“Come closer,” Jereb said. “To be sure you’ll hit me.”

“Don’ ye worry ’bout that,” she shot back, memories of her childhood in Northpoint rising in her mind. The games she and the other children had liked to play. Throwing rocks at old bottles, much smaller targets than the one she now faced. Back then, she usually won.

Jereb chewed the inside of his mouth skeptically, but then closed his eyes. “Don’t tell me when you’re going to start throw—”

Whap!

The first stone hit him square in the chest, exactly where she’d been aiming, his eyes flashing open as he gasped. He rubbed at the front of his shirt. She’d selected one of the smaller stones available, but it still would’ve hurt.

“Like that?” Perfidy asked.

“Er, yes, exactly like that.” He closed his eyes again.

This time, in order to keep him guessing, she waited about three seconds before cocking her arm back, hand gripping a flat, smooth stone that would’ve been perfect for skipping across a pond. She planned to release it with a sidearm, spinning it around like a disc.

But then, with a flutter of wings, something dragged it from her grip, slicing into her fingers in the process. “Ow,” she hissed through clenched teeth, watching as the black eagle flew overhead, stone in its beak. She sucked on her cut finger, tasting blood that wasn’t supposed to be there.

The bird dropped the stone, and her reflexes kicked in as she caught it. Anger flared, and she made to throw it at Jereb once more, quicker this time. Another flutter of wings arose, the second eagle’s beak wrenching at the rock. She fought back, fingers clenched around it. The nasty fowl screeched, extending its talons toward her face to claw at her. “Ah!” she screamed, forced to give up the stone in order to swat the bird away. It soared upward, clutching the stone.

There were at least a dozen pinpricks of pain from various spots on her face. If they weren’t real, then how did they feel so real? Like the first had, the second black eagle passed overhead and dropped the stone. She had the same instinct to catch it and attempt another throw, but she wasn’t the kind to repeat a mistake.

Instead she darted away, letting the stone land behind her, reaching down and snatching another stone haphazardly from the ground, throwing it while still in motion. It missed Jereb’s shoulder by at least a hand, clattering near the steps where Mirac sat in his usual spot. He bent to snatch it up.

But Perfidy wasn’t paying attention to the broody boy, because she was on the move again, grabbing another rock and ducking beneath the slashing claws of a third black eagle that Jereb had just summoned into existence. Despite her efforts, its talons raked down her back, causing another flare of pain.