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The black wolf snapped at him, and Marcus danced out of the way of its jaws before he rushed forward, and dipping low, he tore into the soft underbelly. The black wolf howled even as its paw sliced along Marcus’s chest and its other paw tore at his flank.
Marcus howled his pain, but it didn’t stop him tearing at the wolf’s throat. His jaws clamped on its throat and held. Suddenly the wolf was a Drakhyn. The Drakhyn from the Castors’ hall. Marcus went to bite and sever the head when the force of blackness pushed him away, and he lost his grip.
As Marcus fell to the side, he saw the shadow swallow the Drakhyn, and when the shadow was gone, so was the Drakhyn.
Marcus!Tove cried beside him.By the Ancients, Marcus, she wept.
Elrick?he asked.
I have him, Taras called through the link.Alive but broken.
Not broken, Marcus panted.Beaten. He raised his head to look at Tove. Her eyes swam with tears as she stared at him in her Akrhyn form.The free?
Subdued. The Drakhyn are dead or fleeing.
Good.Marcus coughed as he felt blood in his throat.Good. He closed his eyes.
* * *
Tegan and Michael stood side by side as the other Elite gathered around them, all of them spread out and ready to defend, or attack, whatever was coming.
“Do you think it’s Drakhyn?” one of the Elite whispered.
“I don’t think it’s the Maiden of Summer Turning,” Jasper whispered back harshly as he moved in front of Tegan. “Either of you die and I will die next when your father kills me...or your mate,” he said with a glance at Tegan. “Don’t give him the satisfaction of slitting my throat,” he added with a grim look.
“I’ve got you covered,” she acknowledged as she checked Michael’s form. “Move forward on your left foot slightly,” she whispered to her brother. He did so, and he nodded at her in thanks.
The scraping of something sharp with a metallic ring to it scraped across the stone steps that led to the House. Michael looked at his sister once, and she gave him a tight smile. He had faced Drakhyn before, but this was actual fighting. Not hunting a nest. He took a deep steadying breath and waited for whatever was coming to walk through the door.
The crash of several windows breaking sounded at the same time as the already damaged doors blew outwards off their hinges.
There were sixteen of them, all highly trained, but even the veteran Elite jumped at the sudden noise in the silence.
“Be ready!” Jasper roared as the Drakhyn appeared from the rooms on the same level as them, and as he looked back, he saw them coming from the halls that led to the stairs above also. Gritting his teeth, he faced the charge of them that were coming up the steps outside. “Heirs, do not dare fail,” he growled as he raised his sword to meet the first attack.
Tegan and Michael fought well side by side. He gave her enough room to swing her sword, and when they needed more room to manoeuvre the sheer numbers of their enemy, Tegan broke away from the others, and her brother followed her closely. Careful not to get themselves blocked in, they defended together against the onslaught of Drakhyn.
Tegan dodged a clumsy swing of talons, and almost too late, she ducked under Michael’s leg as he kicked a dead Drakhyn off his sword. Her luck at missing her brother’s strike was short-lived as she realised she was now too low and too compact to regain the advantage. Cursing violently, she dropped completely to the floor and shimmied on her hands and knees. With another curse, she crawled between the tangle of legs, and then she rose with her two long daggers in her hands from behind the Drakhyn. Smiling in victory, she started cutting them down from behind. She saw Michael notice her attack, and his look of surprise in any other circumstances would make her laugh, but this was not the time for laughing.
She already knew some of the Elite had fallen, and although she was aware, she was not sure how many still stood. All that mattered at this time was thatshestood and so did her brother.
“Michael!” she called as a strike to Michael’s side almost got past his defences. She watched him swivel on his foot and stab a knife into the Drakhyn’s jugular. Black blood sprayed over his face, and he spat out the residue from his mouth.
“There are too many!” Jasper shouted. “Fall back,” he ordered.
“To where?” another cried. “We’re surrounded.”
“Then cut your way through,” Tegan called as she reached between two Drakhyn and grabbed her brother’s arm. She hauled him to her, and swiftly they cut the two Drakhyn down before they advanced on the ones still rushing towards them.
“The stairs!” Jasper screamed.
“No,” Michael shouted. “We’ll be trapped. The kitchen, who searched the kitchen?” he yelled hoarsely as he fought off a tall Drakhyn, whose talons swiped too close to his throat. He felt the cut and felt the sting, but he knew it wasn’t deep.
“I did,” one of the female Elite cried. “This way,” she ordered as she too struggled against her opponents.
Slowly they managed to form some kind of retreat as they fell into an arrow formation and began to withdraw. Tegan darted out and took out two of the Drakhyn closest to them, when suddenly one of the Elite cried out as he took an arrow to the shoulder.
“They’re firing bows?” Tegan yelled. “They’re firing bows,” she screamed the warning. “Guard from above!”
