Mikar.
“I’ll take you,” Seth said to Blair. “If we need other witches…”
“Dude, trust me, it’s not that hard to set stuff on fire.”
He took her hand and the next instant, they were gone.
“What about the lake? We can’t burn that. And the Wolvswoods…”
Shit, they should have reached out to the shifter pack in there. Although their relationship was currently shaky, given that most of the pack had attended a hunt, chasing and killing some humans several months ago, they should have had a chance to leave before they were surrounded like this.
Eirikr snorted. “The wolves aren’t helpless. Worry about yourself, and your pretty girlfriend.”
Diana looked uncomfortable, and Mikar could have killed him.
“I can take care of myself,” the woman retorted. “But thanks for saying I’m pretty.”
“Stop riling Mikar up,” Chloe told Eirikr.
The elder frowned. “Why? It’s entertaining.”
“Because there are thousands of vampires at the gates and we should concentrate on that.”
Eirikr rose from the ground. “Twelve thousand, seven hundred and thirteen, so far. More are coming. They’re waiting for reinforcements before breaking the wards.”
“How could you know that?” It made no sense that he’d be able to count them all out, not when they were stationed all around Oldcrest. In front of them, from the south roads, there couldn’t be more than a couple of thousand people.
“Because I can multitask,” he replied. That wasn’t much of an answer. After a beat, he added, “And scan what’s happening inside the weaker minds.”
Eirikr was a telepath?
None of what he’d heard about the ancient had suggested it.
“How?”
“Spend enough time in a cave, you’ll figure it out, too.” He tilted his head east. “The fire’s started. The easternmost group is moving south. I say we don’t give them a chance to reach the rest of their company. Let’s hunt.”
Then, he ran.
Mikar generally never needed to exert himself to catch up with anyone, but to follow Eirikr, he had to use all his strength. Yet Chloe’s steps hit the ground as hard, as fast, as his.
And so did Diana’s. There might just be something to the “drinking vampire blood” trick.
Chloe and Eirikr led their group through Oldcrest till they’d reached the base of Cosnoc.
“Whoa. Blair’s skilled at pyrotechnics,” Alexius said.
The entire border was on fire, wild flames spreading fast across the plains and crawling uphill.
Eirikr smirked, like he was having fun, got to a shallow crouch, and leaped. The jump projected him high enough to clear the flames, and then some.
They heard screams on the other side of the flames.
Mikar and Diana exchanged a glance, before jumping. It wasn’t too high, come to think of it. Most vampires would have been able to clear a few yards. Eirikr had counted on their enemies’ instincts to move away from the fire, regardless of whether it posed a real threat to them, and he’d been right.
Outside the borders, the ancient was tearing through vampire after vampire, the blades in his hands moving like extensions of his deadly arms. Mikar took the macuahuitl strapped to his back and joined in, fighting close enough to Diana to ensure no one was taking her by surprise. He moved to swing the club of blades on a snarling young vamp reaching for her hair, and hit her right through the throat. A second swipe cut her head clean off. Mikar just had time to register movement from the corner of his eye, and Diana’s fist collided with a dark-haired man in a dustcoat. She kneed him where it hurt, and when he fell forward, planted the blade at the back of her heel through his heart from the back, breaking ribs along the way.
“I love the boot knives!” she yelled over the racket of blades and screams.
Bodies piled up on the ground, falling one after the other. These were all poorly-trained weaklings, and they had no chance against them.
“Back inside,” Eirikr yelled, his voice carrying in the blood-clogged air.
He took Chloe’s hand and leaped over the fire with her.
Rather than question his judgement again, Mikar followed, Diana by his side.
Once they were safe inside of Oldcrest, Eirikr said, “Someone called for reinforcements. They’re coming this way.”
“We could have taken them,” Chloe stated, matter-of-fact.
Eirikr grinned proudly at her. “Yes, daughter. Or we could take whoever’s left on the south border now.”
He wasn’t just good at strategy; Eirikr was good at keeping people alive. They attacked their enemies in small isolated groups, thinning the herd without using up too much strength. Mikar wasn’t sneaky enough to have thought of any of these moves: