He tipped his head back, sniffing the air. “We’re about to have company.” His chin dipped as his gaze swept over the land, barren except for the large boulders and scattered, dead trees that must’ve grown from the lakes that had once flowed here. “And it will not be of a friendly nature.”
“Great.” I reached along Gala’s side and unstrapped one of the short swords Nyktos had placed there. “I knew this trip felt too uneventful.” I followed his gaze, not seeing anything at first. Then movement by one of the frail, hollow trees close to the road snagged my attention. I squinted as my grip firmed around the hilt of the sword.
“Do not strike first,” Nektas warned quietly. Thin, long fingers folded around the edge of the trunk, the color a muddy grayish-brown. The fingers curled, digging into the bark. Claws. I stiffened. A thin arm became visible, the skin appearing hard and craggy, like…bark. “They may allow us to pass without incident. Ride slowly. Stay alert.”
I watched that hand on the tree as I nudged Gala forward. “What are they?”
Nektas brought his horse closer to mine. “They’re nymphs, and they’re ancient. They were normally kind, benevolent creatures that lived in the forests and lakes throughout Iliseeum, tending to the land that fed them. Friends of the dragons and then the Primals and gods,” he said, and I zeroed in on thenormallypart of that statement and the past tense of the rest. “But they are now yet another repercussion of Kolis’s actions. When he stole Eythos’s embers, it corrupted them. Turned them into creatures of nightmares that now feed off pain and torture.”
“Oh,” I whispered. “They sound lovely.”
“They used to be one of the loveliest creatures you’d ever see in Iliseeum,” he returned.
I didn’t let myself feel the twinge of sadness that accompanied the knowledge that Kolis had tainted them. It would do me no favors if I did and they decided that they wouldn’t let us pass. “Were they here when we traveled to thePillars?”
“They are always here.”
I thought about how both Nyktos and he had been eyeing the land. “Are they what drew Ehthawn away?”
“Probably.” Nektas’s hand rested on the sword strapped to his horse. “They don’t usually attack a Primal or their Consort. Anything and everything else is fair game. Neither draken fire nor eather does anything to them. The only way to stop them is to remove their heads.”
“Great,” I murmured as we passed the tree the one lurked behind. I caught sight of another behind a boulder. “How many do you think are here?”
“There could be hundreds,” he said, and my heart seized. “But I have seen only about a dozen near the road.”
“Must be that good draken eyesight because I’ve only seen two.”
“It is. I also know what to look for.”
We traveled several minutes in tense silence. I saw one more. This time, a little bit more of the nymph. A spindly leg. A foot latched into the bark.
The Rise came more into view, and I was just starting to be a little hopeful that they’d let us pass when Nektas muttered, “Shit.”
Then I saw it.
A nymph crouched in the center of the road, shoulders hunched and so small it had blended into the road itself.
It rose slowly, and I, honest to gods, really wanted to see one of these things before they changed because this creature truly was a thing of nightmares. Skin like bark, twisted and knobbed. Talons for fingers and toes. Facial features cracked and distorted. Skull hairless with a crown of jagged, exposed bone.
“I want to hear you scream,” the nymph hissed in a guttural, wet voice. “I want to see you bleed like a stream.” It lurched into motion, racing toward us.
Nektas withdrew a blade from the sleeve of his cloak. He threw the dagger, striking the creature between the eyes. Thrown back, the nymph howled, thrashing as it grabbed for the blade embedded in its head.
The air filled with hisses from both sides of the road. I cursed, swinging myself down as Nektas did the same. They werea blur, seeming to bleed out from the uneven basin, the trees, and the rocks.
“I’ll get this side,” Nektas advised, striding forward, swinging the shadowstone blade across the throat of the nymph on the road, removing its head. The creature shattered into glittering silver dust. “You got the other?”
I braced myself. “I was considering letting them do whatever, but I suppose so.”
He smirked from within the shadows of his hood as he turned to the right side of the road.
The nymphs converged on us. One was ahead of the others. “Need. Greed. Bleed,” it seethed, leaping.
Stepping forward, I swung the sword straight across as it landed, sweeping the blade through the nymph’s neck. As the creature broke apart, I spun, catching a second nymph. It too exploded.
Two crossed the road at once. “Hate,” one rasped.
“Fate,” another gurgled.