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Loff never heard Kormac sneak up behind him. Kormac knocked the dagger from the man’s hand then pointed his sword at Loff’s neck.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he’d growled, hoping Fionna wouldn’t wake.
“What you should have done the moment she set foot in Srayth.”
“What’s happening?” Fionna asked, suddenly appearing in the mouth of her shelter comprised of earth.
“I caught him trying to sneak into your hut with a dagger.”
Her gaze went to the weapon on the ground as Loff dared to say, “The only good witch is a dead one.”
The rage Kormac felt demanded satisfaction, and he drew back his arm to run the man through only Fionna stopped him.
Literally.
His arm froze in place as she exclaimed, “You can’t kill him.”
“Oh yes, I can. He attempted to murder you.” Surely, she wouldn’t argue the punishment.
“You can execute him for that later, if he lives through the coming threat.”
“What threat?” he asked.
Her eyes closed and her chin lifted as she murmured, “Something approaches. Many somethings.” She glanced at him and huffed, “Wake the others. We’re about to be attacked.”
Kormac thrust Loff from him, snapping, “We’re not done.” He turned to bellow for Hogan and Rory only to find them already awake and arming themselves.
“You were supposed to be on watch,” Kormac barked, having noticed the moon past the mid-mark.
“Gann and Moony didn’t wake us,” the boy replied. Young and yet he showed great promise.
As for Gann and Moony, Kormac feared the worst since they didn’t appear at the commotion in camp.
“Form up around the fire.” Many animals feared the hot flames, but that assumed they’d face a normal threat. Nothing had been normal since his visit to the garrison.
As his men moved into position, he noticed Fionna waving her hands around instead of moving toward the fire.
“That means you, too,” he barked.
She glanced at him even as her movements continued. “In a moment. Right now, we’re at a disadvantage. They can see us, but we can’t see them.”
“Because it’s night.”
“Not for long.” She winked before flinging her arms apart. From her burst light, a big blob of it that rose and hung suspended over their camp. It illuminated everything: the bedrolls on the ground, his men armed and ready by the fire, the body crumpled at the base of a tree on the far edge of their clearing.
Gann had been murdered a mere dozen or so paces away and no one heard anything. It chilled, mostly because Kormac had been awake. How had he not known?
Fionna neared the group spread out around the fire, murmuring, “They’re amassing outside the radius of light.”
“How can you tell?” he asked.
“I placed a ward around the camp that extends past the circle of radiance.”
“Can you tell how many?”
She canted her head for a moment and her eyes lost focus before she answered, “Thirteen.”
Thirteen what, though? They found out a second later as the first snarling creature burst into view.
