As if Edan had summoned them from their hiding places, men rustled among the bushes on the hills. Arrows glinted in the sun. Archers.
My world began to reel, and all of me went numb. If we fled to the valley, the archers would kill us.
But if we stayed where we were, the foot soldiers would kill us.
I couldn’t move. My feet had rooted themselves into the earth. All I could do was watch the men run toward us, shaking their weapons and shouting battle cries that were lost in the wind.
Vachir led them, the string of coins and teeth around his neck jumping as he ran. He wore the same faded tunic I’d seen at dinner with Orksan and Korin—the tunic whose frayed sleeves I had mended for him.
“Surrender!” he boomed, loud and deep. “Surrender now, enchanter.”
Edan lifted his bow, pulling the string wide across his torso as he aimed. He fired three arrows in quick succession. Vachir eluded each shot, but the men behind him weren’t as lucky. Two fell. Vachir let out a shout, and his mercenaries stopped running. They reached behind their backs for their bows to return Edan’s favor.
Edan grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me behind a wide oak, pressing my back against its trunk. Arrows zoomed straight for us. Three, four, five arrows plunked into the oak’s bark, grazing Edan’s thigh and missing me by only a hair’s-breadth.
“Go!” Edan barked, pointing at the mountains up ahead.
I didn’t budge. “I’m not leaving you.” I held Edan’s dagger in my left hand, and with my right, I brandished my magic scissors.
“Happy as I am that you’re using your scissors,” he said dryly, “I’m not sure if this is the appropriate time to sew something.”
I ignored him and began cutting at the bush in front of me. As the scissors snipped, all I could think of was something to shield us from the furious onslaught of arrows. A minute later, I had crafted a brambly, densely woven thicket around us.
A round of arrows arced into the air. “Get down,” I cried.
Edan and I fell to our stomachs. “I must commend the creative use of your scissors,” he said between breaths.
The arrows pierced my barrier with strident plunks, and I choked back a cry. The thicket was dense enough to trap the arrows within its branches, but it wouldn’t hold for long. “Will you stop talking and get us out of here?”
Edan threw his cloak over me. His pupils dilated, his eyes yellowed. “Stay very still.”
Birds exploded from the trees. Swallows, falcons, hawks—there had to be thousands of them, so many that their wings raised a powerful wind, blowing apart my wall. I covered my face with my hands as the birds flew over us toward our attackers. Wings beat, shrieks echoed, and talons glinted as the birds dove and clawed at the mercenaries. Vachir yelled at his men, who had stopped shooting at us and instead pointed their weapons at the sky. “Push forward! Fire at the enchanter! The enchanter!”
Few listened to him. Dead birds fell, thumping to the ground, and all around them men screamed, clawing at their faces to try to get the birds off. But it was as if Edan had instilled in them some wild, violent spirit. The creatures were mad and bloodthirsty. They moved like a turbulent black haze, following the men who tried to run away. I almost pitied them. Almost.
Edan’s eyes blazed yellow now, and his face had gone very pale.
Then the clouds darkened. Rain pounded from the sky, and lightning struck the trees, making them topple down upon our attackers.
Beside me, Edan crouched, his arms folding over his legs as he began his transformation. Feathers sprouted over his skin and spine. A pair of wings erupted from his shoulders and fanned down across his arms. And with a flash, that familiar golden cuff anchored itself to his left talon.
Go.
He flapped his great black wings and soared up to join the birds, a shadowy fold against the dark sky.
I picked up Edan’s bow and ran toward Opal and Rook. “Come on!” I shouted at them. I vaulted onto Opal, grabbing her by the mane. “To the peak!”
The horses didn’t need a second warning. They galloped at full speed through the storm. I glanced over my shoulder once to see the birds descend again and again upon the men. Their screams grew distant, fading as I left them behind.