Page 49 of Daemon Master

Tremorfist stiffened, and for a moment, Adrian thought the daemon would ignore him and charge off. To his relief, Tremorfist instead gave a curt nod.

“Right,” he said, wiping his watering eyes. He searched the camp and pointed toward a tree that hadn’t yet caught fire. “Heartrender and I will cover you while you climb. Once you’re high enough, you can leap onto Blazewing and bring it down. Then, we’ll finish it off together.”

Huffing out what Adrian hoped was acknowledgment, Tremorfist waited with obvious impatience while Heartrender anchored aMirror Imageto him. The enlarged branch she created didn’t conceal him entirely, but it should help him blend in better with the tree.

As soon as the illusion was in place, Tremorfist loped away. Adrian focused his attention back on Blazewing, still circling high overhead. “I hope this works,” he muttered.

Heartrender let out a nervous yip. Aether flared around her as she maintained Tremorfist’s camouflage. Tremorfist reached the tree and easily scaled its lower branches. TheMirror Imagestuck out more than Adrian would have liked. Still, better its shades of green and brown than the daemon’s natural blue. About halfway through Tremorfist’s climb, Blazewing finally noticed him, swerving in midair to swoop down.

Adrian tensed. “Blind it!” he shouted.

Heartrender obliged, her aether brightening. A tight cloud of smoke appeared around Blazewing’s head, anchored directly to the creature. No sooner had it appeared, however, than it vanished. Heartrender’s flinch reverberated through their bond.Too strong. Perhaps if Heartrender and he poured all they had into a singleMirror Image, they could make it stick for a few seconds. But that would leave both their reserves utterly drained.

Tremorfist abandoned all pretense of stealth, lumbering up the branches as quickly as he could. Fire gathered around Blazewing. A moment later, a flaming ball arced toward the tree.Tremorfist evaded a direct hit by leaping to a higher branch. Below him, the tree burst ablaze.

Blazewing shrugged off aStunning Howlas readily as it had Heartrender’sMirror Image.The tree burning beneath him, Tremorfist settled for scampering higher. Adrian silently cheered the daemon on. If he could reach Blazewing, they might still be able to turn things around.

Kali’s daemon hurled another fireball above Tremorfist, engulfing the treetop. Adrian’s stomach twisted. With flames now crackling both above and below, Tremorfist had little choice but to retreat. The daemon jumped, dropping to the ground with a solidthud.

Adrian expected Blazewing to pursue now that it had clear prey. Seymour must’ve anticipated the same since he directed Tremorfist to run for the edge of camp. Instead of following, however, Blazewing circled in a slow spiral. When the daemon broke off a moment later to dive toward Adrian, his pulse quickened.

“Smoke!” he bellowed.

Sensing his intent, Heartrender channeled aether into an illusory cloud enveloping them. Adrian took advantage of the cover to scramble away with Heartrender at his side. TheMirror Imageshould buy them time to—

A fireball exploded close enough for a wave of heat to wash over him. Another followed a few seconds later, and he cried out as flames lapped at his back. Cursing his own stupidity, he threw himself to the dirt. A smoke screen might shield them from a melee opponent, but it accomplished little against area effects. From his lower vantage, he spied a chunk of debris and crawled to it. He hefted the hunk of rock in one hand.

“Decoy,” he said.

Heartrender obliged, an identical copy of her shimmering into existence around the debris. Adrian tossed the stone, and it soared above the smoke cloud. A fireball seared it from the sky.

So much for a distraction.

Perhaps it was time to follow Seymour’s lead. Praying Blazewing didn’t score a lucky hit, Adrian closed his eyes and channeled a full Fusion. His body tingled as it broke apart, streaming into Heartrender. Another fireball exploded nearby, this one blessedly a miss.

The instant Adrian finished his meld, Heartrender scampered through her illusory smoke. With her unimpeded vision, Adrian saw Blazewing hovering lower than before, just above theMirror Image, while Tremorfist hesitated in the distance. Blazewing’s reliance on magic made him even more certain that grounding the daemon was the right call. Yet, to do that, they first had toreachthe spirit-cursed beast.

A plan gradually took shape in his head as Heartrender dodged the never-ending barrage of fire. It was incredibly risky. But then, what about their last couple of months hadn’t been?

All right, girl. Take me to Seymour.

Growling her acknowledgment, Heartrender dashed through her conjured smoke. She reached the edge of theMirror Imageand kept going, carrying Adrian across the burning camp. Above them, Blazewing shrieked. Canceling his meld, Adrian stumbled into existence beside Tremorfist. He spun to Heartrender.

“Go!You know what to do.”

Heartrender yipped and bolted away, allowing her smoke cloud to fade. As Adrian had hoped, Blazewing veered off to focus on his daemon. Fireballs pummeled the ground around her. Their training over the last few weeks came in handy as she nimbly dodged the erupting flames.

May the spirits guide you, he sent through their bond, trying not to dwell on how similar this felt to his past sacrificesof Trailseeker. The difference was that he wasn’t sending Heartrender to her death. At least, hehopedhe wasn’t.

Forcing himself to look away, he found Tremorfist studying him curiously. Adrian could imagine Seymour’s raised eyebrow. He cleared his throat.

“Right, so. Here’s the plan. Heartrender will wear down Blazewing’s aether. When the time’s right, I need you to pour everything you have into aStunning Howlto give her an opening. Got it?”

Tremorfist grunted and turned back to watch the fight…thoughfightwasn’t really the right word. It was more like a strategic retreat, Heartrender barely evading Blazewing’s furious rain of fire. She didn’t bother wasting aether on illusions. This was a pure test of speed and endurance versus power and accuracy. Blazewing had the superior magic, but no daemon could sustain this level of destruction indefinitely. Sooner or later, Blazewing would weaken, granting Heartrender the opening she needed to strike back…assuming she was still in any shape to do so.

An errant fireball sprayed dirt and wood through the air. Heartrender tried to clear the shattered ground, but a chunk of debris nicked her side. Adrian winced at the flare of pain through their bond as she skidded across the dirt, struggling to regain her footing. Another fiery blast caught her in the back, and she let out a mewling wail. Her aether proved strong enough to sustain the hit, but it left her azure skin charred. She wouldn’t survive another blow like that.

While Blazewing gathered more fiery aether, Adrian recalled his daemon to nestle safely within his aether flows. Its prey snatched away, Blazewing shrieked and veered toward them. Adrian’s heart plummeted. Without Heartrender as a distraction, Kali’s daemon could focus its fireballs on theminstead. He needed time to think, to revise his plan. He needed Heartrender’s magic.