Of Sorcery and Snow (26 page)

The next wolf skulked in low and tried to bite my sword arm. A snap kick sent him straight into the water.

Recovering, the first one tried to jump on my back, but the sword's magic sent me down to a crouch. Instead, he landed on his buddy's shoulder, teeth ripping, a bite probably meant for my neck. The third wolf howled, just for an instant, before I smashed my sword hilt at the top of his head and the first wolf's.

So, three down. I wasn't about to ask Chase what his score was, but judging from the trail of bodies he'd left behind on the ice islands, I had some catching up to do.

“I will get you, Rory Landon! They won't go unavenged!” cried the little wolf, but since he still hadn't managed to get out of the water, I wasn't too worried.

Hot breath blasted my neck, and I threw myself to the side, waiting for wolf teeth to sink into my flesh.

Instead, something thwacked behind me—Lena's spear on the wolf's head. And just in time. It landed, unconscious, just a few inches from me. “I guess it does depend on the one I take out,” she said.

If we'd had more time, I would have hugged her. “Thanks, Lena.”

“I want to try something! Can you come fight a little closer?” she
said. Twelve white wolves had closed in on the cage. The reindeer were safe for now, pressed back against the bars, but the dwarves' spears were barely holding off the pack. Miriam's sword was bloody, her face ashen—she'd killed one who'd gotten too close.

They definitely needed help.

We sprinted back to them.

“No! Keep them separated!” Ripper said. “If Rory helps the magician cast another spell, I will personally rip out all your throats.”

“Dude, don't worry about them. Worry about
me
,” said Chase from a couple ice floats over. I really hoped he didn't get any closer to the Big Bad Wolf, and not just because of the bet.

Then the line of Arctic wolves attacking the others turned and faced me. I threw myself at them, carving a path for Lena.

My world dissolved to a storm of white fur, yellow teeth, black gums, and my next move: left punch, snap kick, duck, hilt smash, duck, roll, jumping snap kick, strike with the flat part of the sword, duck again . . . I barely had time to register what my body was doing, but it was hard to ignore the big ragged breaths that started when I got tired.

I couldn't see what Lena was up to, so I was kind of shocked when she called, “That's good, Rory! I'm ready now!”

I let go of one wolf's tail—I'd yanked him back when he'd tried to jump at Miriam—and looked up. Beyond a clump of unconscious wolf bodies—
had I done that?
—Lena had laid out dozens of bats inside the comb cage. Metal ones, wooden ones, ones so old all the lettering had been rubbed off, ones so new they were still in their plastic wrappers, and one particularly scary one with nails driven into it.

“Whoa.” I hilt-smashed the wolf who tried to take me down while I was talking. Lena had told me she'd brought some bats, but
not how
many
. “When did you leave the quest and raid a sports consignment store?”

She beamed. “Up, bats!”

They stood on their handles. Lena had her own very
skinny
army.

“Beat some furry backsides!” Lena cried. “And you five, break Ripper's nose!”

Just like the one in the Shakespeare Garden, the bats rose up into the air, sailed around me, and headed straight for the wolves. Some of the pack tried to run away, but most of them just stared as the baseball bats found their targets.

A big batch found some wolves staggering out of the water—their wet fur was tipped with icicles—and the bats shoveled the dripping soldiers back in, winging into their ribs. The canines flew back in a long arc that ended with a huge splash. Mark howled as he went in again.

I lowered my sword, impressed. With the Bats of Destruction, there weren't any wolves left for me to fight.

My favorite bats were the five Lena sent after Ripper. One minute, the huge wolf was staring at Chase with a huge toothy grin, probably imagining the best way to eat him. The next, he was ducking and yelping as big metal sticks took turns dive-bombing at his face.

“Retreat!” Ripper howled, until another bat struck him in the nose. Then he bit down on the silver chain hanging from his left leg and yanked it off.

He disappeared, and so did every single wolf in his army.

“They're gone,” Lena said. Her bats hung in midair, spinning slowly, giving me the creepy impression that they were
looking
for something.

“So, that means . . . we won?” Miriam said, disbelieving. It
did
kind of seem like a miracle.

“Indeed.” Walking back to the mounts, Hadriane stroked their noses, trying to calm them down. Then, with a pretty good impression of Forrel's deep voice, she said, “No chance, then. Saddle the reindeer. I'll hold them off.”

Forrel just kept glancing at Lena, the comb cage, and then the bats with a stunned frown. He hadn't totally figured out what had happened.

“Crap. I was so close to getting Ripper.” Chase pulled that funny rope thing from his pack. After whirling it a couple times, he hooked the shoreline and started towing himself back to the rest of us. I guess he didn't want to risk exposing his invisible wings outside the battle.

Lena gasped. “The cuff things! They were rings of return! I mean, not
rings,
obviously. It's hard to use rings when you don't have hands, but it's the exact same spell—it
must
be—but Ripper's must have been rigged to activate everyone else's if he used his.” She only talked this fast when she got excited about an invention, so I knew what she'd say next. “I can't believe I didn't get a sample.”

Yep, that earned her a weird look from Miriam, Forrel, and Hadriane. I smiled. Obviously they weren't used to my favorite inventor yet. “Next time we fight the wolves, I'll try to get one for you.”

Still disappointed, Lena lifted her carryall and held the biggest pocket open. “Up, bats! Back to the sack!” The bats swung around and swooped toward Lena, sailing straight into her backpack, one by one.

I laughed, shaky and giddy with relief. Not even the fang-shaped
rip I found on the hem of my jacket could freak me out. “You fixed all of those just now? While we were fighting?”

“Yep!” Lena said happily. “It wasn't
hard
, but . . .” The last Bat of Destruction dropped in, and she zipped up her carryall, looking a little worried. “I did have to use ten dragon scales.”

Then we probably didn't have any spares left. “I'm not sure we could have won without them.”

“Speak for yourself,” Chase said, still reeling his ice raft in. “We had things under control.”

“But she totally kicked the wolf army's butt in what—less than forty-five seconds?” I pointed out. “Chase, I think she just won our bet.”

“No way. And if you think our bet is off just because Lena—” Ten feet from shore, Chase paused to shoot me a glare, and then his face changed. “Watch out!”

A blur of gray fur bounded out from behind a boulder and sprinted straight for
Lena
. Unfortunately for him, I was in his way. One punch was all it took to knock him back on the ice, and he lay still for a second, stunned.

It was Mark. He'd managed to get out of the water again. I lowered the point of my sword to his throat.

He scrambled up on all four white paws, shivering so hard I felt sorry for him.

Lena crept up behind me, pointing to his cuff. “His charm's gone! Look! That's why he didn't go back with the others. He must have broken it when he was trying to climb back to shore.”

So now we had a prisoner. One who was whining in the back of his throat and dripping water so cold that the puddle underneath him was already turning to ice.

“What do we do with him?” Miriam said, her lip curling.

“It's your Tale. It's up to you,” Lena replied.

“We could use him, couldn't we?” I said. Last year Chase and I had defeated Iron Hans, and just look at how helpful
he'd
been since. Even Forrel and Hadriane had seemed like enemies at first. Maybe Mark could lead us the rest of the way. Maybe he knew a back entrance to the Snow Queen's palace. Maybe he knew where the kidnapped kids were being held. “Binding Oath, maybe?”

“Wait,” Chase said, sounding worried. He jumped the last five feet to land, dumped his rope, and ran toward us. “I'll take care of him. Just wait for me.”

I shouldn't have looked away.

“I'll
never
help you.” Then Mark leaped.

Lena screamed and fell, pinned under his huge paws. She threw an arm out to keep his teeth from her throat. His jaws closed over her wrist instead. He whipped his head from side to side. Her skin ripped. I saw red.

It happened so fast, too quickly for the sword's magic to flow into me and take over.

One slice, and his head was shorn from his shoulders.

One slice, and he was dead.

I'd killed him.

t's okay, Rory,” Lena said, but she was sobbing, her chest all scratched from the wolf's claws, her arm torn up from his teeth.

I tried to dig the Water of Life out of Lena's carryall, but Miriam gently pushed me away, looking pointedly at my hands. They were trembling. When Forrel placed the combs in my palms, all three dropped to the ground before I could close my fingers. Right beside them, a pool of blood stained the snow.

I couldn't look at the body.

Chase put my sword back into my hand. The blade shone silver in the moonlight—he must have cleaned it for me. It took me three tries to sheathe it, my hands shook so much.

“I'll get your M3.” Then Chase fled. He probably thought I was going to cry.

I didn't feel like crying. I felt hollow and raw and leaden, like a witch had scraped my insides out and left metal replacements instead.

When Miriam squeezed out a few drops of water, Lena didn't wait to check on her wounds. She just launched herself at me, murmuring, “It's okay, it's okay, it's okay.”

And I stood there, letting her hug me.

But it wasn't okay. I wasn't the same Rory I'd been when I woke up that morning, and I liked the earlier version better.

We mounted soon after that. We couldn't exactly go back to sleep.

Every time a thought nudged its way in my mind, I shoved it back out again. Instead, I noticed things on the ride.

I noticed how pretty the ice islands were. I noticed how massive the bay was, the way it stretched on and on, out of sight, even after the sun climbed above the horizon. I noticed Hadriane, Forrel, and Lena debating about how much time going around the bay had added to our journey. Miriam took the lead, forcing the mounts faster and faster until Hadriane called her back, saying that pace would kill the reindeer. Chase stared intently at the M3's as he rode, counting on his fingers. He was still trying to figure out who won the bet, even though it didn't matter anymore.