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Andras pounded a fist against his chest. “Your Majesty.” He bowed his head, then glanced to Eirah. “They’re circling us, waiting like a pack of wolves.”
“Not wolves,” Morozko hissed. “A wolf is a noble creature. These are no such things, for they are created in hatred.” As if in reply, Nuka whined, towering over them as he padded forward.
“They’re waiting forus.” Eirah’s voice remained steady as she spoke, but her eyes belied that steadiness, full of fear and anger. Morozko didn’t blame her. She only knew what he’d told her, but he’d seen the creatures more in his mind than he wished to, heard their screams and chittering.
“Nuka, flush them out.” His wolf leaped forward, and branches snapped from the wolf and the fleeing changelings. “Whatever comes this way, take them down with magic or a blade. You’ll need to haul the bastards to the fire back at the camp!” he ordered the frost demons, then turned to Eirah, frowning. “And you need to tap into your magic, dig as deep as you can. They mean to kill us, and they won’t stop until they do.”
Eirah’s eyes narrowed, and her jaw muscles leaped. “Then neither will I. They won’t take anymore from us.”
Morozko hoped she was right.
Nuka’s growl echoed in the vicinity, and he emerged from the brush, snapping a small pine tree. A changeling dangled from his neck, growling and shrieking as it held on. The bastard’s waxlike skin was even more sickly in the present as opposed to what he’d seen in his visions. Nuka thrashed while the changeling attempted to bite through his thick fur, to no avail. It was surreal seeing the creature now, and all Morozko wanted to do was kill it. One of the guards shot at the changeling with an arrow, and the creature tumbled to the ground, hissing. It crawled on all fours, intending to leap at Andras, but another frost demon unleashed a whip, and it curled around the lesser demon’s throat. Ear-piercing wails sounded as the guard hauled the creature back to the camp.
A disturbing notion invaded Morozko’s mind that this was part of the vision he’d seen. He glanced down, just for a moment, to consider his side. A wound wasn’t there, and no blood oozed from his ribs, but as he looked up, Eirah screamed, reaching for him.
Blinding blue light bolted from her fingertips and shot over Morozko’s shoulder, crashing into a changeling. He whirled on his heel and twisted his blade, sinking it deep into the creature's heart. Navy blood spilled on the ground, staining the white snow. This was the vision, but not. He wasn’t wounded, at least not yet.
“Well done,” he murmured.
Eirah stepped closer to him. “It almost got you.” Her words were hardly above a whisper.
“Almost. But it’ll take more than almost to kill me.” When he looked up, a changeling was launching at her back. Morozko yanked free his blade and spun Eirah out of the way, so when the changeling launched at him, it landed on his sword.
How manywerethere? He ground his teeth together. “Drag these back to camp and send someone to take your place,” Morozko ordered a nearby guard. He hadn’t counted all the slain changelings, but little by little, he added them up. Eight. As far as he’d seen.
Morozko cut another down, slashing from shoulder to hip. “Burn the pieces!”
Eirah fought by his side, wielding her magic like invisible chains, coiling them around the changelings and thrashing them to the ground until they were lifeless, waiting to be burned.
By the time Nuka returned, he wasn’t the only one who was breathless. “Are they all gone?” Morozko asked.
Nuka responded with a high-pitched yelp, which Morozko only assumed was a yes. Otherwise, the wolf would’ve leaped back into the brush and hunted more down.
“Are you hurt?” Eirah sidled up beside the king, frowning as she looked him over.
“No.” He quietly assessed her, then took her chin in his hands, and seeing no grievous injuries on her, he relaxed. “You fought well.” Morozko released her and turned to face the remaining frost demons. A few had fallen, and though it wasn’t a significant loss, it was enough that should there be another attack, they might not fare as well.
They needed that damn moon to hurry up and change phases so they could perform the ritual.
“Qorlys!” Morozko bellowed. The frost demon scuttled forward. “Go back to the castle, alert everyone as to what is happening, and return with reinforcements. Ride with the wind at your back.”
Qorlys bowed and dashed away in the snow.
Morozko looked to Eirah, who was staring up at the sky, more than likely thinking the same thing about the full moon. They couldn’twaitthat long for it, because if the changelings kept this up, they’d all be dead.
22
EIRAH
Morozko had sent Qorlys to retrieve more frost demons to help with the fight. There didn’t seem to be many changelings left inside the encampment, but she didn’t know how many were lingering elsewhere. These waxy creatures were worse than she could have imagined. Their yellow eyes held no pupils, and sinew partially sewed their mouths shut—a thing of true nightmares.
Eirah’s magic had dwindled, her muscles ached from use, and sweat dripped down her forehead and neck. During the initial attack earlier, Eirah had helped warn villagers to remain hidden within their ice houses, behind their lit fires. There didn’t need to be more casualties, and the king hadn’t wanted them as a distraction that could risk more lives.
One of the frost guards grunted as a changeling shoved into him from behind. Morozko charged after the warrior to give aid as another changeling crept out from behind a tree toward her.
Eirah gathered what strength she had and dipped into her magic, her hands shaking as she formed a large lion out of snow. She thrust her hand forward, unleashing the snow creation. The lion leaped forward, slamming the changeling to the ground. But even as the lion opened its maw to bite off the changeling’s head, it just passed through the vicious creature. Magic wouldn’t work to kill the demon—they needed fire to wipe the creature from this world until it found a way to cross its barrier once more.
The lion continued to hold the changeling in place as the demon bucked and jerked its head around. Eirah was about to leave her position to find a torch to light when Qorlys returned with a flock of about three dozen guards behind him carrying torches.
