Part 17 (1/2)

”Did you now?” I backed away a few steps, taking in my surroundings it case it rushed me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Will struggling with three of the goblins. One was on his back, trying to bite at his neck. I backed that way, careful to keep my body angled toward Nian.

”Yes. Except the child wasn't here. I've waited a long while to meet him.” The creature-Nian-shook itself like a wet dog. ”Yet, now that he's come, he's no longer a child.”

”Why is it speaking English?” Jamison squeaked.

The monster spared him a withering glance and said something in Chinese that made Jamison's eyes pop open wide.

”Yeah, so I'm tired of the games. What do you want?” I asked as orange light flashed behind me. A whoop of excitement went up and goblins screamed. They must not be fireproof. ”Because your friends are going down pretty fast.”

”Your power,” it said. ”Your blood.”

”Sorry,” I told it. ”I'm not giving that away today.”

Nian stared at me through half-lidded eyes, and its back haunches tensed, like it was about to pounce. ”I didn't think it would be easy. But it's worth the risk.”

Will was down to one last goblin and edging toward us. From the sound of magazines slamming into rifles and Johnson's rather dangerous humming of ”How Do You Like Me Now,” I gathered the team was at my back, ready to go, too. I just needed to keep the beast distracted long enough.

”Pretty big risk,” I told it. ”Why bother? What's so special about me?”

It snorted and stamped a hoof, sounding more like a bull than a lion for a moment. ”Don't take me for a fool, Archer. We all know who you are, what you are. For someone like me, your lifeblood would feed me for an age.”

I didn't like the sound of that. ”Then try to take it. Come on, I dare you.”

At the taunt it roared, and Tink roared back inside my head. Before I knew what the plan was, she launched me at Nian's head, knife out. I almost gouged out its eye, but it managed to duck at the last second. I sailed over its head, landed on its back and slid over the side.

I hit the ground on my bad leg. The pain took my breath away-long enough for Nian to turn and snap at me.

Will dodged between us and slashed the creature across its snout. It howled and b.u.t.ted him with its head. Will flew over me, landing hard and skidding another ten feet over rough ground before slamming into a tree trunk. Nian chuckled, and came at me again.

I rolled out of the way, struggling to pull in air. My only lucky break was the monster was too big to corner well-and I was quick.

Someone hosed Nian's hind end with a flamethrower, but its hide seemed to be made of iron and all the heat did was p.i.s.s it off. It turned and charged at the team. Johnson leapt on top of the Jeep, Nguyen dove under it and Lanningham jumped into the driver's seat as the creature pounded past them. Poor Jamison wasn't as quick. Nian rammed its giant skull into his chest with an audible crunch, then flicked him away like a fly. Jamison sailed into the darkness outside of camp. There was a thump when he hit ground, and nothing more.

Will's word, reds.h.i.+rt, echoed in my head and Tink's fury fed mine. ”Hey. You want me, not them. What are you waiting for?”

It turned once more and faced me. I stood my ground, a memory bubbling up out of nowhere. I gripped the knife with my right hand, bracing the heel of the handle with my left palm. Blade up, elbows turned out. Feet dug into the dirt.

Sometimes old ways were the best ways.

Nian charged, a frenzied red light in its eyes, but I didn't flinch. Between one blink and the next, the creature became a Bear, running at a terrified fourteen-year-old boy in the Montana woods. Another blink and it was Nian again, almost on top of me.

I sidestepped the beast, sprang up and jammed my blade into its chest. Too big to stop on a dime, Nian continued forward even as I cut a line from its shoulder to its hip. The monster toppled over, shaking the ground beneath it, but it wasn't dead-just nearly.

I walked over to kneel in front of its eye. ”Is this what you came for?”

It blew a shallow breath out of its nostrils. ”Yes.”

Okay, that wasn't what I thought it would say. ”Yes? Really, you came to die?”

”I wanted ... ” It shuddered and its eye closed. ”To see if the legends were true. Our lord asked me to seek you out to gauge your power.”

”Your lord? Who's that?”

”A living flame who gives us life.” It shuddered again. ”He comes and you will burn.”

Before I could ask any other questions, Nian let out a soft, rattling breath and died.

The creature of Fire, Tink answered. We're on his trail.

”Technically, it sounds like he's on ours,” I said.

Semantics.

”Yeah, semantics.” What mattered was that we'd identified the fourth point on Zenka's star, Fire, and someone would likely burn. We had to find the shaman before the prime monster found us. Which led me to a difficult request.

”Captain Johnson?” I said.

”Yes?”

”I need someone to find my dad.”

Chapter Twenty-One.

Kelly came out of Will's tent, squinting in the early morning light. His face was pale but his stride was determined as he crossed camp. Although he wasn't a big guy, I could tell the others respected him by the way they nodded as he pa.s.sed.

Unspoken rule: never diss the guy who might have to st.i.tch you up after a fight. Especially if he's good at it. That had been true about Klimmett-who I missed, but he was on Ramirez's team in Alaska-and I suspected I'd come to believe it about Kelly after a while.

I was sitting on an upturned crate while Blakeney cleaned debris out of the punctures on my calf. All the rolling and dodging had torn my bandages off, and bits of rocks and plant matter had ground into the open places. When Kelly made it over, Blakeney stood aside.

He held my leg out into the sunlight, peering into the teeth marks. ”Looks good, considering. Sergeant did a good job.”

”How's Cruessan?” I asked, ma.s.saging my temples. Tink had tried to ease the withdrawal this time, or that's what she said anyway. My pounding head couldn't tell the difference.

”Bruised hip, punctures on his shoulder and right arm and a righteous case of road rash from sliding across the ground after being thrown, but he'll live. He needs a day to recover from getting his bell rung, but nothing major enough to need to evac him.”

”How about ... ” I found I couldn't say Jamison's name. The scene was too fresh.

”We found him,” Blakeney said quietly, and I noted how Kelly's hands shook. They must've been friends. ”The colonel will send someone to retrieve him and bring in more supplies.” He flashed me a wry smile. ”Nguyen asked for a shoulder mounted rocket launcher with anti-tank missiles. The terrain's too tough for vehicles, so he wanted something with kick that he could carry.”

”Well, Nian did say the Big Boss is after us. A few anti-tank missiles don't sound like overkill to me.” I winced as Kelly deadened my leg with lidocaine. ”I'm guessing air support isn't feasible?”

”The captain said not unless we pinpointed the location. With the forests, a fighter or an Apache can't see what's happening on the ground, especially since we're on a slope in the mountains.”

”Okay.” I turned my head away from the needle going through my skin. I hated this part. No matter how many times-and it'd been a lot-I'd gotten st.i.tches, I was still grossed out by the idea that someone was sewing me back together.