Page 115
“Go!” he shouted. “Quickly!”
Maia drove the horse forward, heart slamming, not daring to look back. Behind them, something hit the glass and shattered, a sound like a window breaking in an empty house.
Julen twisted in the saddle, watching. “They’re further behind now. I think we lost them.”
“Not for long. And I doubt they’ll be the only creatures we see tonight.”
The path widened slightly ahead, then dipped. Beyond it a deeper purple shade ran through the sky. As they crept closer, dark figures appeared in the distance. Maia pulled the horse to a slower pace, breath catching.
Umbralyn.
Three of them stood across the path, positioned deliberately, their forms still against the shifting light, guarding whatever lay ahead.
Julen leaned closer. “That… could be a problem,” he whispered. “They’ll take us back to Eryssan. Or worse, do what they did to Elgar.”
Maia’s mind raced. If they turned back, the hounds would catch them. If they charged forward then… no, that wouldn’t work.
“They’re not here for us,” she said.
Julen frowned. “What?”
“They would have stopped us at the gates if they wanted to. They let us go. I don’t think we’re what they’re guarding against at all.”
He glanced back at the approaching shapes behind them.
“Then what are they doing?”
Maia looked at the Umbralyn again, looking past them into the darkness that occupied the rest of the path. “They’re protecting something.”
Or someone. Her pulse kicked.
“Caelith,” she breathed. “He must be near.”
The words barely left her lips before the nearest Umbralyn shifted. He had seen them.
Maia straightened in the saddle, forcing herself not to hesitate. “Let’s keep going.”
Julen blinked. “You’re not serious?”
“They won’t expect us to.”
Before he could argue, she urged the horse forward again straight toward them.
The distance closed quickly, and the Umbralyn did not move at first. Then, as they drew nearer, one stepped forward.
“Turn back,” he said.
His voice was flat and unemotional. But Maia didn’t slow.
“We need to pass.”
“You will not.”
Julen muttered, “That’s fairly clear.”
Behind them, Maia felt the presence of the glasshounds approaching. She met the Umbralyn’s gaze.
“If you stop us, the hounds… they reach you too.”
