Thief: A Beauty and the Beast Retelling (The Scarred Mage of Roseward Book 1) by Sylvia Mercedes

Author:Sylvia Mercedes [Mercedes, Sylvia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: FireWyrm Books
Published: 2020-09-18T16:00:00+00:00

The exquisite, pitiful song rang out again and again, battering Nelle’s soul with its beauty and urgency.

Some part of her realized there must be a spell at work here. If she were in her right mind, she would never run headlong straight for that deadly swarm of wyverns. What did she think she could do against so many anyway? They might be smallish sorts of dragons, but they had enough teeth and claws among them to make even the most intrepid adventurer nervous, and while she hadn’t yet spotted any spurts of fire, that didn’t mean they couldn’t belch out little infernos if provoked.

Yet against all reason, against all better judgment, she kept charging ahead. She rounded a bend in the path that took her through a thicket of low brush and skidded to a stop.

The wyverns amassed in the sky above and took turns diving down in a stream of merciless attack, striking at a single foe, then careening up and away before returning to the swarm above. The effect created was a funnel of wings and scales and hideous brays. The cloud of colors was brilliant: jewel-colored wings flashing in the sunlight.

But Nelle could hardly see them. Her gaze drew immediately to their target.

It was a unicorn.

She’d heard tell of such beings in stories and songs, glimpsed them in tapestries and murals. But she could never have imagined anything so perfect, so shining, so pure. Nowhere near as large as a horse, it was perhaps more the shape and proportion of a stag, with a little tuft of gossamer beard on its chin. A proud, coiled horn jutted from its forehead, catching the sunlight and refracting it like cut crystal, an iridescent jewel more royal than any queen’s diadem. Powerful muscles rippled beneath the velvet-soft coat, but its limbs were so thin, so dainty, Nelle could easily imagine them snapping in two if they came down in a single bad step on that rough terrain.

Blood flowed in precious, silvery streams through the being’s white fur. The sight was heart-wrenching and yet so beautiful that it could only enhance the radiant aura pulsing from the unicorn’s center. It bugled its tragic and glorious cry even as it rose onto its powerful haunches and lashed out at its attackers with its horn.

But dozens of them came at it from all angles, and even though the unicorn was light on its sharp cloven hooves, the wyverns were too quick to be caught. One ripped at the unicorn’s neck, tearing out a gouge of flesh and silken mane. The unicorn turned, thrashing its head, a gesture like poetry even in its wild desperation. Another wyvern attacked its back, hind claws missing their target by only a breath.

For a moment that lasted an eternity, Nelle stood rooted to the spot, mouth gaping, unable to believe what she saw, unable to comprehend the bizarre juxtaposition of beauty and horror, the dance of death and life playing out before her dazzled mortal eyes. Then something inside her snapped.

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