My jaw locks and I get a muscle cramp in it the size of a walnut. My teeth clamp so hard they hurt.
The Hag isnt even knitting with them. She didnt even want them. She just killed and threw them away like trash!
She wants Christian. And it looks like shes ready to kill every last one of us to get him.
Get inside! I shout at the women, trying to herd them back toward the abbey.
Sidhe-seers duck and scatter like a herd of gazelles running from cheetahs. Stupid sheep are supposed to be pack animals and that means, duh, run in a pack!
The Hag swoops and takes two more of my sisters! Blood sprays everywhere and folks are screaming like crazy.
Im so mad Im shaking. Its total chaos. Before, it was just us we had to watch out for. Now the Hag is dive-bombing hundreds of helpless humans and I dont know who to help first.
Ryodans covering Jo, Kat, and a dozen others.
Lors protecting a bunch of pretty blondesfigures!
Christian has like fifty women around him. I realize hes turned on his death-by-sex Fae lure and its working like magnet-to-magnets. Hes got a second skin of pretty sidhe-seers. I wonder if he did it on purpose for a shield or if its just taking everything hes got to stay out of her reach and he cant suppress it. If he did it for a shield, Ill kill him myself.
How are we going to kill the Hag? None of us can get close enough, past her lethal legs. Not even my sword is any good. I can throw it, but the bitch is faster than a witch on a quidditch broom! Dancers idea of trying to snake a cable around her and electrocute her is starting to look like a good one. Too bad we dont have any cables handy down this end.
Holy sonic booms! I exclaim. I may not have a cable but I do have something thats long and thin, and Indiana Jones sure made good use of it in desperate times.
I yank out my whip, freeze-frame to the outer edge of the crowd for a good shot, and crack it straight up at the Hag!
It flails limply, puddles back down on my head and I get tangled up in it. I cant even get the stupid thing off me. I swear those black holes in her face regard me with amused contempt. Apparently theres some skill to cracking a whip and I dont have time to learn it. It never looked hard on TV.
Mega! Dancer yells. I see him in the crowd, jumping up, waving both hands in the air.
I ball it up, knot the cord around the handle for weight, and toss it to him. He catches it, unties it and snaps it at the swooping Hag.
It explodes within a foot of her lethal left leg and sets off a small sonic boom.
She inhales, a horrific, wet, screeching sound, and rockets straight up into the sky. I dont know if its because she cant believe something got so close to her leg or if her hearing is so sensitive that the sonar explosion gave her a migraine. Whatevershe doesnt like it one bit.
When she divesagain, Dancer goes for her head this time and sets off a sonic boom right next to her ear.
She reels backward and vanishes upward into purple lights.
Me and Dancer beam at each other.
He cracks the whip triumphantly.
But this time it doesnt crack. It makes no sound at all. Not even a tiny little hiss as it slices through the air.
Because, like, all sound just disappeared.
Figures that when the fog finally rolls in, every last one of us is on the wrong end of the playing field.
FORTY-TWO
Try to set the night on fire
I think the reason I didnt feel panic preceding the Hoar Frost Kings arrival this time is because I was already feeling too much panic for more panic to penetrate. The Crimson Hag butchering sidhe-seers had me so frantic, I forgot why we were even out in the snow to begin with.
Like, to summon the Hoar Frost King.
And hes here.
And somebodys got to cut that fecking tether because if we dont turn the IFP loose, the Hoar Frost King is going to ice the speakers and vanish and itll all have been for nothing! Worse still, if its as smart as I think, it wont fall for the same trick twice. The sentience I feel rolling off it is gigantic. This is no simple-minded Unseelie. I dont know cause I havent seen them all yet but it could be the most complex one the King ever made. I wonder if he maybe swirled a dash of himself into its beaker.
What happens next feels like it happens in slow-mo though I know it doesnt take any time at all.
Ryodan and Lor vanish, fast-mo-ing it to the other end of the field. I look from the sidhe-seers to the slit thats opening, stymied, trying to figure out how to protect the sidhe-seers and cut the tether at the same time. Do I save the women I care about who are standing right next to me or do I save the world? I may be a superhero but I got everyday Joe feelings.
I see Christian and hes looking at me hard. He says without making any sound at all, You cant do both, Dani, my love.
I know that, I mouth pissily.
Its me shes after.
Your point?
He vanishes.
I cant find him anywhere for a sec.
Next thing I see is him standing, just standing there in the middle of the field between me and the other end, with his arms spread wide, head tossed back, wearing a come and get me expression.
What are you doing? I scream, but not a peep comes out.
The Crimson Hag swoops.
I jerk violently, like Im the one that got stuck when she guts him.
She doesnt flay him, though. She pierces him with one leg like hes a shish kebob and draws him up toward her skirt. As she folds him into her dripping embrace he gives me a look. I cant make sense of it. I dont get it. Why did he do that? I dont get it! Why would anybody do such a stupid thing!
The Hag isnt even knitting with them. She didnt even want them. She just killed and threw them away like trash!
She wants Christian. And it looks like shes ready to kill every last one of us to get him.
Get inside! I shout at the women, trying to herd them back toward the abbey.
Sidhe-seers duck and scatter like a herd of gazelles running from cheetahs. Stupid sheep are supposed to be pack animals and that means, duh, run in a pack!
The Hag swoops and takes two more of my sisters! Blood sprays everywhere and folks are screaming like crazy.
Im so mad Im shaking. Its total chaos. Before, it was just us we had to watch out for. Now the Hag is dive-bombing hundreds of helpless humans and I dont know who to help first.
Ryodans covering Jo, Kat, and a dozen others.
Lors protecting a bunch of pretty blondesfigures!
Christian has like fifty women around him. I realize hes turned on his death-by-sex Fae lure and its working like magnet-to-magnets. Hes got a second skin of pretty sidhe-seers. I wonder if he did it on purpose for a shield or if its just taking everything hes got to stay out of her reach and he cant suppress it. If he did it for a shield, Ill kill him myself.
How are we going to kill the Hag? None of us can get close enough, past her lethal legs. Not even my sword is any good. I can throw it, but the bitch is faster than a witch on a quidditch broom! Dancers idea of trying to snake a cable around her and electrocute her is starting to look like a good one. Too bad we dont have any cables handy down this end.
Holy sonic booms! I exclaim. I may not have a cable but I do have something thats long and thin, and Indiana Jones sure made good use of it in desperate times.
I yank out my whip, freeze-frame to the outer edge of the crowd for a good shot, and crack it straight up at the Hag!
It flails limply, puddles back down on my head and I get tangled up in it. I cant even get the stupid thing off me. I swear those black holes in her face regard me with amused contempt. Apparently theres some skill to cracking a whip and I dont have time to learn it. It never looked hard on TV.
Mega! Dancer yells. I see him in the crowd, jumping up, waving both hands in the air.
I ball it up, knot the cord around the handle for weight, and toss it to him. He catches it, unties it and snaps it at the swooping Hag.
It explodes within a foot of her lethal left leg and sets off a small sonic boom.
She inhales, a horrific, wet, screeching sound, and rockets straight up into the sky. I dont know if its because she cant believe something got so close to her leg or if her hearing is so sensitive that the sonar explosion gave her a migraine. Whatevershe doesnt like it one bit.
When she divesagain, Dancer goes for her head this time and sets off a sonic boom right next to her ear.
She reels backward and vanishes upward into purple lights.
Me and Dancer beam at each other.
He cracks the whip triumphantly.
But this time it doesnt crack. It makes no sound at all. Not even a tiny little hiss as it slices through the air.
Because, like, all sound just disappeared.
Figures that when the fog finally rolls in, every last one of us is on the wrong end of the playing field.
FORTY-TWO
Try to set the night on fire
I think the reason I didnt feel panic preceding the Hoar Frost Kings arrival this time is because I was already feeling too much panic for more panic to penetrate. The Crimson Hag butchering sidhe-seers had me so frantic, I forgot why we were even out in the snow to begin with.
Like, to summon the Hoar Frost King.
And hes here.
And somebodys got to cut that fecking tether because if we dont turn the IFP loose, the Hoar Frost King is going to ice the speakers and vanish and itll all have been for nothing! Worse still, if its as smart as I think, it wont fall for the same trick twice. The sentience I feel rolling off it is gigantic. This is no simple-minded Unseelie. I dont know cause I havent seen them all yet but it could be the most complex one the King ever made. I wonder if he maybe swirled a dash of himself into its beaker.
What happens next feels like it happens in slow-mo though I know it doesnt take any time at all.
Ryodan and Lor vanish, fast-mo-ing it to the other end of the field. I look from the sidhe-seers to the slit thats opening, stymied, trying to figure out how to protect the sidhe-seers and cut the tether at the same time. Do I save the women I care about who are standing right next to me or do I save the world? I may be a superhero but I got everyday Joe feelings.
I see Christian and hes looking at me hard. He says without making any sound at all, You cant do both, Dani, my love.
I know that, I mouth pissily.
Its me shes after.
Your point?
He vanishes.
I cant find him anywhere for a sec.
Next thing I see is him standing, just standing there in the middle of the field between me and the other end, with his arms spread wide, head tossed back, wearing a come and get me expression.
What are you doing? I scream, but not a peep comes out.
The Crimson Hag swoops.
I jerk violently, like Im the one that got stuck when she guts him.
She doesnt flay him, though. She pierces him with one leg like hes a shish kebob and draws him up toward her skirt. As she folds him into her dripping embrace he gives me a look. I cant make sense of it. I dont get it. Why did he do that? I dont get it! Why would anybody do such a stupid thing!
