It also, she realized as the mouth slit opened and the lips pulled back, had longer, sharper teeth and more of them than any creature she’d ever known. Row upon row of curved, razor-sharp fangs unfolded from the monster’s upper and lower jaws as its mouth gaped wider. A single bite would slice through flesh and even bone like a knife through warm butter. And with the way the tips of the fangs curved inward, when the garm sank its teeth into something, that something wasn’t ever getting away.

Kham slowly backed away.

No man can face a garm alone and live. Lady Melle’s dire words echoed in her mind. The only chance is to hunt in numbers. Large numbers. That’s why we call it the Great Hunt. And even then, men will die.

And here death was, staring Kham in the face. Drawn by the scent of the blood dripping from the wound Reika had carved down Kham’s back.

Blue-white slime dripped from the garm’s fangs. One of the droplets landed on the leaf of a holly bush, and the spiky evergreen leaf froze with a crack, white frost spreading instantly across its dark, glossy surface.

The garm planted its front paws, swelled its chest and, with an earsplitting shriek, spewed out a billowing cloud of blue-white vapor.

The shriek ripped through Kham’s skull. She screamed in pain and dropped to her knees, her muscles seizing. Before she could take another breath, the vapor cloud reached her. Frost crackled across her skin as the mist enveloped her and trapped her body in bands of unyielding ice. Ears ringing, she was dimly aware of the beat of her heart, feeling more than hearing the slow, thudding percussion reverberating in the frozen drum of her chest.

Move, Khamsin! MOVE! Her mind shrieked the command, but her body remained locked in place by the freezing, paralytic effects of the garm’s hunting scream and vaporous breath.

Fur rippled along the beast’s haunches as the muscles in its hind legs bunched up, gathering power, and six lethal inches of curved, razor-sharp claws dug into the ice as the garm prepared to pounce.

If the garm touched her, she was dead.

She cast a frantic gaze skyward. Overhead, clouds boiled and wind whipped through the trees in fitful bursts, mirroring the chaotic whirl of terror and desperation rushing through her adrenaline-charged veins. The sun was there, behind those dark clouds. She reached for it, calling on the power and heat harnessed in its bright rays to counter the garm’s cold magic.

Please! Please! Help me!

The sun answered with a burst of warmth in her chest that flowed through her veins to the rest of her body. Her fingers flexed.

The garm sprang.

Kham folded her legs and dropped to the ground just as the monster plowed through the spot where she’d been standing. The bitter wind that whipped past in the garm’s wake stung the exposed areas of her skin. Kham hissed at the pain and clambered to her feet. Her muscles were still half-frozen and sluggish to respond, but at least she could move.

Snarling, teeth gnashing with furious clicks, the garm spun around for a second attack. Long, curving six-inch claws extended from the garm’s massive paws and dug deep for traction.

Kham looked around frantically. Behind her lay the cliffs and the frozen lake. She couldn’t run that way. Out in the open, she was dead. The creature was too fast, too powerful. She needed cover. Something to hide behind. Something to slow the garm down.

Flaming red eyes pinned her with lethal intent. The beast threw back its head, jaws agape. Kham covered her ears against the garm’s paralyzing shriek and ran for the trees.

The cold of its ice breath chilled her spine through the thick fur of her coat. She didn’t dare slow enough to look back. She could feel the garm behind her. A freezing void closing in on her, draining the warmth from everything around it.

Just ahead, a pile of snow-covered boulders lay tumbled in her path. Six feet behind it, the branches of a large spruce stretched out.

Her legs pumped as she raced for the tumble of rocks. For months, she’d chased after Krysti, trying to emulate the effortless way he scrambled up and down sheer cliff faces and treacherous mountain terrain.

Of course, bounding up cliffs and over obstacles with Krysti had been just a lark. A fun way to pass the time.

Now, her life depended on it.

She scanned the boulders as she ran towards them, calculating the distances, the inclines, noting all footholds and determining the path most suited to her own reach and abilities.

There was no time for fear or doubt and no room for error. She could only decide her path, commit to it, and pray she completed a successful run on the first try.

Khamsin put on a burst of speed and leaped towards the first rock. Her foot came down, angled perfectly against the incline. Her right sole made contact. She bent her knee to absorb her momentum and immediately pushed off, springing up and left towards the next rock in the pile. Leaping from foot to foot, rock to rock, she bounded up the pile of boulders and launched herself into the air. Her arms stretched out, gloved hands spread wide.

She caught the spruce branch with her fingertips and kicked up and out to swing her torso over the top of the branch. She pumped her legs again, planted her feet on either side of her hands, and leapt up to grab a higher branch overhead. She scrambled up the branches of the spruce, then paused to see what the garm would do next.

Below her, the garm leapt for the tree trunk, flexing long, curving claws. Kham’s eyes went wide. “Halla help me! The cursed thing can climb, too?”

Sure enough, the garm was scaling straight up the spruce’s broad trunk, its six-inch claws digging into wood as easily as they sliced through ice and frozen ground. The beast had almost reached Khamsin before she collected herself enough to jump for the next highest branch.