I raised my eyebrows toward him and he shrugged back. “I don’t know what you think,” he said, “but I prefer to fight things of the humanoid variety. It’s a lot easier to tell where you need to stab.”

I gave him that.

WE’D ONLY BEEN walking the path for a few hours the next day when there was a piercing cry overhead. Everyone ducked as a winged monster swooped down at us with its sharp, bloody talons. The overgrown bird landed on the air like it was a tree branch and cawed at us with a shriek so shrill blood trickled down my ears. They rang, and for a minute all I could hear was the loud piercing ring. I’d never understood why they called it deafening silence before, but as my head vibrated from the sound yet refused any new sound in, I thought I now knew.

“Fuck,” Soren muttered from beside me. “That’s Hraesvelg.” The mighty corpse-eating eagle flapped its wings, and we all flew back from the wind it created.

Hraesvelg. The giant eagle who ate the dead who escaped from Hel. Whose wings were so fierce, they caused the very winds to blow. Couldn’t Hel send some nice, happy draugrs at us instead? Maybe a giant wolf or two? Something that stayed on the ground?

Eagle was a generous term for it. It had a massive wingspan, almost as large as a common dragon, and a cruel pointed beak from where rotting viscera hung. Its feathers were full of the arrows and spear tips of people who had tried to kill it before and failed. Both of its eyes were bloodshot with clear liquid running from the corner down its sharp beak.

I groaned and took a few arrows into my fingers, holding the extras in between my non-shooting fingers. We all backed up into a fighting stance, everyone’s backs touching one another’s to make sure that every spot was covered as the giant eagle’s wings caused the mist and ice dust to swirl in the air like a storm so thick I could hardly see the enemy above.

Then the thing swooped down upon us, breaking our circle moments after we made it, each of us blown in different directions by powerful wings.

I let loose an arrow and it sank into the monster’s chest but had no signs of slowing it down. I muttered a swear under my breath. Soren and I were the only bow users here, and Soren couldn’t even use his. Unless Rose, Seppo, or Lydian developed a startling ability to walk on air, they were all useless.

A wave of blue magic swept past my face, hitting the eagle in the eye. It shrieked and lunged blindly down, and I got another arrow in its stomach but it still wasn’t enough to fell it.

“I’ve got your back,” Diaval called out.