Wicked As You Wish (A Hundred Names for Magic #1) - Rin Chupeco Page 0,48
attempt to quell the flames, then struggled to stand again, its remaining horribly burned hand clutching at the stump where its other arm used to be. Its face was an ugly black ruin, horribly contorted, still aflame. It squealed, a thin high-pitched screech like fingernails scratching down a blackboard.
“Tala,” Zoe gasped, wide-eyed.
Tala stared down at her hands, trembling uncontrollably, even as Zoe and Alex dragged her out of harm’s way.
Then there were the unmistakable sounds of an engine, roaring loudly and growing stronger with every second.
A large motorcycle bore down on them, silver and black. Its rider was tall and broad-shouldered, with dark hair and steel-colored eyes, face square and grim—the boy from her English class, Tala realized. Cole Whatshisname.
He shot past them, drawing out what was to Tala’s eyes the most hideous-looking scythe she had ever seen. Several tiny knives were crisscrossed around the handle. They jutted haphazardly up like a bramble hedge toward the blade, which twisted rather than curved down the way normal scythes did. Where one of Ken’s swords was a shining ebony, this was black as soot, turbid with the suggestion of grime.
A nearby shade pounced, hissing, but the boy swung the frightful scythe, cutting right through the shade like it was made of paper. The boy lifted the blade again and cut straight into the motorbike’s tank. Gasoline spilled out.
At the last possible minute, the boy leaped off the bike, landing and rolling away. The motorcycle raced on ahead, slamming right into the still-burning creature and knocking it backward, away from Tala, Zoe, and Alex.
Both bike and ogre exploded, flames engulfing the beast. Tala was thrown back to the ground, ears ringing. The ogre twisted and writhed for several seconds, then shuddered one last time, its cries tapering off before it finally lay still.
The remaining ogre’s attention was divided. While Ken avoided the blows, Loki attacked the creature from the opposite side, the two switching strategies when the ogre’s attention was diverted by the other, the lion still worrying at its shins and heels.
Then Tala’s parents were there, having finally destroyed most of the shadows. Her father hacked at the ogre’s foot with one mighty blow, severing it completely. The ogre sank down to one knee. Her mother raised a hand, and the rest of that knee disappeared, in the same way Tala had done.
Overwhelmed, beset in all directions, the hideous creature bent, bellowing its frustration. Its snarls of rage were cut short when Kensington’s crackling-light sword slid smoothly into the center of its chest. At the same time, Loki, scampering up the top of its head, plunged their staff through its temple.
And finally, finally, the last ogre crashed, dead on its feet long before it hit the ground.
There was silence for a full minute, interrupted only by the sound of flames consuming the other ogre’s lifeless form.
“Everyone okay?” Ken pulled out his blade with an awful ripping sound. His face was flushed and bruised from battle. Loki was impassive, if a little dirty, while the large lion had disappeared. West tugged the heavy fur off his head with a flourish, revealing he was also completely naked underneath.
“Where’d you learn that?” Ken asked Tala, impressed.
“I don’t know?” The ringing in her head had not yet subsided.
Ken looked over to Cole. “Thanks for the help.” He added, if a little grudgingly, “Sorry about your bike.”
The other boy nodded in acknowledgment. “It’s not my bike.”
“West,” Zoe said delicately, taking great pains not to look directly at the boy. “Go find something to cover yourself up with, please?”
“Oh,” West said, looking down at himself. “I keep forgetting about that.”
“Who the hell are you again?” Alex asked, gaping at West.
“Weston-Clifford Beaujour Grethari Bannock Iognaidh-Under-Waves Brighteye Eddings VI, Your Highness.”
“Good grief,” Alex said. “You mean there’s five more of you?”
“We should leave,” Lola Urduja said, scanning the area, “before the authorities arrive.”
Zoe stared hard at Cole. “I suppose you’ll have to come with us.”
“Finally believe I’m here to help, Carlisle?”
“No, but if I leave you behind, you’re likely to cause trouble. I’d rather keep an eye on you, and on my own terms.”
The ogres’ blood stained the ground, inky-black night spreading across tainted soil, the rancid stench searing her nostrils. Tala looked at the smoldering face of the dead ogre, the ogre she had maimed, and the thick smell of charred flesh seemed to wrap around her.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” she announced, rather feebly, and then did just that.