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But the Bone Man doesn’t fall. “There must be more than one!”
“Keep your eyes open for them!” Sharpe commands.
The Bone Man swings an arm out, and spears of wood fly toward us.
My hand drops to the top of Orianna’s head, and ley line magic jumps to my call.
“Hold your fire!” Sharpe shouts.
Everyone stops shooting just as an invisible shield forms in front of them, the spell coming to me as easily as breathing. The wooden spears slam into it and clatter to the ground, leaving those behind the shield unharmed.
Hand still on Orianna’s head, I grit my teeth and step forward, shoving the shield at the Bone Man.
It strikes the wounded left leg hard, sending it back several paces, and the sound of breaking trees and bones fills the air as the gap near the top widens.
“Resume fire!” Sharpe shouts.
Panting, I release the shield and catch my breath as I stroke Orianna’s head. “Good job, girl.”
She barks and presses close to my leg.
A loud crack sounds, and the left leg crashes to the ground, shaking the earth as it lands. The Bone Man lists to the side but remains upright, its branches rattling with violent anger and pain.
Amalia and Troy race across the street together, chains trailing behind them. They drive stakes into the fallen limb while everyone else covers them by laying down fire.
As soon as their stakes are in place, they race back across the street, and Troy leaps into the SUV the chains extend from, slamming on the gas.
The chain snaps taut, and the SUV’s tires scream against the cement, burning rubber before it lurches forward, pulling the leg away from the Bone Man.
As soon as it’s within reach, Pen darts forward with her batons, slamming them into the thick limb, while Mayn and Webb hack at it with their swords, and others with their axes, breaking it down into chunks small enough for Marc to burn.
More souls rise from it, floating like stars rising toward the sky. So many lives, taken and imprisoned by this monster.
Thick, black smoke chokes the air, making it hard to breathe. I squint through the haze to assess the monster. Removing its leg doesn’t seem to have weakened it much, but it can’t move as easily now.
The sound of spent magazines hitting the cement rings out as Sharpe’s people reload, and worry fills me. We thought we had prepared for the worst, but this monster is so much bigger than we expected.
We may not have brought enough to take it down.
Another volley of spears comes at us, and I raise another shield. The sharp, wood tips splinter on impact, the spears clattering to the ground, and our group uses the cover to change positions, aiming for the right leg.
But the Bone Man learned from the first assault and lunges forward, slamming an arm into the street in front of us. The shockwave tosses our people backward, crashing against the SUVs.
The sound of grenades striking the pavement sends terror spiking through me, and I desperately throw shields around everyone a heartbeat before the grenades detonate.
Two of the SUVs spin through the air, crashing into the woods behind us.
Pen picks herself up first and, lips peeled back from her teeth, she charges forward to slam two batons into the arm, fracturing it at the elbow. Mayn follows, cleaving it the rest of the way through.
With another shriek of tree branches, the Bone Man yanks back its stump, and I spot a face near the back before it straightens.
My pulse quickens. There must be one on each side of the monster, and getting at the one on the back will be hard unless we bring it down to the ground.
The others pick themselves up, and Marc sends fire out to engulf the arm, though not the white-hot flames he used before. He and Darius must be having the same realization as me. We’ll run out of weapons and power long before we defeat this monster.
I help Sharpe up. “I think there are faces on the other three sides.”
He nods. “I saw it, too. I’ll tell Elizabeth and O’Hara to keep watch for them.”
