She swung her hand wide, and lightning cracked in an arc across the field, lighting up everything in sharp, deadly white. The butterflies disintegrated midair.
But the cost was real.
Another man—Doran, one of my oldest lieutenants—fell. His leg torn by something bigger than the orcs. A beast I didn’t recognize. Massive. Like a bear, but stitched together from shadow and bone. Its claws were iron.
I moved fast, rage and magic swirling up my spine. My blade met the creature’s paw with a crack loud enough to shake the air. Sparks flew where steel met bone.
“Damn it—”
Abby was already there. “Move!” she shouted.
I obeyed instinctively. Stepped back.
Her hand lifted, lightning gathering in a spinning ball the size of a boulder, and she threw it with a scream. The blast hit that stitched
