\u00a0<\/i>I notched another arrow and picked my target carefully.\u00a0 There were some camazotzi<\/i> that seemed to have different markings on them\u2014painted on their chests, on their faces, their wings\u2014and I hoped against hope that meant they were in positions of authority.<\/p>\n
Maybe if we kill enough of them, they\u2019ll cut in run.<\/i><\/p>\n
It was a longshot, but it was one that we didn\u2019t have any choice but to take.<\/p>\n
I felt her eyes on me before her power touched me, just as I released an arrow into the fray.\u00a0 I twisted, gaze snapping to meet Menhit\u2019s.\u00a0 Her lips peeled back in a cruel smile.<\/p>\n
\u201cHuntress,\u201d she breathed, though I could hear her words clear as day.\u00a0 \u201cSeer<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n
I calmly pulled an arrow out of my quiver and readied myself.\u00a0 \u201cCall off your hounds,\u201d I told her.\u00a0 \u201cAnd we can talk like civilized adults.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy hounds<\/i> are all that is keeping me alive right now,\u201d she said, lips twisting in another cold smile.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ve done this dance before, you and I.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStrange, I don\u2019t remember.\u201d\u00a0 I didn\u2019t loose my arrow on her, but on another of the painted camazotzi<\/i>.\u00a0 The tide was ebbing, but slowly.\u00a0 The more we fired on them, though, the more they lost the will to keep on coming.\u00a0 \u201cAnd it doesn\u2019t feel like dancing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeday it will,\u201d she promised.\u00a0 \u201cSomeday it will.\u201d<\/p>\n
What\u2019s your game, bitch?\u00a0 What the hell do you want from us that makes you willing to get into bed with the Hecate if only to double-cross her later?<\/i>\u00a0 She\u2019d set the camazotzi<\/i> on Phelan.\u00a0 Typically, that meant either he was a key to our defense or that he knew something.<\/p>\n
Or she just hated him, like Vammatar and her ilk.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s always a distinct possibility.\u00a0 He\u2019s had a lot of time to make a lot of enemies with his meddling and mischief.<\/i><\/p>\n
Puck indeed.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cWho the hell are you talking to?\u201d\u00a0 Matt yelled at me.<\/p>\n
I shook my head hard.\u00a0 \u201cThe bitch on the ground!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLess negotiating, more shooting,\u201d he called back.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t think you\u2019re going to talk her into calling off the attack.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not going to stop me from trying.<\/i><\/p>\n
The camazotzi<\/i> were climbing on top of each other, the fallen insulating them the copper ring.\u00a0 When they touched the walls, most fell back, howling in pain, but they were starting to get too close.<\/p>\n
Too damned close.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d Menhit hissed, \u201clisten to him, Seer.\u00a0 Send more dead across.\u00a0 More blood to foul the ground, to make the earth cry.\u00a0 More and more.\u201d<\/p>\n
I choked on sudden sickness, staring at her.\u00a0 My fingers fell away from the bowstring, arrow clattering against my knees and then falling harmlessly on the far side of the wall.\u00a0 Matt and Thom were both shouting at me.\u00a0 The world spun.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d heard those words before.<\/p>\n
No you haven\u2019t, Marin.\u00a0 But someone else has.<\/i><\/p>\n
I saw something twitch out of the corner of my eye, down on the ground in front of me, a split second before the memory came.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t keep going on like this, Mum,\u201d the voice of a child said, a child wise beyond her tender years.\u00a0 Her small fingers tightened around my hand.\u00a0 \u201cThe earth is crying.\u00a0 There\u2019s been too much blood.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cI know,\u201d I murmured to her softly, drawing her against my hip, swathed in my hunting leathers.\u00a0 \u201cBut it\u2019s not a thing that\u2019s in my power to control.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
She turned her impossibly blue eyes to mine.\u00a0 \u201cFind a way, Mum, or else we\u2019re done for.\u00a0 The survivors, the Imbolg, the Fianna\u2026we\u2019ll all be done for.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Thom caught me before I hit the ground, my vision dimming.\u00a0 I sagged into his chest, gasping raggedly.<\/p>\n
\u201cHell,\u201d I breathed. \u201cOh bloody hell.\u00a0 I know why she\u2019s here.\u201d\u00a0 I think I know why she\u2019s here.\u00a0 I\u2019m <\/i>afraid I know why she\u2019s here.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cSeers!\u201d Cariocecus\u2019s ragged voice called, sounding weary beyond measure but damnably, certainly alive.\u00a0 \u201cThis is two<\/i> you\u2019ll owe me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Menhit screamed and Cariocecus shouted and then for one aching moment, everything was silent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0I notched another arrow and picked my target carefully.\u00a0 There were some camazotzi that seemed to have different markings on them\u2014painted on their chests, on their faces, their wings\u2014and I hoped against hope that meant they were in positions of … Continue reading