Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 140462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 702(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 468(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 702(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 468(@300wpm)
I’m about to yell at him to stop it, but when I look over my shoulder, words die on my lips.
I expect to see the bassal’s yellow eyes right behind me, but a golden creature smashes into the black body of the overgrown lizard. It’s like a shooting star crashing into the surface of the Darkmoon.
I don’t understand what’s happening, but the bassal roars in fury, and any interest it had in me is gone, replaced by the fight for survival.
The two creatures tumble into the shallow water, distorting the perfect reflection of the moon as they spin together like the Yin and Yang symbol Kurt has shown me back in the human realm. Only that the pale half of what I’m seeing isn’t just white. It embodies the very meaning of radiance, shining so bright I have to shield my eyes as I drop onto the branch of a tree. Only when I grab it do I realize how much my shoulder hurts.
The smell of burning meat teases my nostrils as the bassal shrieks, thrashing under the weight of its opponent. Smoke coils into the air when the beasts thrash in a ball of limbs and claws, but when the reptile breaks free and swings both its tails, as if it isn’t sure whether it wants to bolt or fight, I get to see the other creature for what it is.
A crown of several horns shoots out from its head, framing the bare skull. The rest of its agile form is covered with fur so pale it’s difficult to decide whether it’s golden or flecked with sparkling particles. The head is golden polished bone, eyes like volcanic stone, and diamond-sharp teeth reflect the light it radiates with.
No matter how much I want to deny it, I know what this is.
The Sunwolf.
My stomach drops, and the shadow I’m covered with evaporates. I could have a dozen shadow tentacles right now, and the bassal would still only be focused on the Sunwolf, because it’s fighting for its life. I struggle to comprehend the implications of Hawk’s change, too amazed by the sight in front of me.
The golden canine the size of the huts we’ve slept in in the marshland, rips out the bassal’s front leg with a primal growl, blood staining its crystal teeth. It’s like watching the mythical fight between the sun and the moon, only that this time, I have no doubt it’s the sun that will win. Even when the bassal yields, focused on survival, the Sunwolf doesn’t let it go. With its leg still between his teeth, the wolf lowers its skull and slams the horns into the remaining head of the bassal.
With one last piercing screech of agony, the reptile collapses.
The fight is over.
I’m speechless. Too stunned to utter a word or even think, so I watch the massive wolf shake off whatever discomfort it’s been feeling, and then walk away from the gored reptile. The glow it produces adds a new dimension to the hues around us, and the murky darkness of the swamp becomes a whole array of greens and golds reflecting off the surface of the water. Lilac crystals appear to grow on some of the trees, and every time insects flee the Sunwolf, tiny sparkles seem to erupt in the air around their wings. It’s only now that I realize the dead reptile has changed color in its death, now a dull gray rather than the intense black from before.
Hope creeps into my heart, so I glance toward the hill, which is now marred with talon-shaped grooves in rock, and broken bushes, but I cannot see Hawk anywhere. He must have—he must have really…
The pain in my shoulder hits me so hard I slump to my ass on the branch, staring at the shiny beast. I have a general idea of what happens to an elf who puts it on, but a human? Is he even still sentient?
Thoughts of losing the Sunwolf Crown are only the buzzing of a fly, because nothing worries me more than Hawk’s safety. Fenren’s dead, Ivy is gone, and we’re in the middle of a swamp, still far from the Nocturne Court. If I lost Hawk, all has been for nothing.
Why would he have done something so stupid? I warned him the mask wasn’t something to be trifled with, yet he still put it on, and now… now I don’t even know if he’s the one behind those empty eyes.
With a heavy weight in my chest, I watch the wolf walk through the water, a top predator that doesn’t need to be afraid of anything, but as I inhale, ready to get its attention when it comes dangerously close to the line of trees, it turns back and heads toward me.
Despite watching it rip a bassal to shreds, and seeing the blood staining its horns, I have no fear in my heart as the Sunwolf approaches. It’s not just that I sense no ill will, or that its body language is relaxed. I must have exhausted my limit of terror on the fight with the reptile, and have none left in me. I’ve never considered myself brave. In fact, my mother always taught me bravery is stupidity in another guise. But when I made myself bait so that Hawk could escape, something changed in me. I discovered myself anew, and I liked the man I found within.