Cameron launched himself at the axe-wielding bastard even as I jerked another arrow from my quiver and let fly. Thom cried out as the man’s axe struck a glancing blow to his shoulder, not the cleaving strike the skinwalker had intended but damaging enough as it was. Thom dropped to one knee before pushing himself up again, blood already soaking his shirt and jacket as Cameron bore his attacker to the ground.
The tip of Thom’s sword raked across the neck of the man with the warhammer and he stepped closer to the taller, bulkier figure, trying to work his way inside the man’s reach, seeking the balance between near enough to strike and to close to effectively hit with the massive hammer.
“Marin!” Thordin roared. “More coming!”
I spun back toward the ravine and loosed another arrow almost without thinking, then another. The pair thunked into the flesh of another of the Hamrammr as it was about to crest the top of the ravine. All along its top edge, they were making it to the top in singles and in pairs. Our friends cast aside firearms in favor of swords and other melee arms, but most of them were about to be sorely tested.
My heart hammered against my breastbone. Not good, not good, not good.
“We have to force them back!” I yelled.
“If you’ve got a plan to do that, I’m all ears!” my brother shouted back at me, peppering the still-charging wolves and men below with shotgun fire.
I wished I did.
I heard a wet snapping sound and spun toward it, suddenly sick to my stomach. Cameron was calmly getting to his feet, quickly, the axe-wielder prone at his feet, head canted at a slightly unnatural angle. Bile welled up at the back of my throat and I swallowed it back down again.
Calm down. You’ve seen worse.
Rory shouted something to my left and suddenly a great, bright gout of flame erupted from where he stood, the flames licking over the snow and pouring down toward two of the Hamrammr who’d made it far too close for comfort. One of the skinchangers that was still in the ravine, a great, black, golden-eyed beast, howled. The sound shot shivers down my spine—not from the howl itself, but from the inherent knowledge that he’d just given his fellows some kind of instruction that we couldn’t understand.
Something deep in my gut told me whatever orders had been given couldn’t be good.
We were about to find out how bad It could really get.
