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The shot was so close that the round whizzed right by my ear I dropped into a crouch and leapt The sound of the rifle came an instant later

"Gun!" Thadd shouted "Get down!"

"No kidding," I shouted back, ducking behind a tree More softly, surprised, I added, "It went through ainst the tree, breath rasping

Four more shots sounded One plunked into the tree that hid hbehind a rock A s with snowmelt trickled beside it and I landed in the botto in the runnel

Silence as the snowmelt permeated my clothes and drenched my flesh I didn&039;t feel the cold A soft alarm sounded in the back ofas it should I couldn&039;t stop to think about that now

"Where are they?" Audric shouted

"Uphill and to the right," Rupert said, his voice shaky

Two uessed there were at least two assailants, one firing at uns Darkness didn&039;t depend on such puny weapons

No one had clairound hadn&039;t been disturbed Not in decades A barrage exploded from uphill I heard the horses screaunshots sounded, closer - Thadd returning fire with a handgun Sweet seraph Ciana was in the line of fire Shock blossoering her

I rolledwater until I was behind the bole of ainto the soil behind h plastic before, but et, shaking hands, I couldn&039;t open the bag One thu the white onyx fish, I called its incantation up froht scripture was used for all incantations, and I edited it on the fly If the aht work to protect us

Breathless with terror, I said, "For s with the shield of faith able to quench all the fiery darts" It wasn&039;t scripture-perfect, but with the amethyst to back me, it should do in a pinch I thumbed the fish, and the shield snapped into place with a Shockwave of ht the shield looked like a big bubble layered over with purple feathers I touched it and the feathers gave around , like a balloon The shield was y froht be able to shield us all

I stepped into the side of the shield and it , I leapt ahead and over the hillock, down the side of thetrees, rocks, and the ground beneath my feet Gunshots sounded above me - the rounds landed behind me in soft spats of sound Battle lust welled up in me, fueled by fear and too e in the shadow of thy s"

I tu cover behind a boulder Audric&039;s eyes widened as he spottedstruck the shield

"Close your eyes!" I yelled, running toward the pile of rocks There was a blast of lavender light as the shield absorbed the cairn and two hu over her and rolled to the ground A bigger detonation rocked the clearing as the shield closed over Audric He was knocked to his back on the wet ground Ciana slapped at her body as if ants were crawling all over her "Make it stop!"

Audric&039;s eyes traced the shield over his head Tiny lightning bolts of power raced through it, visible to ht "What have you done?" he breathed

It was an accusation He should have been thankingto draw blood I controlled the urge with effort and turned et over here? I&039;ve activated a shield"

"I see it Will it take me?"

A human couldn&039;t see no Thadd kneas kylen He had taken off the ring once, enough to begin the process of s "Yes, it&039;ll hold," I said Combat readiness and bloodlust had overtaken fear They thru blades, wanting to fight, but ht face-to-face, ht

With each breath I sunshots, the stink of huar The peppery scent of ginger was growing stronger With each blink of reen and opulent tints of stone Far uphill, behind a rock outcropping, I saw black and red, a sinuous cloud of Darkness - hue spiked in Audric Swords overhead, he roared with the need to race uphill and draw blood

"Shut up, Audric," I growled Faster than huathered up all the bigger pieces of the a the In an instant, the power of the stone , her face now cradled against Audric&039;s chest Thadd ducked and ran to us, blasting into the shield Light sparked and forked like lightning across the shield "Let&039;s go," I said "Downhill, back toward town"

"What about the horses?" Thadd asked

"Took off I sh me I threw back my head and screamed my fury The sound echoed across thein drafts of air across my tortured throat "We&039;ll have to walk back," I said, rate

"We&039;ve cos and fly us doe don&039;t have

"They&039;ve stopped shooting Maybe they&039;re gone," Rupert said

I looked at hiht Nor But suddenly Rupert was petrified Soht ept ahen Audric said, "Let&039;s go"

Ito rush the ene stone Great tiot trapped in battle lust

We roup of huround my teeth at Rupert&039;s slowness The others could have co me the release of speed, but ress was slow Uphill, the swirl of Darkness followed for a tiain I watched the toa blended scan while on the run They weren&039;t following us Which was very strange

I navigated over a fallen tree, around a snow-covered depression Full night would be on us soon We had traveled north for two hours on horseback and climbed htfall I wasn&039;t certain I couldbolts overhead flickered and blinked

The shards in ht erupted froround, froies aroundin a spiral that stabbed with pain All theover us wrenched in a whirlpool spasround in a sudden rush My back arched in agony I tried to scream, but my breath was sucked away Half an instant later, an explosion rocked the Trine

"Thorn!" Audric shouted

I fell to the ground, hitting hard, my breath knocked out by the explosive concussion I couldn&039;t see, but I knew the shield was gone My poas gone, all that astonishing ht, stored in my body, stored in my amulets All drained All eies pulled through the ground, back up the hill to the ht returned, I was flat on uing as a plague I sheathed the s the longsword left me exhausted My hands fell to ap I had lost it all All that power Nausea gripped roundwater soaking an to burn, an acid tincture on ed on the amethyst stone I had drunk it down until my body was full The power had permeated my flesh, pulsed into my bones I had been near it for days, had drawn on it, used it, been intoxicated, drunk, stoned, on the power And noas gone

I was in withdrawal I gagged again, the taste bitter with bile A tremor rippled up my body It was like the DTs My insides wanted to climb out of my skin

A shot exploded Another My friends scattered More shots sounded I lay onThis was er, all my fault I had wanted to find the motherstone, the lodestone of a us to this destruction

Risking being shot, I liftedwith his weapon in both hands, returning fire Rupert was squatting behind a rock, looking at his cupped hands, seeround, Ciana beneath hi The sled with the cordite Audric&039;s been shot He was shot protecting Ciana

And then I sy, I opened htly on Audric A tendril of Dark energy curled from his wound The round buried in his body had been infused with Darkness Audric groaned in agony Rupert didn&039;t look up at the sound, but knelt, face slack, holding the thing he had picked up earlier, cupping it in his hands - a perfect target A cloud of Darkness swirled about him He had fallen for a trap

Above us, the Darknessde in savage-chi, like a e Othersto die

I looked at Audric He was near death already Near "dire," that e, the severity of his injuries, e some of this I looked down at the town Mineral City was far away Enough distance to allow the humans there some safety The Mole Man&039;s blood would - should - protect Rupert, and Ciana&039;s age meant additional security for her

I had no choice I forcedposition and pulled out my drained prime amulet I set it on the earth and dumped all the a Darkness, screams and thu such easy targets They wanted us alive

Moving too slowly, tired beyond i out of my ear and stabbed my hand with the pointed ear wire Pain shocked like an electric jolt Blood welled in the hole, and I held my palm over the amethyst Three drops fell as I chanted a traditional call for help, the nursery rhyers attacked by hue War There were seraphs nearby If they heard e in dire; seraphs, coain Audric howled in agony Ciana, protected beneath hiround, screa the phrases as shots infused with Darkness peppered the earth, and the swarm of Dark soldiers churned down on us I would die today Either by the Darkness that was only yards away, or at seraphic judge in dire," the time-honored call for help, to be used only after an innocent&039;s or supernat&039;s fatal wound, adle with Darkness The words reverberated in e in dire - seraphs, come with holy fire

A shadow fell over us Wind whipped the air He landed, toes touching down, body clad in battle ar light Twenty-four feet of scarlet seraph wings formed a canopy over us My entire body clenched Dread and wonder replaced the fear in my veins He was utterly, beyond words, beautiful "Down the hill," he said, his voice indescribable - like ic, an orchestra in heaven

I brushed tears away and pointed at Rupert "He&039;s innocent but has been spelled"

With a flick of his wingtip, the seraph knocked Rupert off his feet My friend crashed to the ground, dropping a rock It tuulley and exploded Rupert shook his head and stood on unsteady legs, looking at the smoke from the explosion and at the seraph

"Down the hill," the seraph said "Quickly"

Thadd, appearing fro and pulled a still screa softly to her, he handed her to Rupert When she saw the seraph, her screa over his shoulder and wing, the seraph scanned the hill Thadd holstered his weapon and hoisted Audric to a fireman&039;s hold He nodded once, sharply, to the seraph "Let&039;s go Shut up, Audric," he added The huge half-breed&039;s screaled off into tortured athered my amulets and the amethyst and followed the others We made it a hundred yards down the mountain Two hundred yards I looked back Since the seraph appeared, there had been no shooting, but Darkness still stood on the sharp grade, supernats, watching: several half-breeds and a e whose mind I hadn&039;t sensed I stu, a seraph&039;s wings spread over my head

When exhaustion had stolen one," he said He furled his wings with a sound like a storm-laden wind A deep cloak, the color of old blood, swirled around hih Host

I fell against a tree,heavily, Thadd eased Audric to the ground He hissed with pain, clutching his chest Blackness shifted beneath his skin Blood was everywhere, across Audric&039;s back, his chest, smeared over Thadd&039;s clothes Thadd unbuttoned his top shirt and threw it away To me it stank of sulfur, and by his expression, to Thadd as well His ring glowed softly tohis face to my level, jaw carved of marble, eyes as pellucid as the finest ruby, red irises in a tawny-skinned face "I heard your call, little e I am here, as I promised, in life and battle and love" They weren&039;t the proper words a seraph spoke when answering a e-call in battle extremis They sounded personal, almost intimate He lifted a hand to my palm, where blood still flowed At his touch, the wound clotted over Strength flowed into ertip My body shuddered hard and the shivers stopped

The proper phrases caotten Voice scratchy with exhaustion, I said, formally, "I thank thee for thine assistance And for the touch of seraph healing"

"I scent Darkness on your co to his sword hilt