“How the hell are we supposed to know that whatever’s coming is actually hostile?” Brandon was asking as Marin and Thom joined their friends by the fire. “The last time we had howling visitors, they happened to be Drew’s naked half-brother and company.”
“Gut instinct,” Thom rasped, his throat still raw and his mouth sour. “We’ll have confirmation soon enough. Something tells me our luck’s been too good lately—we’re due to run out.”
“Plan for the worst and hope for the best,” Jacqueline said as she straightened from her crouch next to the fire, slinging the strap of her messenger bag medical kit across her body. “If we’re sitting back on our heels, that’s the best way for all of us to get ourselves killed.”
“Exactly,” Thom said. Marin pressed a mug of tea into his hand a moment later and he took a deep swallow, coughed, then started to talk again, his voice sounding more normal. “Cariocecus is trying to get us a direction and delay whatever’s coming our way. Carolyn, do our little friends have any information for us on that right now?”
“They’re coming from the south,” Carolyn said, stepping closer to J.T. and wrapping both of her arms around one of his. “And they smell like fur. I’m really not getting much more detail than that from them, but I don’t know how much more detail they’d be able to give me to start with. This is kind of unknown territory for them.”
It’s unknown territory for all of us, really. Thom glanced at Phelan, who stood near the fire with his arms crossed tightly against his chest, staring at the flames. “Have any tactics you’d like to share?”
Phelan’s lips thinned for a moment, then he shook his head slightly. “No. Just that they’re berserkers that’ll take a lot of killing. Chopping off a limb isn’t going to stop them and neither is gutting them. You have to keep hitting them until they stop moving or they’re going to get up and come after you again—and sometimes they still do even when you’re think they’re down for good. Watch your backs. But no tactics. Just keep hitting them until they’re dead.”
“What are we dealing with?” Thordin rumbled as he and Cameron joined the group. Neve was with them, pale-faced and unsteady as she leaned on her crutches, half hiding in Cameron’s shadow. Phelan sucked in a sharp breath when he saw his cousin and then looked away again.
“Hamrammr.” Phelan spat the word like a curse. “The bitches sent skinwalkers after me.”
Thordin let out a low whistle. “That explains the howling. Almost worse than the Dirae, that.”
“Almost,” Phelan agreed grimly. “But those bitches lost track of me before you guys showed up. They were chasing Teague.”
“And Cameron,” Neve said. “I doubt any of us will be safe from them, now that the Hecate knows exactly where we are.”
“One threat at a time,” Thom snapped, trying to keep everyone focused. “If they’re coming from the south, we’ve got two points we’ve got to worry about. Either they’re going to come up the river-side through the ravines, or they’ll actually hit the walls.”
“They’ll come up the ravines,” Thordin said. “They’re used to woodlands. We’ll have advantage of high ground, but not much else. Our best chance is to cut them down while they’re making their initial charges. Bows and shotguns.”
“Too bad we don’t have any silver shot,” Cameron quipped.
“It wouldn’t do us any good,” Neve said. “But if we bless the shot and the arrows, that’ll help.”
Cameron frowned, opening his mouth to say something, then closed it again, apparently deciding that now wasn’t the time.
It’s the Vammatar fight all over again. All we can hope is that she didn’t have some insane way of communicating our defenses back to her sisters before Phelan ended her. “Right,” Thom said, nodding toward Paul as he arrived with an armload of guns and shot. “Phelan, get to work on those. We’ll set up the fire-line at the edge of the ravine.” He paused a moment, thinking. “We could set a group on the bridge.”
“Assuming they come up that slope.” Kellin frowned. “It’s too big of a risk to arrange anyone outside of easy reach of the warding lines. Maybe once we find a way to ward the bridge, too, but that’s—pardon the pun—a bridge we’ll cross at a later date. After we make it through this alive.” She held Phelan’s staff out to him. “What else do you need, draoi?”
Phelan winced at the title and shook his head. “Holly, which I’m sure you’ve got in hand already. The same things I needed the last time.” He glanced toward Marin and beckoned her over. “You and Jacqueline help Kellin and I with this.”
“Me?” Jacqueline and Marin said in the same voice.
“Yes,” Phelan said firmly. “Both of you. Let’s get started before we’re too late.”
Another howl split the air and he shuddered visibly. “We may already be too late.”
“Work fast,” Thom told him. “We’ll take care of the rest.”
And we’ll pray that what worked the first time we faced an assault from that pantheon works a second time.
