The Beast That Hunts Movement

Immediately, Victoria stepped into the main battlefield, warriors surrounding her.

They formed a tight ring around her, their bodies positioned to shield her from any attack. Their swords were drawn, their eyes scanning the chaos around them. They would protect her with their lives.

She turned to one of them, her voice sharp and commanding.

“Find Cindy.”

The warrior bowed before running off, disappearing into the storm.

Victoria’s gaze swept across the battlefield.

Blood soaked the snow everywhere she looked.

Bodies lay scattered across the white ground, all completely still. The screams of the dying echoed through the blizzard, mixing with the howl of the wind.

This was even worse than what her reserve warriors had faced.

She had seen what the Nightshade Pack had done to those warriors. She had watched them fall, one after another, their bodies disappearing beneath the snow.

But even so, she knew she was wining this battle.

An arrow suddenly flew through the air.

It struck one of the Enclave warriors surrounding her, burying itself in his throat.

He staggered backward.

Another arrow followed.

Then another.

The warriors immediately raised their shields and swords, deflecting several of the incoming projectiles. A few more fell, but the ring around Victoria remained intact.

She barely reacted.

It didn’t matter.

Once she found Cindy, everything would change.

They would become stronger.

The ritual would begin.

The Black Circle would rise.

And the North would fall.

Just then, the arrows stopped.

A low growl rumbled from the trees.

Victoria’s eyes snapped toward the sound.

Once more, she saw the same wolf she had seen before.

The massive silver-black form stood at the edge of the forest, its eyes fixed on her. The half-crescent moon mark on its forehead gleamed faintly in the pale light.

He simply stared at her.

Victoria’s voice rose immediately.

“Take him down!”

The warriors immediately turned toward the wolf, their weapons raised.

But before they could move, he was gone.

The snow swirled where he had stood, erasing any trace of his presence.

Victoria cursed beneath her breath.

Was he playing with her?

Was that it?

Perhaps the Nightshade pack were trying to unsettle her.

Especially with that mark on his head.

She forced herself to turn away.

She couldn’t let him distract her.

She had to find Cindy.

—

Meanwhile, on another part of the battlefield, another alpha from the West fought desperately against the Nightshade warriors.

Nia and Laia were there as well.

There were not even ten Nightshade warriors fighting beside them, but the bodies surrounding them told an entirely different story.

Enclave warriors lay scattered across the snow, their blood staining the white ground red.

The Enclave warriors stared at the twins with disbelief.

“How are they doing this?”

The twins moved as one.

Their swords danced through the air, their movements fluid and perfectly synchronized.

They did not hesitate when attacking warriors.

They did not hesitate when beasts lunged at them.

Every movement had purpose.

Every strike was deliberate.

Ethan fought beside them, his sword moving with deadly speed.

He parried a strike from one warrior, spun, and drove his blade into another’s chest before the first could recover.

The warrior fell.

The alpha from the West immediately stepped forward.

Their swords clashed and the sound rang through the storm.

The alpha was strong.

His strikes were heavy and relentless, each one capable of breaking through a weaker warrior’s defenses.

But Ethan was faster.

Much faster.

The alpha swung.

Ethan ducked.

Another strike came.

Ethan blocked it.

Then he swept his foot through the snow, sending a cloud of snow into the alpha’s face.

The man stumbled.

His vision disappeared for only a second but that second was enough.

Ethan’s sword pierced through the alpha’s neck. The man’s eyes widened as he collapsed into the snow.

Ethan barely looked at the body before turning toward the other warriors.

But then a caw echoed through the air. And he froze.

His eyes widened.

He had not expected this beast to appear. Especially not now. Perhaps because it was still fairly new to their pack.

He immediately turned toward his warriors and made a sharp signal with his hand.

Every Nightshade warrior stopped.

Then, one after another, they moved with the heavy blizzard, disappearing into the snow.

The caw sounded again just as they arrived in the woods, a safe point of sorts.

Ethan’s heart pounded faster.

He raised one finger and everyone remained still.

There was no movement nit even the shuffling of feet on snow.

They had only discovered the beast during their recent training sessions.

At first, they had assumed it was merely another dangerous creature that lived within the Northern forests.

They had been wrong.

It was far worse.

The beast did not hunt according to scent.

It did not hunt according to sound.

It hunted movement.

Anything that moved within its sight became prey.

It could remain perfectly still for hours, blending into the environment before suddenly diving upon whatever caught its attention.

During training, one of the warriors had moved his hand by accident.

The beast had crossed nearly fifty feet in the blink of an eye.

The warrior had barely managed to react.

That was how they had learned.

Movement meant death.

The caw came again.

This time, it sounded directly above them.

Ethan slowly lifted his eyes. The beast was searching for prey and if it was working with the enclave warriors then the prey it searched for was them.

Fuck!

He thought to himself. They should have taken the newly discovered beasts into consideration especially one like this that was even more dangerous than a Skylur and Trihydra.

But what scared Ethan even more wasn’t his warriors below but the archers in the trees. One wrong movement and they would be the first to be taken out.

And he had not been wrong in his worries because the beast now hovered in front of Uther whose eyes were wide.

The doomcaw tilted it’s head.