VI

Sunmi sat up from her bed. The growl had slipped under her skin and through muscles, entering her bones and chilling her to the marrow. She tossed the blanket aside, bare feet on the floor. With one swift move, she had her mother’s coat on and her mother’s staff in her hand, feet now touching mud as she stepped outside her hut.

The forest had an eerie quiet to it, treetops swaying with the night breeze against the freckled sky. She could swear the growl could have only come from somewhere closeby, but that was impossible. Hellions rarely left their valley and the few that wandered were quickly slayed as the Hellion in the marshes the other day, as all the lesser Hellions she disposed of with a single flick of her wrist.

Another growl followed. And another. Sunmi heart was the loudest of them all, beating in her eardrum faster with every cry that followed. A dark silhouette burst through the forest line, followed by another and another, soon a dozen of them sprinting across the plains, all large and singing in harmony.

Hellions.

Sunmi’s breath got caught in .

If they come after you, run.

Sunmi turned and dashed as the Hellions tore through her hut, wood splitting and vessels breaking. She had no time to conjure a storm of fire capable of wiping all Hellions in a blink. She could not risk sending smaller bolts of fire either. With one was easy, more would make a fool out of her.

So she ran and ran, the Hellions hot on her trail. She could hear them stomping the ground, each time a small earthquake shaking her, balance lost for a split second and recovered the next. She could hear their roars and growls and calls. Could almost sense them above her, about to crush her, about to end her. She had to keep on going, keep on moving, no chance to rest or hide.

Sunmi couldn’t stop thinking as she raced, her mind becoming a whirlwind of questions. Why were they suddenly away from the valley, in such great numbers too? Had they already recovered from her last attack? Had it been a trap laid for her, a lure to get her closer to the valley again, tap into her scent, tap into the signature of her magic, making it easier to follow her, easier to find her hut, easier to destroy her.

No, Hellions weren’t intelligent. As much as Sunmi wished sometimes the enemy was more of a challenge, Hellions had always been simple to manage. None were smart enough to concoct such plan