Jem screamed. Matias twirled around on his horse, drawing his sword in one swift motion. With a horrible wet crunching sound, he sliced one of the ravener’s legs off. It fell to the ground, twitching and screeching.

Jem’s eyes widened with horror. She’d never seen a ravener in real life before, only heard rumors of the way that just one could wreak havoc on an entire village. Villagers said that they came straight from hell itself. Looking at the creature now, Jem could understand why.

It was like an enormous bug, twice the size of a man, with six limbs. The top two had enormous pincers, as sharp as daggers. The lower limbs had claw-like talons, and the entire creature was covered in some sort of dark maroon exoskeleton.

The ravener rose from the ground and towered over them, balancing on its strong tail. Jem couldn’t believe that it was still alive, one limb lying useless in the grass beside it. The creature let out a high-pitched scream, and Jem saw a mouth full of venomous teeth.

It launched itself toward Matias again. Jem screamed, but Connall was suddenly there between the ravener and Matias, his sword drawn. Jem heard another terrible crunch and scream, and for a moment, she thought Connall had made his mark.

But then Connall’s horse fell to the ground, and Connall rolled off it into the brush. Jem could see two bloody wounds in the horse’s haunches, oozing with venom.

Mae’s voice echoed through the chaos. “Connall!” she shouted. She galloped over and jumped off her horse to help him. Jem couldn’t tell whether he had been hurt too.

The ravener made a chittering sound and turned toward Mae. Jem wanted to cry out a warning, but her voice was stuck in her throat. She looked over in time to see Ronar circling behind the ravener, his bow in his hand. Jem watched and realized suddenly that Ronar wasn’t wearing his quiver—his bow was useless!

But to her shock, he lifted it and pulled the string back, and a bright spear of light formed where the arrow would usually go. Ronar released the string and the light arrow shot toward the ravener, embedding itself in the ravener’s armor.

The ravener screeched in anger, then turned toward Ronar. Ronar shot another magical arrow in its direction. It landed in another part of the ravener’s exoskeleton, but it didn’t slow the monster down. It crouched to attack, but suddenly Connall jumped onto its back, tackling it to the ground and then rolling away, his strength incredible. Connall stood and drew his sword, waiting in an attack position.

Jem blinked. It was like he had appeared out of thin air. She could have sworn he was on the ground twenty feet away just a second ago. Was this the power of magic?

The carriage lurched slightly and Jem looked up in time to see Branoc launching himself through the air. But before he hit the ground, a shimmering platform appeared beneath his feet. Jem could hardly process what she was seeing. Branoc took off running, but through the air, additional platforms appearing right before his feet, then disappearing behind him. He drew his sword and leaped onto the ravener’s back, plunging his sword into its exoskeleton.

The monster shrieked and turned, trying to remove Branoc from its back, trying to extract the sword from its body. It was still so strong. It had one leg missing, two golden arrows made of light piercing its skeleton, and a sword buried in its back. But it continued to thrash, its pincers reaching out to clip at the air, its jaws snapping, its enormous talons and tail clawing at the ground. Branoc yanked his sword from the creature and jumped off.

Suddenly, a trail of blue light arced through the air and collided with the ravener, causing it to scream and shudder. Jem looked over to see Matias swing smoothly off his horse. His sword remained in its sheath, and he was striding swiftly and calmly toward the monster. He lifted one hand and sent another arc through the air, never pausing his steady walk. It was like he was commanding lightning, his magic crackling and sparking at his command. Matias’s face was even, sure.

When he was just a few feet away, he lifted both hands, as if he were holding something between them. His eyes never left the ravener as a ball of bright blue electricity began to form between his palms. It grew in size, and Jem could hear a hum in the air around her. With one skilled motion, Matias threw the ball toward the ravener. It encompassed the monster and lifted it into the air. It was twisting, shrieking, while electricity coursed over and through its body.

Jem looked over at Matias, his hands raised, his stance wide. The power of his magic was causing his hair to blow back from his face. He twisted his hands once, swiftly, and the creature let out a final scream.

It fell to the ground with a crunching thud, light crackling over its body for a few more moments before dissipating. Then it lay there in the grass, a pool of black blood gathering around it.

Jem stepped out of the carriage, her whole body shaking. She walked slowly toward the dead ravener. It was even more terrifying up close. The king sent entire armies to fight these monsters, but the five mages had killed it with their magic in a matter of minutes.

Jem looked around. Matias was kneeling beside Connall, Connall’s horse breathing heavily on the ground before them. Connall looked up at Matias. “The poison got to his heart too fast,” he said. “It’s dying. We can’t…”

Matias nodded once. “He should not suffer,” he said. Without another word, he stood, drew his sword, and plunged it into the horse’s heart.

Jem looked away. Her eyes roamed over the scene of the battle. Branoc was cleaning his sword nearby, and both Ronar and Mae were on their horses, scanning the area to the south.

Jem caught movement out of the corner of her eye. The grass moved a few feet away. Suddenly, another ravener burst out of the soil and launched itself at her. Jem screamed, lifting her arms to protect herself.

In less than a second, Matias’s arms wrapped around her from the front, shielding her from the ravener’s attack. Jem watched in horror as its venomous teeth sunk into Matias’s shoulder.

Then a magical arrow pierced the ravener’s chest and it fell back. Connall let out a roar and with one powerful movement of his sword, he beheaded the monster. It fell backward, twitching for a few seconds before it laid still.

Matias collapsed onto his knees, taking Jem with him to the ground. He leaned heavily on her, and Jem felt something warm and wet on her clothes. She looked down to see his shoulder bleeding badly, venom pooling at the edges of his injury.

“Matias!” she screamed. He didn’t answer. She looked up. “Help! Help! The venom! It’s too close to his heart! Please! Someone help!”

Jem lifted Matias’s face. His eyes were hazy, unfocused. “Matias!” she sobbed. She could not lose him now. Not after she just got him back.

A shadow appeared, and Jem looked up to see Connall standing close. His face was grim. But he put a hand on Matias’s good shoulder and leaned down to whisper, “Focus.”

Something snapped to life in Matias’s eyes. He nodded, the pain causing him to wince. But he tightened his hands into fists behind Jem’s back, causing him to pull her closer. His eyes closed in concentration.

“What’s going on?” Jem asked, beginning to panic.

But no one answered her. Matias’s jaw hardened and suddenly his wound began to glow, a golden yellow light that was almost blinding. But Jem could see that the oily venom that had mingled with her husband’s blood was lifting into the air and dissipating into a fine mist. When it was gone, Matias’s flesh slowly began to knit together.

It was too much. Jem had witnessed so much in the last ten minutes that she couldn’t find her footing in reality. She had almost been killed, and she had just watched five mages battle venomous monsters, and now Matias was magically healing himself in her arms.

As Matias’s wound slowly closed, the golden light slowly fading, Jem began to hyperventilate. Her heart was racing in her chest. She squeezed her eyes shut. No. No no no no no. She couldn’t afford to have an attack now. It was embarrassing and weak and she should be stronger than this.

But she couldn’t get enough air, and she was starting to feel lightheaded. Her hold on Matias’s body was weakening.

Distantly, Jem heard someone calling her name. She opened her eyes to look around in time to see Ronar leaning in, his face coming close. He was too close—he—