Forsaken (Fated Saga Fantasy Series Book 8) by Rachel Humphrey-D'aigle Page B

off a fiery vortex of flame into any direction she thought she caught their movements. By sheer luck, her fire caught another.
    Cornell and Milo ran after that one.
    Balloch, Kanda and Eddy came over to her.
    “Nicely done, my love.” He grinned in proud satisfaction.
    Kanda tossed her a wry smile. “Not good in a battle?”
    “I stuck with what I know.”
    Kanda gave her a short nod of approval. She, Eddy and Balloch shot off protective spells in attempts to keep their fellow friends safe as they fought the stunned Grosvenor. They were just two, but even stunned they moved and fought with slick precision and speed.
    Arnon and Nashua dueled the Grosvenor, but made no progress other than staying alive.
    Arnon thought it strange that though the Grosvenor were attacking heavily, they still had not managed to injure one of them seriously. Which meant only one thing: they were not trying to do so. The diversion theory came back to mind.
    Arnon’s glance slipped back to Kanda… he didn’t see her. Where had she gone?
    He gave a start when a second later a pristine white owl took flight. It seemed an odd sight during the middle of a battle. Was this Kanda’s animal form? An owl?
    He scowled. An owl was hardly a creature that could take care of itself in battle.
    “Arnon!” Nashua shouted too late.
    One of the Grosvenor blasted Arnon sending him flying backwards. He landed on the ground, his breath stripped away, but was grateful at least, not wrapped around a tree broken in two.
    Balloch came to his aid, helping him up. Everything hurt, felt like he’d had a full on body punch. But he insisted he was fine. Balloch and Arnon could not get back to Eddy, so they stayed back to back, shooting off spells to block the one’s coming at them.
    Milo and Cornell had been split up, and were shooting off spells, darting behind trees and stumps, slowing working their way back toward the tent, and Eddy, who was the last one guarding their Firemancer; the only one who’d done any amount of damage so far. But the Grosvenor had caught on to her fiery vortex and were avoiding her now.
    Nashua was shooting off spells and shouting for his sister but there was no reply.
    Arnon feared for a minute that the owl had just been a coincidence. Perhaps Kanda had been snatched by the Grosvenor. The attack would have stopped though, wouldn’t it?
    Juliska continued to look for the dark silhouettes of the Grosvenor. They flitted around so fast they were impossible to attack with any precision. She and her fellow quest members were fighting for their lives, but the Grosvenor were just playing… like this was a game. And once they got bored, she and her friends would all be dead.
    What was the point of all this? Just having a little fun?
    The Grosvenor rarely came into the open unless they had a reason. Although it had been a few years since they’d attacked. Perhaps this was just a friendly reminder that they were still around, in case anyone was thinking they’d up and vanished.
    Juliska shot off another spew of flame and missed one of them by an inch.
    “Damn it!” she groaned, just as Arnon and Nashua made it to her.
    Not long after Milo, Balloch and Cornell were back. All out of breath and tiring. With a host of dark veils swirling in a circle about twenty feet away. Rounding them up. Herding them together… for what?
    “I think all nine are here,” breathed out Eddy. All nine Grosvenor against the eight of them, and one of them still missing. Kanda…
    “I’m out of ideas,” said Juliska. “I don’t know what else I can try. They’re too fast.”
    Eddy patted her arm in comfort. “Just stay focused.” He did the same.
    With a rush of movement, half the smoke-like forms burst upward into the air.
    Spells rained down over them all. They huddled, palms over their heads, once again on the defensive end. More came at them from the ground. Cornell fell backward, hitting his head hard, but he remained conscious and pulled himself back