Chapter 22

Aris crashes from a bone tree into saberwolves. Acting on instinct, she kills one, triggering the pack to cannibalize it atop her. Numbed by venom and battered from the fall, she crawls and stumbles through the Bone Woods as more monsters converge and a swarm of giant bats clashes with the wolves.

With the mists shuddering under a greater presence, Aris is cornered—until Harlan Raker seizes her, pins her to his chest, and advances through the oncoming horde. Raker single-handedly cuts down waves of beasts while keeping Aris shielded, emerging unmarked but soaked in blood. He states he entered the mists for her ancient sword, not her, and warns her not to raise a blade at him.

Refusing to be helpless, Aris saws fangs from a corpse and collects saberwolf blood, using it as an antidote to the venom; sensation and pain return to her leg. When her dislocated shoulder hampers her further, Raker insists on resetting it. After a tense exchange, he does so swiftly and, to her surprise, without shattering bone; Aris grudgingly thanks him.

They march through the hushed mists, blood-dried and exhausted. Raker silently provides a canteen and keeps them moving. Whispering presences try to lure Aris, then a mirrorlike puddle manifests shifting figures. Raker identifies the threat as a lusk—an illusion-feeder that becomes real when looked at—and disrupts it before it can materialize fully.

After hours of wary progress and a few quick kills from Raker, the oppressive fog abruptly tears away, leaving Aris and Raker on the cusp of whatever lies beyond the Bone Woods.