The ghostly white face lunged at her, black pitiful eyes burning with desperate need. Thick stained drool poured from its snapping jaws.

Horrified, she worked on instinct to throw herself into its attack. She wrestled with it as the creature used its implacable strength to try slamming her to the ground once more for the circling black cords to savage.

And she felt it happen before it did.

Could see it as though gifted with the prophetic powers of a direwitch.

Her jacket tore.

And Talek's box, freed from its hiding place, flew into the air under the force of the violent rip of wyrmskin.

The box bounced once in the bloodstained snow.

Twice.

And was still.

Letting out an anguished cry, she struggled to escape the Lichspawn's unrelenting grasp. A thick cord of black chose that moment to snap around her waist and clamp tight.

Her eyes squeezed tight as she tried to focus. When they flashed open only a second later, they burned with hate.

A Flaw in the Glass stabbed upward, penetrating the Lichspawn's lower jaw before angling savagely into its brain with a steely hiss. The venomous green glow flared bright enough to light up the flesh beneath its skin.

It writhed on the blade and the elf answered the creature's howl with one of her own.

Tearing the blade free shattered the jaw and half the creature's awful face slid off its skull like a wet mask as she kicked herself free.

Love Me Deeply sliced brutally through the cord around her waist, the cord fragmenting before it could drill more than a half-inch into her flesh. Spots of blood followed the shards to the ground.

Heedless of her new wounds, she dove toward Talek's box with her heart so loud in her ears she could hear nothing else.

Not even the Lichspawn which seemed to appear from nowhere to swipe at her leg and drag her down into the snow.

Her hand shot out, fumbling desperately across the ground.

Talek's box was too far away.

Almost sobbing in frustration, she looked down at her leg and saw the Lichspawn wrapped around her boot. Its misshapen head stared up at her with darkly burning eyes and the elf was struck by the sorrow she felt buried inside its gaze. As though the weariness of living so long had engraved its pupils with a sadness which was almost palpable.

She thought briefly of what she'd told the warlock, and her heart skipped a beat.

But any sympathy she may have felt was quickly lost as she realised it was trying to keep her pinned while the cords of black circled like sharks searching for an opening.

Grunting, she kicked out with her free leg, caving in half its cheek with her heel. Bone fragments and black rot dribbled down its chin.

But it held fast.

Her eyes sought out the warlock. Couldn't find him. Her voice came out in a choked gasp; “Chuk-”

She kicked it again.

It refused to let go, its empty gaze only reinforcing its determination. It made a coughing noise as it spat blood and broken teeth. It yanked her leg to pull her toward it, away from the box.

A drumming sound bubbled in her ears. She couldn't identify it.

Suddenly frantic, the elf twisted and clawed at the earth, trying to get away from the stubborn grip. Lost Love Me Deeply in the process. Her fingers slapped at the ground, trying to locate the handle, but the blade skittered out of reach.

“-shene. Where the fuck are you?”

He didn't answer.

She couldn’t see Talek's box.

Panic skewered her spine and she was overcome with the fear of failure. That she was about to lose everything.

That the Bloody Nine would escape.

That the black cords would worm their way inside her and fill her with their dark curse.

That Talek's box would be lost.

And losing it was the one thing she couldn't bear most of all. The box was the only thing she had left to remind her of how much Talek trusted her.

How much he loved her.

His smile filled her mind and the icy ball of fear spinning in her guts was so cold it was like glass. Sharp. She could feel it cutting through her belly and shredding her insides until she couldn't take it anymore.

“No!” she twisted in its grasp. Kicked it over and over in the face while she raked at the ground to get loose. Snow drank greedily from the fresh wounds as her fingertips were torn open.

But the Lichspawn was strong. Slowly, but certainly, it dragged her back toward the waiting cords gathering at the lip of the hill.

She kicked again. Its nose evaporated, smearing across its cheeks like black mould. She half expected maggots to squirm from the tainted flesh.

The ball of icy terror spun like a dice in her guts.

Again, she kicked.

Its jaw shattered completely under the heel of her boot. Ripped clean off, the chunk of teeth and bone took its tongue with it to the ground between them. Its shredded face horribly disfigured, the creature might have screamed. But all she heard was a bubbling gurgle from the back of its throat as it vomited gore.

The ice in her guts shattered. In its place, rage ignited, burning her heart and filling her mind with a cry of defiance.

“Let me the fuck go!”

Raised her leg and brought it down with all her strength. Her heel disintegrated what was left of the Lichspawn's skull and pulverised its brain. The strong stench of rotten meat filled her nostrils but her veins were boiling with molten hate so she felt only a triumphant thrill of satisfaction as she jerked her trapped leg free.

With a barely audible moan, the creature let go and sank almost gratefully into the snow. The elf struggled not to vomit as its brains slid off her ankle.

Bellying along the ground, she scrambled toward where the box had been.

Heard something swish beside her.

Saw the cord of shadow snaking through the air toward her face. The elf slashed with A Flaw in the Glass, but it reared out of the blade's savage arc and whipped toward her throat like an adder for the kill.

Magic crawled around her, turning the air into a shimmering curtain of heat. Realising only then that the drumming in her ears had been the warlock's voice as he chanted, she gagged on the stench of magic as Chukshene shouted one last word of power.

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And then there was silence.

Silence so thick she thought if she even breathed, it would shatter the world.

The tendril of shadow, too, froze in mid-air as it sensed something was coming.

“Oh, shit,” she heard him mutter into the silence. “It didn't fucking work, did it?”

The explosion tore her world apart.

Fire erupted from the earth with such force that the elf shrieked in terror. Chunks of rock speared out of the ground in staccato bursts before thick clods of mud rained down to pelt the snow.

It was over in an instant.

And when the bright spots cleared from her eyes, she could see only scorched earth in all directions as everything living around the hill had been destroyed by fire. Chunks of flesh smoked among the debris, emitting a foul stench which lingered long after the acrid smell of magic had faded.

Her ears drummed dully as her hearing gradually returned, though the ringing continued for some time.

“Nysta?” the warlock limped his way carefully toward her. “You okay?”

Stunned by the blast, her mouth hung slack and she stared up at him, unable to process what he was saying. His voice was muted, drained of emotion.

She coughed hard. Spat a mouthful of dirt and shook her head.

Fear and adrenaline mixed inside her blood, surging through her body and making everything feel so much more alive.

Her thoughts scattered and struggled to reform.

“Yeah,” he smirked, dropping down beside her. His face was completely drained of colour as exhaustion took his energy away. “Big, wasn't it? I'll bet the bugs round here got fried as well. Good thing, too. I hate bugs. And spiders. I ever tell you that? Fuck, I hate spiders more than anything. Especially black ones. I hear you can get spiders as big as dogs in some places. Can you believe that? Fuck, I hate dogs.”

But the elf had forgotten him as her dazed mind remembered Talek's box.

Ignoring her protesting ribs, she rolled painfully. Inched weakly over the ground toward the small box now sitting seemingly undamaged by the explosive blast.

Reached out.

Couldn't quite touch it.

Wincing in pain, she used her toes to push herself closer.

Arm stretched as far as she could.

Her fingertip brushed the edge of the box.

“What's that?” the warlock asked suddenly.

Her gaze slid slowly up the bracer tied loose to her forearm and across the lengths of her trembling fingers. Along the top of Talek's box. And at the glistening cord of black hovering with menacing ease only half a foot from her fingertip.

Her breath caught in her throat.

Groaning, the spellslinger hauled himself to his feet. “Come on. More will come soon. Run. We’ve gotta run.”

He took a few ragged steps before noticing she hadn't moved.

“Nysta?” he called urgently. “Come on!”

Gritting her teeth, the elf glared at the thin black wire.

Her arms ached.

Everything ached, really.

She doubted she could move fast enough to cut the cord before it touched her. Doubted she had the energy to even lift A Flaw in the Glass.

And if she could fight this one off, there might be more coming.

A breath of mist rose from dark alien runes on the side of the box.

She licked her upper lip. “Go,” she breathed. “Go, Chukshene. Get away.”

“What the fuck do you think you're doing? Leave it!”

“I can't. It belonged to him.”

“What? Don't be an idiot!”

“It's Talek's,” she said firmly, her eyes narrowing as the cord slithered closer. It angled this way and that, unwilling to get too close to the small container. Her eyes narrowed. “He guarded it for his whole fucking life. I won't leave it behind. Not now. Not here. I've been asking myself this past few days: What the fuck am I doing? There are nine of them, Chukshene. Told myself the chances are I won't be able to kill them all. That they'll kill me first. So, I just couldn't figure why I came all this way. Began to think it was just because I didn't know what else to do. But it ain't that, is it? It's because of him. Because I failed him over and over. Just once I want to do what is right. And what's right is I protect that box for him. And then I find Raste. And his Bloody Nine. Nothing's going to stop me trying. If I fail him this time, 'lock, it's because I'm dead. Ain't no other way. Not now. Not ever again.”

“Don't be a fool, Long-ear,” he hissed. There was something in his voice she couldn't recognise. “You don't know what you're fucking with. Leave it!”

“Told you. Ain’t gonna do that, ‘lock.”

“It's not worth your stupid life!”

The cord reared like a hunting snake. If it had a mouth, it’d be gaping open. Fangs would drip venom.

Its tongue would lick the air, tasting her.

She felt a thousand jumbled wordless thoughts roar through her brain, each one riding a glacier of fear. Couldn't pick them apart or make sense of them, so let her mind empty and held onto her fear.

She could trust fear.

Fear would keep her alert.

Maybe even alive.

The cord drifted sideways, searching for an angle of attack. Then froze. Tense.

Poised.

“Shit,” she breathed, knowing it was about to strike.

“Leave it, Nysta. Please. If that thing touches you. If it gets inside you...”

“It won't,” she said. Her voice sounded calm to her ears, but her heart was tearing a hole in her chest as she tasted the lie on her lips. “I'm quicker.”

“You're stupider!” He almost howled in frustration. “He wouldn't want this, Nysta! If he loved you, he wouldn't want this. He'd want you to live!”

“And I couldn't live knowing I've failed him again,” she hissed. “It's mine now. And nothing will take that from me!”

Her fingertips were so close to its frozen edge. A thin line of black suddenly smiled along the side of its lid as it cracked open by a hair. The air released by the slit was icy cold.

Like the breath of a wyrm.

It should have awed her to see it opening, but the fear in her mind was dimming the elf's thoughts. The world around her danced in a dizzying spiral of sight and sound and nothing made any sense.

Except getting that box.

Holding it tight. Never letting it go.

“Nysta,” Chukshene's voice was a strangled gasp. “Don't do that. Whatever you're doing, don't. Stop. Stop it! Get away from it right now!”

Unable to tell if he was talking about Talek's box, or the cord, she ignored him.

Breathed in.

Breathed out.

In.

Held.

Then, moving with lightning speed, her hand flashed forward and fisted around the grinning box. Without hesitation, she snatched her arm back as fast as she could.

But not fast enough.

The cord struck.

Like a rattlesnake, it slashed through the air. Rapped hard across her knuckles and sank invisible fangs into her flesh.

As though realising this was its final chance, the cord drilled faster than the others. It squirmed against her skin, chewing desperately as it coiled tight around her wrist.

Biting.

Burning.

Screaming, Nysta wrenched her hand back, clutching at her forearm.

She heard a sound like something tearing. And then a heavy metallic thunk like an anchor dropping onto the rocky ocean floor.

One brief moment of silence.

A breath of stillness as even the cord around her wrist froze.

And then the box flipped open with a loud crack that echoed across the hill.

A shriek of air blew past her head, the stink of magic so strong she thought her brain would burn. A roar, like the sound of a million screaming voices, punched into her brain through the front of her face. But it wasn't a scream of pain.

It was a scream of triumph. A howling scream of joy.

And it made every hair on her body rise up in horror.

Simultaneously, the cord wrapped around her wrist like a python. Its long length slapped her free hand away as it coiled up her arm on a lattice of pain. It felt like a sharp wire wrapped in acid.

She writhed in agony, screaming as the warlock burst into view and desperately tried to tear the box from her fingers or at least close the lid.

He was shouting, but she couldn't hear him through her own screams.

Terror flooded her mind.

One of her greatest fears had always been that of being eaten alive. Of worms squirming into her flesh while she screamed and screamed again.

So, as the cord burrowed beneath her skin, her mind exploded in fireworks of fear. “Get it out!” she screamed at him. “Get it the fuck out!”

“I'm trying!” he shouted, hands glowing brightly as magic burst from his fists. He gave up trying to slap the box from her grip and started tearing at the bracer to jerk it free and get to the cord. She let out another shriek of agony and her body arched so sharply she thought her back might break.

And then Talek's box pulsed in her palm.

The roaring in her brain stopped suddenly as the thud of its pulse washed through her like a shockwave.

Nysta froze, eyes wide and mouth hanging slack as she stared down at the open box in her hand. Mist surrounded it and she found it easy to imagine a pair of ancient eyes opening to peer into the darkest corners of her soul.

It pulsed again.

Her ears felt like they were stuffed with wool. Everything was far away. Except the pain.

Shuddering, and still reeling in agony as the cord convulsed inside her, she could do nothing but watch in disbelief as the dark mist drifted from the box and over the bleeding hole in her arm where the last few inches of cord was wriggling desperately into her flesh.

Chukshene gasped and snatched his hands away from her, terrified at thought of the mist touching him. A string of curses spat loose from his lips, but they were distant. Subdued.

A wave of iciness spread from the mist and into the wound in her arm. It moved slowly, gently. Like anaesthetic. Freezing the pain as it followed the trail left by the thin black cord.

As it swam into her flesh, it numbed her hand.

Wrist.

Her forearm.

Then there was a moment when the two breeds of darkness touched. Her heart froze in her chest and it felt like two armies had paused inches from each other and were studying their ranks.

Neither moved.

She saw in her mind a thin cord of darkness faced with an unending ocean of shadows. And, from far away, she heard Gaket scream as the contents of Talek's box gave a low growl and stormed up her arm with the relentlessness of a tsunami. It consumed the cord and turned her skin as black as the night sky.

It felt like a river of squirming shadows poured into her veins.

A river of worms from the heart of the Void.

Her stomach heaved. She wanted to scream until her throat disintegrated, but paralysis stole even that from her. Her body was cold. Colder than she'd ever been.

This, she thought, is what it is to be poisoned. Expecting a slow death, the elf's eyes squeezed fresh tears and her mind raced between the fear of dying and the regret of not having avenged Talek's death.

The warlock watched helplessly, and the words of power died on his lips as awe shattered his concentration. Never in his life had he seen such powerful magic. He looked at her with impossibly wide eyes and shook his head. “I'm sorry, Nysta. I can't stop it. Not now it's open. Fuck. I can't do anything for you. Nothing will stop it. I'm sorry. I really am.”

She fell back into the warlock's arms, drained of energy as lassitude and horror swallowed her final dregs of energy.

And, as she slipped away, her last thought was firmly spoken if not through her lips then in her mind; “Ain't for you to dole out apologies, 'lock. I'm the one about to be idle.”