Page 8 of Suncatcher

Fear wasn’t a sensation Pearl cared to acknowledge. But it drifted around her now. Humans were soft and squishy, easily taken down by bullets, and always predictably terrestrial. A blinkboar’s hide was thick and their shifting reality made them difficult to fight. Unless she got incredibly lucky, her bullets would only annoy it, perhaps slow it. Pearl hadn’t brought any blight-packed bullets with her.

She blinked and the creature was closer.

She stepped back. Like most of the beasts that roamed this land, they were scavengers first and had easier meat here than Pearl. She started to edge sideways, hoping to move around, but a second blinkboar stood by the tree line.

The water was quickly becoming her best option, and it wasn’t a good one.

The first blinkboar snuffled the air as it padded forward. One moment it was twenty paces away, but the next it was ten, shifting through space in a way that shouldn’t have been possible.

Pearl retreated, walking backward up the gorge, the exact opposite direction she needed to be.

The sun had set beyond the heavy clouds, the world already darkening with the shadows of dusk. She was out of time. She raised the weapon and fired.

The beast blinked forward and to the side. It would’ve been a good shot, but as it was, it only hit because it was such close range. The bullet sank into the blinkboar’s front haunch.

It squawked and grunted, stumbling. But it didn’t stop.

Shit. She turned to run.

A massive shape swooped above her, sending a gust of grit swirling into Pearl’s eyes.

The blur of wings picked up the rapidly encroaching blinkboar. The boar squealed as muscled arms clamped around it, claws on the ends of large hands digging into its bullet-slowing hide and leaving bloody marks.

The blinkboar struggled as the gargoyle lifted it into the air. Pearl watched in shock as the two shot into the sky until she could barely make them out. Then the goyle released.

The boar fell. It flashed erratically, moving sideways and back up, but not enough to stop the fall. It crashed into the water, sending a spray and wave up the bank. It appeared once as it was swept away by the swift current, blinking on the other side before disappearing, leaving a terrified squeal.

The goyle landed in a crouch, the thud reverberating up Pearl’s boots. Slickrock-colored wings, like dusty leather and velvet, flared as it bared its fangs toward the remaining blinkboar.

It was a terrifying face. The features resembled a human, but in just the wrong ways, exaggerated and contorted into something entirely different. Against earthy skin, hair the color of red dirt tangled around two low horns curling back from the skull.

Pearl had seen the silhouette of a living goyle before, on a distant moonlit ridge, and once, when she was young, had encountered a sleeping stone one during the day. It was one of the few times Pearl remembered hearing alarm in Sheriff Oak’s voice, when she warned Pearl never ever to go near one, and to walk lightly. There was nothing worse than waking a sleeping goyle. This one wasn’t stone, though. It was very much awake.

Goyles had been shaped by a long-dead god, one of the many that had perished in the Sundering War that established the Amelior Empire hundreds of years ago. Their form was designed to instill fear. And doing a fine job.

The goyle bellowed at the remaining blinkboar, which didn’t stick around to be the next victim. The sound sent shivers of terror over Pearl’s skin. The boar ran, blinking rapidly back up the gorge and out of sight, and Pearl wished she could follow it. She stood perfectly still instead, not breathing, feet unsteady beneath her, knowing she couldn’t outrun the goyle. Perhaps if she didn’t move, it wouldn’t notice her.

Just as she thought that, the goyle unfurled from its crouched position and faced her.

The creature loomed against the darkening sky, at least seven feet tall. A poorly constructed leather garment didn’t conceal much of her figure, wrapping over one bulging shoulder and ending around her muscular thighs. Her features were still alarming, but at least she wasn’t baring her teeth. She was a deadly statue brought to life.

And why in the hells was she here, looking at Pearl?

“Hello,” the goyle said. Her voice rumbled like rocks over a riverbed.

Pearl jerked in surprise. She hadn’t expected her to speak. Pearl leveled the revolver at the goyle’s face. “I didn’t think your kind ate humans.”

Wings twitched and the goyle recoiled into a defensive crouch on the ground. “We do not.” She still looked just as massive.

Lightning streaked across the sky and thunder rolled right after. Pearl glanced at the river. She needed to get out of here.

“What d’you want?” Pearl asked. To her alarm, the gun started to waver. Her grip was always steady. But her body was protesting. She ignored it.

The goyle tilted a horned head. “To…help?” she said, as if asking a question.

“Me? Why?”

The goyle didn’t answer. It was growing too dark for Pearl to see well, and her nerves jittered.