I sent a throwing knife whizzing at the giant’s head. It pinged off one of its antlers, and it let out a vicious groan. It swung its head at me, and one of the massive antlers caught my form. I narrowly missed getting impaled on one of the points. The giant flung its head back, and I was sent spinning through the air, the world a blur around me.
I was very certain I’d crash upon the stone and break my neck, but instead, I landed on a large, soft pillow— Emma had conjured it just in time, and it broke my fall. I staggered upward, still dizzy, and the pillow vanished behind me. Emma was at my side in an instant, though the giant had focused its sight on the griffins. Kiara and Alexei’s eyes swept everywhere, looking for a way out.
“Use its antlers against it!” Emma cried. “It’s out of control!”
They got the idea. Alexei stepped forward in front of the giant, and flung his hands out. Though I couldn’t see the magic, I knew it had to be working, because the giant’s expression became infuriated. Alexei used his emotion magic to drive the giant into a blind rage. The giant reared his head back and gave a terrible sound before it put its antlers down, and charged once again.
Kiara and Alexei planted themselves in front of the biggest building they could. They didn’t get out of the way until the very last second. The giant smashed through the building, creating a huge hole— and an unstable foundation. The giant bellowed in a panic as the building toppled around him, burying him within the rubble.
The giant squirmed amongst the concrete and bricks, and the rubble began to shift. We’d pinned it, but not for long. Quickly, Kiara conjured a glowing yellow sword with her illusion magic. The sword was nearly as big as she was. She could barely lift it— she handed it to Alexei, who swung the sword above his head with two hands. He emitted a yell, and in one fell swoop, he cut straight through the giant’s neck.
The giant’s head rolled away, and its flailing legs went still. Alexei took a few deep breaths, calming himself down. We regrouped at the giant’s feet, each of us gasping for air.
There was a shrill shrieking that signaled the raptor was nearby. This was madness— it was as if once we killed one monster, another took its place, and we barely had time to recover from the last fight before we surged into another.
Emma leaned over her knees. Through our bond, I sensed her exhaustion, despite pulling from the wolven necklace. Emma was already getting tired. She was ill— she wouldn’t last as long as the rest of us.
“We must press on,” I said. I slapped Theo on the back, who was coughing from all the dust. “We don’t have a moment to rest.”
“Bud, we’ve only taken down two monsters in the city, and Gabby’s probably unleashed dozens,” Stefan said. “We only have so much strength to spare.”
“We keep fighting until we can no longer do so,” I said. “That’s our only option.”
Emma glanced at me, like she wasn’t sure, but it wasn’t like we had copious amounts of time to discuss.
The screeching of the raptor grew louder, and it spurred us onward. Following its sounds led us back to the city square. The Choosing stage had been completely destroyed, and the Christmas tree in the square had been set ablaze, burning like a beacon against the night. The wooden toy dragon of a little boy lay by the smoldering tree, broken in two. It was accompanied by the shoe of an infant, dotted with blood.
So much carnage. And for what? For my cousin to trick the city into thinking he was their only hope for survival? If I despised him before, I truly considered him an abomination now, for doing this to his own people.
There were more bodies here than in the rest of the city. The husk of the crow-creature lay abandoned. Gabby and Eli were nowhere to be seen. They’d certainly retreated to the palace to watch, or were keeping up appearances by pretending to slay monsters elsewhere.
We wound through the corpses scattered on the streets, keenly aware it was too quiet. The raptor’s cries had gone mute, and the silence that permeated the area screamed death. Emma held her cloak over her nose and mouth, to