Page 103 of Magick and Lead
Then suddenly, Ollie stopped in his tracks and cried out.
Rohree looked down to see Parthar. She’d totally forgotten about him, but the little dragon had the Torouman’s ankle in its jaws. Ollie jerked his leg, trying to get free, but the little dragon gave a belch of flame, setting the bottom of his robes on fire. The Torouman cried out in anger, batting the little dragon with the pommel of his sword. With a squawk of pain, Parthar let go, and Rohree found herself being dragged once again.
She looked to the Skrathan and Clua for help, but the dragon riders were all beset, each fighting three or four enemies at once. And Clua had been pushed some distance away, where she was battling like a possessed person to keep three large snake golenae from eating her. But intuition must’ve nudged her, because her eyes snapped toward Rohree.
“Rohree!” she called in alarm, and she tried to make her way toward her, even as the three golenae moved to cut her off.
Suddenly, the witch’s shrill voice cut through the chaos, shouting a string of strange, guttural words in a language Rohree didn’t understand. The sprite looked up to see the stag the witch rode upon rearing up as she shouted one final word. Then, the world went black.
It was as if the moon and stars were candles and, in one puff, the witch had blown them all out.
The darkness that followed was total and terrifying.
But from the sounds that reached Rohree, it seemed the witch’s minions could still see. She heard Dagar shout in pain. Parthar yelped. Lure cursed. Clua shouted for help. The only good thing was that Ollie, apparently, was blinded as well, because he stopped walking.
And Rohree took advantage of the moment to sink her teeth into his hand. A sprite’s teeth weren’t as sharp as a dragon’s, but they were sharper than a human’s, and she bit down hard. The Torouman cried out and released his grip on her. She dropped to the ground, rolling away from him as she heard his sword blade swoosh through the air above her.
The witch’s spell was already fading. The outlines of trees and thrashing bodies started to return, looking like shadows at first then slowly gaining detail.
Clua…
Rohree spotted her, some twenty yards away. One of the snake golenae lay dead at her feet, but a second had wrapped itself around her legs, and a third was poised to strike her with its fangs—even as another golenae, this one like a huge, malformed fox, loped toward her, snarling.
“Clua! I’m coming!” Rohree called, staggering to her feet and sprinting toward the dwarf.
She reached Clua at the same time the fox golenae did. They collided, and Rohree found herself knocked off her feet, tumbling in a chaos of gray claws and teeth. Then it had her in its jaws, worrying her back and forth, the world flashing and strobing as she was flopped this way and that. In the chaos, images flashed before her.
Lure’s dragon’s tail slashing through the air, taking out three knights while Lure hacked down a golenae with their sword.
Dagar, on foot now, valiantly holding off a golenae and a Lacuna with the broken-off end of a lance.
Clua, fighting to get back to her, falling under the weight of the two snake golenae, but still crawling toward her, reaching out for her, and calling:
“Rohree!”
The fox golenae abruptly stopped thrashing her around and pinned her to the earth, squeezing harder. Done playing with its food and ready to eat at last, maybe. She heard one of her own ribs crack. Fought to get a breath and couldn’t. The witch’s spell had worn off and the world had gone bright again. But now, moonlight faded again as her consciousness wavered. And still, more enemies came. More clay monsters. More dark nights. The witch still stood on her mount watching it all with a terrible, frozen smile.
Four more golenae were bounding in, about to leap on Rohree. To end it, to end her.
Then a figure stepped in front of her. Blue robe. Long braid.
Ollie. He took position between her and the onrushing golenae, planted his feet, raised his sword skyward, and shouted a single word in a language Rohree didn’t know. Suddenly, everything seemed to be vibrating at an incredible speed. The ground. The air. The teeth of the golenae clamped on her body. Her eyes. Her brain in her head. The world turned white.
So, Torouman magickisreal,she thought in wonder.
Incredible whiteness ignited the world. Then, with a sound like a clap of thunder, it all sparked to black—and Rohree knew no more.
48
ESSA
Ihad spent hours upon hours studying maps of Admar for my Skrathan training, so it was simple for me to navigate across the channel, follow the sandy coastline south, and find McNally Air Base, even in the pre-dawn dark. Below, dots of electric lights ran in long, straight lines, delineating runways. Dozens of perfectly rectangular buildings lay arranged in rows, and a square, glass-windowed lookout tower stood watch over it all. The architecture was utilitarian and rigid, a stark contrast to the ancient, rambling, whimsical structures back home like Charcain or the Hatchery. But despite the orderly construction, the place was chaos. Golenae rampaged. Soldiers ran to and fro, the sparks from their necromancer weapons flashing in the dark.
And some of the buildings were burning. The sight of them evoked the dark vision in the scrying bowl.Charlie!I felt suddenly like my heart was twisting inside my chest. Othura must’ve felt it too, because she pumped her wings twice, picking up speed, then dove.
As we approached, the scene below revealed itself more and more. Human warriors fought pitched battles against the misshapen, shambling golenae. Desperate shouts and the crackle of gunfire rose on the wind, along with the wail of somesort of electric siren. Its dolorous, hair-raising sound reminded me of the Theyrune horn back home, which summoned Skrathan to battle.
And what a battle this was. The golenae were as numerous as ants spilling from an ant hill; the scale of the assault was incredible.
