Page 55 of Of Nine So Bold

The Huntsmen charging at us balked. Behind the leather face masks, their eyes went wide.

Relief flashed over my giants’ faces. “Want to gut some fuckers, Oz?” Clay called.

Throwing his wolf-shaped head back, Ozias howled. Lunging forward, he snagged the nearest Huntsman. The man’s blood splattered the mud a heartbeat later.

I kept moving, surging toward an attacker trying to circle the carriage to where Roan lay. The Huntsman screamed, falling to the ground as I surrounded him in shadow form and then tore into him.

“Damn,” Clay commented, sounding impressed but taken aback.

I dropped down to Roan’s side and shifted. “Roan? Roan, please wake up. We’re under attack.”

A yelp behind me sent my attention whipping around. At the heart of a group of Huntsmen there stood one who wasn’t like the rest. Bigger. Covered in dirt with scuffs on his leather armor and tears on the red sash, like neither had been repaired or even removed in ages. He held his hand aloft, and in his grasp, Ruhl twisted, thrashing with fangs and claws, fighting to break free.

In the form of shadow and smoke, Casimir sped toward them, only to be knocked aside by the Huntsman’s free hand.

My eyes went wide with horror. How had he?—

With a sharp gesture, the Huntsman flung Ruhl away. The shadow wolf crashed into the boulders beside the road and then tumbled limply to the ground.

Ignoring him entirely, the Huntsman started toward us.

“Roan, please!” I cried.

He didn’t stir.

Fear choked me. If the wound to Roan’s head was bad enough, or if some other part of him that I couldn’t see was injured…

Squeezing my eyes shut, I reached inside myself for my magic. I’d helped Ozias once. I could help Roan too.

A shiver of ice rushed through me, coursing down to where my hands gripped Roan. It was like a frigid breeze on my skin, but it was morerealthan before. Not stronger exactly.

But something was different.

Roan drew a sharp breath, his eyes flying wide. Beneath my palms, he suddenly shifted. His body grew. His clothing shredded away. Enormous wings spread from his back, one of them arching over me like a protective shield.

Something struck the wing an instant later. I whirled, gasping. The horrible Huntsman hadn’t reached us yet, but another had just swung his sword at me. The blade was now lodged in a thick bone of the demon’s wing, wedged there like the man had struck stone.

The Huntsman cursed. Swiftly, he went for his knife.

A fanged snarl left the demon. His eerie black eyes found me. “Mine.” He turned to the man. “You tried to hurtmine.”

And then he was moving. His massive, clawed hands grasped the Huntsman. The man’s screams lasted only a moment, and then pieces of him flew in every direction, smashing into the rocks with sickening, squelching sounds. A blast of wind buffeted me as the demon took to the air, naked and clearly furious.

Shouts rose from the other Huntsmen. They grabbed for their bows.

The strange one who’d hurt Ruhl and Casimir merely stopped. His head cocked to one side as he regarded Roan’s demon rising into the air.

Fear gripped me. Could he hurt the demon too?

“Twin Lars!” the demon shouted.

Ducking under the swing of another Huntsman’s sword, Lars called back, “What?”

The demon’s lips pulled back in a grin. “Time to play with fire.”

Flames erupted from him and poured down like he’d unleashed a river that’d been blocked by a dam.

My breath caught. But before the fire could reach anyone, it separated. Flames twisted through the battle like living ropes. Wrapping around the Huntsmen, the blaze poured over their bodies, consuming them and leaving the humans and my men unscathed.

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