Phae swallowed with horror, seeing a darkened cave through the shroud of the mist.

Bond with my tree and I will save you from the Fear Liath. Release me, Sister, and you will escape.

Phae tried to close her mind to the insidious thoughts. She was not to bond with just any tree in the Scourgelands. How was she to know the right one?

She gazed up at the twisted limbs and quickly decided which ones to start on. She climbed and tried to keep steady as she approached the knotted trunk. Phae heard crunching in the leaves, the snuffling sound of the monster’s breathing. She heard the clicking noise again in its throat, and she shuddered.

The next rung of a bough was higher up, very wide, and she could tell it would be difficult to climb. She started up the trunk and her boots slid, scraping against the bark. She winced with frustration and fear, knowing she did not have long before it reached her. She grabbed the next limb and began pulling herself up.

A black muzzle appeared around the side of the tree, its fetid breath grunting with the exertion of moving something of its size.

Phae screamed and jumped at the branch, pulling herself higher. She made it to the second branch, but the Fear Liath rose to its full height, easily as tall as where she was. Her body jerked convulsively with fear and she leapt away from it to another branch, landing on her stomach with a painful gasp. She felt herself slipping and grasped the limb’s edge, her legs dangling. With her elbows she tried to pull herself up, but the tug of the ground beat her efforts.

She felt something grip her feet and it began pushing her up. Looking down, she saw Shion just below her, arms stretching up to catch her boots.

“Climb!”

He won’t save you, Sister. He murders Dryads. You are not safe with him. No one is safe with him. Be grateful his memories are stolen or he’d kill you now.

The pressure at her feet made it easier to find purchase with her arms. She swung her knee up and around the limb and began scooting toward the trunk.

“Higher!” Shion shouted.

A blur of gray-black fur engulfed him. She listened to the sound as the thing’s claws shredded Shion’s shirt. The roar came again, deafening her with fear. Shion struck back, without weapons, grabbing the beast’s tough hide, striking it from all sides ineffectually. He could not be killed by the Fear Liath, and neither could it kill him. But Shion was hopelessly insufficient to counter its brute strength. The Fear Liath sank its teeth into Shion’s side, making Phae shudder as she watched him thrown aside.

You will die, Sister. Let me save you. Bond with my tree!

Are you the Mother Tree of this land? Phae demanded. Where is the source?

You will never make it that far, child. You will die here, amidst my roots, unless you bond with my tree. I will show you how. Take the burden from me. Please!

Phae tried to rise but felt a sudden rush of vertigo and nearly fell. She pushed herself closer to the trunk.

Can you take me to Mirrowen? Can you bring me to the Seneschal? Phae asked.

There is no Mirrowen. The gate closed long ago. The Fear Liath will kill you. It was made to kill you. Give me your promise and I will shield you from it. Quickly, Sister!

Phae brought up one leg, trying to steady herself, and reached for the next branch higher up. She saw Shion charge at the Fear Liath again, jumping at its head while pummeling its muzzle with his clenched fist. His look was wild with desperation. The Fear Liath snapped at him, snarling, wrenching him away with claws and throwing him away again. Phae balanced on her feet and coiled to jump for the next branch.

The Fear Liath shifted its weight and snuffled toward her, the clicking sound right near her feet. Phae heard a cracking sound. She tried to jump but suddenly was falling as the branch broke off and crashed to the ground with jarring force. She landed on her stomach, dazed, a sharp pain in the side of her head. Her ears were ringing with the impact and she felt dizzy.

The Fear Liath snarled, sniffing toward her amidst the debris of the shattered branch. It would be on her in moments. Phae reached into her pocket and squeezed the stone hard.

Annon sent another blast of the fireblood into the attacking Cockatrice, shielding Khiara as she tried to heal Tyrus. He could see Paedrin lying on the forest floor, his entire front soaked in blood. Hettie was trying to stanch the bleeding, her expression desperate. Paedrin was dying. Annon could not see the Cruithne’s chest rising at all. He was probably already dead. He intensified the fireblood against the Cockatrice, spreading it wider and burning to ash all that swept down on them.

This was nothing like the test in Drosta’s Lair. This was nothing like what they had faced previously. The Arch-Rike’s defenses inside the Scourgelands were beyond anything he could have imagined, even with Tyrus’s multiple warnings. The Fear Liath would hunt them down, one by one. Its only weakness was sunlight, but there was no sunlight in this place, only the frigid mist. His own wounds bled and itched, but he knew the others were a priority, that Khiara was the only one who could heal them.