been carrying young. They shriveled almost instantly as they hit the air as her abdomen shook and then a giant mass of innards came gushing down.
Her hissing shriek pierced the air, and the Being collapsed, falling on top of the pile of dead young and her own offal.
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Julie Lynn Hayes
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