I held the sword out in front of me. There was no time to question how to use it. The hyena charged at me. It slammed into my shield and I slashed at it with the sword. There was no blood, only a messy, gaping gash, like a poorly butchered piece of meat. But it barely paused, charging at my shield again as the wound knitted itself together. I slashed again and again. Five times, and this time it had to stop for a moment until its eyes were whole again. I took that brief moment to put a little more distance between us.

Saba stepped in front of it before it could go after me again, and it broke off her arm with its powerful jaw and threw it across the room, but she still got it around the neck with her other arm, holding it at bay until it could break free.

We alternated like that for a while. It would charge my shield, breaking some away but getting it close enough for me to slash up its face. I would retreat, Saba would hold it back for a moment, and we would repeat. But I could tell early on my amulet wasn’t going to last an hour. Not even close.

My shield was nearly depleted, so I took my amulet off and threw it at the hyena as I ran.

It charged and I bolted out into the hall, skidding and knocking over the candles on the floor, which sent frantic shadows to match my pulse. Not hearing the slam of it on the shield, I turned to see that Saba had tackled it onto the ground. But I doubted she could hold it for long.

“Thirty-five minutes,” Jember said, without looking up from his work. “Impressive, but not good enough.”

Despite being contradictions, both were true. He had finished welding, and was threading some of the thin lines he had burned through the silver with red thread. There were three colors in total he had to thread, and he was only just finishing up the first. He needed more time, and I wasn’t sure I could give it to him.

A slam on the shield made both of us wince. I grabbed a weapon off the floor—a sharpened broomstick—while Jember got up and moved into the next amulet’s pocket of protection. The hyena backed down and Saba stepped forward, her face a mask of terror and regret as she reached up to remove the amulet from above the door. It was nailed on, but with her strength she could probably easily break it off.

“Saba, no!” I cried, and when she didn’t stop I hit her arm with the broomstick, cracking it. She still wouldn’t stop. “Please, Saba!”