Page 115 of Suffer No Fools
Suddenly, Tovey yanked the statue of the scales from her grasp. It flew across the courtyard and into Hugo's arms.
Before Coryn could react, Stan raised a wall of earth between her and Vadim. Tovey tugged Fanidra and Hugo backward, giving Stan more space to shield them from Coryn's attacks.
The wall of earth shattered, and Coryn stood in its place. She raised her arm toward the statue, tugging on it with an air weave.
Hugo's air was stronger. He batted her away and gripped the statue with both hands. Stan felt the pull as it tried to suck Hugo's power, and Stan's, into it. Hugo surrendered, so Stan did, too, trusting him to know what he was doing. Hugo gave it hisfire and his ice. Tovey relinquished his hold on his air, and Stan gave it his earth. The statue wasn't meant to hold three weavers' power, not as powerful as they were.
Then, Hugo filled it with water, lightning, life, and death borrowed from his people. The overload shattered the statue to pieces. Those pieces immediately caught fire and burned to ash.
Stan bowed his head as his power rushed back to him. He met Tovey's gaze and his face burned. Tovey would think he was power-drunk again, but he couldn't help it. His power felt different now. Stronger.
"No!" Coryn's shout echoed off the courtyard walls. She raised her hands toward the sky, and the sun seemed to dim. Vadim and Fanidra both scrambled backwards on their asses, trying to get farther away from her.
"Oh, fuck," Klaus whispered. "I won't have enough."
Coryn turned and ran toward the door. Hugo lobbed another fireball at her, but it hit the wall beside her instead.
She turned. "This isn't over," she shouted. "Our world will be free of magic, and I will rule it all as I see fit!"
Stan swallowed his fear as the dead rose around them. The pile of bodies stirred, and Coryn vanished before their eyes.
The creatures shambled toward them faster than he'd ever seen them move. He built another wall of earth between them, forgetting they could move through it as easily as air. Easier, since air weaves held them in place until they broke through them.
Tovey reinforced the wall with air, but it crumpled in a matter of minutes. Worse, the undead could walk around it on both sides. He leaped back to avoid gnashing jaws around his outstretched hand.
"Fall back," Hugo called.
Fanidra's bloodcurdling scream drew Stan's attention. She was back on the ground with two of the undead creaturesrending her flesh with their teeth and claws. Coryn had made these creatures more predatory than the ones who had staggered out of the ocean on Aquarion. Their teeth were sharper than human teeth, and their claws extended for several inches, like daggers.
Hugo turned his back for a moment, and one creature leaped forward. It latched onto his sash and ripped it from his shoulder.
"Hugo!" Stan shouted.
Tovey yanked them both backward with air, just out of reach of two more creatures swinging for their throats.
The surrounding air froze as Hugo unleashed his ice. Stan stood in a cylinder of air while the undead around him stumbled to the ground. Some shattered, while others rolled forward. None rolled into Stan. He was safe, for the moment.
From his haven, Stan searched the courtyard for more threats. His attention was drawn to the base of the tree, where Coryn's loyalists fought a losing battle against the undead creatures. Their screams rivaled Fanidra's until they fell silent.
Fire blazed around him as Hugo lit up the frozen creatures, burning them to lifeless ash in moments. Stan felt triumph through his bond with Hugo, but then he returned his attention to the tree. Some of the remaining creatures were making their way across the courtyard toward Efren and Niall, but others ...
Stan tried to shout in warning, but his voice was constricted by the air weave inside his cylinder. He watched in horror as two creatures sliced at the tree, rending its bark and infecting it with their disease. They continued around the tree's base, slashing and cutting, and the infected darkness spread up into its branches.
Tovey released Stan from his confines, and he walked backward until he felt Tovey's shoulder against his.
Hugo had no time to worry about the tree. Several creatures pawed at him, their claws struggling against the barrier of air Tovey had put up around him. With another burst of ice, he froze the creatures in place, and then he burned them where they stood.
They'd cleared the courtyard, and everyone paused to take a few deep breaths. Between Tovey and Hugo, Klaus bent over his knees, panting. He'd killed a wave of the creatures on his own. Stan worried he would burn himself out, since no one knew how his power worked, or how quickly he could recover.
"We don't have much time," Klaus said as he turned toward Fanidra. "Coryn has turned the people we killed on our way here."
"How is she?" Stan pointed to Fanidra. She'd gone silent moments after Coryn's loyalists had stopped screaming. Stan had hoped that meant Yvette and Vadim could save her.
Klaus shook his head. "I don't get a reading from her."
She didn't have a magical aura, then. That didn't mean she was dead. It couldn't.
Yvette dropped her hand over Fanidra's eyes, closing them. Her own eyes filled with tears. "Fuck."
