I struggled out of my sleeping pack and stood. The moon shone like a beacon far overhead, illuminating the camp. The world erupted into chaos. My thoughts were sluggish, reluctant to respond to the horrors that surrounded me. Adrenaline surged, pulling aside the layer of exhaustion, but everything seemed to be happening in slow-motion.

  Shadows leapt and prowled throughout the camp, moonlight reflecting on scales and fangs. Three large beasts tore at what remained of Hannah. They snarled and fought over her remains. Long serpentine tails wagged as they tugged her body in different directions. I felt a part of myself fracture at the sight, a heady sense of disassociation, as I tried to make sense of what was happening around me.

  A creature emerged from behind the cart and approached me. It was large, the size of a small horse but shaped like a wolf. Muscular and bipedal, its body was covered in smooth scales. Yellow eyes caught the moonlight and glowed, trained on me as it prowled forward. Two sharp, forward facing horns emerged above its eyes. It had a long snout.

  Sharp bones protruded down the spine of the beast. Its long tail ended in a sharp curve of bone. Four long talons tipped its scaled paws, sinking into the ground with each step.

  It paused for a half second, settling slightly on its haunches before leaping at me. Arlo stepped forward with a shout, his sword flashing as it caught the beast in a downward slash.

  I saw a name above the beast: Scaled Wolf.

  The scaled wolf howled, leaping to the side. The sword stuck fast in its shoulder and was pulled out of Arlo’s hand. The scaled wolf, with Arlo’s sword still sticking out of its shoulder, fled a few feet away with a limping gait.

  “Hannah!” Abernathy screamed, standing and pointing. Two more scaled wolves joined the three I had seen seconds ago, tearing at the limp form. There were no screams from amidst the carnage, only snarls, snaps of breaking bones, and the squelching of torn flesh.

  The injured wolf turned and leapt at Abernathy, who stood a few feet from where it jumped after being struck. An arrow took it in the eye. It crashed into the ground. Momentum caused it to slide a few feet.

  A cacophony of painful screams arose from the other caravan. The sound of broken glass was followed by a plume of flames, igniting one of the other caravan’s wagons. More screams, this time from within the wagon.

  The new screams were of a higher octave, they sounded like children. I pushed the thought away, looking around and trying to make sense of the chaos all around.

  Elsetha shouted from my right, pulling my attention away from the camp at the other end of the site. She struggled against another wolf, which had one of her legs in its mouth and was attempting to pull her into the night.

  Katarina kicked the scaled wolf in the side of the head. It released Elsetha and snapped at her. She dodged back before bringing a heel down on its nose.

  Her heel impacted with a thud and a crack, sending the wolf’s face down into the ground with a dull thump. The wolf whimpered and retreated, wiping at its snout with one paw and whining in an oddly high-pitched rumble.

  Two more scaled wolves lunged at Katarina in a pincer attack — from two directions at once. She leapt high over their snapping jaws and aimed a kick at each of their heads as she descended.

  One heel made contact with a dull crack, the scaled wolf collapsing. The other wolf swung its head around, dodging her heel, and bit down on Katarina’s ankle. It latched firmly onto her leg, yanking her out of the air and slamming her on the ground.

  I was needed. That broken, distant part of my mind screamed at me. Play the song! Any song! Do something! Anything!

  The wolf shook her violently, slamming her on the ground, whipping its head back and forth. Again. And Again. She screamed as the wolf tore her leg off just below the knee.

  Two scaled wolves separated from the pack that had killed Hannah and were chasing Tobias, who ran for Balen’s cart. He put an arrow in one of their ears, missing the other shots and leaping up on top of the driver’s seat.

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  Another wolf separated and ran for Abernathy, who dove for the space below Balen’s cart. Balen, who had apparently been hiding below the cart, cried out in consternation as the wolf dove under the cart after Abernathy.

  I lurched forward in a panic, echoes of Katarina’s laughs from the day before ringing in my mind. I swung my lute at the wolf near Katarina. It dodged to the side, swallowed her leg in two quick bites, and lunged at me. Two rows of alternating, razor sharp fangs glistened in the moonlight.

  A bolt of fire hit the scaled wolf’s face, a sphere no larger than a marble that erupted on impact, immolating the scaled wolf’s head in a pillar of roaring flame. It fell to the floor, its head a smoldering skull. Charred hair and flesh joined the smell of blood in the night air.

  I glanced over and saw Elsetha, hand extended toward the wolf and breathing heavily. Blood stained the side of her leg, but the bleeding had stopped. She scowled at the corpse, turning around.

  Arlo fought another two wolves just past Elsetha. The pair of wolves fought with brutal, synchronized efficiency, scoring alternating hits against Arlo as his attention was split between the two.

  I released the stored Radiant Winds from my lute, sending the orbs at one of the wolves attacking Arlo. The orbs streamed around Elsetha as I guided them directly into the beast’s face. Its health plummeted, blinking away as the tenth orb hit. The wolf collapsed, its face a burned ruin.

  The second wolf, caught off guard by the sudden loss of coordinated teamwork, faltered for a second. Arlo bashed it, dazing it long enough to bring a hand axe down on its head.

  A wildcat screamed — no, it was Balen — as he was dragged out from beneath the cart and away from the camp. The rest of the wolves around Hannah’s body lifted their heads for a moment before chasing after, yipping in excitement.

  Two of the three covered wagons in the other caravan were burning pyres, but the elven woman and two of the human men were rallying beside their third. I couldn’t hear screams from that area any longer, only the elven woman’s barked orders and disciplined shouts of response from her two men.

  The two humans wielded large spears with brutal efficiency, whirling the spears in wide arcs and keeping the scaled wolves at bay. The elven woman had snared a wolf in a net and was repeatedly stabbing it with a wicked trident.

  I ran over to Katarina as Abernathy emerged from around the other side of the wagon.

  “It got Balen,” he shouted, “because of me!”

  “Help me with Katarina!” I shouted back. “Quick!”

  Katarina’s severed leg no longer bled. It looked like she had taken a healing potion, which had sealed and healed the wound. It had not restored the missing limb. She looked dazed.

  I reached down, grabbing her under one arm as a sobbing Abernathy grabbed her under the other. We lifted her up.

  “There!” I shouted, pointing to the other camp, “They’re fighting them off! We’re stronger together!”

  We started jogging that way, half dragging Katarina. I heard a cry and looked around. A scaled wolf bounded out of camp with Elsetha, limp, in its jaws. Arlo chased after it.

  I looked around, focusing on getting to the other side of the way-station camping area. We passed Hannah’s ruined remains and I looked away and back at Arlo.

  Three large shadows descended upon him. His shouts ended.

  “Go, go, go,” I said, “We’re almost there!”

  The trio saw us approaching and shifted their position, allowing us to get between them and their wagon. The brilliant flames from the other two wagons lit up the surrounding area but also created a ring of extending blackness beyond the fire’s light.

  We leaned Katarina against one of the wagon wheels. I looked around.

  “Where’s Tobias?” I asked. I looked around but couldn’t see him. Then I spotted him. He stood atop the carriage we had been guarding, rapidly firing arrows. I could barely make out his figure in the night-blindness caused by the burning carts nearby, but I felt relief at seeing him alive.

  “I’ll be right back, I need to get a friend,” I shouted, and began playing Cahl’s Tatsu Pizzicato. I focused on breathing, and the song, vanishing into the night as the music enveloped me. I started walking back across the corpse-strewn camp.

  Most of my attention was on the song, and maintaining a careful pace as I approached the cart. I heard a few shouts from behind, but paid them no heed. Snarls and howls echoed in the night from all directions. The song. All that mattered was the song.

  We learned something about Cahl’s Tatsu during my hours of practice over the last two days. The appearance of the song was different for members of my team. What appeared as nothing to Balen, the song covering all traces of sight and soft sounds in a dome of invisibility and limited silence, instead appeared as a distinctive dome of swirling blue energy to the eyes of my team.

  Tobias saw me approaching and leapt from the cart, rolling into the Tatsu’s circle of influence. Lesh soared in and landed on his shoulder, nuzzling his neck. I turned and started walking back to the other camp, all of my focus on the song and putting one foot in front of the other.