caterwauling cry that prickled the hair on my arms. I gripped Skalei tighter, ready to fight if I had to.
As I steadied my breath, a shadow fell over the entrance of the tomb, and my heart skipped a beat. “Ali?”
Galin. Quietly, I crept to the doorway of the tomb and peeked out. Galin stood on the path not twenty feet away, looking for me.
“Over here,” I whispered.
He spun around to face me, then hurried over. “Thank the gods you’re still okay.”
He’d been disarmed. “Where’s your sword?” I asked.
“Broke it on a boar. Those things have hides of steel.”
“Thyra and Ilvis are dead. I couldn’t—” A boar screamed again, and my stomach flipped. My Night Elf eyes strained, staring into the darkness, until I saw movement along the crest of the hillside opposite us. The silhouette of an enormous creature, its heavy footfalls shaking the ground.
My stomach clenched as a new pair of shadows came running along the path, closer to us. The boar was charging two people, and it took me a moment to realize who they were—Revna and Sune. The dumbasses’ shrieking was drawing the attention of the boar, and they were rushing down the hill for our hiding spot.
“Galin! I know you’re near! I can feel your power. You have to help us!” Revna cried. To my horror, she and Sune were running right for our tomb. My future tomb, if she didn’t fuck off.
From the top of the ridge, the boar bellowed, charging for Revna as she led it to us. I heard Galin growl as she and Sune ran inside.
The entire tomb shook as the boar slammed into the entrance. Bits of ice and marble rained down on us from the ceiling. I coughed as rock-dust filled the interior.
The boar howled and screamed like a banshee. Its massive head filled the doorframe, tusks jutting into the empty space. Grunting and twisting its shoulders, it tried desperately to squeeze inside, but its body was too big. It snorted loudly, filling the tiny room with the stench of its breath. By now, I was pressed up against the wall, Galin standing in front of me like a shield.
Then, the boar stepped back and disappeared into the wintery darkness.
The sound of heavy breathing filled the tomb, each of us gasping for breath.
“Did it leave?” asked Sune.
Before I could say, “I doubt it,” the boar barreled into the marble doorway like a wrecking ball. Again, the rock shook and dust rained down on us. This stupid beast wasn’t going to stop until it got us.
“We can’t stay in here,” I said quickly.
Revna stared at me like I was a complete idiot. “If we go outside, the boar will kill us.”
I pointed to the ceiling, which had cracked open from the force of the attack. Great chunks of marble threatened to rain down on us. “The roof is going to collapse. If we stay, we’ll be buried alive. Not to mention that that thing is absolutely strong enough to break in here and eat us.”
The boar had disappeared into the darkness, quiet again. In the moonlight, I could just about make out the shape of the beast turning around, steam rising from its back and snout. In seconds, it would be charging us again, and we’d be buried under marble.
I had to do something. As a Night Elf, I’d have the best chance of seeing the boar in the darkness of the tomb. I recalled Skalei and crouched, readying myself, praying for the roof to hold.
The boar charged again, smashing itself into the entrance like a freight train. Dust rained down, and stone shifted above us, but the ceiling didn’t collapse. As the boar thrashed in the doorway, I leapt forward, trying to plunge Skalei into its cheek. Despite the ferocity of my attack, I hardly made a dent. Boar hide, it turned out, was the one thing a shadow blade couldn’t slice.
The boar screamed, so loud and close it felt like it was ripping my brain open. Then, its tongue lashed out, twisting around my ankle like the coils of a snake.
Galin lunged toward me, grabbing for my arm. But the boar was too fast, ripping me out of the tomb, dragging me into the wintery night. Snow filled my mouth and eyes. Frantically, I wiped it away only to smell the stench of the boar and to see the blood of the elves it had already eaten dripping from the ends of its tusks. I knew that in moments,