The Other Apprentice

9-2 | Nexus

Quinn had never played hexat before. She'd seen the boards and the fancy game pieces, but there was no place in her world to learn the rules, much less play it. Quinn had spent her life focusing on the game of survival. Now she was trying to survive from rejects from an over-sized game board. Her life sure had taken surprising twists since arriving in Stillbrook.

The armored figure on the giant beast—Tenet had called him packlord—pointed his spear and barked a command at his pack of hounds. Immediately, three of the larger ones lunged forward, kicking up dirt and rock as they galloped toward Quinn and Valryk. Quinn stood with her sword tensed, grateful for the teaching she had received from the soldier, but wishing she'd had more.

One of the three beasts veered off from the group, passing behind a ruined building. Quinn gasped, "It's headed toward the tower!"

"Go!" Valryk barked the order, as he stood prepared to face the two remaining darkhounds single-handedly.

Quinn ran toward the path that Tenet and Madrigal had gone up, seeing the darkhound bounding on three sets of muscular legs to reach it before her. Thankfully, Quinn had less ground to cover. She sprinted over and blocked the way with her sword at chest height.

She could see viscous drool from its fanged muzzle as the beast paused, digging swordlike talons into the hard ground. It lowered its head like a bull and then charged, its aura like a million angry flies.

Quinn considered sidestepping the beast and aiming for its flank, but the risk was too great it would ignore her and charge up the path if she moved. She stood her ground.

Quinn lashed out as the darkhound came within range, scoring a solid hit on one of its forelegs, and was knocked to the ground in return. She winced in pain as she felt its talons slice at her leg. She dodged its thick-muscled head as she grabbed her sword and plunged upward into the creature's underbelly. The creature responded with an agonized howl, moving off of her.

She pulled her bloodied sword free as it moved away and then pushed herself to her feet, wincing with pain. Dark red blood soaked her torn pants leg. She could feel it dripping down her skin but was grateful she still had sensation, even if that meant she was acutely aware of the pain.

The darkhound turned to look at her, snorting.

Quinn screamed with rage, "Come at me, butt-ugly! Let's get this over with before I puke from your breath!"

The creature ignored its injuries and lunged at her, jaws wide. Quinn aimed her sword and drove it into the beast's mouth, using its momentum against it as the tip of her sword pierced behind its upper teeth into its head. It stared at her with lifeless eyes before falling over, with her sword still lodged in its mouth.

Quinn spit on the creature and went to retrieve her sword. She would have used her leg as leverage against its hide, but as shredded as it was, it lacked the strength to support her in such a maneuver. She grabbed hold of the hilt and began wiggling it to get it free of the creature's jaws.

A hoarse voice shouted something angrily at her. "Ukraj vik nithrath! Face your last battle, child!" She turned to see the packlord atop his beast, aiming its spear as he kicked the flank of his mount. It began running toward her as he aimed the barbs of his spear.

Quinn pulled harder at the sword. "No, no, no! Come on! Get free!"

She felt the sword loosen, and tried harder to jerk it free, knowing she was out of time. She considered running, but knew that she could not outrun this beast, even if her leg had not been a bloody mess.

She yanked as hard as she could and felt the sword come loose. The momentum laid her flat on her back. She rolled over, trying to ignore the pain as she saw the beast barreling toward her, prepared to trample her. She accepted her inevitable death, planning to take it with her if she could. Hopefully, the larger darkhound's underbelly would be as soft as the smaller had been.