We were about a hundred or so feet away when the entrance leading into to the Ring of Worship collapsed, sand and rock and great portions of mountain toppling down in a terrifying avalanche. Druj slithered toward us, hissing, whispering, yellow, irisless eyes trained on us.

She came at me, the weakest of the runners, and my life would have ended there had not the indar dropped from the sky, its hideous talons crushing the former Faceless—only to release her with a pained scream as its talons burned from her poisoned hide.

“She can kill even daeva,” Lord Khalad growled.

“Better them than us,” Lady Zoya barked back. “Keep those shields ready, Kalen!”

“Everyone has a weakness. Where’s hers?”

“There.” The bone witch pointed at the monster’s midsection, where something gleamed in the light. “Her silver heartsglass,” she noted grimly, lifting her sword again. “If we could cut it out of her—”

“Stay where you are.” Lord Fox rose to his feet, wincing. “If she takes you out, two of us fall with you, and she knows that. Zoya, protect them.”

“And leave you two to have all the fun?” But the asha was already weaving strong runes of Shield over us, and I watched small pieces of dislodged rock bounce harmlessly off her barrier.

The Dark asha paid us little attention. It was her turn to sink to the ground with her eyes closed, her expression intense. The Heartforger knew what she intended to do but didn’t enlighten me. Instead, he sat down beside her and took her hands in his. He closed his eyes, and their silver heartsglass glowed together.

The bone witch’s familiars adopted the same tactic they used with Aadil, though with greater difficulty this time around, for when Druj faced one of them, her tail still posed a threat to the other. Her poison was another obstacle; it dribbled down her body like silky, black ichor and fizzled in the sand. Lord Kalen grunted as drops of it sprayed against him, though he remained as quick as ever. His sword ravaged the horrific tail, and he wove more Fire to shred the stump. But when he attempted Wind, it sent bile spurting in our direction.

“No Wind!” Lady Zoya shouted. Her defenses kept us from a grisly fate, though the poison left the unshielded ground around us black, the bile quickly dissolving the rock and debris.

The other daeva were warier. They circled the Faceless, occasionally snaking out with fangs and talons, but hesitant to commit to a full attack. The zarich tried, but the magic of the place affected it, and its breath barely conjured enough ice to frost the ground.