Cold sweat slid down my neck. Ghosts stole energy from each other, that wasn’t uncommon, but this? This was something else entirely.
“What are we looking at?” I whispered, my mouth dry, tongue too thick.
“Necromancy,” Briar said, her lips curling in disgust. “This kind of walking dead I’ve dealt with before. Necromancers start off experimenting by raising animals before they move on to humans. Though they usually start smaller. I’ve never seen some of these monsters before.”
Probably not all necromancers had access to magical creatures from the wilds. “That does explain the mice and shrew, I guess.”
She cast a sideways glance at me. “You’re seeing things I’m not.”
I didn’t answer or try to explain the dozens of ghosts because at that moment, the dead wolf swung his head in our direction, his ears twitching. He tilted his head back, his broad nose flaring as he sniffed the air. He howled, a warning cry, and the other animals stopped. Some turned to the wolf, but the large winged cat peered around the clearing. He took several steps in our direction and chuffed, letting the scents roll over his tongue.
Crap. Briar’s spell hid us from sight, but it didn’t seem to be doing a good job on any of the other senses. I glanced at her, my eyes wide. We’d seen what was in the clearing. It was a damn good time to retreat back out of the ward and call in the authorities.
Unfortunately, Briar was one of those authorities, and she didn’t seem interested in backup. Both the wolf and the cat were stalking forward now. The bear’s nose twitched, searching, and the huge beast’s tongue flicked in the air, like a snake tasting scents. Its head swiveled toward us.
Crap. I shuffled back a step and a twig snapped under my boot. I cringed, holding my breath. It was too late. The dead things in the clearing might not know exactly where we were, but they were narrowing it down, and they didn’t look friendly.
Briar watched the stalking winged cat and aimed her crossbow at the center of the beast’s chest. I could feel the incendiary potion loaded in the steel-tipped dart. She wasn’t playing around. That would almost certainly take down the beast. Walking dead or not, something about combusting and turning to ash tended to stop most things. The biggest problem was, as soon as she attacked, the camouflage spell hiding us would fail. So, while one beast would be a smudge on the wind, the other four would know exactly where we were hiding.
I glanced at my dagger. These creatures’ bodies were decaying around them. Vultures were pulling the insides out of the largest beast, and it was just pissing him off. Poking holes in such a creature wouldn’t stop it from attacking. I’d have to dismantle the deranged things, and by then, if I was close enough to deliver that many blows with my small dagger, the beasts would tear me to pieces. The dagger wasn’t going to be much help. But surrounded by the dead, the dagger wasn’t my only weapon.
I cracked my shields.
A cold wind tore through me, rustling the leaves of the trees all around me as the grave essence that had been battering me since we got close to this accursed clearing finally found a foothold and wormed into my psyche. I let it in, embracing the chill that warred with the living heat inside my body. Around me, a patina of decay coated the world, even as colorful strands of magic became visible. I could see the orange and red magic woven into the intricate ward surrounding the clearing. Similar strands of magic coated the beasts, binding their decaying bodies, and the soft glow of souls inside them.
The winged cat was racing forward now, straight toward us. The wolf and bear weren’t far behind. A twang sounded, and Briar’s dart flew. It landed in the center of the beast’s forehead. There was a moment where the creature’s legs straightened as it tried to stop its forward momentum, and then the fire engulfed him.
“What are you doing?” Briar hissed as she reloaded and took aim at the wolf.
“Helping.”
They were all charging us now. A mix of teeth, claws, pointed beaks, and nightmare-inducing decaying flesh. The wolf was closest, but the strange feathered thing had overtaken the bear and was covering the distance toward us fast. Briar’s crossbow twanged again, releasing another deadly shot filled with blue-white flame. The wolf fell, incinerated. I reached out with magic, my own living heat laced with ice from the grave, and wrapped it around the dog-sized feathered creature. The dead flesh offered no resistance, my magic quickly flooding the body and pushing out the soul without opposition. I’d never seen an animal soul before today, but a pale, glowing soul popped free of the creature, one that didn’t match the body that fell prone and inert to the dirt.
I didn’t have time to study or consider that fact. I pulled the magic back, thrusting it into the huge, reptilian horselike creature. Again, the dead flesh gave easily under my magic, but this creature was bigger, so much bigger, and I poured magic into it, trying to fill it, to saturate it with so much grave chill there would be nowhere for the soul to cling.
Except there was no soul in this one.
No light. No fluttering warmth retreating from the grave. This creature was filled with the dark emptiness of the land of the dead, and it drank down my magic, eager for more.
I pulled back, drawing back as much magic as I could before it vanished forever into the darkness inside the dead beast. It kept charging, its taloned feet kicking up clouds of dust as it crossed the clearing, closing in on us. Briar’s crossbow gave another twang as the cord released, sending a dart into the bear that was less than two yards in front of us. The heat of its body incinerating nearly knocked me backward, but Briar’s bow swung to the giant reptile. It was the last beast standing.
“Capture that one. It’s different from the others,” I yelled, just as the crossbow twanged again.
Briar jerked the weapon up at the last moment, causing the shot to go wide. It passed within inches of the beast’s head. The creature kept charging, picking up speed. It would be on top of us in moments.
Briar nocked a different bolt into her crossbow, cursing the entire time. She fired, taking the creature in the chest. I felt the knockout spell buzz in the air as the dart hit the creature in the chest and the vial of potion broke, but the beast didn’t slow down.
“Move,” Briar yelled as she rolled to the side.
I threw myself to the other side as the creature crashed through the space we’d just occupied. I landed badly on one elbow but managed not to stab myself with my dagger or get trampled by the creature’s talons.