When Serafina had first spotted the clawed creature in the forest, she hadn’t been sure what it was, but now she could see that the storm-creech was indeed a man, or at least had been a man before he was consumed by a black and twisting vengeance. With every injury, we become more of who we are, Rowena had said. And here was Uriah, the sorcerer, the enslaver of wild animals, the murderer of her panther father and many others, the man who had set himself to destroy everything she loved.
By moving in on him the way they had, during the storm and slipping through his ring of poisonous fog, she’d caught him by surprise, and all her allies were ready. We’ve got him, she thought. But just as she turned to signal the attack, a fireball came hurtling over her head, snapping and boiling with terrific force, a long tail of thick black smoke trailing behind it.
It was headed straight for Braeden.
“Watch out, Braeden!” Rowena screamed as she leapt out from behind the rock and threw her arms up into an explosion of ice and frost. It came too late to destroy the fireball, but she managed to deflect it. Instead of hitting Braeden, the fireball struck Braeden’s horse, sending it up rearing and striking against the burning flames, killing it almost instantly, collapsing the horse to the ground, and slamming Braeden down with his clothes on fire.
Enraged that Rowena had defended the boy, Uriah struck his arms forward and threw a violent blow across the distance, knocking her through the air with tremendous force and smashing her against a rock. Her lifeless body slid like a bloodied rag doll down to the ground.
Serafina shifted into her panther form and charged into an attack, running straight at Uriah.
Uriah waved his long, gangly arms around him. Suddenly, the branches of the fallen trees began to thrash back and forth, clicking and clacking. The moss hanging down from the limbs of the trees began to smoke. The bark on the trunks began to slowly peel off, as if the trees were burning. The grass turned brown and crackled beneath her running feet.
As Serafina charged toward him, Uriah did not flee or duck.
He threw his hands in one direction and then the other. A mighty wind kicked up, casting out dark, swirling tornadoes that tore up sticks, leaves, and other debris from the ground in front of her. A horrible, loud rushing sound overtook everything else.
Uriah looked straight at her, ready for her attack.
“Are you surprised to see me, Black One?” he roared. “Did you think the swat of a little cat could kill me?” His voice boomed so loudly that it pierced her ears and shook her to the core. “You can’t kill me!”
Serafina knew that Uriah wouldn’t be standing so fearless if he didn’t think he could sustain her attack, and it was foolish to attack him straight on. But it was all part of the trick. She spotted Waysa charging out of the forest at full speed toward Uriah’s back. And she knew they had him.
She leapt straight at Uriah’s face. Waysa leapt on his back at the same moment. The two catamounts landed upon the man, ripping into him with their tearing claws.
Screaming in outrage, Uriah reached back and grabbed Waysa, pulled him over his shoulder, and threw him off with incredible strength, heaving him so far that Waysa went tumbling across the clearing. Uriah had always been strong, but nothing like this.
Their well-thought-out plan of having Rowena cast her spells, Braeden charge in with their animal allies, and the two catamounts attack from two different directions at once had already gone wrong. Their plans had been wrecked. There was nothing left for Serafina to do but fight!
Clinging to Uriah’s chest and legs with all four of her clawed paws, Serafina pulled her head back and slammed her long, curved fangs into Uriah’s neck. Uriah screamed in pain and grabbed at her, but Waysa came tearing back into the battle and leapt upon his arms with teeth and claws. On the ground, Gidean charged in, chomped onto Uriah’s leg, and pulled viciously, snarling and biting, trying to yank Uriah off his feet.
As Uriah struggled to pull Serafina from his chest, she pulled back and bit again, this time, aiming straight for his throat. Her teeth clamped onto his windpipe and cut off his air. Her mother had taught her that big cats kill their prey not just by tearing into them with claws, or breaking their necks, but by blocking their windpipes and asphyxiating them, and that was what she was determined to do now. This time, she couldn’t just wound him, she had to kill him. For her peace, for Braeden, for Biltmore, for all that she’d fought for, she had to destroy him. She clenched her teeth and would not let go.
As Serafina fought she glanced back toward Braeden.
He’d been struck down from his horse and hit the ground hard, but he rolled and quickly put out his burning clothes. He immediately scrambled over to his wounded horse lying on the ground. He put his open hands on the horse’s body, desperately trying to heal his oldest friend, but his face clouded with anguish as he realized it was too late. His friend was already dead.
Braeden wiped his eyes and ran over to Rowena. It was hard for Serafina to see as she struggled with Uriah, but she made out the silhouette of what looked like some kind of stag with a rack of horns kneeling down, as Braeden dragged the bloody and unconscious Rowena onto its back.
“Take her to safety,” he told the animal, as it rose to its feet and drove into the depth of the forest.
A pack of a dozen wolves emerged from the trees, snarling and snapping, as they charged into battle against the sorcerer.
“Attack his arms,” Braeden yelled, pointing toward Uriah. “Protect Serafina. Bring him down!”
Uriah thrashed wildly to dislodge her, but Serafina held fast, her panther teeth clamped onto his throat. He grabbed at her with his clacking clawed hands, but Gidean, Waysa, and the wolves attacked him from all directions, biting his arms and legs, preventing him from pulling her away.
If she could just hold on for a few more seconds, they’d kill Uriah once and for all.
Serafina knew this was the ultimate battle. All the allies of the forest had come together at this moment to fight. It was like the battle that her mother and father had fought and lost twelve years before. But this time, she was going to win. They were going to finally defeat the most dangerous enemy the forest had ever faced.
Uriah struck Waysa with a heavy blow, knocking him away with his arm. Waysa went tumbling across the ground, but before the catamount even stopped rolling, he spun around and leapt back at Uriah with a vicious snarl, hitting him with such force that it tackled him to the ground with Serafina still attached.
Serafina buried her fangs deeper into Uriah’s throat. Through the nerves in the base of her teeth, she could feel the force clamping onto his windpipe, and the slowing of the air to his lungs. He was the storm-creech, the clawed creature, but he still had to breathe. She could feel his struggle diminishing beneath her as she slowly cut off his life.