This time, I was ready. I knew he'd be back. He had to be back.

The darkness was thick. Koren didn't say anything when I woke to take the watch from him. His stoic demeanor returned, features inscrutable. I watched him settle down to sleep. His silent form rose and fell by the time it finally happened. The shadow was back. I shoved the anger down as it automatically rose in my throat.

"Your companions fear you."

"Can't blame them can I?" I couldn't keep the twinge of bitterness out of my voice.

"You, most of all, fear yourself."

I leaned back against a tree and sighed. "This—magic—inside, it's, it's, angry. I need to keep it from lashing out."

"The blade of the Solace is double-edged. With power comes vulnerability, with strength, weakness. Which a man takes is his choice alone."

"I don't need 'power', I need to be whole, I need to be, I don't know, myself again. Can you give me that?"

"My journey was meant to save a life, or lives—I knew not how many the prince would take. But you... my journey now could save thousands, if only you will walk the difficult road."

Does he speak in anything but riddles? "We both know I need help. I didn't before, but now..." I glanced at the still forms of my friends.

"This mantle will not crush you beneath its weight. Our agreement, however, hinges upon you seeing this task through to its conclusion. I must have your vow."

Accept a mission I know nothing about? I bit my lip. There aren't any other options. "Fine. If I even make it long enough to see it through," I added.

"Then I will save you from yourself."

Crickets chirped under dim moonlight. "What is it you really want from all this?"

"Justice. For those betrayed and condemned."

It didn't answer my question, but there were other times for that. The shroud lurked beneath the surface of my thoughts and below it boiled anger. "Then tell me—what is it I have to do?"

* * *

The firelight flickered outside the tent, sending shadows dancing across the canvas. They followed no rhythm or melody, but leapt and twisted silently however the flame dictated. Their plight went unnoticed by the tent's sole inhabitant, who sat motionless in the corner, cross-legged.

He wore a long, dark cloak that pooled onto the ground around him, blending his silhouette with the shadows filling the tent. The cowl was pulled down low and his eyes were closed as if in peaceful sleep.

Movement at the tent's flap signaled the entrance of a breathless young man. He stood at attention just inside and cleared his throat nervously.

The cloaked man didn't move a muscle.

"Sir?" The messenger asked timidly.

He rose gracefully from the ground, so fluid it seemed he levitated to his feet. A full head taller than the young messenger, his cowl almost brushed the tent's ceiling.

"News from D'ulk-kyra?"

The boy nodded but hesitated to speak.

"No need to fear Hirkhiu, bearing bad news is no crime."

The boy made no farther move into the room but seemed reassured enough to speak. "The council has granted us—er, you—permission to use extreme measures to eliminate the Solace."

"And the bad news?" The man's puzzled expression melted into a scowl as the tent flap once again parted.

"Good evenin' sir, it's good to see you lookin so well." The newcomer was tall, clad head to foot in glimmering armor, the insignia of Reill stamped on his pauldron.

"Reill has sent us... reinforcements." The boy was practically shaking in his boots next to the knight, who for all the world looked at home in the dark tent.

The armored figure locked eyes with the cloaked one. The knight lowered his voice to a growl. "My superiors grow impatient, prince. They had 'oped your men were as skilled as they are feared."

He struck a nerve and he knew it.

The other man clenched his fists. "The Ska'al are trained to enforce justice from the day they are born. The Baldük will not rest until the Solace meets a fitting end."

"And when will tha' be eh?" The knight leaned casually against a tent pole. The entire room shifted. "Hopefully 'fore the whole countryside lies in ruin." He lowered his voice again. "Aelridia rules tha' the killing must stop."

"We will not go back on our word, commander."

"See to it." Spinning on his heel, the solider pushed past the pale messenger and swaggered out, muddy footprints trailing behind him.

The tent flap swished shut. The cloaked man's knuckles were white as he ground a knife into a nearby table, the wood groaning under polished steel that drove deep under crushing weight. The table split and the man tossed his knife aside with a practiced flick of the wrist. He stalked over to the boy and drew up his full height.

The boy stood frozen in terror, unsure whether to look up or run.

Suddenly the man laughed, and he flinched.

"Aelridia believes the Ska'al need assistance hunting the Solace and have sent their own piles of metal to strut amongst the Baldük elite. Shall we demonstrate the error of their ways?" He lifted the quaking messenger's chin. "You. Are to go to Reill to report the death of Aelridia's reinforcements. Tell them that the Solace becomes bold, killing within our very ranks."

"S-sir?" Hirkhiu's voice was a squeak. "Th-they've only j-just arrived!"

"Then let's not waste their time." He brushed past and vanished outside, leaving the boy to take deep breaths before he set off to Reill with more bad news.

* * *

It seemed so normal.

The sun was just rising from an ocean of fog, our little camp an island floating in the sea. Light danced across the hilltops, leaping gracefully from island to island until I could barely see but for the blinding horizon. It bathed my face in warmth and I closed my eyes, drinking in the bittersweet calm. The air was still, with no breeze to disturb the peaceful pools of mist.

It consumes all.

Invasive thoughts cut through the stillness.

"...the magic consumes those who wield it unless they wield with great strength." The cloaked man's cryptic words were doing laps in my head.

"And you know how to do that? How? And why would you?" I had fired off questions fast.

"I have trained many Solace across many lifetimes, watched them rise and fall, some consumed in the blaze of Solace magic, some passing on by that ancient sickness—age. I will train you under one condition, and one only. You must destroy Prince Bërrha, the very man who hunts you."

I shuddered again, the chill racing back up my spine from the night before.

"You want to turn me into a weapon."

He'd pondered me long and hard. "Weapons by nature are neither good nor evil—a weapon's use determines its merit. A weapon you may be, but one meant to purge this world of great evil."

I lifted my face to the morning's now-dazzling sun and shook my head. This man wanted to sharpen me as he would a blade—but was I any better off as a firebomb set to explode against my friends? And that one tantalizing detail, that final whisper in the night to spark in my soul's ashes...

"An old man may have one final reward for such a dangerous proposal. Your Bond..."

"Lylisia? What about her?" My heart was racing again as I watched the pools of fog.

"She—"

"I miss her too Sedris." Andrin broke abruptly into my thoughts.

I jumped, my heart already beating fast, not even realizing he was awake. He was also soaked in light, his gray skin almost iridescent.

He gave me an apologetic smile. "Sorry Sed, you just mumbled her name. I guess I just figured, you know, with all this," he gestured to the pristine sunrise, "it's so weird... sorry."

I wanted to say something, but a nod of agreement was all I could think of. It wasn't supposed to feel normal, but nothing felt unusual. Nothing about the peaceful morning mourned.

"I miss her a lot actually," he said. "I need you guys, all of you. I lost her—er, sorry, we lost her, and now I'm just, just afraid I might lose you too."

"Andrin..."

"I know, I don't know what it's like, but I'm here for you, and Koren is too even when it seems like he isn't, he's scared just like us."

"I am scared." It was heavy, to know Andrin needed me. But maybe... maybe being needed was a blessing. "I'll try, Andrin. I'll try."

He gave me a small smile, just a shadow of the usual grin. My heart ached that he had been robbed of that.

I was about to reply when a distant howl broke the silence.

Frozen, I exchanged a look with Andrin before Koren was awake and barking orders.

"Andrin, bedrolls, just tie them and toss us each one. Sedris, the food, throw it in someone's pack, anyone's, it doesn't matter." He was strapping down the rest of our belongings, stowing utensils and clothes inside any pocket he could reach. "Ska'al hounds, what else," he muttered darkly.

"I thought the hounds were just a story, have you even seen one?" Andrin threw a bedroll that nearly scattered the armful of mushrooms I'd gathered up.

"No, but I hear them, is there anything else—" Another howl split the air. "—anything else you need to believe it?!"

"Good enough for me," I mumbled.

"Good. Let's go."

* * *

Our path snaked down into the morning mist, through winding ravines and across vast canyon beds. The howls sounded from steadily closer, some in the north and south, others from the east behind us. We were going as fast as we could, but Koren's injury from the first Ska'al was clearly slowing him down. I did my best to keep up with Andrin, but the harsh reality of the Solace was sinking in. Koren could draw strength from Andrin through their Bond—I was all on my own.

"We need to keep moving Sedris, I can feel them closing in," Koren hissed from just a few steps ahead. "If we can make it out of these canyons..."

"Then... what?" I was breathing hard.

"Maybe they would lose us in the trees, or a river could get them off our scent," Koren rattled off.

"You act like we know where those things are, and how would that really help?" Andrin said. "Maybe we could find an outcrop to hide, maybe they don't even know they're following us!"

I let the Animaré's argument fade a bit, doubling over for a second to catch my breath. Heartbeat pounding in my ears, I saw the world going a bit fuzzy. The Solace magic was agitated, but I couldn't tell if its rage or my fear was coming out on top, just that the nausea was rising.

What can we even do? It was hard not to wonder with Andrin how we were getting out of this. We'd only heard four or five distinct hounds, but how many more could there be? Five, ten? Twenty? And the Ska'al... I shuddered. We'd barely survived a fight with one alone. How could we possibly kill more?

In my mind's eye, Andrin's broadsword burst once again through the Ska'al's chest in a scream of metal on metal.

Shaking my head quickly, I glanced up to see Andrin and Koren disappear between two boulders. One step toward them was when I heard panting, and a thumpthumpthump on stone.

I barely had time to glance back before a huge dog flew around the corner. It was thirty feet away, but I would've been dead if not for some miraculous stroke of luck as the thing slipped and slammed into the rock wall. It stumbled for a second, dazed and frothing at the mouth, before beady eyes locked onto me and it charged.

I broke into a sprint, forgetting the fatigue in my limbs, yelling my lungs hoarse for Andrin and Koren. I could almost feel the dog's ragged breathing on the back of my neck and its heavy steps shaking the ground. Another hurried glance over my shoulder gave me a quick distance check. The thing was gaining, fast, drool flying behind it, fur glinting dully in sun—

Glinting?

Andrin already had his Naem-shul drawn when I flew past him, not even offering a word of explanation—anyone a mile ahead could hear the beast behind me. Koren didn't waste a second starting after Andrin before we heard the sizzle of Naem-shul on metal.

The dog had armor.

Andrin rocketed into view, leaving a viciously howling dog behind him. "That's not all!"

He slowed just enough to drag me into a sprint beside him and keep moving. I tossed a glance over my shoulder as Koren dropped in at our heels, his limp vanishing in the adrenaline.

"Can't we... deal with one?" I swallowed my next words as finally I heard what the Animaré felt in the currents. Barks, angry ones, and far too many.

"Sedris keep up," Koren barked, yanking my arm to keep me from falling behind.

My limbs were starting to freeze up as fear crept up on me. I had been in tough situations. We'd been hideously outmatched before. But this was different. Somehow this time the fear was intoxicating. Never before had I faced those odds powerlessly. I always knew I could trust my Animaré—I could trust my Naem-shul.

"Move!"

A rock snagged my toe and I went tumbling to the ground, my body preserving my momentum with a few rolls. I just had time to see Koren decapitate another hound that caught up before I was scrambling to my feet. No magic. No Naem-shul.

They catch me, I'm dead.

Hugging the cliff wall, I passed Andrin in a blur of terror before almost falling again on a pile of rocks blocking the way forward. Before I knew it, I'd flown clear over a boulder in one leap, only to turn straight around for one precious second.

"Rockslide! Koren, rockslide it's a path, here, go up here!" The words came tumbling out of my mouth, my voice hoarse from panic.

Koren careened into view again, blood spattered over his arm. The color drained from my face and I didn't think twice before scrambling up the pile of boulders filling the entrance to a crevice in the rock face. Turning back, a gruesome scene unfolded before me.

Naturally uneven footing left the dogs to stream around the corner clumsily, but there were twenty of them at least. The Animaré leapt from boulder to fallen tree to the ground faster than the dogs could follow them, slicing at the thickly armored beasts as they went. The hulking creatures were bigger than any dog I'd ever seen—it didn't even seem right to call them that. These were monsters, each a hundred pounds of muscle, with sharp teeth and vicious bites. One wrong move and either of my friends could be missing a chunk of their leg. Koren and Andrin fought together, slowly striking blows to the dogs without getting too close, or too far apart.

My hands were shaking and sweaty. Fury swirled within my chest at the cruelty of the enemy, to breed creatures to kill. Magic tingled at my fingertips. One mistake and an Animaré could go down in an instant—the killers only need one mistake. And what could I do but watch?

I watched from safety as my friends fought for their lives. Again. This was how I saw Lylisia fall, from a cliff, out of reach. Fear shattered the Solace magic's hunger for blood, shattered it like her shield had shattered. And now, again, all I could do was watch.

My ears were bleeding from the howls as the dogs dropped off one by one. Their numbers were thinning, falling to powerful magic wielded by the Animaré. The Naem-shul were seemingly unstoppable, never missing their target, no swing ever catching air. But still, it only took one miss.

And then it was happening all at once.

Koren's footing slipped and he stumbled, now diving to the side so two dogs wouldn't pounce on him. His katana swung wildly to ward off another, but at least six of the remaining dogs sensed the weakness and closed in.

Useless warnings tumbled from my mouth even as my body tumbled down the landslide, my cries drowned by those of the hounds.

I had to help him, but what was I even going to do against one hound, let alone a half dozen? It didn't matter. Hunting knife in hand, I stumbled toward my friend.

Out of seemingly nowhere Andrin appeared, gracefully stepping up to aim a huge swing clean through three dogs at once. His large frame and broadsword were enough to deal fatal blows to all of them before they even knew he was there. Another beast lunged for Koren's clumsily swinging sword arm. The katana melted instantly, and just as quickly a dagger shone in his other hand. He plunged it straight through the dog's forehead the second it took the bait.

I saw Koren exchange a nod with Andrin as they closed in on the other two, now trapped, hounds. His cool expression darkened when he caught sight of me, just as I figured it out myself.

It had always been a trap. The dogs were meant to pounce on Koren, they were supposed to see him fall—and somehow I fell for it too, not feeling the shift in the currents as the Animaré signaled each other, too blind to see Andrin disengage briefly to put himself in perfect position to strike.

And before I could flee back to my ledge, before I could get out of their way and let my friends save the day, the monsters spotted the weak link.

A snarl sounded behind me and I found myself nose to nose with a huge dog, even bigger than some of the others. It stood almost at eye level with me, its legs full of bulging muscle, its bone-white fangs bared. A wound at the beast's side oozed blood where a Naem-shul had pierced its armor, which only served to make it angrier.

It gave a low growl and then pounced. At that moment, Andrin came flying in, throwing his weight straight into the lunging monster's side, sending them both sprawling. This time it wasn't a bait as the two grappled in the dust. The hound's full weight landed on the Animaré and winded him, which gave it ample time to sink its teeth into anything it could find. I heard Andrin bite back a scream as fangs found flesh, and then felt something just... snap inside me.

I'm not losing anyone else.

Koren was already fighting his way over, already batting the last hounds' bites away, but I surged forward anyway, driven by a hate I couldn't place, an anger that welled up from deep within. The magic roared and I struck, a warm fountain of red blood anointing my pale fist. It was like lightning crackled between my fingertips, and every stab with the knife was a jolt to my weary soul.

The Solace magic's rage blinded me, and I drove the knife deeper into the monster's flesh. I didn't feel its writhing. I didn't hear its howls. I didn't smell its blood. I only smelled its putrid breath in my face, only heard the rush in my ears, and only felt power in my soul. We were rolling in the dust now, one mass of fur and blood and exhilaration. I just kept striking, striking, striking whatever I could find, breathing magic into my lungs with every ragged breath.

My knife disappeared into the monster's ribcage and only after what seemed an eternity did I finally stop, shaking, and fall to the ground.

The magic burned out and left me empty. No longer powerful, just dirty, trembling, and weak.

Andrin was crouched in front of me. He was lopsided and blurry, his voice a faint echo. Blood trickled down my forehead and dropped off my nose. The magic receded and coiled in my soul. It purred in satisfaction, but left me all alone in the aftermath.

"S-Sedris?" Andrin's voice still sounded faint.