Page 48 of Daemon Master

“No.” Seymour fiddled with the armor, tugging it on despite its shabby state. Adrian moved to help with the straps, but Seymour’s glare brought him up short. “It’s not just the kid. Iwarned you weeks ago what would happen if we left Souleater alive, and I was right!”

“We saved Xander,” Adrian said with a touch of uncertainty.

“But we might not have! Leaving that daemon alive was an unnecessary risk. So was letting that boy go. Maybe he reallyisan innocent runaway hiding out in these woods. Or maybe he has a more sinister purpose. We tied up one loose end today, only to create another.”

Adrian flung his hands up. “And what would you have had me do? Killhim, too?”

Seymour wrangled his breastplate into its proper position. “Of course not,” he said, tightening the armor’s straps himself. “But we should have questioned him further until he told us the truth. What if he’s working with the watchers or with Kali?”

Adrian snorted. “He was a kid, not a spy.”

“I’ve seen the Watcher Division use young daemon masters before as scouts.” He gave Adrian a pointed look. “And even a weakling can possess a daemon capable of tracking.”

Adrian fell silent, memories of Trailseeker still raw.

Seymour finished straightening his armor. A hint of regret flickered over his face when he caught Adrian’s expression. “I’m going to get some rest. I suggest you do the same.”

Adrian watched him stalk off, then glanced down at Heartrender. “Did I do the right thing?” he asked, rubbing her head.

Her only response was a sleepy trill.

Sighing, he rose and followed Seymour’s lead, retiring to his own shelter. It was early yet, barely even evening, but he was eager to put this spirit-cursed day behind him.

Adrian bolted upright on his sleeping mat and blinked dazedly, wondering what had woken him. Light filtered in through the gaps in his shelter. Was it morning already?

A shrieking cry echoed outside. It sounded close. He crawled to the front of his shelter and poked his head out, then froze, his eyes widening. The glow he’d mistaken for sunlight emanated from a half-dozen burning trees scattered about their camp. At the rate the growing flames were spreading, it wouldn’t be long before they’d completely engulfed the area.

A resplendent bird swooped above the chaos on four fast-beating wings. Fire raged across its azure body like crimson-feathered plumes. As Adrian watched, the fire merged into a single tight ball that shot to the forest floor and erupted in a flaming inferno.

“Spirits below…” he whispered, his brain struggling to process what he saw.

It took him longer than it should have to consider using his aethersense on the daemon. When he did, he identified it asBlazewing. The daemon hadn’t tried to shroud its aether, its strength easily dwarfing both his and Seymour’s. There was something else, too. Something disconcertingly familiar about the hue of the daemon’s aura…

Realization struck him, and his muscles tensed, his entire body trembling. He’d seen its like twice before. Once on Shadowlash…and once on its master.

Tugging on the nearest clothes, he tumbled out of his shelter. Fire crackled around him. Smoke choked the air. He hacked a cough into his elbow, his eyes already watering.

Kali found us.

The thought filled him with primal terror. From what he’d sensed of Blazewing’s aether, he didn’t think Kali had used a full Fusion to travel with it. Yet, if one of her daemons was here, she couldn’t be far behind. Spirits below, how had she tracked them?They were days from the nearest village. If the depths of Overlin Forest weren’t safe, then nowhere in the League was.

Heartrender’s presence through his bond jolted him back to reality. There’d be time enough to worry about answers later. For now, he had to focus on survival. That meant doing something about the daemon raining destruction upon them.

“Any suggestions?” he asked Heartrender.

Her only response was a frustrated snarl at Blazewing and a jumble of emotions he interpreted as pride at her prior victory over Shadowlash. Her confidence gave him heart. If they could best one of Kali’s minions, they could triumph over another.

First, however, they had to reach their fiery foe.

He swept his gaze over the camp, mind racing for a plan. His eyes locked on a distant figure, their stern visage illuminated by the firelight.Seymour.As Adrian watched, he dissipated into a cloud of aether that melded with Tremorfist’s hulking form.

The daemon started to trundle off. Adrian dashed forward. “Wait!”

Tremorfist paused, glancing back with narrowed eyes. Overhead, Blazewing shrieked and released another fireball. At least, the daemon hadn’t noticed them yet amid the raging inferno. Things would get a lot trickier once it started aiming atthemrather than their camp.

The smoggy air left Adrian panting by the time he reached Tremorfist. Without the aether bolstering his body, he’d probably be on the ground coughing up his lungs right now. As it was, the smoke made even a quick jog feel like a marathon.

“Our best bet is to work together,” he wheezed. Heartrender prowled anxiously about his feet. “Neither of us stand a chance on our own.”