The harpy swung and she parried, knocking its sword aside. They circled, trading blows, until her arm sang from the effort. Exhausted, she tripped over a root and fell on her back. The harpy leapt for her. She thrust her sword up and managed to catch it in the stomach. The sword sank grotesquely into flesh, then slid out when the harpy fell to the side, gasping.
She stumbled to her feet, but before she could rise fully, felt a slender arm wrap around her torso.
“That wasn’t very nice, was it?” The harsh voice in her ear was that of another harpy.
Clumsily, she managed to flip her sword backward and stab the thing in the stomach. It grunted and released her. She stumbled, but regained her feet and spun around to swipe her sword across its throat. It collapsed to the ground and she looked around frantically.
No more. Good.
And thank God she had Boudica’s talent with a sword.
She set off in the direction of the clearing until she reached the edge of the woods and crouched behind a bush. In front of her, about fifty yards away, the altar rose black and menacing out of the ground. A vision of herself bleeding atop it flashed into her mind and she flinched, her muscles tightening.
She was here for vengeance, here to stop something monstrous from opening into Edinburgh; but in the end, she was also here to save her friend and her own life from the man who now stood above the altar reading from his book. He wore the armor he’d died in, though it was tattered and stained with the shadows of old blood.
He was but a shadow of the Roman general she remembered, but enough of him was there to make her skin tighten with ancient rage. Her daughters’ murders, her own brutal beating, the destruction of her village. Now he’d threatened her life and that of her friend. Her jaw tightened.
As quietly as she could, she crept through the forest at the edge of the clearing, ears and eyes alert for any sign of harpies on guard. Finally, she reached the tree line directly behind Paulinus. Vivienne was only a dozen feet from her, but Diana resisted the urge to go to her friend. She needed the element of surprise.
She crept forward on quiet mouse feet and raised her sword to strike. As much as she wanted to gloat, to lord it over him that she’d defeated him again, it would be stupid. Instead, she’d finish this quickly. But as she brought the sword down, he spun and stepped backward. Her sword sliced ineffectually through the air.
“You,” he said. The crazed light in his eyes gleamed and made a shiver run down her spine.
She lunged for him again, managed to swipe his arm with the tip of her blade. But no blood welled. As if she’d never touched him. He reached for his own blade, but not before she landed another swipe across his middle. Still, no blood.
Vivienne’s cry echoed across the clearing, distracting her. Suddenly, she felt two strong hands grip her arms. Her sword fell to the ground. In her peripheral vision, she caught sight of harpies on either side of her. Damn it. They were so fast.
Paulinus laughed, a deranged chuckle that made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. “You’ve come to me, then,” he said.
“To destroy you forever.”
“That’s not how this will go, Boudica.”
She didn’t bother to correct him. For his purposes, she was Boudica.
“Let my friend go,” she demanded, thrashing in the arms of her captors.
“No.”
“You don’t need her. Why take her?”
He shrugged. “Mistake. But she was very good bait.”
Diana flailed in the arms of her captors, reaching back to claw at the face of one. It shrieked when she gouged its eye and loosened its grip. She dropped her weight to the ground, then kicked up and broke the hold of the other.
“Get her,” Paulinus roared.
She scrambled to her feet and snatched up her blade from where it had fallen. She swung it wildly at one of the demons, but managed only to draw a shallow cut upon its chest.
“Let my friend go,” she gasped, unsure of her ability to finish this and get Vi out as well. There were too many harpies. Two more approached from across the clearing. Paulinus’s laugh cut through the sounds of clashing swords and she knew he’d never let Vi go.
“Go, Diana, get out of here,” Vivienne cried.
Diana ignored her, pivoting on her heel to land a fatal blow to one of the harpy’s neck. Suddenly, pain blossomed at her own back. It burned through her, stealing her breath, and she fell to her knees. She struggled to rise, but before she could gain her footing, she felt herself being dragged backward through Erebus.
No. Esha was pulling her out. But she hadn’t finished yet. Paulinus was still alive. Vivienne was still trapped. Diana clawed at the ground to stay in Erebus, but the pull was too strong.
CHAPTER THIRTY