Luna Brightwood's Arc

Chapter 13 of 22

Luna held the camera close and stared at the collar mark on the screen. Silvain had named it a mark of ownership, but the shape itself was a blur. She zoomed in. The pixels smeared into gray. Whoever sent the beast had a face and a name, and she had neither. More would come while she squinted at a bad frame. "I can't read it," she said. "The collar is there, but the sigil is soft. If I can't show anyone what to look for, we're guessing." Silvain took the camera. He held it at arm's length, then close. His mouth went flat. "I know the shape. Not from a book. From a night I did not sleep." He handed the camera back. "There is a man who turned from the light. He keeps to a cloak trimmed in dark red. He commands these beasts. The mark on the collar is his." Luna felt the field tilt. "You're sure." "I am sure," Silvain said. He drew his sword. The blade came out as a clean beam of light, steady as a lamp, and the wet grass around him brightened. The small purple dragon on Luna's shoulder shifted toward the glow. The pale owl on the branch opened both eyes. "He hates this. He hates any light that will not bend. That is why he sends the beasts at me when I look away." A voice came from the trees. Not loud. Flat. "Put it out." The cloaked man stood at the edge of the field, hood pulled forward, dark red trim catching the sword's glow. Two Shadow Hornbeasts crouched behind him, plates gleaming. "The girl's picture is useless. Delete it. Walk to the hut. I will make it quick." Luna did not delete it. She lifted the camera and fired one frame of him, then another. The shutter clicked twice in the wet air. He did not move. "You waste film," he said. "My face is not under the hood in any way your lens can read." Silvain stepped between them. The sword's light pushed forward across the grass, and the two beasts flinched back a pace. The gold dragon dropped from the mist behind Luna and set its claws in the field. Its white eye and blue eye fixed on the cloaked man. He watched the dragon, then the sword, then Luna's camera. He turned and walked into the trees. The beasts followed. Silvain lowered the blade a hand's width. "He will not fight the three of us at once. He will wait." Luna checked her screen. The collar frame was still soft, but the new frame was sharp: cloak, red trim, two beasts at heel. She had a face for the enemy now, even if the face was a hood. "I know who to warn," she said. "And I know he knows my camera works."