Agony scorched broad stripes in my head, fueled by my caged magic. Scrambling my vision in white. I could feel it, my body sending frantic pulses of warning. He mistook my silence and sighed.
“I understand your stance—”
“Arin,” I gasped. The first time his name had ever passed my lips. “Please stop.”
It worked. He tensed, tilting his head. His eyes went wide.
The creature blasted toward us, leaping directly for Arin. In the spare two seconds between its flight and landing, I assessed this new monster. Its body was beautiful, composed of sharp red crystals winking and gleaming in the dim light. A coat of rubies carved to deadly points covered it from the paws wider than my hips to its long ears. It was far too large to be a wolf.
The more important consideration, of course, was the teeth. They would sink through Arin and rip him apart.
Good! Hanim shouted.
I snapped my fingers, and the creature slowed.
It didn’t freeze, but the air congealed around it, making movement heavy and cumbersome. I had less than a minute before it broke through. My mount bolted, following Arin’s riderless, fleeing horse.
“Hold it as long as you can.” Arin withdrew a circular object from his boot. A compass, maybe?
He removed his gloves. “If your magic fails, run. Do not look back or react to anything behind you. Get to the barrier above the tunnels. The Hound will not be able to cross.”
“What about you?” I demanded. Ivory claws twitched in midair. Thirty seconds.
The object unclasped and extended, tiny metal spikes stabbing outward from each side of the two flat disks.
“This will hurt,” Arin said, and clasped his bare hand with mine.
The reaction was immediate. My magic roared toward the surface of my skin, pounding against my cuffs. The agony of the Relic Room renewed. My magic stripped me to the bone from the inside out.
Arin’s grip turned crushing, and if it weren’t for the monster a foot away, a different fear might have taken priority.
My hold on the creature shattered.
Arin surged forward just as the creature’s enormous claws swung, shoving his arm into its mouth. Had he lost his mind?
When I threw my magic out this time, it was stronger. I forced the creature’s jaw open while Arin-—who had clearly suffered a bout of insanity—pushed the object into the roof of the monster’s mouth. Nearby, a boulder burst into flinty shards, and branches rained down on us from the quaking trees.
For once in your accursed life, behave! I shouted at my magic.
The creature swiped at Arin and snarled. “Move back!” I screeched.
My magic wavered. Arin snatched his arm just as the creature’s teeth clamped together. The object seemed to have confused it. It shook its head hard. Trying to dislodge the obstruction.
I tried to hurl a faraway log at it. My magic nudged the log, uninterested, and chose to explode another boulder.
The creature’s red eyes skipped past Arin and narrowed on me.
You should recognize when a creature has been sent after you by now, Hanim said. This isn’t random.
I stared at the beast without blinking. “Wait,” I told Arin. “Don’t move.”
He leapt to his feet, clearly intending to ignore me. Not this time. I pushed my magic toward him, and the Commander found himself stuck.
“Sylvia!” His eyes widened, fixed on the creature advancing toward me. “Go!”
If I was wrong, this was going to be an embarrassing way to die.
I reached for the creature’s head, carefully framing its massive maw between my hands. Arin made a smothered noise, but the creature didn’t dive for my flesh. It sat back on its haunches and panted.
Eyes made of the same bloodred jewels composing its jagged body held mine.
“Can you see me?” I whispered. A single Jasadi could not enchant a creature like this to carry their bidding, see through its eyes… this was the work of several Jasadis. Powerful ones.
“I don’t understand. Are you trying to kill me or contact me?”
Steeling my nerves, I maneuvered my arm past its teeth and found Arin’s object adhered to the roof of its mouth. I traced its edges. “Allow me to introduce myself properly,” I murmured, audible to the creature and its masters only. “I am Sylvia, a village ward and chemist’s apprentice. I cannot be recruited, and I will not be intimidated.”
A clasp clicked, and the object tightened. Arin hadn’t activated the switch. I almost felt sorry for the wretched creature. As soon as the magic keeping it alive extinguished, it would return to the dust from which it came.