36. Arcady: The Stag

Arcady jolts from sleep into a snow-laden forest thick with magic as Everen, first as a dragon, descends and transforms. They reunite, sharing warmth and food as their fractured bond strengthens, though both remain wary of their future opposition and acutely aware of Everen’s exhaustion after the Veil.

A shriek announces a stag corrupted by wraith-magic: purple eyes, black fangs, and smoke-veiled fur. With Arcady’s magic muted and Everen drained, their first attempts to fend it off falter. Everen dives to divert the charge but is thrown and collapses, leaving Arcady to brace for another attack.

An arrow strikes the stag’s neck, then Sorin’s wyvern, Jaculus, dives. Finally, a bone-white knife buries between the stag’s eyes, snuffing its unnatural life as smoke dissipates from the corpse. Arcady retrieves the twin of the knife he carries, confirming the connection to an earlier killing.

Everen, recovering just enough speed, pins Sorin’s arms. Confronted by the wyvern’s identity, Sorin’s skill, and the matched knives, Arcady recognizes her as the hooded assassin from the barrow hill—the one Jaculus had circled before Everen’s rescue—shifting trust and alliances as the immediate danger passes.