There were fewer than twenty yards between us and the Imen’s cages, and about ten daemons left guarding them. The others had moved onto the battlefield, and half of those were already dead. Had it not been for the throng of invisible hunters that came out of nowhere, we would’ve finished them all off by now.

Hunters must have been in the area, maybe surveying the high points of the gorge or prowling through the crevices. One thing was clear, though: they were fierce and quick to jump in to help the other fiends. I figured they wanted to protect the Imen transport at all costs—based on what Caspian had told us, it seemed reasonable to assume that these cages were meant to feed the daemons underground, those who were unable to hunt for themselves.

Scarlett took center stage on Hansa’s and my fighting ground, fending off incoming hostiles so we could take care of the cages. Our objective was to break the locks and help the Imen escape—get them as far away from the area as possible. We could then jump behind the nearest rocks and leave Blaze with the freedom he needed to unleash his dragon fire.

One of the ten daemons in charge of the prisoners came at me, his metallic armor screeching as he raised his spear. I ducked and dodged the hit, then drove my swords through the sides of his torso, where the chest plates were joined to the rest of the protective gear with threaded mesh. It was one of the few soft spots I’d identified in the daemons’ armor. The fiend collapsed to his knees. Hansa moved forward and tackled two more that had been stationed around the first cage.

We fought them hard—they were desperate and thus unpredictable. Their chaotic attacks made us burn a lot of energy swerving left and right to avoid their blades, before we could get a clear shot. Eventually, they both came down, their heads tumbling onto the hard ground, blood pooling at our feet.

The Imen were huddled in the middle, crying and trembling, crouching and covering their heads. Hansa was looking for the locks when a fourth daemon emerged from behind the cage and came at her with his rapier, the blade sharp and glistening with eagerness to slice her.

I dashed to her side and blocked the attack with my swords, then kicked the fiend in his groin. He doubled over in pain, giving me the perfect position to chop his head off. Sure, daemons were fast and vicious, but, like all two-legged creatures I’d ever come across, some were weaker and were victims of poor choices fueled by panic.

Hansa’s emerald-gold eyes brightened as she glanced at me. She gave me a brief but sincere smile, and I could feel the ice between us thawing. Our ride on the same horse had already been equal parts intense and uncomfortable. I was relieved to see her not glaring at me or completely ignoring me. The color suddenly left her cheeks, and she lunged at me, gripping her broadsword with both hands, blade aimed at my torso.

It happened so fast that I didn’t even have a reaction. My heart paused as I watched her ram her sword just inches from my right side, and I heard a grunt behind me. I glanced over my shoulder and saw the air rippling, along with a pair of narrowed red eyes—this was a tall daemon, towering two feet over me.

I suddenly turned, and used the speed of that movement to pierce his neck with my sword. The fiend collapsed, his body hitting the ground and crimson blood gushing from his wounds.

“Remind me to thank you later for this,” I said to Hansa, then moved around the cage. More invisible daemons rushed toward us.

“No need, just looking out for my team,” Hansa breathed, resuming her search for the locks. One of the Imen looked at her and pointed to his left. Two locks held the cage closed on that side.

She wasn’t going to get a moment to reach those padlocks, as more daemons gathered around us. Caia was busy with a dozen hostiles on her side, while Blaze continued his targeted attacks. Avril and Heron helped Patrik finish off the remaining armored daemons, but more invisible hunters came in from the narrower parts of the gorge that we’d left behind. Harper and Caspian had their fair share of daemons to deal with, while Scarlett kept flashing around and pitching in on all sides, her flurry of rapid hits causing blood showers to spray around in shades of vivid crimson.

I had to give Hansa the break she needed to set the Imen free.

Two can play that game, I thought to myself as I fumbled through my belt compartments and scooped out a handful of invisibility paste. I always carried some with me, to use in situations such as this. Hansa was too busy to notice me swallowing the swamp witches’ spell, and there was no time for me to explain.

I circled toward her, feeling my body buzzing, the invisibility spell kicking in. I pushed her aside as daemons crashed into me. She landed on her back and most likely saw me swallowed by a horde of invisible daemons. She screamed.

“Jax!”

Forgive me, Hansa…

The fiends couldn’t see me anymore. They stilled and growled. I didn’t move either, waiting to see if they’d sense my presence still there. I’d managed to confuse them for long enough to calculate exactly how I’d kill them all.

Breathe.

I exhaled sharply and cut the head off the first daemon on my right. The blood spurts drew the others’ attention, and they all jumped in to tear the invisible body apart—mistaking it for mine. I avoided direct contact with the bodily fluids spewing out of the scuffle as the fiends ended up slashing and cutting each other. I flung my swords around and opened large gashes wherever my blades made contact, then backed away and watched the air trembling around the mass of invisible daemons tearing each other apart.

Hansa fought off more fiends on her side, her body glowing silver as she chopped their limbs off in a rage-fueled rampage. I managed to sneak to the cage we’d been trying to open. I put my swords away and cracked both padlocks off with a rock. The Imen mumbled and gasped as they poured out and ran toward the western part of the gorge, scattering so they wouldn’t all get trapped or caught again.

I made my way to the second cage, where two armored daemons waited, while Hansa tackled an invisible hunter and shoved her broadsword right between his bright red eyes. She roared as she killed another one on her way to the third cage, just ten yards away from my position. I wanted to say something, but, again, time wasn’t on my side. I took advantage of my invisibility and obliterated the two guards with four strikes, two per jugular. I heard shouting to the left, where the rest of my team was, the stream flowing behind them. I glanced in their direction and quickly assessed the scene. Invisible daemons kept pouring in, with Caia and Patrik taking turns in summoning water to splash and reveal them all.

A peculiar swish caught my eye, followed by movement from the right side. A new, foreign presence flew in, gliding over the brook. She looked like a young woman with long, pale blond—almost white—hair. She didn’t seem a day over twenty, and was petite, with her upper body and hips wrapped in animal skins.

I froze while clutching a rock I was about to use on the second cage’s locks. I was looking at a young fae—her arms were out and her fingers wiggled as enormous sheets of water erupted from the stream and crashed into the swelling mass of invisible daemons. Their cover was blown, making it easier for my team to fight them.

Screams erupted from the thinning crowd of Imen I’d just released. More daemons had come in and were slashing at them with their bare claws. The water fae with platinum hair swooshed in that direction, launching powerful jets of water at specific daemons to help the Imen escape. I exhaled sharply, glad to have another fighter on our side.

She was furious and feral, growling and clawing at the daemons between water hits. She bared her teeth and managed to get her hands on a couple of knives, using them to slash throats as she fought off the fiends chasing the freed Imen. I resumed my task and smashed open the two locks on the second cage, pulling it open.

They looked around, visibly confused since they couldn’t see me, then ran after the others. They were all of different ages, both male and female. They wore animal skins similar to those on the water fae. Two of them even seemed to recognize her, their eyes widening before they rushed toward her—the others pulled them away to keep them from getting involved. That was a wise move, as the young fae was busy shooting water jets at daemons and cutting them with her knives.

What was a fae doing on this planet? Were there more of her kind, on other parts of the continent? I cursed under my breath as I found myself asking more questions, instead of finding answers for the ones I already had about this place.

Meanwhile, Hansa had just reached the third cage, one foot resting on a dead daemon’s chest as she broke its locks and pulled its door open. Twenty more Imen came out, crying and screaming. They ran after the others.

I could see tears rolling down her cheeks as she fought off a few more daemons, then moved to the fourth cage. I wanted to help her and let her know I was okay, but I got sidetracked by a sturdy armored daemon that had just escaped Blaze’s spiked tail. I stabbed him in the stomach, and he painfully realized I was there as some of his blood sprayed me. He charged me with his broken spear, his face contorted with fury and desperation.

This was his last attempt to kill one of us, and I was more than happy to make sure he failed.