The stillness was wrong.
Kael rose from the fire, every muscle tightening as his senses stretched into the dark. The embers behind him glowed faintly, throwing jagged shadows across the ravine walls. The bone chimes Elara had strung earlier hung unmoving in the faint breeze — no clatter, no sway.
He moved without a sound, his boots finding the stones he'd memorized on arrival.
Behind him, Elara stirred in her bedroll. "Kael?" she whispered.
He lifted a hand for silence.
The boy was still asleep, curled close to Halric, whose breathing came in slow, shallow rasps. The warrior hadn't stirred; whatever was in the dark hadn't made a sound they could hear.
But Kael's abyss could.
It pulsed low and insistent, an ache beneath his ribs, warning of movement — careful, deliberate — just beyond the firelight.
He drew his sword, keeping the point low. The steel was black in the dim glow, but a faint shimmer clung to its edge, the same unearthly sheen that always bled through when the abyss stirred.
From the mouth of the ravine, something shifted. Not a footstep. Not a breath. More like the shadow itself bending.
Then came the eyes.
Two points of faint gold, unblinking, fixed on him from the darkness.
Kael's grip tightened. "Wake them," he murmured without turning his head.
Elara moved quickly, shaking Halric first, then the boy. There was no panic in her movements, only speed — the kind that came from surviving too many nights like this.
Halric swore under his breath as he sat up, fumbling for his hammer. "What is it?"
"Not sure yet," Kael said. "But it's watching us."
The golden eyes blinked once, slowly, and then vanished — not turning away, but simply disappearing, as if swallowed by the dark itself.
Kael took a single step forward. "Stay here."
Elara caught his arm. "Kael—"
"I won't lead it back to you." He pulled free, moving toward the ravine mouth with controlled, silent strides.
The abyss thrummed louder with each step, its hunger mingling with his own readiness. He reached the point where the stone walls widened into forest — and froze.
The clearing beyond was empty. No scent, no tracks, no broken branches.
And yet the hair at the back of his neck rose.
A faint whisper brushed his ear. Not words, not in any tongue he knew, but a sound like dry leaves sliding over bone.
Kael…
His grip on the sword hilt tightened. The voice wasn't real. It couldn't be. And yet, the abyss inside him seemed to lean toward it, as though recognizing something kin.
Then came the snap of movement.
From the treetops, a shadow dropped — not flying, but falling with purpose. He twisted aside just in time as claws raked the stone where he'd been standing.
The thing rose to its full height in front of him, and Kael's breath hitched despite himself.
It wasn't a dragon — not exactly. It had the long, narrow skull of one, but the rest of its body was lean and sinewy, built for silent pursuit rather than brute force. Scales ran like black glass along its spine, and its wings… they weren't wings anymore. They'd been torn, shredded into long, finger-like limbs that ended in hooked talons.
Its mouth opened slightly, and that same whispering sound filled the air.
The abyss inside Kael surged, pressing against his skin like it wanted to tear free.
The creature tilted its head, studying him. Then, it lunged.
---
Kael met its leap with a sidestep and a slash across its flank. The blade bit deep, sending up a spray of black ichor that hissed where it hit the stone.
The thing shrieked — a sound like metal dragged over ice — and lashed out with a clawed forelimb. Kael ducked, feeling the air split over his head, and drove his sword up beneath its jaw.
It jerked back, ichor spilling from the wound, but its movements didn't slow. If anything, it moved faster, weaving side to side as it came at him again.
Kael gave ground, drawing it farther into the ravine mouth. He needed it away from the sleeping ones, away from the fire.
But the creature was clever. It broke off the attack suddenly, vaulting up the rock wall with unnatural speed. Its claws dug into the stone as it scuttled sideways — straight toward the ledge above the camp.
"Elara!" Kael shouted.
She was already moving. Her bow came up, arrow nocked, and she loosed in one fluid motion. The shaft struck the creature in the shoulder, spinning it sideways, but not stopping it.
Kael sprinted for the wall, leaping up to catch a jut of stone. He pulled himself upward, boots scrabbling for purchase, and reached the ledge just as the creature leaned over it, claws spread toward Halric and the boy.
With a roar, Kael slammed into it, driving both of them off the edge. They hit the ravine floor hard, the impact knocking the air from his lungs.
The creature rolled away, righting itself with a disturbing, insect-like twist of its limbs.
Kael came up in a crouch, sword ready. "You're not getting past me."
---
The fight became a blur of feints and strikes, the creature's speed matched only by Kael's unnatural reflexes. Each blow he landed sizzled against its flesh, each near miss from its claws carved deep gouges into the stone.
Finally, Kael saw his opening. It overcommitted on a lunge, and he stepped inside its reach, driving his sword straight through the base of its skull.
The thing went rigid, twitching once before going still.
Kael yanked the blade free and let it drop. The abyss inside him shuddered with satisfaction, drinking in something that wasn't quite blood — something older, darker.
The body began to dissolve almost immediately, the flesh crumbling into black dust that blew away on a wind that hadn't been there a moment before.
Elara stared at the empty patch of ground. "What in the hells was that?"
Kael wiped his blade, though there was no blood left to clean. "A hunter," he said. "Sent for me."
Halric straightened slowly, his hammer still in hand. "By who?"
Kael looked toward the dark forest beyond the ravine mouth.
He didn't answer.