Storm Born Page 0,124
stopped instantly. Dorian took a moment longer to slow down and gave me an odd glance. "What's wrong?"
I peered around. My senses tingled. I could feel water, lots of it. The way I felt in crowds or at Dorian's. Water in numerous condensed clusters. The water sources were people. Lots of them.
We'd been set up. Again.
"Fuck!"
They seemed to come out from everywhere, though I knew they all had to have been hiding in the castle's vicinity or else I would have felt them sooner. They came down from the roofs, out the door we'd been staking out, from around the corner. And somehow I knew the ones who ostensibly had run off would return.
I heard Dorian yell, "They won't kill you - not if they don't have to!" Then, the side of the castle exploded in a downpour of huge black rocks, causing those above and still scaling to fall down to death or at least serious injury. Others standing nearby were buried by the fallout.
My spirits had standing orders to attack anyone attacking us, and I saw them flare up for battle. As for me, I'd come packing two guns tonight, again courtesy of Lara. Both had steel cartridges, and my pockets held more clips still, plus a few silver ones. I kept what distance I could from the thick of the fray and fired, aiming for heads and faces if I could, but mostly happy if I could bring anyone down at all.
Regular range practice paid off, and I hit almost everyone I fixed on. No one ever managed to get too close to me. The spirits I ignored. They couldn't die, and only another shaman or Dorian-caliber magic user could banish them.
After his spectacular wall demolition, Dorian had resorted to a more conventional method: a copper sword he'd worn sheathed under his cloak. It glowed red in the darkness, and I realized he could enhance its power since copper came from inside the earth. He didn't fight with brute force, but he moved with speed and skill, surprising me as much as the horse-riding had. I wouldn't have minded another show of that earth power, but all magic took its toll. It would do no good for him to burn himself out yet.
Suddenly, I saw one of the guards moving up on him, just out of Dorian's line of sight. I started to cry out a warning, and then a large, four-legged form ran forward, snarling as he threw his weight into the guard. Dorian gave a quick glance of surprise but quickly returned to fighting. I couldn't recover so quickly and could only stare as Kiyo, in what I had jokingly dubbed the "superfox" form, clawed and ripped at his victim. The man did manage to slice Kiyo's side, making me wince, but the fox seemed unaffected. Shaking my head, knowing I could neither wonder how he'd shown up nor worry about his safety, I returned to my own battles.
A few victims later, I had my aim on someone when I sensed another form sneaking up behind me. I turned but wasn't quite fast enough. He grabbed my arm and bent the gun away from him, forcing me to the ground. With my left hand, I managed to drag out the other gun. It was more or less smothered as his body tried to pin mine down, and I had no real target. It didn't matter. I just sort of aimed in an upward direction and fired. He screamed and recoiled enough for me to push off and fire again with more precision.
Someone else took advantage of my distraction and grabbed me from behind. I'd stuffed the extra gun back in my pants and now struggled against him with the first gun when suddenly it grew hot in my hands. Burning hot. I yelped and dropped it, staring as it lay sizzling on the ground, glowing faintly orange.
I didn't have to hear his voice in my ear to know who held me.
"Eugenie Markham, lovely of you to pay me a visit."
"I'm going to kill you," I hissed.
"Yes, yes, you told me that before, and yet, I see it's not really working out. You should have taken me up on my earlier offer." He barked out a command to a nearby guard who ran up to us. "Disarm her before she kills anyone else."
With all the confusion, none of my other allies noticed what was happening. I opened my mouth and began chanting the ritual words to