Phelan blinked away the sting of the magical explosion\u2019s bright after-image, the bright ghost that obscured his vision.\u00a0 Leinth\u2019s fingers dug into his arm through the sleeve of his parka.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was that<\/i>?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA druid\u2019s wardings,\u201d Phelan growled.\u00a0 \u201cA Taliesin\u2019s wardings.\u201d<\/p>\n
But I\u2019m not going to be able to do that twice.<\/i><\/p>\n
The skinchanger stuck on the other side of the boundary of the small bubble of his wardings was the biggest he\u2019d ever seen, its fur as black as night and catching silver highlights from the moon.\u00a0 There were others behind him\u2014there had to be, somewhere\u2014but Phelan\u2019s gaze was full of this one, the one staring at him with such baleful malice that it left his stomach cramping and twisting in fear.<\/p>\n
Stay calm.\u00a0 Stay focused.\u00a0 This isn\u2019t a threat that you haven\u2019t handled before.<\/i><\/p>\n
Of course, running had typically been an option in the past, and the wound in his side still throbbed from his last encounter with this particular flavor of nastiness.<\/p>\n
His fingers tightened around the wood of his staff.\u00a0 Cold from Leinth\u2019s grip bled into his skin through his coat.\u00a0 He stripped off one glove quickly, then the other, stuffing them into his pocket.\u00a0 \u201cCan you cut off that damned cold?\u201d he snapped at her.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re leaving frost all over my goddamned sleeve.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the chill of the grave, Wanderer,\u201d she fired back.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s hard to turn off.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, try to or else you\u2019ll be leading the way to the underworld.\u201d\u00a0 He sucked in a deep breath, the cold of the air shocking his lungs.\u00a0 A cough threatened and he forced it back down, casting his senses\u2014his magic\u2014down into the frozen ground beneath is feet.<\/p>\n
Come on, answer the call.\u00a0 Come on\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n
Power and warmth swept up in a sudden surge and he swallowed a gasp.\u00a0 The skinchangers around them snarled at the sudden flare of evergreen light that wreathed him.\u00a0 He sucked in a breath and drew that power into himself through the staff, wrapping it up with the golden kernel of power nestled deep in his heart\u2014the Taliesin\u2019s power, the Taliesin\u2019s gift.<\/p>\n
Please let this work.\u00a0 It\u2019s been so long since I had to\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n
Leinth cursed and stumbled back, her dark eyes wide as gold and green flickers suddenly suffused his being.\u00a0 She swore in Etruscan as a pair of daggers rasped free of sheaths beneath her cloak.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat are you about to do?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething stupid,\u201d he answered, one hand wrapped around his staff in a white-knuckled grip.\u00a0 His other hand stabbed out, fingers splayed with green and gold light playing over and beneath his skin.<\/p>\n
Please let this work.<\/i><\/p>\n
He spat a word of power.\u00a0 The green and gold light leapt from his fingers, braiding itself into a whip that writhed its way through the air and past the boundaries of his wardings.\u00a0 It sprouted thorns and barbs as it flew, hitting the skinchanger squarely in the chest with enough force to stagger it.<\/p>\n
Then it started to coil around the creature like a living thing, like a snake preparing to squeeze the life out of its prey.\u00a0 The skinchangers gave a cry and began to struggle.<\/p>\n
Sweat trickled down the back of Phelan\u2019s neck, down his spine.\u00a0 He was shaking already, his teeth grinding and chattering against the power he channeled.<\/p>\n
Hold on.\u00a0 You can manage this.\u00a0 It\u2019s nothing you haven\u2019t managed before.<\/i><\/p>\n
Of course, the last time you did this, you blacked out and didn\u2019t wake up for three weeks, but that\u2019s a small price to pay, isn\u2019t it?<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cMore are coming, Wanderer,\u201d Leinth said, back at his side once more, a cold, terrifying fire wreathing her blades, black and blue and painful to look at.\u00a0 \u201cThey\u2019re creeping toward the lines.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDeal with them,\u201d he said, shocked at how steady his voice was through his pain and gritted teeth.\u00a0 The woman at his side was remarkably calm.\u00a0 He wondered for a spilt second if Seamus had retained some of the Taliesin\u2019s power when he\u2019d given up the mantle, given up the burden, and Leinth had seen it then.<\/p>\n
What a sight to behold that must have been, if that were the case.\u00a0 The warrior-healer with the Taliesin\u2019s power, even a fragment, would have been terrifying and beautiful all at once, with metallic fire and light around him.<\/p>\n
Phelan shook himself and instantly regretted his momentary distraction as the skinchangers slammed into his wardings all at once and shattered them like paper-thin glass.\u00a0 The backlash tore a curse from his lips and forced him to his knees, already feeling blood starting to slide down his face.\u00a0 The power he\u2019d poured into those wards had made them into something almost physical when they\u2019d shattered, sharp enough to make them all bleed where the metaphysical fragments struck them.<\/p>\n
At least they\u2019ll be cut up worse than we are.<\/i><\/p>\n
Leinth screamed an angry battlecry from thousands of years past and threw herself at three of the stunned skinchangers, daggers moving so fast that they were barely visible blurs against the night.<\/p>\n
The skinchangers he\u2019d wrapped in magical thorns went down to one knee as the wardings shattered, only to lurch to his feet again, stumbling with grim determination toward Phelan, bloodlust gleaming in his eyes.<\/p>\n
Phelan swallowed bile.<\/p>\n
Berserker?\u00a0 <\/i>D\u00e9ithe agus arrachtaigh, I hope not.\u00a0 That would be a disaster.<\/i><\/p>\n
He curled his fingers into a fist and jerked back, hard, snapping the rope of magic that connected him to the skinchanger.\u00a0 The writhing tail of magic whipped toward the creature, curling around its neck and tightening there.\u00a0 Phelan could see blood in the moonlight as the creature howled at him, lurching forward.<\/p>\n
Stand your ground.\u00a0 You can take him down if you just stand your ground.<\/i><\/p>\n
Someone was laughing and it made his skin crawl, the back of his neck prickling.<\/p>\n
Oh hell.<\/i><\/p>\n
Even the skinchanger paused for a brief moment to look toward the sound.<\/p>\n
There was that red-white light again and the slender, dreadlocked figure floating within it, her blue eyes alight with malice and mischief.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, well,\u201d she purred, ruby lips pulling back from perfect white teeth.\u00a0 \u201cWhat have we here?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Phelan blinked away the sting of the magical explosion\u2019s bright after-image, the bright ghost that obscured his vision.\u00a0 Leinth\u2019s fingers dug into his arm through the sleeve of his parka. \u201cWhat was that?\u201d \u201cA druid\u2019s wardings,\u201d Phelan growled.\u00a0 \u201cA Taliesin\u2019s … Continue reading