they crept up the rest of her body, streaming through her face until they finally hit her eyes. The two orbs blackened into dark pits.
The troll stiffened, raising his ax as he adjusted his stance. Diana leaned heavily against him in his arms, assailed continuously with the agony of the collapsing forest as her body spasmed intermittently. She stared at the dryad through half-closed eyes, a spirit of suffering stalking toward them. Alseida didn’t merely want her dead. She wanted her to suffer and bleed. She wanted to see her beg.
Hopelessness rolled over her. Within that darkness she felt familiar sparks flowing toward them, rolling hungry, angry energy, tearing through the creatures that slid over Arx and fell into their path. The crocotta!
Diana’s lips slowly parted, a grim smile tugging at them as she met the dryad’s empty eyes. “Fuck you, Alseida,” she croaked. “You won’t have the forest. The forest will have you… It will consume you and feast upon your bones.”
The dryad laughed. “And just how will you manage that, little human?”
“Not me,” Diana wheezed. “Them…”
A side tunnel ripped open through the walls from the outer courtyard as the massive bulk of the crocotta clan barreled through, their eyes glinting with a peculiar glow as Alseida met their gaze. Her body stiffened as she froze, unable to escape as they slammed into the dryad. They warbled and snarled as their teeth sank into her, tearing and goring as vines snapped out from the ground and walls.
The first vine speared her, leafy tendrils borrowing through her. Each tendril burst ragged open wounds from her body in dozens of places as the dryad shrieked and struggled. The crocotta backed away, their sides heaving as more vines sank into the nymph. They stabbed into her flesh, piercing through her body to hold her aloft before slamming her against the wall.
Vines slid down the wall, reaching for her as the remaining upraised vines wound around her, their thorns stabbing into her as they anchored her high against the wall, nestled into the hanging vines flowing all around her. Her cries were swallowed by the thick layers of Arx’s vines until all that remained uncovered was the head of the nymph that sagged forward, groaning with pain.
Raskyuil’s grip tightened around Diana as he stepped away from the gruesome sight. The solid sound of impact jerked his head around, staring down the dark hallway from which they’d come. Diana looked over his shoulder, her breath rattling in raspy pants as one heavy footfall was followed by another, the sound of hooves crunching over debris as their pursuer drew closer.
The crocotta whined and backed away as Raskyuil stumbled back. Diana’s mouth went dry as the beast stepped into the low light of the remaining glow pods that clung to the walls. Large, malformed hooves the size of dinner plates rang against the stone flooring as four giant legs met a torso resembling the shape of a horse.
Deep red in color, he appeared almost as an unnatural centaur warped with spikes. Curved horns erupted from the skin along his spine and flanks. His red cheeks bulged with tusks, licks of fire and smoke drifting from between his lips before a long, thick tongue swept out, tasting the air with small flicks before retracting into his gaping mouth.
His eyes turned toward Alseida, who strained against her bindings.
“Help me! Free me, my king, so we can destroy them—together as we are meant to,” she whispered.
The crocotta danced further away as Raskyuil backed quietly from the dryad, taking pains not to draw attention to them. Cacus’s heavy hoofs echoed as he took slow measured steps toward the nymph, his eyes narrowing on her thoughtfully.
“Poor little love,” he crooned in a deep, echoing voice. Despite his words, there was an edge of mockery to his voice as he stepped closer. His tongue slipped out of his wide mouth, sliding over her face to trail down her neck. Withdrawing it, he chuckled malevolently, the sound crawling over Diana’s skin as she silently counted each slow, sliding step that Raskyuil took, backing them toward the hidden courtyard.
Alseida’s eyes widened. “Cacus, please. Free me. I’m your mate. We joined beneath the dark of the moonless night.”
His head cocked as he studied the dryad. “Yes,” he hissed slowly. “An unworthy mate, so easily ensnared. I will swallow your essence and make you one with me. Better to try again with a more deserving female,” he growled. “You have served your purpose.”