Soon, the trees reaching overhead shrank in stature. Clumps of silver birch and whip-like willow branches, thick with drooping leaves, replaced mature oak. So too did fern and leaf-litter give way to a thick, mossy floor that Casek’s boot seemed all too happy to sink into. Moisture from the moss squeezed out with every step, soaking his boots and filling them with ice-cold water.

  Eventually, the patches of forest pond grew ever more frequent, until they were weaving their way through a maze of shallow pools teeming with insect life. Vibrant blue and orange damselflies streaked from one reed-lined water-source to the next, picking off prey with precise, lightning-fast swoops.

  All things considered, he should have been miserable slogging through the worsening marsh, every step dogged by the possibility of death leaping from the shadows at any point. But he wasn’t. The buzz of life around him, the natural orchestra, burned away the tense silence of the deep forest and with it, the crushing anxiety it stirred in him.

  This was good. It freed his mind to concentrate on other things. Casek glanced ahead of himself, planning his next few steps so he could take them without ending up shin-deep in muddy water, and then turned his attention inwards.

  He searched for the sources of power in his subconscious. Besides his own, there were now two dark wells. One was infinitely larger that the other, a vast ocean of strength that sat serene and silent, a frozen lake of unfathomable depth. This was Tauph’s power, and what he used to interact with the stasis crystals used by the Shadowspawn.

  The second was a different matter entirely. Even focusing his attention on it turned his stomach, a nauseous twist so severe it made it difficult to maintain focus on it. The surface of it roiled violently, bubbling and popping like molten lava. An insidious hiss filled his mind when he concentrated on it, like water running off a cliff. But, when he really concentrated, he could almost hear faint whispers deep within the noise, sending a thrill of ice surging through his veins.

  You sure I just do the same thing, here Tauph?

  It won’t be as easy, but the general principle is exactly what you did with my power. Drag some out with your own magic. Sever. Absorb.

  Casek took a steadying breath, checking his footing in the forest before refocusing. Raelynn knew he was going to try to cycle the Drau he’d bound, so she was keeping watch for any threats whilst he was distracted.

  Raelynn said it would fight back. How the hell does that even work?

  You know as much as I do. My power is similar, but not the same. It stands to reason, though. The Drau you bound isn’t dead—it’s just imprisoned within the foci and linked to you. Why would it just let you siphon away its power without at least a struggle?

  Casek was clear on the logic, of course. He just didn’t enjoy fumbling around in the dark, trying to work these things out when his life was on the line. Raelynn had described the process as best she could. Warned him of the dangers. The Drau would try to fight back. To influence him. To take control. All he had to do was steal some power and resist.

  If he didn’t, he and Tauph would be dead, and his body would belong to the Shadow.

  This was cycling. And he’d have to repeat the process over and over until he’d absorbed the entirety of the Drau’s power and made it his own. Only once that last scrap was gone would the Shadowspawn truly be dead, and he would be free to lower his guard.

  At least, until he bound the next creature and was forced to repeat the entire struggle over and over.

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  He found the cool, revitalising spring of his own power and guided its flow as he had before. Easing it towards the Drau’s. Wielding his own strength had quickly become intuitive, like moving a limb he’d had since birth. It flowed around a healthy globule of the Drau’s magic and grasped it.

  Casek shivered as the nausea worsened, the oily hissing rising to a fever pitch in his mind. If there were words, he could not understand them. He could feel them, though. The hate. The twisting, roaring disgust. The hunger. He hated him. He should die—should kill him. He should kill—

  Casek!

  He started, palms sweating profusely. Right.

  His power yanked at the Drau’s, and Casek fought to keep the influence of the creature at bay. There was only a moment of hesitation before he swept a blade of his own power through it, and allowed the freed segment to be absorbed.

  Suddenly, the deafening, unrelenting noise in his mind vanished, leaving him in an unnatural silence that rang around his head.

  Only, it wasn’t silence. Before, there had been, but now, there was a definite something. A noise he couldn’t quite pin down. It was on the distant edge of his consciousness; at the tips of his fingertips.

  Casek was surprised to realise he was grinding his teeth.

  Tauph…

  Remember, the power doesn’t become entirely yours until the Drau is gone completely. It will try to influence you in any way it can before then.

  How long will it be like this?

  A few days, if you cycle consistently. Raelynn said you get used to it. It becomes sort of instinctive.

  A hand on his shoulder tore him from his subconscious. Raelynn had pulled up beside him, regarding him with a wry smile. It was by far the friendliest expression he’d seen on her, and it, together with the strange buzzing in his mind, stole the words from the tip of his tongue.

  “Here,” she said, extending an arm towards him. “It helps, trust me.”

  She held a small jar out at him, filled with a thick amber liquid.

  “What is it?” he said, taking it and peering inside.

  “Black pine resin. Scoop some out with a finger and chew it. It doesn’t exactly taste wonderful, but it’s not so bad once you get used to it. It helps,” she said, tapping her finger against her temple. “With the noise.”

  Apparently, he didn’t cover his dubiousness well enough, because she snorted. “Just trust me. That bastard whispering is unbearable and only gets worse as you bind stronger things. The resin is sort of therapeutic. Gives your brain something else to focus on.”

  It was only then he noticed she was subtly chewing on her own piece. He relented, unscrewing the cap and dragging out a fingertip of resin.

  “Thanks,” he said, before sticking it into his mouth.

  Immediately, his face screwed up as a rush of bitterness filled his mouth when his molars pressed down through the nugget of resin. This time Raelynn laughed fully.

  “I warned you it wasn’t good.”

  “That was vicious,” Casek groused as he chewed, the flavour already softening.

  “It works though, doesn’t it?”

  “Begrudgingly, I have to give you that—”

  He paused as something reached around his ankle. For a moment, his heart skipped a beat as he thought he was tripping over a tree root. Then it gripped his ankle tight, dragging him off his feet through the slushy undergrowth.

  Casek twisted his body around, fighting to reach an arm down to free his leg as he slid across the moist ground, but as soon as he did, a second black tentacle burst from the moss layer and coiled itself around his arm.

  “Raelynn!” he spluttered, flying marsh water and flecks of dirt and foliage filling his mouth

  Casek, take a breath!

  He followed Tauph’s instructions without question, and had just enough time to take a deep gulp of air before he plunged headfirst into the frigid water of the marsh. The cold nearly made him gasp, and only supreme presence of mind stopped him from doing it and filling his lungs with the filthy water almost immediately.

  Water resistance slowed the tendrils dragging him, and he forced his eyes open despite the water stinging at them. Something was dragging him, and if he wanted a chance at fighting it, he’d have to at least try to see it.

  At first, all he could see was the debris-laced brown of the water, as he was pulled through the depths. Then, he raised his right arm to his face, scarcely able to make out the lights of the foci-jewels on his wrist. Four of them.

  He grinned, sword flaring to life and flashing through the tendrils binding him, the pulsing magic powering it lighting up a swathe of the bog’s depths. As he raised his face, finally free, the smile faded.

  Ahead of him, he saw it. Anchored to the bottom of the marsh, the creature stared up at him through bulbous yellow eyes. Its black tentacles were splayed out around it, suspended in the water like a widely cast, slowly drifting net.

  Shit.

  Thank you all so much for reading this far! If you've enjoyed what you've read, please consider checking out one of my other stories below - just click on the pictures to go to their pages!