Page 56 of Magick and Lead (Dragons and Aces #2)

ROHREE

T he witch arrived, galloping toward them on her stag, her force of Lacunae knights and golenae sweeping in with her, inexorable as death itself.

Rohree cried out, every nerve and every cell of her body panicking at the thought of being in that evil woman’s clutches once more. Clua had been in a standoff with Ollie. Now, she turned, shifting her focus from the Torouman and stepping forward to shield Rohree from the onrushing attackers.

The impact when the charging enemies arrived sounded like a clap of thunder, armor and weapons clashing, dragons and golenae slamming into one another, snapping lances and flashing swords everywhere.

Clua’s mace swung with incredible ferocity, smashing a golenae then swinging back to take out the knees of a running Lacuna.

More golenae were coming, and Rohree stepped forward, dagger at the ready—then a hand grabbed her arm. She wheeled to see Ollie standing over her.

She lashed out with her dagger. It surprised him, but he managed to step back, out of range of her weapon, and swing his own sword. The force of the blow knocked the dagger from her hand easily.

“Ollie, please!” she said. “How long have we known each other? How long have we?—?”

But one look at the coldness of his eyes told her that begging would be of no use. He grabbed her arm and dragged her toward the witch. She fought, jerking her arm, digging her feet into the ground to make an anchor of herself.

But her strength was nothing against the Torouman’s. He dragged her forward, step by dreadful step, and she felt tears filling her eyes, a lump rising in her throat.

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 magick is real, 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.