Page 177 (1/2)

Kip felt a thuround at his feet and a second later heard the sound of a cannon A dim trail of smoke from a crater more than a hundred paces away pointed back toward the battery up on Ruic Head, where aaway

"To me, toordered to do so, Kip realized it hat he wanted to do anyway In seconds, he and five Blackguards joined Gavin

"They’re od We kill it," Gavin said He drafted another yelloord, handed it to a Blackguard who had lost her weapons "No matter what No matter how Got it?" He uard and one to Kip Then he started running toward the wights His hands were surrounded with glowing knots of yellows and reds

As the first green spear ca toward Gavin, he dropped under it and rolled on the ground, came up to his knees and threw his hands forward A fan of yellowchains of flahts and the chains whipped around thehts behind

But Gavin barely slowed He popped back up to his feet and kept running

A frog wight Kip hadn’t even seen descended, huge claws raking doard Karris dodged to the side and swept her ataghan under its armpit

Then, still fifty paces froreen wights Gavin crashed through a few, killing, spinning, killing--and aluard na claoman named Tisa was knocked aside as she drafted a streaush of pyrejelly down her own sto It flareen goleht feet tall settled between Gavin and the rest of theole both of them down in a sudden intense wash of fire

Kip slashed back and forth, trying to keep up with the others So twisted his yellow luxin sword and he lost it

The three reht with the fla colors in the other They were stuck, surrounded by dozens of wights, stopped

A shell rocked the ground, exploding with a deafening roar Kip felt the pressure wave and alreen island, thirty paces away The wights around it had been vaporized, those farther out torn to pieces

The Blackguards and Gavin recovered first The crater and the hole in the wights’ lines wasn’t directly between the Blackguards and the tower, but it offered movement Freedoreens could tolerate order--if they’d organized their defenses But with the help of the chaos, Gavin and his people cut through the staggered creatures and ran into the gap created by the shell, stepping on bodies and slipping on released green luxin that was evaporating as the once- it died Kip al else of her rereen ran in rivers next to each other, filling the crater with blood soup

Crashing into the still-recovering lines on the opposite side of the crater with Karris, Gavin, and the reuards, Kip remembered his knife, still strapped to his calf, and pulled it out, stu his bleeding eyes, weeping Kip’s knife cut through the wight’s shell and kidneys with ease

He felt instantly, stupidly guilty The man hadn’t been able to defend hi!" Gavin shouted He knocked Kip down

They heard the thuood seventy paces away this tier either

By the tireen bull’s head on his shoulders was charging them Gavin leapt aside and cut the ht went down, but his horn caught Karris, who hadn’t juround

Kip juh the top of its head, twisting his dagger in its brain and ripping it out He grabbed Karris and pulled her to her feet There was blood on her ar her, the horn had passed under her ar for air, but not wounded Lucky