The Last One by Rachel Howzell Hall

Author:Rachel Howzell Hall
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Red Tower; Red Tower Books; fantasy romance; fantasy; action and adventure; epic; epic fantasy; The Last One; The Last One by Rachel Howzell Hall; Rachel Howzell Hall; New York Times Bestselling Author; Gods; Overcoming Odds, Enemies to Lovers, Frenemies, opposites attract; Magical heroine, new in town, revenge, hidden identities, amnesia, tortured hero and heroine; Action & Adventure Fantasy; Classic Fantasy eBooks; New Adult Romance; New Adult Books; war; empire; secrets; amnesia; magic; realms; secrets; hero; heroine; taverns; alchemy; training; fighting; swords; armor; pendant; amulet; mentors; corruption; Women's Fantasy Fiction; tortured hero; secrets; secret romance; forbidding romance; Romantic Heroes Criminals & Outlaws; Fish Out Of Water; Across The Tracks; Red Tower; Red Tower Books; Rachel Howzell Hall; fantasy; action; adventure; epic; epic fantasy; fantasy romance; gods; goddesses; thieves; thief; bandits; monsters; New York Times Bestselling Author; war; empire; secrets; amnesia; magic; realms; secrets; hero; heroine; taverns; alchemy; training; fighting; swords; armor; pendant; amulet; mentors; corruption
Publisher: Entangled Publishing, LLC
Published: 2024-07-09T00:00:00+00:00

31

As deep as the sea and as high as the tallest mountain, the weird warble vibrates from the forest and through our bones, invading our skulls, making us gasp and cover our ears. The air swells with the reek of rotting fruit and sour milk…and death.

“What is it?” I shout.

“No idea.” Jadon scrambles to his feet and reaches for the broadsword he’d just put away.

I expect dangerous creatures like the burnu to live in the forest. But this cry sounds more terrifying than anything I can imagine, including the burnu.

Wide-eyed, Veril shakes his head. “I’ve never heard that sound in these woods.”

Lesser shrieks—compared to that heart-stopping bellow—drown out Veril’s words.

“Get inside!” Jadon cries.

I grab my sword and dagger from the workbench and run behind my companions into the cottage, pulse racing, leg burning.

Another high-pitched cry screws through my skull, the creature closer than before.

Bam! Bam! The cottage shudders as the beast flings itself against the walls.

Bam! This time, the creature strikes the window in the bedroom.

Almost simultaneously, something dark and the size of a large pumpkin strikes the window in the sitting room. A crack spiders out from the center of the window.

“There are two?” I shout.

Olivia, courage outweighing sense, darts to the window and gasps, “Sweet Supreme.”

Bam!

Jadon and I creep over to stand beside her. Together, we peer through the window. There, a dog-sized, black…thing smacks against the glass. That stink moves past the barrier of glass and fills our nostrils. Olivia winces, “Ugh,” and wheels away from the window and races back to Philia, who holds the crook of her elbow against her nose.

Bam! Another dog-sized black thing, this one with an orange marking, smacks the glass.

Through the shattered windowpane, Jadon and I see the creature’s vast, leathery wings and glowing, hungry eyes.

It’s the same beast that was perched on the hollow outside the bedroom!

“Battabies,” Jadon whispers, awed.

Battabies… Battabies… I whip the pages of my memory, matching what I just glimpsed outside with what I know from my past. Wings like a bird. Leather wings, not feathers.

I look over my shoulder to Veril. “This bowl of bother is the creature I told you about.”

The old man tries to speak but can only shake his head.

“Do battabies gouge eyes to reach brains?” I whisper to Jadon.

“Yep.”

“Talons that never dull?” The creature in my mind matches the creature on the other side of this window.

He nods and adds, “And teeth that sharpen with each kill.”

Battabies never give up, relenting only once they’ve fed.

Bam! The window in front of us cracks again. Bam! The wood in the bedroom creaks.

“They’re trying to knock down the cottage,” Olivia shouts, her voice quavering. She and Philia clutch each other’s hands. “Did Elyn send these things?”

“I don’t think that matters right now,” Jadon says, bending over to tighten the clasps of his boots. “We’ve got to send them back to the cave they haunt.”

“And where is that?” I ask.

“Unfortunately,” Jadon says, “that would be Azzam Cavern.”

Philia gasps.

I don’t know Azzam Cavern, but Philia does, and her reaction frightens me.

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