Page 98 of Sunsplitter

He lunged at Ixli.

She dodged like a slip of moonbeam. Thrust at his throat. The strike should have hit.

Red screeched against gold as the spear glanced sideways, deflected by a wall of gilded light, a barrier of glowing…

Feathers?

Wings appeared at the aedari’s back, feathers made of golden energy, cloaking him like a shield. His features shifted again, the glamor dropped to reveal ears tapered longer than a daeyari, fanned with more energy feathers. His fingertips curled to triangular black talons.

Fi gawked. All this talk of the fearsome aedari, the bane of the Planeverse, and not a single person had bothered telling her they werebird people?

Time to test how sturdy those wings were. She readied her sword.

Then howled, when Antal grabbed her around the waist.

“We have to help Ixli!” Fi shouted.

“I’ll fight with her. You stay here.”

She writhed against his grip. “Why did you even let me come?”

“I said you could hunt. Notfight.”

Liar. Wretched, coward daeyari. “Antal, let me go!”

Ixli shouted as the aedari’s sword caught her shoulder. Theblade cleaved under armor, a smell of cauterized Void ether, black blood drenching her silviamesh.

Fi Shaped a current so swiftly, her arm muscles cramped from the leeching cold. She slammed the pulse of energy into Antal’s stomach. He released her, hunched with a snarl.

She ran.

Ixli’s spear sagged. Before she could heal her wounded arm, the aedari’s sword sliced at her neck. Fi lunged between them and swung, crimson against gold, parrying the strike.

His magic tasted like sunbaked sand. An energy wing grazed her cheek, scorching hot, but she ignored the sting of burnt flesh.

A pause would have been nice. A break to gawk at the brazen human entering the fray.

No such luck. The aedari swung again. Fi raised her sword to block.

The weight of the strike threatened to buckle her legs.

She gasped as her sword snapped back, nearly hitting her in the face. Her blade flickered beneath the onslaught of energyandstrength. Ixli had made it look easy. Four glyphs were tattooed up the aedari’s wrist, including the one he’d used to heal himself earlier. Now, a different glyph glowed as he bore down on her with unreal force.

He pushed. Fi bent like a leaf.

A spear slammed against the aedari’s sword, relieving the weight.

Ixli leaned in, shoulder braced to Fi’s, red energy snapping over her wound as the Void-ether flesh knit back together—but the two of them were enough to hold the aedari’s strength at bay. Ixli gritted her fangs, eyes locked with Fi’s.

An understanding. For now, at least.

Another flash of red struck from the side. The aedari reeled as claws buried in his throat.

Antal.

Fi wouldn’t call it elegant. The aedari twisted to throw Antal off him, feathers beating hot against the air. Antal pulled back, tail lashing, claws dripping gold. The aedari took distance, a flap of wings balancing his retreat as he appraised three opponents.

Then, the tether laying across the ground. Ixli had dropped it when she took a hit.