Page 50 of Storm of Fury
The bow could shoot a hooked barb into the air, where it would tangle in adreki’swings. But it was the thin steel cord attached to the hook that they’d use to anchor thedreki. They just needed something heavy enough to prevent the creature from merely hauling it into the skies.
“Give me a second,” Tormund yelled, scrambling toward the princess.
Ishtar stood and stared at the approachingdrekias if she was mesmerized.
“Your Highness?” Tormund tried to catch her attention. “Ishtar? You’re going to be safe, remember? We’ll protect you. But I think it wise if you took shelter among those rocks while we fight.”
She was tracing little patterns in the air, and where her finger stirred, little green sparks hissed and crackled. For a second, he thought he saw some sort of rune, but then it evaporated.
“Ishtar, what are you doing?” Marduk asked, his gaze locked on the third rune she began tracing. This one hung in the air, glowing green. Another joined it, and the prince’s face paled. “Those are elvish runes. It’s forbidden fordrekito use them. We don’t want to draw the attention of the ljósálfar!”
Tormund looked at him sharply.
But each rune was vibrating now, and the air tasted metallic. The princess’s arm began to feel hot.What in God’s name?
“Whoa!” He jerked his hands away from her as a vortex of green sparks swept around her.
“Ishtar!” Marduk screamed, grabbing for her.
A swirl of eerie green light enveloped her and the princess vanished. Marduk managed to catch the cloak she’d been wearing, wrenching it aside as if she somehow stood behind it.
“Ishtar?” Tormund gaped, waving his arm through the air.
She was gone.
But that was… impossible?
He didn’t even know anymore. Each day this world of magic and myth showed him something new and wondrous.
“I can’t feel her.” Marduk sounded panicked. “She’s gone silent. The song’s gone. I can’t—” His head whipped toward the north and his brow wrinkled. “There she is. She just… popped back into existence again. But to the north. Far to the north somewhere.”
“Maybe she created a portal,” Bryn snapped, drawing her sword. “If adrekicourt is formed within a Chaos-bubble, then Chaos magic must be able to create portals.”
“She won’t know where she is,” Marduk said, his eyes wild. “Or what to do.”
Bryn grabbed his arm, pointing her sword toward the incomingdreki. “Let’s deal with this problem first. If you get us out of here, then we can hunt Ishtar afterward. If we’re captured or killed, then she’s going to be all alone.”
Marduk visibly wiped the turmoil from his brow. “They’re too close. Get ready. I’ll try and drive some of them off, and then come back for you.”
“Sirius said—”
Marduk threw himself into the air, a cascade of golden sparks erupting into an enormousdrekithat hauled itself upward with huge, beating strokes of its wings.
“Damn it.” Tormund drew his axe. Without adrekior a ballista, the three of them were virtually defenseless. “How many pairs of trousers doeshehave?”
“Take cover!” Haakon yelled, bolting across the countryside toward a rocky overhang. “Tormund!”
“On it!” He sprinted toward Haakon, and the pair of them began winding the steel cord around an enormous boulder. “Get ready! Here they come!”
Haakon wound the crossbow tight, and Tormund stepped in front of him to cover his cousin. “Bryn?”
She stood alone in the middle of the clearing, flames licking up the length of her sword.
“Bryn!” he yelled again.
“Shoot it!” she screamed.
She set her stance, one he recognized all too well. Thedrekidove toward her, its wings flat against its body, and its lungs heaving. Bryn merely lifted the sword.
