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“What should we watch out for with Hyto?” Delilah fingered Lysanthra—her silver dagger. No use using an old iron knife on Hyto. Dragons weren’t vulnerable to the metal. I didn’t want to tell her that no matter what side you came in from, he was dangerous, but that was simply the fact.
“Whatever you do, keep away from his hair. Which means distance attacks, which you don’t have.” I bit my lip, thinking maybe we should have brought Rozurial. He had all sorts of tricks up his sleeve.
But then Delilah surprised me. She pulled a handful of little round red balls out of her pocket. I recognized them immediately.
“Roz’s fireballs! When did he give you those?” I loved Roz’s gear—coveted some of it, actually. But he never gave me any of his baubles, probably because of my predilection for making the wrong things go boom.
“This morning, before we left. Nobody wanted to be left behind.” She bit her lip, the tip of one of her fangs piercing the skin. A drop of blood oozed out and she licked it up.
“I know. But we can’t focus on our job if we’re trying to protect the others.” And there it was: If everybody came, then we’d be not only leaving two unprotected members of our family at home—along with Hanna, Georgio, and Estelle—but we’d be so busy trying to make sure that Hyto didn’t hurt them, we’d all end up dead.
Smoky stopped and held up his hand. We were near the top of the hill. We paused, then started again. The woods here were silent, and a pall fell over me. The tension of the forest rose; it was as if some silent intruder had taken root. The elephant in the room that nobody wanted to talk about.
My breath came in puffs as we ascended the last fifty feet of the trail, which led to a plateau. Cresting the top, I stopped cold. There, about fifty yards away in the clearing, stood Hyto and Asheré. They weren’t alone. In front of them stood a mountain troll and several hungry-looking wolves.
As we approached, Hyto stared at Vishana, his expression shifting. “What are you doing here? This is not your fight. Get out of my sight, sclah.”
I looked up at Smoky. He was scowling, barely holding himself back. “He just called my mother the equivalent of a cunt.” His nails sprang into talons and he began to tremble.
Grabbing his arm, I shook my head. “We have to get rid of the riffraff first. Cannon fodder—to weaken us.”
Hyto sauntered forward. “My son, how does it feel to know what I did to your wife? She loved every minute of it. When I was fucking her, she screamed out my name—not yours. And then begged me for more.”
I caught my breath. “He lies.”
“I know,” Smoky said, cautioning me as I brought out the horn. “Save it for him, after we take care of the others.”
Turning to the troll and wolves, Hyto said, “Save the dark-haired girl and my son for me. The others you may destroy at will.”
The wolves trembled, and I realized they were no ordinary wolves, but goblin steeds. Trained to destroy, with glowing red eyes and snarling muzzles that showed long, razor-sharp teeth. Delilah let out a cry and I sensed her beginning to shift. Within seconds, a black panther stood next to me, and next to her I saw a ghostly leopard. Our sister Arial had come to join in the fight.
Smoky pushed me behind him as Iris moved in by his side, her wand at the ready. She had a look on her face I’d never before seen—dead anger. And I’d seen Iris pissed off before, but this look . . . I stepped back.
Shade moved forward and held up his hands—I couldn’t tell what he was doing, but it was death magic of some sort. That I could feel into my bones.
And then the wolves leaped forward, and the troll moved in.
I shoved the unicorn horn back in my pocket—no use wasting the energy on creatures we could take care of in other ways. One of the wolves leaped toward Delilah, and she engaged it, tumbling into the snow, grappling it with her front paws. The wolf snarled, its long teeth flashing dangerously near her throat.
Iris didn’t wait—she sent a wave of frost forward toward the rest of the wolves. Even though they were used to the cold, the temperature around us suddenly dropped a good fifty degrees and the wolves slowed.
Shade whispered a charm, and a veil of smoke began to drift out of his fingers, aimed at the troll. It caught several of the wolves in its wake and they yipped, painfully, and backed away, whining.
The troll began to lumber forward, howling as the smoke hit him. Sparks flickered against his skin, and I suddenly recognized the spell. It was far too advanced for my Moon magic, and Morio had no clue on how to use it. Called Sparking Smoke, the cloud carried a bevy of painfully hot sparks forward to engage the enemy.
Smoky moved forward, toward the troll, and the troll roared to life, swatting him hard with the side of his hand. Smoky whirled, his trench flying behind him as he lashed out with both talons and hair, slicing across the troll’s body. The troll screamed again as blood foamed onto the ground, melting the snow.
I turned toward Vishana, who had not moved. Her gaze was fastened on Hyto. But nothing was attacking her at the moment. Delilah let out a loud yowl as she bit the neck of the wolf. From my stance, I could see the vague outline of Arial on the other side, ripping at the wolf’s belly from the astral realm.
A low growl caught me by surprise, and I turned to find that one of the wolves had somehow managed to get behind me. It launched itself at me as I called on the Moon Mother for strength.
The creature caught me between its paws and I hit the ground backward, sprawling in the snow and losing my concentration. Its jaws came snapping toward my face, but before it could bite, Hyto shouted and it stopped, holding me there. Another blink of the eye and the wolf went flying to the side, with one shrill whimper.
I stared up to find Vishana’s hand stretched out. Grasping it, I let her pull me to my feet. I’d barely stammered out a thank-you when another wolf came in from the side. She held out her hand and out of her palm a spear of ice appeared and sailed through the center of the wolf’s forehead. It dropped without a sound.
Smoky grunted. He had fully engaged the troll, leaving long bloody streaks along its belly. Another moment and a length of his hair rose to encircle the creature’s neck. The troll grabbed hold of the strands, yanking on them, but he was no match for an angry dragon, even in human form, and Smoky’s rage seemed to build as he throttled it dead.
“Got you, you bastard!” Shade’s cry made me whirl around. He had just caught another wolf on the wing, his blade deftly slicing its throat. Delilah and Arial had taken down the last wolf and we turned toward Hyto and Asheré.
