Vadim PoV
The rising water boiled as hundreds of black claws broke the surface.
Shadow hounds dragged themselves out of the churned silt, hollow eyes fixing on us as their jaws snapped shut on the rain. In seconds, the flooded lake bed was crawling with them.
"Vadim, they're surrounding the ridge!" Noel shouted, backing toward me. He thrust both hands outward, firing rapid pulses of white lumen that dissolved the front rank into hissing steam.
"Hold your footing," I said, shifting my grip on the black spear.
To our left, Gregory smacked the hounds on his thigh off and stabbed them with stony spikes.
Above the muck, Eiro's wings snapped wide. He hovered ten feet up, driving his gold and blue spear straight down into the pool between Noel and Gregory. Lightning tore through the water in wild branches, frying an entire arc of shadows before they could close the circle.
"We can hold the ground!" Eiro yelled over the storm, golden feathers shedding rain. "Focus on The Dog, Clown!"
