ShadowBound: The Need For Power

Liam moved first, stepping toward the outer side of the wall. Asher followed, and the two descended with controlled movement rather than dramatic leaps. Liam used broken stone, ledges, and small drops, barely touching Myst. Asher used short, precise bursts of blue flame to slow his descent, not enough to flare brightly above the trees, only enough to keep from landing too hard.

They dropped into the branches near Asher’s hidden group, landing on thick limbs before descending the rest of the way to the ground.

The four students startled anyway.

The injured boy nearly dropped Asher’s field bag. The short-sword boy raised his weapon halfway before realizing who had arrived. Kara Cale’s bow came up more smoothly than the others’ reactions, though her eyes widened when she saw Liam beside Asher. The route-marking girl took one step back before forcing herself still.

Asher snatched his field bag from the injured boy. "Look alive and stop staring like frightened corpses."

Kara’s gaze flicked from Asher to Liam and back again. "Is that Hunter?"

Liam looked at her.

She quieted.

Asher pointed at her. "Archer girl."

Her eyes narrowed despite the fear. "Kara Cale."

"Archer girl with a name. You are needed."

Kara looked like she wanted to object to the phrasing, then seemed to decide the situation was too serious for that particular fight. "For what?"

"Veyrhold has Gravebound Maulers inside," Asher said. "Old barracks and storage quarter. We are clearing or weakening them before the larger groups walk into the den like idiots."

The injured boy swallowed. "Maulers?"

Liam spoke before fear could grow legs. "Large Realm-Touched scavenger-predators. Hunched bodies, thick arms, stone-gray hide, bone plating over shoulders and backs, heavy claws, crushing jaws. They nest in abandoned structures and become territorial around enclosed spaces. Not clever. Strong enough to tear through doors, old walls, and students who enter blindly."

The group went quiet.

Kara steadied her bow against her side. "How many?"

"At least four," Liam said. "Possibly more. A pack leader is not confirmed but possible."

The short-sword boy’s face lost color. "And we are fighting them?"

"No," Asher said. "We are. You are trying not to be in the way."

Liam looked at Kara. "You will be stationed on the wall. Do not waste arrows on skull, shoulders, or back plating unless you enjoy decorating armor. Aim beneath the jaw, behind the knees, inside elbows, throat folds, exposed side ribs when they rear back, or the spine ridge when they charge low. If you can frost joints, do it when they commit weight. Slowing one step at the right moment is better than making pretty ice on their hide."

Kara listened carefully, her nervousness tightening into focus. "Understood."

"Asher and I will draw them toward a controlled space," Liam continued. "You shoot anything that enters range. Slow charges. Interrupt turns. If one begins climbing or moving toward the wall, warn first and shoot second if you have the angle."

Asher turned to the other three. "The rest of you stay near the southern gate, hidden and alert. You do not enter Veyrhold unless called. Your job is to warn any arriving students not to walk through the gate blindly. Tell them threats are being handled inside. Keep weaker students outside the danger path."

The route-marking girl nodded quickly. "What if a high-ranked student arrives?"

"Send them toward Kara on the wall," Liam said. "Or have them wait for our signal. If they ignore you, remember their name so someone can call them stupid later if they survive."

Asher added, "If a Mauler or anything else breaks toward the gate, distract and retreat. Do not fight directly. You will lose."

The short-sword boy stiffened. "We can help."

"You helped enough by needing rescue from a free-bedroom ruin," Asher said.

The boy’s jaw tightened, but he did not argue further.

Liam looked over them once, confirming they understood enough to be useful. "No shouting unless necessary. No repeated insignia pulses. If a group arrives, count them, ask about injuries, and keep them from crowding the gate. If Chris’s group arrives first, tell them the southern quarter is occupied and the courtyard is not secure."

Asher glanced at him. "You think that bastard comes first?"

"Likely."

"Then maybe we should let him meet one Mauler."

"No."

Asher smirked faintly. "Knew you would say that."

"You suggested the plan to avoid it."

"I am allowed to be annoyed by my own good judgment."

Kara adjusted her quiver and lifted her bow. "How am I getting onto the wall?"

Asher looked at her like the answer was obvious.

Her eyes narrowed. "No."

"Yes."

"No."

"You want to climb?"

She glanced at the height, then back at him. "I would prefer not being thrown by fire."

"I am not throwing you."

"That is not comforting."

Asher stepped closer. "Hold your bow tight, do not flail, and if you scream, keep it quiet."

Kara looked at Liam, perhaps hoping for a more reasonable alternative.

Liam stared back. "He probably will not drop you."

"Probably?"

"That was reassurance."

"It was terrible."

"It was accurate."

Kara inhaled slowly, muttered something under her breath that sounded like a prayer with insults, then allowed Asher to take her by the waist and shoulder. His blue flame gathered beneath his boots in a controlled burst, bright for only an instant, and then he launched upward with her.

Kara stiffened hard enough to look like a drawn bowstring but did not scream, which Liam considered respectable. Asher landed on the wall with her a moment later, setting her down less roughly than his expression suggested he wanted to.

Liam climbed after them using the broken stone again, reaching the top as Kara was still recovering her balance.

She shot Asher a look. "You could have warned me before moving."

"I said do not flail."

"That is not the same thing."

"You did not flail. Success."

Kara looked ready to hit him with the bow.

Liam moved past them and pointed toward the barracks courtyard. "Position there. Stay low behind the broken parapet. Wing will circle above the inner buildings. Watch where it looks. If I raise my left hand, slow the target. If Asher raises his, interrupt a charge. If both of us move away from the courtyard, stop shooting unless you have a clean angle. Do not risk hitting us because you want to be useful."

Kara crouched near the broken stone and tested the angle. From the height of the wall, she could see the old barracks, the collapsed storage house, and part of the open courtyard between them. Her nervousness remained, but it no longer controlled her face. She pulled an arrow from her quiver and let a thin layer of ice gather over the head, reinforcing it until it gleamed faintly in the dark.

"I can make the shots," she said.

Asher looked down into Veyrhold, blue flame curling briefly around one hand. "Good. Try not to embarrass yourself, archer girl."

"Kara."

"Same thing."

"It is not."

Liam ignored both of them and focused on Wing, which now circled silently above the settlement, smoke-edged wings cutting through the dim air without sound. Through the shared sight, he saw one Mauler near the torn barracks door, another at the collapsed storage house, a third deeper in shadow, and movement that might have been the fourth shifting behind a broken inner wall. No pack leader visible yet. That did not mean there was none.

He moved to the edge of the wall.

Asher stepped beside him, eagerness sharpening his grin despite the seriousness in his eyes. "Controlled space, joint shots, no wrecking the future bedroom. Fine. Let’s go ruin their morning."

"It is still night here."

"Then their night."

"Better."

Asher gave him a sideways glare. "Do not correct battle lines."

"Make better ones."

Kara drew her bow behind them, breath steadying as she took her first watch angle. Wing circled above Veyrhold, silent and dark, its ember-like crown eyes fixed on the Mauler den below. The four students hidden near the southern gate waited beneath the trees, carrying their small roles with more fear than confidence but enough understanding to matter.

Liam and Asher stepped off the wall together.

The broken parapet vanished above them as they dropped into Veyrhold, the ruined settlement opening beneath their feet, mist curling through the streets below while the Gravebound Maulers moved unknowingly in the dark courtyard ahead.