Page 82 of Queen of Tempests and Sin

The shadows shifted, and then it was just there—bursting from the treeline in a spray of dirt and broken branches. Wings like jagged stone snapped wide, blotting out what little light filtered through the clouds. Its face was worse—half-man, half-monster, lips peeled back over teeth too long for its mouth, eyes of burning embers.

‘Oh, fuck me sideways,’ I yelped, stumbling back so fast my boots skidded on wet grass. My blade shook in my grip, utterly pathetic against the seven-foot freakshow barrelling towards me.

‘Eyes on the target!’ Bronte barked, appearing from the shadows like the smug witch she was. Her palms lit with violet fire, crackling so loud it drowned out the monster’s snarl.

‘Target? That thing is a bloody building with wings!’ I snapped, ducking just as its claws slashed through the air where my head had been. A gravestone exploded into shards behind me.

‘Cordie, keep moving!’ Sephy’s voice rang out from my left, and a flare of Bronte’s golden magic shot past, slamming into the gargoyle’s side. It staggered, roared, then whipped around to glare at her, stone skin splitting open to reveal veins of molten light.

‘Run now, banter later!’ Bronte hissed, hurling another streak of magic that sizzled through the air.

I bolted, lungs on fire, heart pounding my ribs like a war drum. My survival instincts were screaming, my assassin’s brain yelling at me to engage, but all I could think was nope, nope, nope. I was fast—but so was the gargoyle. Every beat of its massive wings sent a gale tearing at my hair and clothes as it kept pace above me.

‘How do we kill it?’ I screamed.

‘We don’t!’ Bronte shouted back, grin feral as hell. ‘We trap it.’

‘Fantastic plan,’ I wheezed, narrowly dodging another swipe. ‘You didn’t think to lead with that?’

‘Where’s the fun in that?’ she shot back, eyes glittering as she let loose another violent burst of magic.

He swung a clawed arm at me, and I bent back Matrix-style, spine screaming as I narrowly avoided decapitation.

‘I got it. I got it,’ I screeched.

Straightening fast, I drove my fist into his face with every ounce of assassin training I had—only to connect with solid stone.

Agony shot up my knuckles.

‘Crap, I don’t got it!’ I doubled over, clutching my hand. ‘Shit a brick. I think I just broke every bone in my hand.’

The gargoyle didn’t even blink. It just snarled, hot breath rolling over me like burning tar. And I ran… again.

‘Excellent strategy,’ Bronte hollered from somewhere behind me, voice dripping with sarcasm. ‘Punch the living statue. Inspired.’

‘It was reflex!’ I snapped over my shoulder, shaking my mangled hand as if that would magically un-break it.

‘Sometimes I wonder how you’re still alive,’ Bronte shot back.

‘Because I’m tough,’ I panted, the gargoyle’s shadow swallowing me whole.

‘Because she’s crazy,’ Sephy cackled, hair flying as she suddenly popped up on my left. ‘Cordie, babe, your reflexes suck!’ she sing-songed—right before tripping over a cracked gravestone and vanishing with a shriek.

Pah… nervousness was for ninnies. In truth, I was absolutely shitting myself. But surely they wouldn’t let me die… would they?

The gargoyle lunged, claws flashing like hooked blades, and I ducked under its arm, somersaulted through the air, and landed with a gasp. My chest heaved, every breath scraping raw. My legs screamed, but somehow I was still upright.

‘Well, damn, Cordie!’ Sephy whooped from the ground, scrambling back to her feet. ‘Didn’t know you had moves!’

‘Less commentary, more help!’ I yelled, staggering as the gargoyle snarled again, red eyes blazing.

It reared up, wings spreading wide, blotting out what little light the stormy sky had left. My pulse beat a rapid tune… I was about to be gargoyle kibble—until the air itself shivered.

Shadows snaked out—living chains, wrapping the creature’s limbs, yanking it off-balance. Golden light seared across its chest, burning symbols into stone.

Sephy and Bronte stood side by side now, hands outstretched—Sephy’s shadows curling into a spider’s web, Bronte’s golden magic blazing bright enough to paint the gravestones in light.

The gargoyle thrashed, howling, stone grinding like thunder, but the combined force dragged it to its knees.