under the trees. Moving carefully so as not to dislodge her camouflaging garment, she worked her rifle off her back, eased the sheet forward, and slowly worked the rifle out until only the very tip of the barrel might be visible. Then she looked through the thing that made this rifle unique.
It had a telescope sight.
It was the only one in Cody’s entire collection that did. Telescopic sights were incredibly rare, and she had been frankly astonished he had one at all when he’d shown her this summer. It was a very fine rifle to begin with, and with the scope on it . . . well, it transcended “fine.” That meant that she could use it at a much greater distance than she usually shot targets. That meant that even if Johann took into consideration that she was an expert marksman, he would be under the impression that she would have to get close enough to him that he would see her before she could shoot him. The problem was, it only really worked within a certain range: the maximum range of the rifle itself.
Too far. He’s still out of range. The blue blur in the sight told her that. Keeping her eye on the sight, she inched forward, slowly, moving carefully to minimize the chance that she would be spotted.
It seemed to take forever, and the cold seeped into her, despite all the layers between her and the snow. Don’t start shivering or you won’t be able to stop, she reminded herself. And breathe slowly. You don’t want a bit of foggy breath to escape and give you away. Let it all get caught by your scarf and the sheet.
Her joints ached with the cold by the time she got into place. She set the little stand up and propped the rifle barrel on it; at least now she could concentrate on her magic and her aim. Then she closed her eyes, gathered up a little, little bit of Air Magic, and used it to seek out Fox’s raven.
? it replied.
Yes, now, she told it.
From the forest behind where Johann sat, a black form exploded skyward, shouting out exactly four raucous alarm calls as it sped away from the vardo as fast as it could flap its wings.
The sound rang out across the quiet valley, sending other birds all across the valley into the sky, sounding out their own calls of alarm. In the scope, Johann merely looked annoyed.
Good, he must think something else scared the birds.
But that had been the signal for the others to stop leading their targets away and go on the attack. Hopefully, they had already chosen better ground to fight on than six feet of snow with ice on top of it.
Then, it started, and even though she was prepared for it, it still made her jump and her heart start to race uncontrollably. The noises of conflict erupted from all over the valley; the echoes made it impossible to tell how many fights there were, or where, exactly, they were happening. Male and female shouting, then one shout turning from a yell into a bestial roar. Her skin was crawling, and she clenched her teeth so hard her face ached.
Concentrate, Giselle reminded herself, and began to work her magic. She needed to create that tunnel of air . . . but she needed it to stop about a foot or so from him, so he wouldn’t detect it. Yet.
And I’m using my magic to kill someone. No. Not just kill him. Murder him in cold blood. . . . She felt ice in the pit of her stomach, and not from the snow or the frigid air.
How would the Great Elementals feel about that? They had warned her against using her lesser allies to harm on her behalf. But what about using the magic itself? And not in self-defense, either. That was something Rosa apparently had never done; in every story she had told about destroying something, it had either pretty much been in a purely physical manner, or she had broken the renegade’s magic so that his own Elementals turned on him. This, well . . . I can’t do this without magic.
She could try, but she did not dare take the chance that this would fail. And to be certain, she had to use magic. She hadn’t mentioned this to the others, or they might have tried to talk her out of it.