Summer Knight (The Dresden Files #4) - Jim Butcher Page 0,111
Ogre Grum, I didnt want to chance another faerie beast shrugging it off. So I wasnt shooting for the unicorn itselfbut for the ground at its feet.
The blast ripped a three-foot trench in the earth, and the unicorn screamed and thrashed its head, trying to keep its balance. A normal horse would have toppled, but the unicorn somehow managed to get a couple of feet onto solid ground and hurled itself away in a forty-foot standing leap. It landed on its feet, already running, body sweeping in a circle to bring it charging toward me.
I ran for the nearest tree. The unicorn was faster, but I didnt have far to go, and I put the trunk between us.
It didnt slow down. Its horn slammed into the trunk of the dead tree and came through it as though it hadnt been there. I flinched away, but not fast enough to avoid catching several flying splinters in the chest and belly, and not fast enough to avoid a nasty cut on my left arm where one of those serrated edges of the horn ripped through my shirt. The pain of the injuries registered, but only as background data. I stepped around the bole of the tree, taking my staff in both hands, and swung it as hard as I could at the delicate bones of the unicorns rear ankle.
Well, on a horse theyre delicate. Evidently on unicorns, theyre just a bit tender. The faerie beast let out a furious scream and twisted its body, tearing through the tree, shredding it as it whipped its horn free and whirled to orient on me. It lunged, the horn spearing toward me. I swept my staff up, a simple parry quatre, and shoved the tip out past my body while darting a pair of steps to my right, avoiding the beasts oncoming weight. I kept going, ducking a beat before the unicorn planted its forequarters, lifted its hind, and twisted, lashing out toward my head with both rear hooves. I rolled, came up running, and ducked behind the next tree. The unicorn turned and began stalking toward me, circling the tree, foam pattering from its open mouth.
Elaine cried out, and I whipped my head around to see her lifting her right hand, the ring on it releasing a cloud of glowing motes that burst around her in a swarm. The little lights streaked toward the unicorn and gathered around it, swirling and flashing in a dazzling cloud. One of them brushed against me, and my senses abruptly went into whiteout, overwhelmed with a simple image of walking down a sidewalk in worn shoes, the sun bright overhead, a purse bumping on my hip, stomach twinging with pleasant hunger pangs, the scent of hot asphalt in my nose, children laughing and splashing somewhere nearby. A memory, something from Elaine. I staggered and pushed it away from me, regaining my senses.
The motes crowded around the unicorn, darting in to brush against it one at a time, and at each touch the faerie beast went wild. It spun and kicked and screamed and lashed out with its horn, lunging at insubstantial adversaries in wild frenzy, but all to no avail.
I looked past them to see Elaine standing in place, her hand extended, her face set in an expression of concentration and strain. "Harry," she shouted. "Go. Ill hold it."
I rose, heart pounding. "You got it?"
"For a little while. Just get to the Mothers," Elaine responded. " Hurry! "
"I dont want to leave you alone."
A bead of sweat trickled down the side of her face. "You wont be. When it gets loose, Im not waiting around for it to skewer me."
I gritted my teeth. I didnt want to leave Elaine, but to be fair, shed done better than I had. She stood against the unicorn still, only a dozen long strides away, her hand extended, the creature as contained as if shed wrapped it in a net. My slender and straight and beautiful Elaine.
Memories, images washed through me, dozens of little things Id forgotten coming back to me all at once; her laugh, quiet and wicked in the darkness; the feeling of her slender fingers slipping through mine; her face, asleep on the pillow beside me, gentle and peaceful in the morning sun.
There were many more, but I pushed them away. That had been a long time ago, and they wouldnt mean a thing if neither of us survived the next few minutes and hours.