Page 75 of Voidwalker (Beasts of the Void #1)

Fi pressed a hand to Aisinay’s neck, urging her to move. The horse complied, eager hooves lurching back into the cover of the trees. Behind them, claws clattered stone. A snow-muffled thud marked the Beast’s landing, followed by a splinter of boughs as it charged.

Fi settled her hands on either side of Aisinay’s neck. A firm touch pressed her into a full gallop, pulses of energy steering her through the maze of trunks. The blind horse snorted in protest, uncomfortable with this speed upon the Plane.

They couldn’t slow. Heavy paws thudded behind them. A crack of claws against timber, far too close for comfort. Antal twisted in the saddle.

“ Fi .”

She didn’t need him using that urgent tone on her when she could hear the problem clear enough. Fi steered Aisinay around a snowbank, past a fallen log, slips in their pace that they couldn’t afford. At last, she risked a look behind.

The Beast moved through the trees like a wraith, a flash of white skin and gnarled antlers, frightfully agile for its size.

It lunged over the snowbank they’d had to skirt.

A scrape then crack as claws shredded the fallen tree in its path.

It never slowed, hungry red eyes fixed on prey, mouth agape in a razor-toothed pant.

And definitely getting closer.

“A little farther!” Fi called to Antal, shouting over the thunder of hooves and branches.

A snarl raised gooseflesh down her neck, close enough, she could practically smell the Beast’s blood-stale breath. She couldn’t break her attention from the path ahead, Aisinay depending on her not to steer them into a tree.

Behind her, Antal swiveled, his knee digging into her back as he faced the creature.

The air crackled crimson. As Aisinay snorted, Fi tasted the snap of ozone on her tongue, a slash of Antal’s arm sending a crude bolt of energy at the Beast. The monster yelped when the projectile struck its face, pace faltering.

A short reprieve. Even as writhing red energy knit the Beast’s brow back together, it picked up speed again, each ravenous lunge more reckless than before.

But they’d bought enough of a lead.

The forest opened to a clearing, bordered by the weeping boughs of snow-heavy hemlock trees. Fi steered Aisinay into the open, trawling the Beast behind them.

Another crack of wood sounded. This time, from the sides.

Metal cord rained from the trees, a net pulled taut in the Beast’s path. It charged into the trap with a snarl, stumbling out of its sprint and into a skid across the snow, claws and tail thrashing to free itself.

“Fire!” Kashvi shouted.

Three crossbow bolts loosed: two silver, one red. No rogue shots this time. They’d had their practice in Nyskya. Projectiles sank into haunches, jaw, neck. The Beast’s howl shook the trees.

That, Verne might hear, even at this distance. Their clock started ticking.

Fi Shaped her crimson energy sword and pushed Aisinay into a charge.

The barrage of bolts brought the Beast to its knees. Kashvi, Yvette, and Mal grabbed the edges of the net, heels digging into frozen ground, holding the creature down as it fought. Fi came in at a gallop, her blade aimed to cleave its neck.

Before she could strike, the Beast lashed out, scythes of red energy carving off its claws.

Fi wouldn’t call it Shaping , more the instinctive flail of a trapped animal. Her allies reeled back from the net as metal cords snapped.

One struck Fi and Antal off the horse.

The cord hit her side with enough tension for a nasty bruise at best, a cracked rib if her current luck held. She hit frozen ground. Rolled to escape Aisinay’s hooves as the horse bolted. Then, the claws. The Beast swiped for her, dragging a serrated nail against the silviamesh of her thigh.

Antal was at her side in a snap of static, pulling her clear of the creature’s next slash.

Fi decided it would not be appropriate to kiss him in the middle of mortal combat, much as she wanted to.

He returned a beleaguered look, as if her brazenness was actively shaving years off his immortal lifespan.

The Beast lunged for them—then lurched to a halt.

Half the net snagged the gnarled crown of its antlers. Their allies regrouped, heaving to hold the cords as the Beast snapped at Antal. He dodged teeth and saliva, grabbing the creature’s antlers to hold it down.

“Fionamara!”

She swung her sword, slicing deep into the Beast’s neck.

It roared. Verne would definitely hear that .

Black blood slicked Fi’s hands as the blade cut hide, muscle, stalling at a crack of spine. Not enough to sever. Curse this Void-woven flesh. Defensive energy surged through the sinews, hardening like steel.

A red eye latched onto her, rimmed in wide black sclera. There had been moments when Fi thought she saw intelligence in those eyes, some remnant of the daeyari it had once been. Now, the irises glazed with feral survival.

Claws flailed at her side. Fi pulled back, freeing her sword from the Beast’s neck with a sizzle of energy against skin. Its head lolled but stayed connected. Not deep enough.

They were running out of time.

The Beast bucked, throwing Antal to the ground. Claws snapped the last cords of the net. Then it ran. It ran like a deer with a hunter’s bolt through its lungs, painting the snow with black blood as it stumbled toward the trees.

Not again.

Not with Boden’s ashes cooling in a distant forest.

Not with all of Nyskya waiting to return home.

Not with the teeth of Verne’s chateau looming in the distance, the Lord Daeyari bound to arrive any moment, drawn to the wails of her captive Beast.

Fi reached Aisinay at a sprint and leapt onto her back. As they broke into a gallop, crossbows clicked behind them. Kashvi called to fire. The bolts loosed, biting into the retreating Beast and bringing it to the ground.

Fi’s heart thudded with each beat of Aisinay’s hooves.

Her sword crackled as she raised the blade, lining up the killing blow.

“ Stop! ”

Aisinay skidded to a halt, hooves churning snow.

The force nearly sent Fi off her mount. She grabbed Aisinay’s neck, a frill of fin down the center, steadying herself as the horse snorted. Fi steered her straight, sword still raised.

Blinking.

Confused, because it made no Void-damned sense.

The Beast crouched in front of her, head low, teeth bared. Neck muscles twitched as it attempted to heal, a creep of regenerating red sinew hissing against cold air. And there in the blood-flecked snow, kneeling at the monster’s side…

Was Astrid.