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Feathers tore away in Magiere's hooked fingers, and a squealing caw echoed through the chamber.
Torn black feathers turned to vapor before they reached the floor.
The shine upon the raven's plumaged faded as it righted its tumbling body. Magiere whipped the falchion in the air, and it wheeled away out of reach.
Leesil didn't know what these creatures were, but he saw an advantage.
Magiere's falchion inflicted true injury on an undead, so these birds were something akin. And when they couldn't harm her in their shadow state, one had appeared to turn solid for an instant.
"Watch for light on their feathers!" he shouted as Sgaile rose and backed toward Magiere. "That's when they can be struck!"
Leesil reached for Osha to drag him clear of the wall.
The black shadow of a wolf's head thrust through the stone, its jaws spreading wide.
Wy
Her pity mixed with fear as she tried to read aloud from pieces of writing on the walls. Every word drew a cringe from the pale woman, though her eyes were filled with hunger for the sound. She had been alone for so long that she no longer recognized the wall writings as her own. Chap urged Wy
He was able to gather that Li'kan had been one of three guardians who once existed in this place, perhaps as far back as its original construction. She was the only one left.
Though Li'kan had the attributes of a vampire, Chap sensed no hunger in her, at least not for the blood of the living. What sustained her remained a mystery.
Time and again, Wy
Some writings described events Wy
Wy
Li'kan's fascination with her voice, her words, seemed to be all that was keeping Wy
Chap stayed close, but often, Wy
He suddenly pricked his ears and looked to the doorway.
Li'kan rose fluidly to her feet, turning the same way.
"What is it?" Wy
From a distance, she heard a voice shouting, and then the hint of metal striking something hard.
Li'kan darted out of the study. Chap lunged for the doorway, halting to look about the outer corridor, and Wy
Outside, the passage had dimmed once more. Had they been in this chamber all day? But Wy
Stay behind me, Chap ordered as he trotted out.
Wy
Chap rounded the corner ahead of Wy
Li'kan did not even flinch as waning daylight slipped across her naked body.
The shouting ahead grew louder, and Wy
"Watch for light on their feathers!"
Li'kan swerved left into the opening of a narrow passage.
"That was Leesil!" Wy
Li'kan raced out the corridor's distant end. The space beyond was lit by a soft amber glow. Chap bolted out, leaving Wy
Magiere stood in a huge chamber before a wide staircase, and shadow ravens circled high above. Leesil reached for Osha, crouching beside a broad archway.
A wolf shadow lunged from the wall, directly behind them, snapping at Osha's leg.
"More damned dead!" Leesil spit.
He jerked Osha aside, and the lanky elf tumbled away as the wolf's transparent jaws closed on air. Another wolf shot from the small passage on the chamber's far side, and it charged at Sgaile. For an instant, amber light glittered upon black fur and eyes.
Images of Li'kan mangling the two anmaglahk flashed into Wy
"Li'kan, stop this!" she shouted.
Leesil spun about at her cry, as Sgaile ducked around the stone banister, poised to strike the wolf coming for him. Leesil ran to Wy
The ravens lighted upon the stairway's rail high above.
Both wolves came to a halt, poised as their heads turned toward their mistress.
Li'kan stood staring at Magiere.
Magiere's eyes were flooded pure black, and a livid snarl twisted her face. She lifted the falchion, gripping it with both hands, and closed on Li'kan.
"No!" Wy
Magiere looked into the naked undead's teardrop-shaped eyes. This thing had to be one of the "old ones" that Welstiel had hinted at. But the woman looked nothing like what Magiere had expected. Frail and small, too tiny to be a true threat.
Yet she had taken two anmaglahk before they could fight back. And she had stolen Chap and Wy
Magiere wanted her head.
She swung the falchion back and up. Both hands gripped the hilt as it rose past her shoulder. When she charged, she faltered at a glint of metal.
"No!" someone cried.
Magiere saw the thick ends of red-gold metal with protruding knobs about the undead's slim throat. The white woman sprung forward with a silent snarl, and Magiere twisted aside, bringing her sword down. A frail white hand caught the falchion's blade, and the sword stopped without cutting through.
The impact shuddered through Magiere's arms and into her shoulders. The little woman wrenched the blade aside, and it twisted in Magiere's grip. This only made her angrier, and her hunger erupted.
"Leesil, stop her-she ca
Magiere heard Leesil's name, and her eyes shifted once to find him. Wy
The woman's colorless eyes widened, mirroring Magiere's hunger. She shook, and her mouth gaped, exposing sharp teeth.
Magiere released one hand from the falchion's hilt and grabbed for the undead's white throat. More quickly, the woman latched her other hand around Magiere's wrist.
They stood straining against each other. Black fluids ran down the falchion from between the white undead's fingers. Magiere tried to press her blade forward but couldn't, and her boots started to slide upon the stone floor. One of her legs began to buckle.
She let one knee drop to the floor, then thrust upward with her whole body.
The white woman's narrow feet lifted sharply, but her grips tightened on Magiere's wrist and sword. Magiere pivoted before the undead could come down, and whipped the woman's small body in an arc.
Glistening black hair snapped wildly around the woman's white face, until her body slammed into the stairway's side. The stone railing shattered, scattering pieces across the floor.
The grip on Magiere's wrist broke, but the woman's momentum jerked Magiere off her feet. Her sword clattered from her hand as she hit the floor and rolled onto all fours.