Page 18

Injured, the creature began to scuttle away with its insect-like gait.

I planted my feet, exhaled a deep, steadying breath, aimed high, and let another arrow fly.

It sunk into the monster’s back, hard, and the creature was thrown forward as it collapsed on the street.

I was grateful that I had trained with the heavier bow all this time.

I closed and locked the window before going back downstairs. Several armed men and women, including the inn keeper, stood in prepared silence near the door. The inn keeper glanced up at me, worry in her eyes, as her hands wrung the handle of an old but sturdy battle ax.

“Back up to your room, girl,” one of the men said, following the inn keeper’s gaze.

“I can help. I killed two on the west side of the inn just now,” I said.

“We don’t need help,” the man snapped. “Inn’s shut tight, and the Ironguard will take care of this.”

I’d heard the term before but had never met one.

I knew only that the Ironguard were mysterious warriors that tried to defend unfortunate villagers wherever shadowfiends attacked.

Given the man’s tone, I didn’t want to stick around to ask more questions, so I returned to my room and bolted myself in.

I stationed myself on the bed facing the door, bow and arrow in hand, quiver by my side. I did not sleep.

An hour or two later, I heard an ominous, persistent knocking outside the inn. It began slow.

Thud . Thud . Thud .

Then increased in tempo and volume, like someone going from a walk to a sprint.

Thud . Thud . Thud thud thudthudthudthud .

A black shadow rushed past the window, and the sound faded as it moved away. More knocking followed from downstairs. Something was pounding on the front doors. Something heavy. The pounding multiplied until it was replaced by the clashing of steel, shouting, and then quiet.

Gradually, the screams and shouts died out around the village.

The sun climbed in the sky. I felt increasingly nauseous, and couldn’t tell if it was from last night’s festivities or the sluice of adrenaline that had been unleashed in my blood all night.

When I had heard no screams or commotion for at least a couple hours, I packed my things and crept down into the tavern.

The group of armed men and women I had seen last night were still there, although one man was slumped at the bar, seemingly asleep.

“Is it safe to go out?” I asked the inn keeper.

She shrugged. “Maybe. Nobody’s been outside yet to find out.”

“Then I guess I’ll be the first,” I said.

She and one of the armed men glanced at each other, and she shrugged again. They lifted the heavy beam from the doors and I pushed them cautiously open, just enough to slip outside. I gripped my bow tightly in one hand.

The ground in front of the inn was deep red.

The entire street was bathed in blood, and the corpses of the blade monsters were strewn about the cobbles, dismembered in various ways, the chaotic aftermath of a macabre party.

I stepped out carefully, my boots splashing in coagulating blood and entrails.

The stench was horrid, but familiar. I had smelled something similar the day I faced the nuckelavee.

I moved slowly, scanning the creatures for any movement, any sign of life. But the road was a still, silent image of the horror of the night. I skirted around most of the gore and quickened my pace toward the stable, to retrieve Anam.

We were trotting down the empty street, heading for Eilith’s, when a dark shadow passed in an alley to our right. I turned in the saddle and raised my bow, arrow nocked and ready.

“Easy, kid, easy. It’s just me.”

Byrgir trotted up on his black Friesian. Her hooves were blood-spattered and sticky up to her fetters, a dark stain of sweat visible around her saddle blanket. I lowered my bow.

“Glad to see you’re alright,” he said. That easy, genuine smile again.

“You too. Where did you go?” I asked. He wore a long cloak now that covered most of his clothing, but I thought I saw blood on his hands. It was difficult to tell amidst the dark tattoos.

“Back to the bonfire to help, then around town.”

“You were fighting the shadowfiends?” I asked.

“Yes, and helping get people back to town and safely indoors,” he said. “I was coming to make sure you made it through the night. I stopped by the inn and they said you’d just left. I also noticed a shadowfiend hanging off the side of the inn with an arrow in it. That your artistry?”

“I might’ve gotten one or two last night,” I said. “What were those things?”

“Some sort of corrupted ghoul, I think,” he said. “I don’t know. Let me ride home with you.”

Maybe I should have pressed him for more answers then, made him explain why he had been fighting, not hiding with the rest of the village.

Maybe it would have been polite to tell him to stay, to get some rest. But I didn’t have the energy to argue and, truthfully, I didn’t want to ride through those woods alone.

And I hadn’t wanted last night with him to end.

So I gladly accepted his offer. We rode out of town into the green shadowed woods, leaving the stench of death and gore behind us.