Harvest: Faction 1: (The Isa Fae Collection) by Conner Kressley & Rebecca Hamilton

Author:Conner Kressley & Rebecca Hamilton [Kressley, Conner]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fallen Sorcery
Published: 2017-09-06T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

The caws of the unkindness echoed throughout the woods. Judging purely from sound, there had to be dozens of them, and they seemed to be right above us.

I swallowed hard, wondering what either of us could do to fend off flesh-eating bird creatures who were impervious to magic. It said a lot about my luck that, on the day I finally found myself in possession of a full atern band, I’d run into the only creatures I had ever heard of who could render that band useless.

“What do we do?” I asked, looking over at Karr. His breaths were steady, and his muscles looked tight as he glared up into the treetops.

My gaze followed his and, with a start, I saw the branches themselves were rocking. Perhaps I was wrong to think there were dozens of these things up there. From what it looked like, there appeared to be closer to a hundred.

“We run,” he said. “We run and we pray.”

I had never been much of a praying type person. I believed there was something after this life. At least, I wanted to. But the idea of throwing my hopes and wishes up toward the sky and expecting some benevolent creator to fix me didn’t feel right. If there was something wrong with me, I needed to fix it myself. I needed to save myself.

With my hand still in his, Karr rushed off, jerking me forward. My body snapped back as I began running, too, huffing to keep pace with him.

The rustle of caws and branches intensified as we ran, and I knew from the sound alone that the unkindness was on the move.

“Karr,” I said, my teeth ground together and my heart racing.

“I know,” he said. “Just keep running, okay?”

The sound grew louder, and the flapping of these things’ wings shattered the air around us. From the corner of my eye, I saw them nearing, flying down from the branches, cutting us off.

I gasped as the monsters came into view, swerving through my periphery. Calling them ‘birds’ didn’t do them justice. These jet-black flying creatures, with glowing yellow eyes and talons that jutted like razorblades from skeletal feet, were more demon than aviary. At least three times the size of a regular bird, I got the feeling a couple of these things could pluck me right off the ground and carry me off.

Maybe that was exactly what they planned to do.

Karr said the unkindness acted as spies for Westman. Perhaps he sent them here to scoop me up and take me to him. So much for Karr’s plan to get an army behind us.

Karr twisted his free hand, calling on the atern in his band. As it began to glow, a rush of heat came from the unkindness.

Why were these things hot? I wasn’t sure if it was a threat—if they might burn us if they ran—but it unsettled me.

A jolt of energy shot out from Karr’s palm, colliding with the ground a few feet in front of us.

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