I could barely see him anymore, and I had no idea where the hounds were. I stepped closer to Aisling; I’d tear every last one of these assholes apart if they hurt one hair on her head. I never should have brought her with us. She would have been safer at the wall. It would have pissed her off if I left her behind, but better her anger than her death.
“It’sher,” Aisling whispered. “She’s having them do this.”
“She’s not controlling the fog,” Bale said.
“And how do you know she’s not?” Lix asked.
No one had a reply for that as we had no idea what Amber could do. The laughter increased until the maniacal sound rebounded all around us. The almost mechanical sound of the laughter reminded me of those toy monkeys that laughed as they crashed their cymbals together. I kept waiting for the bang of those instruments, but there was only the endless laughter.
“I’m not playing with these fuckers,” Corson spat.
When something flashed past me, I lunged out with my blade. A gasp came from the fog, and when I pulled my knife back, blood dripped from it. The laughter ceased as suddenly as it started. In the ensuing hush, I sensed an increased hostility emanating from the fog when it thickened around us and pulsed in a way that reminded me of a throbbing vein.
“Maybe sheiscontrolling the fog,” Aisling said.
If I’d learned one thing since arriving at the wall, it was that anything was possible. Aisling had seen Amber’s soul, so she was at least part human or had been human, but she could be something more too.
“Keep going,” Lix said.
“Going where?” Bale asked.
“Straight.”
Straight into a trap? Bale didn’t ask the question, but I knew we were all thinking about it when no one moved.
A low growl came from my right, and a startled cry died away. One of the hounds had found its dinner.
“Follow me,” Lix said.
He took the lead and started into the fog as something else flashed by us. Aisling spun and aimed her gun at the fog but didn’t fire.
“Shit,” she muttered before returning her gun to her holster and removing a trench knife. “I don’t want to accidentally shoot a hound or let the horsemen know we’re coming.”
I nodded as something else darted out of the fog. I yanked Aisling back as a knife arced toward her. I didn’t have time to do anything more than drop my arm in front of her. The blade cut through my skin and muscle before the tip embedded against my bone.
The man’s mouth parted as shock over stabbing me registered on his face. When his eyes went to Aisling and I saw the malicious gleam in them, a snarl tore from me. I grasped the back of the man’s head and threw him to the ground. He’d been sent here to kill her, and I had no doubt the others would come for her too.
It seemed Amber disliked Aisling as much as Aisling disliked her. My blood pounded in my ears as I restrained myself from plunging into the fog and breaking her neck, but I couldn’t leave Aisling unprotected, and I had to get her out of this fog.
I planted my foot on the small of the man’s back and gripped the knife handle. Black blood spilled from my arm when I ripped the blade free. Human or not, he was going to die for attacking Aisling, but before I could drive the knife through his back, two more figures charged out of the fog. The noises they emitted reminded me of a cross between a hissing snake and a pissed-off squirrel.
They’re insane.
That much was evident in the twisted glimmer in their eyes and the chatter of their jaws as they raced for Aisling. Corson’s talons arced through the air and carved through the midsection of the first one like a Thanksgiving turkey.
I plunged the knife into the chest of the second one. When I yanked it free, red blood spread across the man’s chest as his hands clawed at his shirt. I shoved him into the fog before bending to slice the throat of the first one who went after Aisling.
When I rose, Aisling grasped my arm and dragged it toward her so she could inspect the wound. “Are you okay?” she demanded.
“I’m fine.” The bleeding had already stopped, and my skin itched as it worked to close over the healing muscle.
“Your blood—”
“Canaghs have black blood,” I said as I gently pulled her hand away from my arm. “It’s already healing.”
She opened her mouth to say something more but closed it again when an eerie chatter started from the fog. It took a minute for me to realize they were clicking their teeth together to create the noise.
“Keep moving,” Corson said.
