Page 66 of Whispers of Ruin
She glanced nervously at the woman as she reminded herself they didn’t know what abilities these creatures possessed, but they had to test the spell. “All set,” she whispered.
Some of the tension in her shoulders eased when the woman showed no reaction to her words.
“Neither of you know what that is,” Brokk stated.
“No, and I could have gone my whole life without ever seeing it,” Ryker replied.
“Do we kill it?”
Kaylia studied the strange, repulsive creature as she debated the answer to this. “They only make their presence known at night, but what if they still hunt us during the day?”
“There’s a good possibility they’ll follow us,” Ryker said.
“Plus, I don’t feel any difference in the shield.”
“They could be searching for a weakness,” Brokk suggested.
It was a good possibility, but the problem was… “What if they find one?”
“They haven’t yet.”
“Yet,” Ryker said. “And if they follow us, they’ll have more time to learn and attack. We can’t let them find a weakness we don’t see. Besides, I don’t like keeping anything alive that wants to kill me.”
“I agree,” Brokk stated.
“But once we attack one of them, the others will know we’re out here,” Kaylia said.
“You should return to the camp.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “We’re not having this discussion again.”
“We can move faster if only two of us are here.”
“Then Ryker can go back.”
“I’m not going anywhere until these monsters are dead,” Ryker replied.
Brokk scowled at her. “I’m trying to keep you safe.”
“I’m not weak or helpless, and we protecteachotherhere; we have from the start,” she retorted. “We don’t have time to argue over this.”
Brokk closed his eyes and bowed his head in acquiescence. “Fine, once we take out the first one, we have to be prepared for the others to converge on us.”
“I’m prepared to kill them all,” Ryker declared.
Kaylia was too, even if she didn’t like killing, but it was pretty clear these things weren’t here for tea and friendship. She would do what was necessary to survive. “Should we get the others?”
Ryker glanced back at the barrier and the guards there. Some were still patrolling, but a handful stood, looking at the jungle.
“If we get in trouble, they’ll see it and come, but let’s find out if we can do this without putting anyone else at risk,” he finally said.
“Let’s get it over with then,” Brokk said.
Kaylia pulled her sword from her scabbard and followed them deeper into the jungle and away from the light. She knew the second the shadows slipped away as the creature’s red eyes shifted toward them.
Instead of looking alarmed, it smiled.
CHAPTERSIXTY-TWO
