Her scream cut me off, and I spun.
Hundreds of roots sprang out from the walls and started wrapping around
her like the tentacles of some alien beast.
Dread and rage filled my chest, and I leapt forward with a growl. I
released my claws and began ripping at the roots—but as soon as I did, new
ones snaked around my own ankles.
Savannah had her claws out and was tearing through the roots as they
grasped at her, but she couldn’t keep up. My heart lurched as a tendril
whipped around her neck and she gasped, “Jaxson!”
Fighting my way to her, I tore the root away from her throat and tried to
pull her free, but two of the tendrils snaked around my arms and started
dragging us apart.
“No!” I growled, my muscles straining.
Savannah summoned the Soul Knife to her hand and sliced through the
roots binding her leg. They withered and died, and I heard the trees wail
silently in my mind.
Suddenly, the knife vanished from her hand, and she gasped. The voice of
the sorcerer echoed over the pond: “I’ll be taking that.”
I turned to see Kahanov standing by the edge of the water, next to a
cluster of trees. He waved the knife.
“Screw you!” Savannah shouted from the knot of roots. The blade
vanished and reappeared in her palm, and she began desperately cutting again
as I fought my own restraints.
She would be a sitting duck if Kahanov attacked, but as long as I held my
ground beside her and gave her time to cut herself free, he wouldn’t be able
to get close.
As if reading my mind, the sorcerer laughed. “Let’s play a game. It’s
called ‘Jaxson Makes a Choice.’”
He positioned his empty hand in front of the chest of a woman entwined
in the roots of one of the silver trees. She wasn’t any older than Savannah—