Page 34 of The Cruel Dawn (Vallendor #2)

“This is the town known as Fihel, Lady,” Separi says. “Destroyed by mortals not long ago.”

“Look.” Philia points to a single banner hanging from the marble arch: the golden tree beneath a shower of coins and runes.

My teeth ache, dull and heavy in my head. If Fihel was destroyed by human hand, that hand was guided by this new god.

Who destroyed Fihel?

Who is this god?

I slide out of my saddle. The horses look skittish, uneasy at the stench of burning in the air. They’re as ready to leave as my companions are.

“I hear you.” I pet each horse’s head and slip an extra sheen of protection over them. “But something’s here that I need to see. We won’t stay long.”

Zephar had come with me because I wanted to establish another town like Gasho, with its aqueducts and centers of learning, and its reverence of…

me. “I’ve been here before,” I say. I may not have destroyed this place but…

The last time I walked these soft dirt paths, there’d been cooing doves and other creatures filling the air with lively noise.

Something growls in the clearing ahead.

“Burnu,” Separi whispers.

“Not again,” says Philia.

Jadon and I had fought burnu—creatures that resemble both wolf and man—and we’d killed two of the four who had attacked us. Veril used his staff, Warruin, to kill the third. The one who’d escaped had a blue zigzag scar on his forehead.

The survivor, Zigzag, now prowls the clearing across from us. His white coat gleams as bright as his razor-sharp teeth. Clouds of icy air escape from his mouth.

“I want to try,” Philia insists, reaching for her bow.

“Maybe not this beast,” Separi says.

“Get ready, then,” I say to the redhead, choosing this time to draw Fury.

The burnu bares his claws.

Separi pulls her staff from the horse’s pack. Ascendance, forged of twisted gray metal and topped with a burst of light, already glows violet.

Philia nocks an arrow.

“Ready?” I ask her.

“Do I have a choice?” she quips.

“You always have a choice in what you do with your body,” I say.

Philia purses her lips and nods. “I choose to fight.”

We step into the clearing. I creep toward Zigzag and stop several paces away from him. “I remember you.”

Zigzag growls at me and howls at the sky.

“Stand at my side,” I whisper to Philia. “Let him come to you.”

The burnu paces, wary of what I might do with a proper weapon this time. He remembers that, last time, a Renrian exploded one of his friends with a staff like Separi’s.

My amulet glows and weighs heavily around my neck.

Zigzag draws closer, racing at us, bounding across the glen.

Separi’s staff crackles as the creature’s stench closes in on us.

“Now,” I tell Philia.

She lets loose, and the air whistles, and the arrow bounces off the burnu’s thigh like a thorn against a boulder.

The creature swipes his paw at her.

Philia jumps back, crying out in pain as his smallest claw slides across her leg, tearing through her breeches and the skin underneath. She clutches at her thigh with one hand, barely hanging on to the bow with the other.

Separi pushes the burnu back with her staff, pressing her advantage, Ascendence at the ready.

“Let Philia shoot!” I shout to the Renrian.

Separi stands down.

Zigzag pounces at Philia again.

The young woman rolls, scrambles back to her feet, but stumbles on her wounded leg.

“The joints between his legs and torso are the soft spots,” I say. Right now, they glow a bright amber. “You can do it.”

Zigzag launches himself at Philia again.

This time, she focuses on his left leg joint, an impossibly small target. She releases the arrow…which drives into the burnu’s soft joint.

The burnu cries out in pain, black-green blood dripping down his thigh.

“One more time,” I whisper. “The other leg.”

The burnu roars again.

Philia shoots. The arrow lands.

Zigzag crashes to the ground, his teeth gnashing and his eyes bright with hate and fear.

We approach the burnu, now panting and snarling on his back. He’s even more dangerous this close to death.

Philia pulls an arrow from her quiver to finish him off.

“Don’t.” I hold an arm out. “You can’t kill him.”

“Why not?” Philia asks, defiant, raising her bow.

“Because he’s not yours to destroy,” I say. My eyes scan the sky. If a resurrector is nearby, he won’t die for good anyway. I don’t spot a resurrector.

“How will I learn, then, if you won’t let me experience everything?” She groans and grabs her hurt leg, forgetting her disappointment.

“If you want to experience everything ,” I say, watching her blue glow evaporate, “then you can experience dying from this wound.”

Her twisted face pales.

“Or you can trust me,” I say, “and live to fight and grow another day.”

“Live,” Philia squeaks.

I nod to Separi, who knows what Philia needs without my instructions. I hope she brought a lot of tonics.

I drive Fury through the burnu’s heart, then turn back to the injured redhead.

“Ease your mind. We won’t let you die.” Please don’t die.

I grip her bloody thigh with one shaky hand and accept a tonic from Separi with the other.

“Drink,” I tell Philia, my own strength depleting the longer I heal her with my touch. “Drink all of it. Immediately.”

Philia obeys and lies back down.

Maybe I should’ve listened to Separi and kept the redhead somewhere safe until I’d killed the otherworldly.

Separi catches my eye, but I can’t tell what she’s thinking—about Philia’s chances of survival or about me letting the young woman fight. Instead of speaking to me, she smiles down at the redhead and says, “I’ll mend your breeches after I bandage your leg.”

Philia nods, her mouth clamped tight, trying to be that brave shieldmaiden of Vinevridth.

I smile down at the young woman as Separi repairs both her torn skin and leather. “You name your bow yet?” Please don’t die.

Philia shakes her head.

I gasp and say, “She deserves a name after all you’ve put her through.”

A teardrop rolls back to the redhead’s hairline. “Sub…Sub…Sublime.”

I nod. “A lovely name.” Please don’t…

Her color shifts from the darkest amber to cornsilk.

I feel that tugging sensation again, like a fish on a line, but stronger and sharper this time. My heart beats sluggishly—healing Philia has taken something out of me that’ll be slow to replenish.

I’ll soon need all of me to fight Danar Rrivae. How will I make up this deficit?