Elven Legacy

Chapter 54

Jaden

Arching a metal-studded eyebrow, Viper said, "Let's dance."

"With pleasure," Jaden replied with more confidence than he truly felt. Part of him fleetingly wondered whether Noah's attitude had rubbed off on him over the past year.

Flash of movement, darting from the side.

As he turned to face it, Jaden instinctively drew up a magical barrier around himself. His eyes focused in time to see the jackal demon clawing across marble, snarling then biting hard into Jaden's shield. Panic kicked under his heart at the grating low growls the jackal made whilst he attempted to plow his way through, and the cringe-inducing screech of claws scraping polished marble. Jaden tensed as he abruptly felt fragility in his barrier.

"King Jaden," Viper sang, "meet Berserker!"

As if enlivened by this, the jackal turned rabid, capering about with foam bubbling up around his long fangs, large ears drooped menacingly low. Fear stabbed at Jaden, and the reflex kicked in to reach for his bow and arrow—

Wait, how . . . ?

He'd tossed them aside moments ago, yet he wielded bow and arrow in his hands right now. He would later wonder if he'd unconsciously reached for them with magic. No time for that now; he shot the arrow at the jackal in the hopes of hindering his raging, snarling charge.

But Berserker, lightning-swift, caught it in his jaw and – with a growl that made Jaden falter – snapped the arrow in two splintered halves.

Low on his knees, stepping back, Jaden dropped the bow again and instead plucked Noah's throwing knife from his boot. For one year now, he'd always kept that small knife down there in its ankle sheath.

He wished he had the luxury of locating the link connecting the jackal to Viper, to try and sever it, but as it were Jaden could only back away, wielding the four-inch blade, lashing out to try and keep Berserker at bay. It worked – more or less. The jackal hesitated, zigzagged over to him at a pace slower than before.

A very temporary solution; Berserker was clearly becoming impatient. And – Jaden was starting to realize – the jackal could be a sneaky little fucker when he wanted to be.

Viper chose that moment to let out a delighted laugh, which – Jaden cursed himself for it – made him lose some of his concentration.

So when Berserker leapt, all sharp claws and foaming fangs, Jaden's shield wasn't up to par. Somehow it didn't have time to fully form, and the raging demon stormed right through it. Backing off, Jaden lashed out wildly with his knife, and he scraped the jackal's leg. But Berserker hardly seemed to care, and his powerful jaws closed in on Jaden's thigh.

A snaring, searing pain exploded in his leg and a shout escaped his lips alongside it.

Jaden coated his knife in silvery magic in a flash of hot anger. Whilst Berserker's fangs tore away at his thigh, Jaden plunged the knife in his tawny flank with a loud grunt, hoping the jackal would free his leg.

When he didn't, Jaden stifled another rasped cry, and it took everything he had not to collapse on his back. Through sheer will he held his ground, pulled out the knife, and as Berserker tightened his jaws into the tattered skin of his thigh – blood spilling thickly out and staining his snout and fur – Jaden reversed his grip on the knife and drove it horizontal into the back of Berserker's skull, hilt-deep, through the brain.

Dreadful squelching of blood and shredded skin as Berserker, finally, tore himself away from Jaden's leg. The jackal, knife still in his skull, reeled back and howled in pain; an ear-splitting shriek that didn't sound like any creature of this world. Berserker swayed from side to side, and his legs buckled.