Free The Marked Son (Keepers of Life) by Shea Berkley

they were killing, only the moon’s glow saw them dead.
    How could anyone create something so malevolent and call it a necessity? Life had lost its value. Killing was all Navar understood these days.
    Out of the corner of her eye, Kera saw a few millispits leap-flying from tree to tree, their broken wings fluttering grotesquely, their thin, springy legs pumping, their large eyes searching. The viscous goop covering their bodies helped them cling wherever they landed.
    The flutter and splat of a millispit sounded close by.
    Her breathing became a ragged whisper of sound as Kera watched the slimy creature slide into view near her shoulder. The large, red eyes zeroed in on her.
    Before it could warn the others with its throaty grunt, Kera flipped her knife into her opposite hand and, in two precise swipes, detached the creature’s tail and head from its body. The carcass flopped onto a nearby branch and dangled by a thread of mucus.
    Kera suppressed a shudder and looked away only to hear a throaty grunt. Turning back, she found another millispit hovering over the dead one’s dismembered body.
    It was time to move. Kera leapt to a nearby branch, flying through the air until she landed easily on the next limb, only to leap off that one as quickly as she could.
    The millispits below fluttered their wings, many rising off the ground a few feet until they could cling to the trees and begin the climb. Most stayed on the ground, matching her move for move.
    All she needed was to get out of the forest. Navar had created the creatures to hunt down the “tainted” hiding in the forest, and Kera had never been so thankful for the magic that kept them bound to the area. Sensing the thinning of the trees, the millispits throaty grunts grew more excited. Kera had no idea what they were saying to each other, but that they had even a minute trace of intelligence was frightening.
    With her lungs burning from the effort to stay ahead, Kera leapt to the last tree limb that could hold her weight, then jumped to the ground. The millispits were still too close. She darted forward, the dagger gripped tightly in her hand, and burst from the forest. Whirling about, she held the dagger in front of her and glared back at the creatures swarming toward her.
    The majority of millispits stopped, but a few continued forward. Kera’s eyes widened. Somehow, the magical boundary didn’t exist for them. With a cry of alarm, she staggered back and swung at the first one to reach her, cutting it cleanly in half.
    She continued to back up, hacking at one and then another. When they lay at her feet dead, she peered at the mass of millispits. How had these few crossed? It should have been impossible.
    The millispits’ grunts reverberated within the group. Suddenly, over a dozen leapt forward, crossing the boundary line.
    The line that should kill them instantly when crossed, but didn’t.
    Kera turned and ran.
    There was no avoiding the village. Darting down the cobbled streets, Kera scanned for items she could use to protect herself. The first house she came to had a rainwater barrel, its lid halfway off. Kera grabbed the lid by the knobby handle and held it in front of her like a shield.
    She faced the millispits just in time. Three of them smacked into the lid and embedded their tail stingers into the swollen wood.
    A cry of “millispits” echoed close by. A horse harnessed to a wagon screamed as the creatures clawed their way over it. One came close and she batted it away, but not before its serrated claws cut her cheek. As she made her way deeper into the village, those who weren’t out in the fields came to her aid. Bursts of magic careened around Kera, but no amount of magic affected the millispits. Only a direct hit with Kera’s incordium dagger ended their lives.
    In no time, viscous slime covered Kera’s blade, dulling its impact. After slicing one of the creatures in two, she paused and swiped her weapon clean on her pants.
    Looking around, she