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Gabriel left the neutralized hunter for the moment, spinning to assist Alise, who was doing a creditable job of holding off another hunter with her paired daggers and a couple of air elementals buzzing around its eyes as it feinted, harrying her in an attempt to tire her enough for it to slip past her guard.Gabriel dispatched it from behind with one sweep of his sword.
Eight to go.
Jadren shouted in triumph, like a rowdy fan at a sporting match, doing a dance of joy over a pile of goo.Good for him.
Seven to go.
The others in their group seemed to have the remaining two hunters cornered and under control, so Gabriel spun and ran toward Iliana.
Two more contained.Five to go.
He passed one pile of goo with an arrow sticking out of it, so not all of her shots had gone wild.Good for her.
Four to go.
Iliana, however, was splayed on the ground, a hunter pinning her there with slavering jaws clamped around her throat, impervious to her kicking and flailing.Gabriel recognized the tactic well, as they’d employed the same strategy against Nic, thinking to hold him off with the threat to her life.Han danced with agitation, furious and clearly frightened by the danger to Iliana.He held his sword at the ready, turning his dagger as if contemplating throwing it.
That could work if Han at least nicked the creature, but if his aim was off, they’d be down a blade.
The hunter that had brought the collar had set it aside on the ground and crouched beside Iliana, awkwardly holding a long knife in its taloned paws, with the point resting on Iliana’s heart.“You cannot kill usss both at onsse,” it was saying to Han.“Make one move, and we kill her.”
“A bluff.You want us alive,” Han ground out.
“We wantyoualive, Familiar Haniel,” the hunter corrected with a grin.“Sshe iss sssuperflouss.A nissse bonuss, but nothing more.Cooperate, and ssshe will not be harmed.Ressisst, and ssshe diess before your eyess.Lay down your weaponss.”
Iliana gave a strangled scream, blood blooming bright under the hunter’s jaws where it had her by the throat, and Han nearly howled in fury.
“Let her go!”
“Lay down your weaponss,” the hunter with the knife at Iliana’s heart insisted.“Or watch her die.”
“Youwill die,” Gabriel declared, stepping up beside Han.He gestured at the diminished force of hunters.“You cannot stand against us.Surrender.”
The hunter studied him, yellow eye bright, drool dripping from its fangs to splash on Iliana’s skin above the neckline of her shirt.She flinched, then squeaked as the hunter at her throat tightened its jaws, squeezing out more blood.Han moaned low in his chest, and Gabriel feared the man wouldn’t be able to stand the situation much longer.
“If it iss as you sssay, Lord Phel,” the hunter finally replied, “then I have no insssentive to sssurrender.You will sssimply kill usss all.”
It was unfortunately correct—and clearly more intelligent than the hunters previously sent against them.“If you agree to leave Meresin lands and never return, I’ll promise you safe passage,” he offered, perhaps recklessly.“But only if Iliana is not harmed any further.”
The hunter considered, then sadly shook its head.“I cannot return without fulfilling my instructions.Both familiars come with me, and we will trouble you no further.”
“No deal,” Gabriel replied.
“A compromisse,” the hunter suggested, jaw dropping open in a parody of amusement.“I will release Familiar Iliana without further harm, and Familiar Haniel will come with me.”
“Agreed,” Han blurted, and Gabriel groaned internally.“Let her go and I’ll comply,” Han insisted to them both.
“No!”Iliana shrieked, immediately silenced into whimpers.
The hunter ignored both familiars and kept its wily gaze on Gabriel.“Lord Phel?”
Gabriel hesitated, assessing the situation.Han was the biggest problem here, unpredictable in his heightened emotional state.Two hunters in sight, possibly four still free to sneak up behind them, depending on what the others were doing.The back of his neck prickled at their vulnerability.He opened his mouth, hoping the right words would come, when something whizzed past him at impossibly high speed.
An arrow shot through the yellow eye of the hunter at Iliana’s throat, the thing exploding into a rain of rotten meat.At the same moment, a strange-looking silver-winged thing slammed into the hunter holding the knife to Iliana’s heart.The hunter reeled back for a long, frozen moment of astonishment, then melted more slowly, like butter in hot sun, words of denial burbling out of its softening jaws, until there was nothing left to make a sound.
Seven down.One hopefully still immobilized and no more than three to go.
Han launched himself at Iliana, helping her extract herself from the piles of goo, both of them trying to reassure the other.Gabriel spun, sword ready to take on the rest—and found himself facing a grinning Jadren and an equally pleased Alise.“The other hunters?”he asked.
