Then a mooncast shadow suddenly held me in place.
Fingers gripped me by the throat. A body appeared in front of me, materializing from the mists, Darkling flesh and broad shoulders, silver eyes that sparked like fire, wings spread wide as a midnight cloak. The fragrance of a forest and the rushing of wind through the leaves.
A growl rippled from my opponent’s chest and his lips parted, revealing sharp dagger-like teeth. “You were ordered to leave,” Ash said, his voice like a nightmare brought to life. Then with a claw-studded blow to the gut, the fight for Ticonderoga Falls and everything in it began.
Chapter 88
Half-Cast Enchantments
Ash:
We rolled and tumbled over icy ground, slammed against the edge of the junkyard fence, fists burrowing deep in flesh, claws leaving trails of blood. Half-cast enchantments sputtered from my lips, each stopped by yet another blow to the face. I rumbled with anger, a fierce heat radiating from my skin, scorching Thane with every blow.
Then the other Darklings began to surround us, attracted by the fight and by the high stakes. They left their humans asleep on the ground, then gathered in clusters to take bets, all of them drunk from the feeding. Twittering with coarse laughter, the crowd began to hedge us in, forming a circle of black wings, their crude enchantments glittering.
Time in the human world slowed down and the fight seemed unending. I felt like I was moving in slow motion, every punch, every kick exaggerated by the incongruent spells that were continually cast about.
And then, all the other Darklings began to dance and fly, chanting, singing, laughing, caught up in the wild fury. From time to time one of the northern barbarians would fly close enough to take a nip at one of us, then he or she would sail away.
Meanwhile, the fight continued.
I bit Thane in the shoulder and dragged him across the field. I tried to get away from the other Darklings but they refused to let us pass, hemming us in on every side. All the while, my adversary thrashed and screamed, sliced his talons through the air. Thane spun out of my grasp, shoulders and arms broadening for yet another attack. My cousin lunged forward, head down, kicking and swinging and screaming an ancient battle cry. The shriek of war then echoed around us, taken up by every accent and clan. Suddenly an unexpected punch caught me in the gut as Thane slammed his fist into the still-healing wound in my side.
I bellowed in pain.
Again, Thane had found my weakness—this time, no longer hidden by a Veil. He glared, opened his mouth in a wicked grin. He narrowed yellow eyes, tilted his head to the side as if studying me. I didn’t move, save a shallow breathing.
Thane crouched, got ready to pounce.
Then he soared the short distance between us, pummeled a talon-studded fist into my wound, ignoring the heat that blistered his skin, digging deeper and deeper: sparks flew in a shower all around us, until Thane’s knuckles shoved all the way through the hole and emerged on the other side.
A raucous cheer resounded. Now wings hid the sky, became a dome of black and gray leathery flesh that surrounded us.
I collapsed on the ground amidst the screaming and howling of rival clans, while other fights broke out like drunken brawls.
While my own blood stained the ground.
Chapter 89
Supernatural Power
Maddie:
Samwise, sometimes dog, sometimes monster, dug furiously at the edge of Thane’s created stockade. He tunneled beneath the Veil, squirmed through dirt and leaves and twigs until he burst through to the other side.
And there, on the other side, Tucker hooted and howled, then grabbed the dog—for he was all dog now and nothing else—around the neck, kissed and hugged him, rejoicing as Thane’s enchantment began to fade when exposed to fresh air. The dog frolicked around the perimeter of the enclosure, big sloppy grin on his face, mud caking his paws and chest.
He was the hero.
He had saved the day.
I laughed too, then fell to the ground almost exhausted from trying to stay awake. I braced my arms on both sides of the hole in the earth, took a lungful of sweet mountain air, and with it I suddenly sensed a tension, a danger brewing outside.
It felt ominous, like the air pressure had changed and a tornado was brewing; I sensed a storm on the other side. A storm of Darkling against Darkling, supernatural power sizzling through night sky.