A Court of Wings and Teeth

Chapter 17: Step Forward

Nyx POV:

I perched on a stump and watched Aston pull his blade from the carcass of a dead beast. We managed to subdue a small pack of monsters fairly quickly. It seems he and I work well together. Suddenly, a burst of light illuminated the darkening sky. 

"What was that?" I ask, turning to face the direction it came from. I twisted the siphon on my finger, feeling a huge surge of energy.

"Who cares, we have other things to deal with", Aston flipped the knife he was holding with an easy nonchalance.

The Autumn Court hound growled and started stalking off in the direction of the chaos.

I pointed at the dog, "we came here to kill monsters and your pet has the right idea, I'm going with him". I leaped off the stump and followed the dog. 

"Fine" Aston grumbled, "wait up, I'm coming". I could hear him slinking after us. 

A roar erupted and scared the nearby birds to flight. We started sprinting in the direction it came from until the mouth of a cave was in front of us. We stopped just before the entrance on either side. Looking at each other, we gave a sharp nod before bolting into the cave. We froze a few steps in, as a massive beast towered in front of us, taking up most of the space in the corridor. Long bodied, with the head of a snarling wolf, the body of a bear, and two wicked-looking antlers, the beast was magnificent. I was steeling up my nerves to launch myself at it when I realized the beast was standing over something. I moved closer and noticed it was Celeste. Did this creature kill her? Aston must have had the same thought as he sprung forward and launched himself at the monster. The beast reared back and tried to crush him into the ceiling. I slipped forward and picked up Celeste. Sprinting a few steps back I put her down at the entrance to the cave. She startled awake and her eyes opened, fixing me with a deep amber stare. 

"Where am I?" she began, she sounded a bit dazed.

"We found you in a cave passed out under a beast" I explained, tipping my head back in.

Her eyes widened, "where is Thorne?" she asked. "Where is he?!" she was becoming more frantic. "I think he transformed when we were getting swarmed," she said beginning to stand up.  

Transformed? I turned back to look at him trying to buck Aston off of him. That beast is Thorne? I watched him slice his claws over a smaller creature crawling out of the depths. 

"Are you okay?" I asked, steadying her on her feet. My hands pressed into her shoulders, I was hesitant to let her go.

She nodded, fierce determination painted her face. She stepped out of my grasp and rolled her shoulders. She started running forward, her hand outstretched, she slid past Thorne and bright lights started shooting out of her palm at the horde of monsters ahead of her.

I followed her, "Aston, get off of Thorne" I called out to him. 

Aston was barely holding on as Thorne tried to buck him off, simultaneously slashing at the beasts that threatened to overwhelm him. 

"Thorne?" Aston looked down at the fur he was holding as Thorne swiveled his head to meet Aston's stare. The brown eyes with subtle gold flakes were warm and familiar as he looked from me to him. Aston cursed and leaped off his back, landing nimbly behind him. 

"There," I began, my hand splayed out in front of me. "There are our enemies" the growing tide of creatures slithered forward from the darkness of the tunnels. 

Aston and Thorne turned their heads to meet the growing threat, which Celeste had already thrown herself into. She moved incredibly fast, her power raging through her as she danced to avoid enemies' teeth and claws. She was an enigma. I grinned and threw myself in the fray to join her. 

I faced off with an armored reptilian beast who moved forward on four legs. Its maw opened to reveal rows of sharpened teeth and 6 tongues. Its tail lunged forward and I rolled to dodge it. Crouching down, I noticed that the tail ended in a stinger. it was almost as if it was part scorpion. It lurched forward and I jumped aside before finding a weak spot in the armored shell, under its arm. I punched my hand forward and sent a wave of power through my siphon. It exploded into a flash of purple light and pieces flew past me. Another beast approached, the serpentine body had four strong legs with clawed toes. The dragon head twisted to face me and spat some acid in my direction. I sprung left, but some of it grazed my shoulder. It started burning and it was agony. I ripped my sleeve and pulled the disintegrating material off my shoulder. I was about to attack when Aston leapt onto its shoulders and stabbed the beast through the top of the head. As his knife pierced its skull, I watched the life drain from its eyes. I nodded and he took off into the darkness again.

After what felt like hours we were finally finished. Surrounded by corpses, we were all sweat-slicked and breathing hard. Thorne had at some point transformed back into fae form and had claw marks across his bare chest. Aston wiped some blood off his face with his shirt but he looked fine. My eyes drifted over to Celeste. She was wrapping some cloth around her thigh, covering up a wound. I clutched my shoulder and winced, I didn't notice earlier, but I think some of the poison penetrated into my bloodstream. 

"We should probably get out of here and make camp for the night" Thorne's deep voice reverberated through the cavern. None of us responded, we just silently exited the cave and out into the night.