Months had passed since Elzem parted from Sonsuz; she was trying to endure in order to keep the curse over the field at bay. Sonsuz at one end of the Unparalleled, she at the other; she had never felt such distance before. Bearing it was agonising. She could sense nothing but a darkness whose duration she could not even guess.

  In the far west of the Unparalleled, where the dark mountains tangled with the clouds, she continued to resist—yet there were other truths she was forced to battle as well. And they did not seem possible to defeat.

  Elzem sat upon the rocks clinging to the body of the black mountain, trying to draw deep breaths amid the grey clouds. It was so difficult that her eyes had turned bloodshot.

  ?etrefil could bear it no longer. “Elzem Erk, we must put an end to what the death hunters have caused,” he said.

  Abbey drifted behind Elzem, scanning the surroundings. “The death hunters have never left us. And this has been destroying Elzem’s breath day by day. There is very little you can do about this, ?etrefil,” she summarised, her once silky voice now tight with strain.

  Defiantly, ?etrefil replied in his firm tone, “Then why can you do nothing about the death hunters?”

  With a bashful expression, Abbey answered, “As I said before, ?etrefil; during the hunt, the death hunters fell under Sonsuz’s dominion. Perhaps not forever—but for now, only his command can affect them. In short, only Sonsuz can influence the death hunters. At this stage, there is nothing I can do. I am sorry.”

  Gasping, Elzem asked, “How can the death hunters affect my breathing so much?”

  Abbey moved close, fastening her gaze upon Elzem’s eyes with a sorrowful look. “Elzem, they and the curse of the field merged upon you at the same time. That is why they choke you more with every passing day. This will end only when you are left without breath.”

  Elzem gently pushed Abbey away with her hand. “I can endure,” she said—then began coughing, bending towards the ground as she struggled for air. It was becoming harder still.

  ?etrefil spoke with firm resolve. “Elzem Erk, I understand that you resist so as not to draw Sonsuz into danger—but you have no other choice now! If we reach Sonsuz Son, he can stop the death hunters. He can stop their effect upon you.”

  Abbey immediately agreed. “?etrefil is right, Elzem. I cannot open a passage alone to take you to him—but if I send word of our location to the other Female Breakers, we can manage the rest.”

  Elzem struggled to rise. “I can endure!” she insisted stubbornly.

  At that moment, a dreadful, thick whistling sound began to approach, vibrating the air around them. ?etrefil at once formed a protective circle around Elzem with the pack. Abbey hovered before Elzem, ready to strike. With great effort, Elzem grasped her new sword and fixed her eyes in the direction of the sound.

  As soon as the death hunters gliding through the black-grey clouds appeared, Abbey shot upward, burst into a flare of blue light, then drifted back to hover before Elzem.

  ?etrefil immediately understood what she had done. He nodded his approval, then turned forward again. When Elzem realised the exchange between them, Abbey met her with resolute eyes. “I had to do it. Besides, I receive my first commands from Sonsuz—just as ?etrefil and the pack receive theirs from you. I have delayed his command long enough already. Even if the news is late, I have now informed him.”

  Seeing there was nothing more to be done, Elzem focused entirely on the death hunters.

  Meanwhile, at the far eastern side of the Unparalleled, the Female Breakers drifting among the low mountains saw a wave of blue light burst and rush toward them.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Approaching Kylie like a cloud of mist, Abbey’s voice came through the vibrating air.

  “Kylie, the death hunters are about to destroy Elzem and her pack! I need your help immediately. We must open a passage—there is no other way!”

  As Abbey’s panicked voice vanished with the fading mist, Kylie plunged downward in a wild glide. She stopped beside Sonsuz, who stood by the small lake between the low trees, and told him that Abbey had asked for help.

  Sonsuz flared with anger at once. “Why has she waited until now, eh?!” he shouted.

  Gravely, Kylie said, “Most likely Elzem did not want it. She would not wish to endanger you. I know her almost as well as you do now. She must have wanted to endure for as long as she could.”

  As Sonsuz ran swiftly, Kylie glided after him.

  Drawing his new sword, Sonsuz said, “I will tell you where and how we must move. We need to open a passage very quickly.”

  “We can only open it with the help of the pack. When they approach us, both the pack and Abbey will support us from the other side,” Kylie replied, gathering the Female Breakers who were keeping watch nearby.

  As Sonsuz ran faster, the Female Breakers gliding after him multiplied, flying to either side.

  Passing around the low mountain and nearing the open expanse ahead, he warned, “I can somehow stop the death hunters—but Abbey’s support is critical to prevent them from suffocating Elzem. And when they arrive, all of you must move very quickly!”

  “For us, that is easy,” Kylie said. “What is difficult is your dominion over the death hunters. You cannot do it constantly. You know how hard it is to command them.”

  With absolute confidence—as though it were something he did every day—Sonsuz replied, “Just watch.”

  Kylie gazed at him in admiration and signalled the Female Breakers to be ready.

  At the same time, Elzem was at the very brink of endurance. Fleeing upon ?etrefil’s back while the pack fought like mad against the death hunters, she clung on.

  F?rt?na deflected a pursuing death hunter with her claws, while Saydam roared and hurled aside whatever came before him. With a savage bite, Rüzgardelen tore off the black-boned arm of one of the hunters.

  Gripping ?etrefil’s mane tightly, Elzem split in two the death hunter reaching for his neck. As she raised her sword and drove it backward, another attacked her throat—its hand, now no different from a black, razor-sharp dagger, pierced her skin, tearing deeper as it withdrew and spilling blood.

  With desperate force, Elzem thrust her sword into its shadowed face and only then escaped.

  Abbey sped ahead, showing them where to go while signalling to Sonsuz and the others at the same time.

  Wounded, Elzem struggled to remain upright on ?etrefil’s back as the death hunters increased their strength and pressed closer.

  The pack raced wildly through the grey clouds toward the end of the mountain, the great cats’ efforts only fuelling the hunters’ fury further.

  F?rt?na, Di?lek, Saydam, and Pat?rt? attacked with all their strength to hold the rear.

  Yank? and Rüzgardelen darted from side to side, striving to keep Elzem—now too weak even to hold on—balanced upon ?etrefil’s back.

  Elzem was using every ounce of strength just to breathe. Seeing what it meant, ?etrefil roared, “When these creatures are this close, it is nearly impossible for her to breathe! Faster!” and surged ahead.

  At last, Abbey halted in an empty grey expanse, lifting her head to signal what it meant.

  The moment ?etrefil gave his assent, F?rt?na, Di?lek, and Saydam rushed forward and waited before the forming vortex Abbey was creating.

  At that instant, a blue vortex began from the other side as well; the two merged into a single powerful wave.

  The great cats waiting at the front roared, hooked their claws into the wave, twisted it—and opened the passage.

  Without losing a second, ?etrefil ran and plunged through.

  On the other side, Sonsuz and the Female Breakers were already waiting, focused with intense expectation on who would emerge first.

  Rüzgardelen, Yank?, and Pat?rt? burst through alongside ?etrefil as the first to arrive.

  Several Female Breakers immediately went to them to check if they were well.

  Sonsuz stood with knitted brows, piercing eyes fixed upon Elzem.

  With a wild, wounding roar, ?etrefil leapt through the passage as if flying. Seeing Elzem unconscious and the deep, bloody wound in her neck, Sonsuz spun back toward the passage at once.

  When Abbey and the remaining pack came through, the suffocating breath of the death hunters followed close behind.

  As Sonsuz ran toward the hunters about to cross the passage, he caused them—whether knowingly or not—to retreat.

  With astonished joy, Kylie said, “He has established his dominion again… impossible!”

  Sonsuz seized one of the returning death hunters from behind, slit its throat, and hurled it upon the others.

  As the death hunters vanished beyond the closing passage with shrieks of hatred, the darkness within them seemed to deepen under Sonsuz’s dominion.

  The Female Breakers and Sonsuz were not sure whether they had saved the breathless, battered pack lying on the ground in time.

  As Sonsuz looked at Elzem, he felt his own breath falter as well.