The Lost Book of the White (The Eldest Curses #2) - Cassandra Clare Page 0,38
Normally, Magnus would have been able to neutralize Shinyun easily; he was a much more powerful warlock than her. Either she had grown more powerful or Magnus had become weaker. Or both. And now he’d been wounded again.
He drew his bow and fired a couple of arrows at the balls of fog; they stuck, so there was something solid in there. “Tian!” he called over. “Are these your locals? What am I shooting at?”
“The snakes are Xiangliu—do you not have them in America?” There was a flash, and the rope Tian was whirling suddenly burst forward, at an angle, and Alec saw that at the end of the rope was a diamond-shaped blade of adamas, which lopped the head off one of said Xiangliu. “The clouds are Ala, they’re mostly annoying.”
“Oh man,” said Isabelle, running to Tian, a slender staff in her hand. “What is that weapon? It’s awesome.”
Tian looked pleased. “Rope dart.” Expertly he spun the returning rope around his body, catching it near the blade to regain control.
“I want one,” said Isabelle. She whipped the end of the staff and a long curved blade, like a scimitar, unfolded and snapped into place at its end.
Simon had dropped his bow and drawn two seraph blades, which glowed in his hands like beacons in the unnatural dark. “Is that a guisarme?” he called to Isabelle.
Isabelle impaled a skeleton on the end of the weapon, then whipped it around and impaled a second skeleton before the first had even fallen. “It’s a glaive,” she said, with a wicked grin at Simon.
“God, I love you,” said Simon.
“Can someone throw some water on those two?” said Magnus. “Look, I’m sorry for bringing her here. I didn’t know what to do. Shinyun—I’m going to go and try to talk to her.”
“Can you fly up to where she is?” said Alec.
“Yes, but I’m going to need help if I don’t want to get knocked out of the sky.”
“We’ll keep everything else off you,” said Alec.
“I’m going to engage with the skeletons,” said Simon.
“I’m already engaged with the skeletons,” Isabelle said. She looked Simon up and down, concern showing through her battle-ready expression. “You got this?”
“I,” said Simon, “may only have been a Shadowhunter for a short time, but I have been preparing my whole life to fight skeleton warriors. I got this.”
Jace had disappeared. Alec cast his eyes over the swarm of demons and knocked an Ala out of the sky with two quick arrows. He soon caught sight of Jace, who was taking high leaps into the air, much higher than any mundane could, and whipping his flail into anything near him. Tian’s rope dart was making the Xiangliu dance and dodge to stay away from its unpredictable arcs, and as Alec laid down more arrow fire, he noted that Clary had placed herself so that the disoriented Xiangliu dodged away from Tian and directly into her seraph blades.
Behind Alec, sparks flew from Magnus’s fingers toward the ground, and he rose into the air toward Shinyun. Alec watched him, bow at the ready. There was something different about the sparks—they seemed… sharper? And there was an odd haze over the whole battle, like looking through a hot fire.
Around Alec the five other Shadowhunters laid waste to the demons on the ground. Alec kept his eyes on Magnus, knocking the cloud demons away with a well-placed arrow if they drifted toward him.
“Alec, behind you,” Simon yelled, and Alec whirled just in time to see a surprised-looking Xiangliu shatter its way out of existence. Tian’s rope dart hovered a few inches in front of Alec’s face, then whipped away. Alec looked over at Tian, who winked.
Alec returned his gaze to Magnus.
* * *
MAGNUS FLEW TOWARD SHINYUN AND wondered if she’d try to blow him out of the sky. He kept his gaze on her; he had to trust Alec to keep his path clear. He did trust Alec to keep his path clear.
“Shinyun,” he yelled as he got closer, to be heard over the wind and the rumbling backdrop of thunder. But also because he was mad. “You give me a beautiful gift and then you attack us? I thought our conversation went well!”
Shinyun gazed at him impassively. “You could summon just as large an army, you know.”
“I couldn’t,” said Magnus, “but also I wouldn’t. For one thing, it’s extremely illegal.” Shinyun barked a laugh. “For another, then we would have twice as many demons, rather than no demons, which is my preference.”