Wicked As You Wish (A Hundred Names for Magic #1) - Rin Chupeco Page 0,109

people away,” Ken suggested.

A sudden scraping noise echoed from inside the tower. Then, without warning, something was chucked out its window, bearing down on them with breakneck speed. Ken only barely managed to dance out of the way before being brained by a large metal basin that clattered noisily to the ground.

“I heard that!” a girl’s voice, cross and irritated, floated down at them.

“A basin?” Ken spluttered, staring down at the offending tool. “A basin? You could have hurt someone with that! You could have hurt me!”

“Oh, get over yourself. If I really wanted to hurt you, you’d be out like a light.” An orange glow appeared by the window, like a candle had been lit from within. “Who’re you?”

“Your grandmother sent us,” Zoe called up. “There isn’t much time to explain, but she wants you to come with us!”

There was a pause. “All right,” the voice said. “I’m heading down.” The light disappeared.

“Well, she was strangely easy to convince,” Zoe muttered.

“Something’s wrong,” Cole said, almost to himself. He peered out into the darkness, frowning.

“Ken, how many Deathless were in the village?”

“Six men and…and a girl.” Ken’s voice was pained. “The ones that attacked us, anyway. I don’t know how many more there were.”

Out of the corner of Tala’s eye, a dapple of flimsy mist she’d assumed was fog drifted in their direction; slow to move at first, but it soon shook off its sluggishness and picked up speed. Cole approached the white haze, stepping away from the rest of the group as he did. There was a sharp click as his scythe unfolded.

“Let’s hope there aren’t any more. We’re passing through the marsh swamps before we reach Lyonesse’s borders, and I don’t want them on our tails while we’re skidding through all that frozen muck.”

“Look out!”

An ice wolf burst abruptly from the mist, several yards from where they stood. With shocking quickness, it closed the distance and slammed into Cole, knocking Gravekeeper from his hand. Wolf and boy tumbled to the ground, as more ice wolves appeared out of the fog.

This was the first clear view Tala had of the creatures. The wolves were made of such transparent ice, it was almost possible to see through them. Empty sockets stared back at her, mouths filled with several rows of sharp teeth, glittering in the dark like diamonds.

They looked exactly like the wolves she’d seen in her dream a few nights past.

Ken sprang forward, both his swords sliding free of their scabbards. He swung hard at the ice wolf attacking Cole and hit the creature’s side with a solid thunk. Small bits of ice flew off the diamond-hard hide as he began hacking his way through with the blows resonating so heavily and so powerfully, they would have taken the head off any other animal. Ken had the strength of a bull, but the creature felt little of the pain, clawing at Cole without pause.

A sizzle of bright lightning struck the creature’s flank with little effect. “Oh, damn,” Zoe hissed. “I forgot they’re blind!”

West ducked underneath his fur cloak. He blurred away, and a bear roared, swiping at the half-dozen ice wolves now flanking the group.

“Get back!” Zoe instructed, placing herself between both Tala and Alex and the rest of the pack. She clenched her fist, and a whirling blade of lightning sparked at the end of her whip. One of the ice wolves reached for her, but Zoe spun away, ramming the electric cord against the side of its head as it swept past. The ice wolf spun head over tail from the unexpected blow, but was quickly back on its feet, staggering from the hole Zoe had bored through its face.

“Chop off their limbs until they stop moving,” Loki ordered. “It’s the only way.” They skipped to one side when another wolf jumped, and brought the force of their staff down on one of its forearms. The wolf hit the ground hard, and Loki swung again and again, resolute, until the leg ruptured from the repeated impacts. The ice wolf snarled, trying to use its three remaining paws to right itself, but the staff lengthened, catching it hard in the midsection and sending it toppling over.

A couple more ice wolves began stalking Tala, but Zoe moved quickly. Her whip flew through the air and coiled itself around one of the beast’s paws. The creature shrieked as electricity jolted through its body, steam hissing as it began to melt from the intense heat. One quick jerk broke the leg