Sergrud ran into the forest. Five years of waiting, of planning, of surviving in the wilderness. All wasted. Wasted because Mensikhana fell for the damned dezar’s manipulation. And because of Teja’s betrayal. Five years they’d worked together, and the stupid cat had thrown it all away.

  He’d be back soon enough. Back to kill them all. Make the survivors beg for mercy, plead on their knees to make him jarl and Kriegsharr again. All the leaders had to go. Tulun, Gannuk, Mensikhana. All of them would burn.

  Just as soon as he got these damned pursuers off his tail.

  The voidtouched captain and the canin runner. They’d been waiting just outside the village. He’d gotten past them well enough, but their pursuit was dogged. Relentless. He was faster than either. Or would have been if not for the spear wound Gannuk gave him. Pain spasmed through his back with every step. Even tightening the armor straps only held the wound enough to staunch the bleeding, not stop the pain.

  Another glance back as their crunching steps followed him. Still on his tail. Not gaining. Even losing ground. But still after him. Imperial runners were usually Farwalkers, vis devoting all their power to endurance. Not the fastest, but able to run forever. This runner...she was faster than many he’d seen. And canin eyes could see in the darkness, especially on a moonlit night like this. The snow left his trail obvious. Even if he got clear, truly losing someone like that was impossible.

  And then there was the voidtouched. Aven Arvanius. Chasing him once again, impotent as before. Unlike in the Hellfrost raid, he wasn’t slowing down. He was keeping pace with the runner step-for-step. His legs were...shifted. Longer, shins stretching, lifting up so the trousers only came down to mid calf. The skin visible barely looked flesh at all, a mass of black cords that rippled with every stride. What kind of monster was this?

  Sergrud had killed plenty of monsters. If these two wanted to chase him down, he’d reward them for catching him.

  He reached back. Still had half a dozen hunting javelins from the earlier hunt, plus his proper longspear.

  The trees cleared ahead. A good spot.

  Across the clearing, waiting until the pursuers were clear of the treeline, he whirled. Hunter’s Mind focused driving out distractions. No fear. No thoughts of revenge. All of that was the distant future. Now was the hunt. Vis poured through his body, launching the javelin with a roar.

  The canin dodged aside. But the javelin caught her in the shoulder. She went down.

  Voidtouched didn’t slow, leaping over the canin. Sergrud withdrew another javelin, hefted it. Hunter’s Mind focused, narrowing the world to only the monster chasing him.

  The monster split in two. Two Arvaniuses, joined only by a shadowy thread. Two moving in unison, both flickering with voidmist. Both with massive claws bursting from their outer arms.

  Petty tricks and illusions wouldn’t fool the Hunter’s Mind. He focused. First on the right figure. Saw past the flickering mist. Right through the incorporeal figure. The fake.

  He launched the javelin, and the real Arvanius barely got his voidarm up in time. The javelin pierced right through, beyond the void construct into the arm behind it. The voidtouched screamed, backed away. Charge halted.

  Sergrud laughed. Stupid. They had their victory, drove him out of Frostwood. Couldn’t leave well enough alone though. Had to chase after him. Had to run to their deaths. Now they’d die.

  He launched the next javelin. Arvanius swatted that one again. Then took the one sticking out of his arm and ripped it right out.

  “Probably should have left that in,” Sergrud laughed. A good hunting javelin, barbed to lodge deep into a beast’s hide. Ripping it out like that would-

  Hells. It wasn’t blood that poured out. It was black, thick tar that released mist up into the air. Just like a voidspawn’s blood.

  “What in the hells are you?” Sergrud gaped.

  The voidtouched grit his teeth. Voidclaw jabbed right into the wound open, yanking the skin back together. Weaving through it like stitches, then pulling tight. The flow of black blood stopped.

  “I’m Hellfrost’s friendly monster,” the voidtouched grinned.

  Sergrud shook his head, “Some monster you are, letting the empire order you around. You’re no monster. Just a dog, and that scribbler’s got your leash.”

  “You’d know about being a dog,” Arvanius said, pacing to the side.

  Idiot probably thought he was being clever. Thought that Sergrud wouldn’t notice the canin runner circling through the trees the other way.

  “You were a dog for the empire,” Arvanius continued, eyes locked on Sergrud. “Couldn’t stop biting. Still can’t stop. That’s just what you are. You went rabid, and now we have to put you down.”

  “And you’re doing the empire’s dirty work,” Sergrud sneered. “At least I have the stones to fight for myself instead of someone else’s Ideals. You don’t believe that horseshit, do you?”

  “No,” the voidtouched said. “I don’t. But I know someone who does. Someone who believes in them so much that she’ll die for them. I believe in her vision. I believe in her. And you...” Rage burned in his eyes. “You put your hand on her throat. So now, you’re going to die.”

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  So that was it. Sergrud couldn’t help but laugh. “Gods, she really does have your leash!” It felt good to laugh. Good to realize just how pathetic the ones chasing him were. Of all the women to die for, fool chose a squinty-eyed, scrawny little twig. Hells, even the dezar would have been a better choice. He glanced behind, where the canin was getting ready to pounce, “What about you? You a dog too? Or just look like one?”

  “You killed my dog,” the canin hissed.

  Oh, right. That black-furred hound. Of all the people Sergrud had killed, it was a mutt that this girl was most concerned with. The laughter only grew.

  “Shevi, get back to Frostwood,” Arvanius ordered.

  The canin froze, “What?”

  “Get help,” the voidtouched repeated, stepping forward. “If you stay here, you’re going to die. With that wound, you’ll be in the way.”

  “I’m fine,” the girl snarled, gripping at her wounded shoulder.

  “That’s an order, soldier,” Arvanius said.

  The canin glared from Aven to Sergrud. Breath formed mist in the cold as she hissed. Then, with a howl of frustration, she turned and ran.

  Exposing her back to Sergrud. Stupid. He hefted the javelin.

  Arvanius swatted it out of the air, voidclaw extending nearly a dozen feet to intercept it. Not fully snatching it out of the air, just hitting it off-course. And the canin was gone, vanishing into the trees.

  “Can’t tell if you’re smart for getting that one away,” Sergrud put a hand on the second-to-last of the javelins remaining in his bundle. He stabbed it into the ground at his feet. Stabbed the last one as well. Both at hand, longspear ready. “Or if you’re even more stupid for trying to face me alone. I’m going to kill you.”

  Those claws stretched longer than his spear, but the longer they stretched, the sloppier and more ungainly their motions. Range alone wouldn’t be an advantage.

  The voidtouched grinned, “Funny, that’s just what I was going to say.”

  Sergrud bellowed. Launched himself forward.

  The voidtouched moved fast. Like a beast. But still a monster of flesh and blood.

  The spear danced. Thrust, slashed, spun in Sergrud’s hands. He moved like lightning. Like the winds.

  And the voidtouched was just a little too slow to block every blow.

  Spearpoint tore open the cheek, sliced open an arm. The claws had good range, but Sergrud and his spear were faster. Faster than the voidtouched, faster than anyone in Frostwood. Certainly faster than that lumbering oaf Erdrak.

  The voidtouched kept pressing, kept attacking. Heedless of wounds. Snarling like a beast. He was good. Damn good. Seemed to see Sergrud’s attacks before they struck. Just too slow to actually avoid them.

  Sergrud’s foot slipped in the snow.

  The claw lashed out, slashing across Sergrud’s cheek before he could jerk out of the way. Blood flowed, and Sergrud snarled. That had been a stupid mistake. The monster had gotten lucky.

  A step back to create distance. The voidtouched didn’t follow. He stared.

  The monster laughed.

  “What the hell is so funny?” Sergrud wiped his cheek, smearing the blood away. It felt hot, hot like the boiling rage inside him, hot with the force of his vis.

  “You,” Arvanius laughed. “I thought...I thought you were as tough as Erdrak.”

  Pure fury rose up. Erdrak. This arrogant shit was comparing him to Erdrak?

  “It took Erdrak and Frostclaw to bring me down,” Sergrud snarled. “I’m twice the man that mongrel was!”

  “I’ve been thinking about it all wrong,” the voidtouched still laughed. “All that time spent wondering how I’d kill you...I overestimated you.” The voidtouched smiled broadly, “Now...I know exactly how this is going to end.”

  “So do I,” Sergrud focused the Hunter’s Mind, compressing the rage down in a focused blade. Pointed straight at this monster’s heart. “I ram my spear right through your heart.”

  * * *

  Aven stilled his laughter and opened up the Battle Mind. Every simulation, every imagined battle, all failed because Aven had been fully convinced that Sergrud was tough and strong as Erdrak while being as fast as he’d observed. Erdrak’s skin was hard enough that Aven could barely draw blood with his voidclaws. Maybe the claws were stronger now, stronger than Aven had thought. Maybe Sergrud was weaker than expected.

  Either way, Aven could cut through Sergrud fel-Maies’ flesh.

  That meant Aven could kill him. What had been a vain, desperate hope blossomed to certainty. Now, the Battle Mind saw a half-dozen ways he could kill Sergrud.

  Unless Sergrud’s Hunter’s Mind saw through it.

  Teja had described it in depth during their planning before the confrontation. A mind domain that she and Sergrud had in common. A focus, a clarity that pushed out everything except the hunt and the moment. Cousin to Aven’s Battle Mind, and in a sense its opposite. Instead of expanding or splitting the mind, it narrowed it down to a fine point. No other considerations. Not tactics, or anything but the kill.

  The same mind that had struck right to Hellfrost’s heart and stolen Esharah, even at the cost of dozens of his warriors. The same mind that had slain Wulfred Frostclaw, again sacrificing everyone around him. A mind that determined victory and ignored all else to achieve it. When victory meant escaping Hellfrost, he’d done it. When victory meant stealing Esharah or killing Frostclaw, it achieved it.

  Now, “victory” meant killing Aven.

  “I’m going to kill you,” Aven gathered all his vis, pouring it into a single technique, “with one strike.”

  Sergrud was nothing more than a snarling beast, desperate for the kill. The hunter’s mind could see right through the distractions of Aven’s voidmist, right through his shadows and deceptions. Sergrud couldn’t be deceived. But he could be taunted.

  “Then I’ll have to kill you first,” Sergrud bared his teeth, crouching down.

  Aven’s vis rippled as he gathered the power. Sergrud’s rose as well. Higher than Aven’s. Powerful enough that steam rose from the snow-damp clothes, spiritual power turning to physical heat.

  Aven split, mind and body forming two once again.

  Sergrud charged, faster than Aven could react. Two minds watched Sergrud rush forward in an explosion of snow. Two bodies readied to react.

  The Hunter’s Mind saw through the gambit. Saw the real Aven.

  Sergrud’s spear plunged into Aven’s abdomen. The real Aven. Void-formed flesh and black blood pierced by the charging strike.

  Sergrud grinned from the other side of the spear, triumph shining in his dark, wild eyes, “Got you.”

  As pain howled through Aven’s pierced body, Aven jerked forward. Right up to the crossguard of the spear. As close as he could get. Sergrud tried to pull the spear back. Aven clenched. This was the body he’d forged himself. He could control it fully. He could close the body around the spearhead, clamping down so Sergrud couldn’t pull it free.

  Aven smiled back, “You missed the heart.”

  His claws lashed out. Sergrud’s body and head were too far back. His hands were still on the spear haft. Still trying to pull free. Voidclaws sank into Sergrud’s arms. Claws formed barbs, hooking deep into the flesh and holding Sergrud still.

  Aven’s other mind turned. Stepped behind the struggling Sergrud. Ignored in Sergrud’s focus, the false body made of mist and void felt the pain just as much as Aven’s true body did. It didn’t waver. It didn’t collapse. For one second, that false body and split mind remained whole.

  Long enough.

  The voidformed body rose one arm. Hand turned to claws, then to a single long scythe blade.

  He swung.

  The blade pierced right through the side of Sergrud’s neck.

  * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

  patreon.com/OrpheusDAC