Chapter 8

  I tapped Fei's neck, motioning upward. We needed to get higher before those knights spotted us. The last thing I wanted was to draw their attention.

  Fei climbed higher into the night sky, taking us well out of sight. The screams got fainter, but they didn't stop.

  I don't know how long I stayed up there, circling in the cold night air. Time felt weird when you're watching people die from thousands of feet up. Could've been minutes, could've been hours.

  Below me, Nox and Orion had already arrived. I could feel them through our mental link, panting hard from the run but ready for orders. Hide, I told them telepathically, pointing them toward the thick treeline. Stay behind the trees and don't move until I say so.

  Both wolves melted into the shadows without question.

  The town was still burning, but the screaming had mostly died down. Either people had escaped, or... well. I didn't want to think about the other option.

  Then I saw movement at the edge of the forest.

  People were running from the town, stumbling through the trees in the dark. Even from up here I could tell they were civilians

  Survivors.

  My chest tightened, at least some people had made it out.

  But then I saw the torches following them.

  Knights on horseback, moving through the forest like they knew exactly where they were going. They weren't just letting people escape—they were hunting them down.

  Shit. The gap between them and their pursuers was shrinking fast.

  The knights would catch them in minutes.

  I watched one of the riders lean down from his saddle, sword glinting in the torchlight. He was maybe fifty yards behind a woman carrying what looked like a small child.

  My hands clenched against Fei's feathers.

  I could do something. Nox and Orion were right there, hidden in the trees. A quick command and those knights would be dealing with two massive wolves instead of hunting defenseless civilians.

  But what if there were more knights nearby? What if these guys had backup coming? What if they had magic or weapons that could actually hurt my monsters?

  What if I got my wolves killed trying to save people I didn't even know?

  The woman stumbled, nearly dropping the kid. The knight was gaining on her, raising his sword.

  Fuck it. Nox! Orion!

  I sent the command through our mental link. Take out the knights. Now.

  I watched my wolves explode from the treeline like black shadows. The lead knight never saw it coming. He was leaning forward in his saddle, sword raised to strike down the fleeing woman, when Nox slammed into him from the side.

  The horse and rider went down in a tangle of limbs and metal, the knight's sword spinning away into the grass. His horse let out a sharp cry as it hit the ground hard.

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  The knight tried to roll away, tried to reach for his weapon, but Nox was already on him. Those massive jaws clamped down on the man's throat, and I heard things crunch. The knight's scream turned into this wet gurgling sound that cut off pretty quick.

  Orion went for the second knight, who'd had maybe two seconds to register what was happening to his companion. Not nearly enough time. My wolf launched himself through the air, covering twenty feet in a single bound.

  The knight raised his sword. Wrong move. Orion slammed into the man's chest, knocking him clean out of his saddle. They both went down, but only one of them was getting back up.

  The knight's horse reared and bolted, eyes wide with terror as it disappeared into the forest.

  Orion didn't give his target time to recover. The man hit the ground hard, armor clanking against rocks, and my wolf was on top of him before he could even try to get up. Another crunch echoed through the trees, and then everything went quiet except for the distant crackling of flames.

  It was over in seconds.

  The woman who'd been running stopped, clutching her child tighter. She was staring at my wolves, probably wondering if she'd just traded one problem for another.

  My stomach lurched, and I had to grip Fei's feathers tighter to keep from falling off his back.

  I'd just killed people.

  Not monsters. People. Human beings with families, maybe kids of their own waiting at home. Sure, they were murdering bastards who'd been about to cut down a woman and child, but they were still...

  My hands started shaking again, worse than before.

  I'd made that choice. I'd given that command. Those men were dead because I'd decided their lives were worth less than the civilians they were chasing.

  And the worst part? I wasn't sure I was wrong.

  But I couldn't just sit here having a moral crisis while there might be more knights coming.

  Lead the survivors toward our camp. I told my wolves through our mental link.

  From up here, I watched Nox pad over to the woman with the child.

  They were too far below for me to make out the next but hopefully they seemed to understand what my wolves were trying to do.

  I commanded Fei to circle higher, keeping us well out of sight while I coordinated the rescue below.

  As Fei circled higher, I kept an eye on my wolves guiding the survivors and on the town. The orange glow was starting to fade in some areas, but I could still see torches moving through the streets.

  Then the torches in the town had stopped their random movements. They were gathering together now, clustering near what looked like the main gate. And they were pointing toward the forest.

  I realized that the knights had figured out already that something was wrong. I watched as more torches joined the group at the gate. Even from this height, I could tell they were organizing, clearly preparing to venture in the forest.

  I turned my attention back to the group of survivors. There are seven people in total. The woman with the child, an old man who could barely walk, two teenagers who looked scared out of their minds, and a few others. None of them were in any shape for a forced march through the forest.

  Thankfully, they were somewhat far from the town now.

  Below me, I could see my wolves had managed to get the group moving deeper into the trees, but they were going way too slow. The injured man was limping badly, and the woman kept stopping to adjust her grip on the kid.

  At the same time, the both of them were keeping a vigilant guard in case of a sudden monster attack.

  I just hope so, the knights wouldn’t be able to catch up with them.

  The forest was massive—a good hiding place, especially in the dark. I just hoped the knights wouldn't be able to track them through all those trees.

  But then I saw the search party reach the spot where I'd killed the first two knights.

  The torches stopped moving. Even from way up here, I could see them clustering around something on the ground. They'd found the bodies.

  One of the knights dismounted and knelt by the corpses. From his gestures, he was probably trying to figure out who or what had killed his men.

  Then I noticed him talking to one of the knights who also dismounted. He was wearing a different armor. Where the others had metal plates and chainmail, this guy wore robes over his armor. He still had the same helmet as the others, but unlike the others he carried a staff instead of a sword.

  Is he?

  I watched him raise his staff, and suddenly magical circles appeared in the air around him, glowing with pale blue light that I could see clearly even from thousands of feet up.

  A mage. Fuck.