Book 2, Chapter 116 - Frost Emerges (2/2)

The young enemy demonhunter howled in anger and embarrassment. “Find a way out!”

Gabriel’s face split into a warm and genial smile. “I’m afraid that’s unlikely.”

His fingers danced, and the threads began to dance with them.

The tracker anxiously responded to his comrade. “No good, they move! Careful, they’re coming our way!”

The remaining demonhunters did what they could do protect themselves, but how could they defend against what they couldn’t see? How were they supposed to fight back? In the midst of their confusion, Cloudhawk gathered up the sand around him and cast it at the group. His sandstorm could pass unhindered through Gabriel’s net, so the two of them made a deadly and effective pair.

“Go!”

Claudia and Drake hurried the survivors toward the aqueduct.

Cloudhawk and Gabriel were breathlessly trying to hold their foes at bay. Once most of their charges had escaped, they had expended most of their psychic energy. They disengaged and prepared to leave as well. Gabriel was careful to lay out a wave of threads to cover their retreat. Following Cloudhawk and the others wasn’t going to be easy for these pursuers.

“The mountains are about five kilometers ahead. Let’s go!”

As the four trainees lead the survivors from the village they got their first glimpse of hope. They were less than a kilometer away when that hope was crushed.

A figure clad in a snow-white cloak barred their path. Inserted in the ground beside him was a crystalline spear that seethed with a cold mist. When they got close, the man’s frigid blue eyes opened and fell upon them. Their heartless gaze was like a lake of ice.

A solemn expression came onto Cloudhawk’s face. He lifted his hand, entreating the others to stop.

The survivors didn’t know what was happening.

Frost de Winter plucked Frozen Dirge from the ground, and immediately he was surrounded with an aura of bone-chilling cold. Where he walked, the grass and soil instantly was covered in a veil of ice. His voice washed over them like a frigid wind from the peak of a lofty mountain, biting deep into their souls.

“A wastelander scum, a boorish soldier, a waste of breath, and a traitor. You make quite the team.”

Drake grit his teeth. “Frost! Are you also without any moral imperatives?”

“Moral imperatives?” He held frozen dirge at the ready. A cold breeze had begun to whistle around it. “My moral imperative is to help all of you on your way to hell.”

Gabriel wiggled his fingers, causing threads to slither free. Ten imperceptible strings shot out, severing grass and carving grooves through the ground. Filled with the blonde traitor’s murderous intent, they started to build their pattern.

Frost lifted his spear with both hands. It released a blast of icy-cold wind.

Gabriel’s threads were infected with a creeping cold. Layers of ice thickened them until they were visible, about as thick as yarn. Then, they shattered.

“Ah!”

Gabriel staggered backward, his face pale. The cold had covered him, too, making his hands numb and unresponsive. He could hardly move, and that was only after the briefest contact.

Cloudhawk was also disheartened. Frost was stronger than he remembered.

Had he also grown stronger in these last few months? Cloudhawk guessed he was about as strong as the instructors from Hell’s Valley by now. In time, he would easily grow to be twice as powerful.

No wonder he was one of Skycloud’s singular talents. No wonder he had come under the tutelage of Skycloud’s greatest teacher.

Frost swung his spear around, its bladed head carving a trough through the ground. He moved with the grace and precision of a dancer as he marked out the circle. Whatever the spear passed, a trail of ice was left behind. From it rose a slithering crystal serpent, covered in icy scales that made it look entirely lifelike. It glided along the shaft of Frost’s spear until it reached the end, then shot out toward the survivors.

“Ah!”

The villagers screamed in fear. They were helpless to defend themselves.

A hundred translucent petals exploded from Claudia’s body, becoming a tempest of cutting metal. However, as the ice serpent charged through it the petals did little more than cause nicks and scratches. All it managed to do was slow the attack down.

“Spearhead!”

The ground caved beneath Drake’s feet and he launched forward. Fast as lightning he charged, blade first into the serpent and they met with a loud crash. The serpent began to fracture, and as it did its icy body detonated into a hundred shards. In the blink of an eye, Drake was peppered with dozens of punctures. The shards of ice slipped through him as easily as water and immediately he felt like he was frozen stiff.

Not good!

Cloudhawk engaged his cloak, using its speed and invisibility to get Drake and bring him back to safety. The soldier was a sitting duck, and the next blow was sure to take his life.