Forest of Ruin (Age of Legends 3)

Yet they had not caught her. While she was not a fast runner, they were still at her heels.

No, not at her heels. At Tova's. They were not passing Tova.

Hound of the Immortals, possessed by the spirit of a great warrior.

Fiend dogs were shadow hounds possessed by the spirits of cowardly warriors.

There was some answer there. Some reason they were not attacking him or passing him to get to her. The reason mattered not, only that she could keep running, escape to the . . .

Escape to the caves? To the others? To Edwyn? To Ronan? Lead the fiend dogs to them?

When she slowed, Tova nipped her hand. Telling her to keep going, keep running. She looked around for another option, but Tova growled, warning her not to look, and a fiend dog appeared, right at his side, its red eyes flashing. In the shadow she saw a hound begin to take form and she wrenched her gaze away. She veered to the side, leading them away from the camp, but ahead, she heard voices, someone shouting. Then, "Ashyn!"

It was Edwyn. A snarl sounded behind her. Not Tova. The fiend dogs. She caught a glimpse of shadows in the forest beside them. The fiend dogs circling around, realizing there were other targets ahead, easier targets.

"No!" Ashyn shouted. "Begone, spirits! I command you, begone!"

Even as the words left her mouth, she knew they were a waste of her breath. Banishment was Moria's power, not hers.

Moria, where are you? Why aren't you here? I can't do this without you. I can't do any of it without you.

"Ashyn?" Edwyn called again.

"Go back!" she shouted. "Into the caves. Fiend dogs. There are--"

"There are what

?" yelled another voice, and she said it louder but she knew it would do no good. It was like saying a dragon was attacking. Worse, because her grandfather and the others believed in dragons.

Ashyn continued running in the direction she'd heard Edwyn's voice. There was no need to lead the fiend dogs away now. The damage had been done.

"Don't look at them!" she shouted. "Don't run from them. Just get back into the caves."

And do what? Cower with their eyes shut? Tarquin had barely glanced at it, before it ripped him apart. If that was all it took, how did anyone survive?

Someone screamed. A terrible scream that told her the fiend dogs were upon them.

"Into the dragon cave!" Edwyn shouted. "Retreat to the cave! Do not run. Do not look at the shadows. Do not look at the eyes. They are--" He said a word Moria didn't know, a word in some other tongue, and someone shrieked, not with pain but with terror.

"Do not panic!" Edwyn roared. "I can hold them off! Do as I say and you will live." Then, "Ashyn! Can you hear me, child?"

"I can."

"Follow my voice. I know how to deal with such beasts, but I need your help to escape them. Focus on me and follow my voice, and if you see the shadows, banish them."

"That is Moria's power. It is not--"

"Do it, child!"

Ashyn kept running. She glanced back, but there was no sign of the fiend dogs. They'd circled around to attack the others. She did not know the way to the dragon cave, certainly not in the dark, but she continued following Edwyn's voice as he spoke in another tongue. Using magics.

Her grandfather was a sorcerer?

Finally, she could see him ahead, standing in the mouth of a cave . . . surrounded by fiend dogs. She stopped short just as Tova was grabbing for her cloak.

"Ashyn?" Edwyn said. "Is that you?"

She swallowed. Would the fiend dogs come after her if she spoke? She was trying to decide what to do when Tova barked.