Cassian's POV
Helena's magic hit the ground where I'd been standing a heartbeat ago.
I rolled left, my sword already in my hand. Through the bond, I felt Seraphina move right—we'd split without discussing it, pure instinct.
How many soldiers? her thought came sharp and clear.
I listened. Heartbeats. Breathing. The soft clink of armor. "Eight. Plus Helena."
Can we fight them?
"Do we have a choice?"
Fire exploded to my right—Seraphina's magic. I heard a soldier scream, smelled burning flesh. Good. That evened the odds.
I focused on the sounds around me. Two soldiers rushing from the left. I counted their footsteps, waited until they were close, then struck.
My sword found the first one's throat. The second one swung at me—I heard the blade cutting air, ducked, and drove my sword up under his ribs.
Both dropped.
Behind you! Seraphina's warning crashed through my mind.
I spun, sword raised. Another soldier was charging. I sidestepped, let him pass, and cut him down from behind.
More fire erupted. More screaming. Seraphina was holding her own.
Then Helena's voice cut through the chaos. "Enough!"
Magic slammed into me like a wall. I flew backward, hit a tree, and crashed to the ground. Pain exploded through my ribs.
Cassian! Seraphina's panic flooded the bond.
"I'm fine," I gasped, forcing myself up. "Keep fighting."
But Helena was already moving toward her. I heard the rustle of robes, the crackle of building magic.
"You've been a disappointment, Seraphina," Helena said. "Ten years I've trained you, controlled you, and this is how you repay me? Running away?"
We weren't running, Seraphina's thought came, defiant. We were following orders.
"Lies." Helena's magic charged. "You and your blind partner were planning to steal the Heart of Aethermoor for yourselves. Treason."
"That's not true!" I shouted.
"Silence!" Helena's spell hit me again, driving me to my knees.
Through the bond, I felt Seraphina's rage building. Her magic responded, growing hot and wild.
Don't, I warned. She's stronger than you.
I don't care.
Fire erupted from Seraphina's hands—bigger than before, hotter, fueled by ten years of hatred. It rushed toward Helena like a living thing.
Helena deflected it easily. "Predictable."
Then she did something I didn't expect. She pulled out a small black stone—the same one from the binding ceremony.
"Did you think the binding spell only connected you physically?" Helena laughed. "It also gave me a way to control you both. Watch."
She crushed the stone.
Agony ripped through me. Not physical pain—something worse. The bond itself was being torn apart, shredded from the inside.
I screamed. Across the camp, I heard Seraphina scream too—actually scream, her voice raw and broken after ten years of silence.
Make it stop! her thought was barely coherent. Please make it stop!
"This is what happens when you disobey," Helena said calmly. "You'll both die here, and I'll report that you were killed by bandits. So tragic."
The pain intensified. I couldn't think, couldn't breathe. The bond was collapsing, and when it broke completely, we'd both die.
Then, through the agony, I heard something.
Hoofbeats. Multiple horses, coming fast.
Helena heard it too. "What—"
An arrow whistled past her head.
"Stand down!" a male voice boomed. "By order of the rebellion!"
The pain stopped abruptly. Helena had released the spell, spinning toward this new threat.
I gasped for air, my whole body shaking. Through the bond, I felt Seraphina doing the same.
More horses thundered into our camp. Armed riders surrounded us—but they weren't Council soldiers. These were rebels, their faces scarred and hard.
Leading them was a man I recognized by his voice alone.
"Rowan?" I couldn't believe it.
"Hello, Cass. Been a while." Rowan Ashenblade dismounted, his sword pointed at Helena. "Didn't think I'd let you walk into a trap alone, did you?"
Helena's face twisted with rage. "You dare interfere with Council business?"
"Council murder, you mean." Rowan gestured to his fighters. "We've been tracking you since you left the Citadel. Good thing, too."
Helena raised her hands, magic crackling. "You'll all die for this."
"Maybe. But you'll die first."
What happened next was chaos. Helena's magic clashed with Rowan's fighters. Spells flew. Swords rang. I grabbed Seraphina and pulled her away from the fighting.
We need to run, I thought.
What about Rowan?
He can handle himself. We can't.
We scrambled to our horses and rode hard into the darkness. Behind us, the sounds of battle faded.
We rode until dawn broke, until the horses were exhausted, until we couldn't go any farther.
Finally, we stopped in a dense forest. Not the Whisperwood yet—that was still ahead—but dark enough to hide us.
I dismounted and immediately collapsed. My ribs screamed. Everything hurt.
Seraphina knelt beside me. Through the bond, I felt her checking for injuries.
"I'm fine," I muttered.
You have broken ribs. That's not fine.
"Can you heal them?"
I'm a battle mage, not a healer.
Great.
We sat in silence, both trying to process what had just happened. Helena had tried to kill us. Rowan had saved us. And now we were fugitives.
The mission is over, Seraphina thought. We should run. Leave the five kingdoms entirely.
"Can't. The binding spell still holds. We have thirty days to get the relic, or we die anyway."
Helena was controlling the spell. Maybe it's broken now.
"You want to test that? See if we can get a hundred feet apart without dying?"
She didn't answer.
So we keep going, she thought finally. To the temple.
"To the temple."
We rested for a few hours, then continued north. By afternoon, the forest around us began to change. The trees grew taller, darker. The air felt heavy.
"We're close to the Whisperwood," I said.
How do you know?
"I can feel it. Something's wrong here."
We rode slowly now, alert for danger. My enhanced hearing picked up sounds that shouldn't exist—whispers with no source, footsteps that vanished when I focused on them.
As sunset approached, we crossed an invisible line.
Suddenly, everything was different. The trees twisted overhead like grasping fingers. The air smelled of decay. And the sounds—the sounds were all wrong.
"We're in the Whisperwood," I said quietly.
I thought we'd reach it tomorrow.
"So did I."
Something moved in the darkness ahead. I heard it clearly—low growling, like multiple animals circling.
"Something's hunting us," I warned.
What?
"I don't know. But there's more than one."
Red eyes appeared in the shadows. First two. Then four. Then dozens.
Cassian...
"Stay close to me."
The creatures emerged from the darkness—wolves, but wrong. Their bodies were made of shadow, their eyes glowed red, and their teeth were too long, too sharp.
Shadow wolves. Cursed creatures that fed on fear.
There are too many, Seraphina's panic flooded the bond.
"We fight anyway."
The wolves attacked.
I drew my sword and moved, letting my enhanced senses guide me. I heard every paw hitting the ground, smelled their rot-breath, felt the air move as they lunged.
My sword flashed. One wolf died. Then another.
Beside me, Seraphina cast fire. The flames were different here—darker, tinged with something wrong. But they worked. Wolves screamed and burned.
Behind! her warning came.
I spun, sword cutting through shadow-flesh. The wolf dissolved.
Left!
I moved left, striking blind. Another wolf down.
We fought back-to-back without planning it. Our movements synchronized perfectly—when she cast right, I defended left. When I advanced, she covered. Through the bond, I knew where she'd be before she moved. She knew where I'd strike before I swung.
It was like we'd fought together for years.
But there were too many wolves. For every one we killed, two more appeared.
A wolf lunged at Seraphina. I heard it, felt her fear spike, and moved without thinking. My sword intercepted the creature mid-air.
Thank you, her thought came breathless.
Another wolf bit into my leg. Pain exploded. I cut it down, but blood ran hot down my calf.
You're hurt!
"Keep fighting!"
Seraphina's magic flared brighter. More wolves burned. But one got through, slashing her arm. I felt her pain through the bond and killed the wolf in rage.
We were both wounded now, both exhausted. The wolves kept coming.
Then, through the bond, I felt Seraphina make a decision.
Trust me, she thought.
What are you—
She grabbed my hand. Magic surged through the bond, from her to me, connecting us deeper than before.
Suddenly, I could feel her magic like it was my own. And she could feel my enhanced senses.
Together, we moved as one.
I heard the wolves and guided her aim. She cast fire where I directed. Every spell hit perfectly. Every sword stroke found its target.
The wolves fell back, finally afraid.
Then they scattered, melting into the shadows.
We stood in the sudden silence, both breathing hard, both bleeding.
That was...
"Incredible," I finished.
We fought like—
"One person. I know."
The bond pulsed between us, stronger than before. Whatever Seraphina had done, it had changed something fundamental.
I sheathed my sword and sank to the ground, my leg throbbing.
Seraphina knelt beside me, and I felt her examining the wound through the bond.
It's deep. You need bandages.
"So do you. Your arm is bleeding."
Yours is worse.
We sat in the cursed forest, both wounded, both exhausted, both alive against impossible odds.
We make a good team, Seraphina thought quietly.
"Yeah. We do."
For the first time since the binding, that didn't feel like a curse.
As I bandaged my leg, a new sound cut through the forest. Not wolves. Something bigger.
Heavy footsteps. Slow. Deliberate.
And a voice, deep and ancient: "So. The bound ones have arrived."
A figure emerged from the shadows—seven feet tall, made entirely of twisted wood and shadow. Its eyes glowed the same red as the wolves.
"I am the Guardian of the Whisperwood," it said. "And you have trespassed in my domain."
Run? Seraphina thought desperately.
"Can't. We're too wounded."
The Guardian stepped closer. "You seek the Temple of Aethermoor. But first, you must prove you're worthy."
"How?" I demanded.
"By surviving the night." The Guardian smiled, revealing wooden teeth. "If you live until dawn, I'll show you the way. If not..." It shrugged. "The forest will have two more corpses to feed upon."
It vanished into the shadows.
Seraphina and I looked at each other—well, she looked at me. I turned toward her.
We're going to die, she thought.
"Not if we stick together."
Together, she echoed.
And as darkness fell completely over the Whisperwood, the real nightmare began.