Take a step. Move. My back foot shifted, little more than a twitch, but the sensation opened a forgotten door. Awareness of my body spread upward. I lifted my head on a neck gone stiff as stone. My wings— Fear jumbled my thoughts. The last time . . . The baetyl . . . I am a gargoyle guardian! The...
The air coalesced around my body, tight as molasses and equally hard to breathe. My bones sprouted needles of agony, all pushing outward through my skin as magic leeched from my body. I stretched cramping fingers toward the marmot, pushing all my gargoyle-enhanced magic toward it, willing it to l...