I restrained myself from yelling at him for battling monstersbare-handed again. I would yell at him later if we both managed to survive. “The one you threw—is it dead?”
“No. When I hurl them down, they just get right back up. Nothing I try does any lasting damage.”
What weapons could be brought to bear against these indestructible creatures? “I don’t suppose you brought any siege engines along?”
The ghost of a smile alighted on Sam’s lips. “Sadly, no.”
“Seems like an oversight.”
“After today, I’ll carry a trebuchet whereverI—”
He cut himself off when he noticed the expression on my face. Over his shoulder, I could see what was coming up the hill. Not just my original pursuer, Sapling Elbow, but also two more. Behind it was the moss-speckled one I’d seen attacked by roses and another with dark striations banded across its chest.
They didn’t attempt to force their way through the too-narrow gap. Sapling Elbow pounded on the smallest of the trees in the outer ring, a youngish one scarce a hundred feet high, trying to smash it to pieces. Futilely, I hoped. Moss Speckle and Chest Bands circled the tree line, peering between the trunks. Hunting for a large enough break in the barrier. It wouldn’t take them very long to find one. The trees weren’t anything like a real fence and were giving us only a brief reprieve.
The young tree shuddered under Sapling Elbow’s blows. Sam shouted to make himself heard above the pounding. “You should run. I’ll try to hold them off for as long as I can—”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” I snapped. “I’m not leaving you alone to get trampled into bits.”
He nodded but had no time to say anything else. Moss Speckle had found a way to squeeze through.
Sam charged before it was able to do much more than turn in our direction. He slipped his hands under its carriage-size foot. With a mighty heave, Sam threw the creature off-balance,toppling it over. By then, Chest Bands was rushing toward me. I dove aside just in time to evade being crushed beneath its heel.
A fist thumped down so close I was splattered with slush. I leapt back only to be caught on the side by the flat of its other hand.
The blow sent me flying twenty feet or more. I slid another ten when I landed, stopping just short of braining myself against a tree. My whole body throbbed; if nothing was broken, I’d be lucky.
There was a creak like an enormous rusty door being forced open. I blinked away the black dots swarming in my vision and saw Sapling Elbow had its arms wrapped around the tree blocking its path. With an earsplitting crack, the trunk began to tilt.
Sam skidded to a halt next to me. Behind him, Chest Bands was picking itself up. I hadn’t seen Sam knock it over. Too much was happening all at once.
“All three of them will be here soon,” he said, panting. “If you’ve been holding back any great feats of sorcery, now would be the time.” He didn’t look optimistic.
I wasn’t hopeful myself. Even if I could dredge up some kind of enchantment, what would work against them? What weaknesses did a rock have? Not fire, not lightning. Clearly not snow or sleet. Strength hadn’t broken them. Weapons didn’t scratch them. I doubted that the mightiest of death curses would stop them, if I knew any. They had no blood to boil or bones to splinter.
The drunkenly tilting tree vanished from the line like an abruptly pulled tooth. Long seconds later, a crash jolted the ground as it fell somewhere below.
The ground will shake; the earth will quake….
Sapling Elbow appeared in the empty space where the tree had been and stepped up to join its fellows. Three great slabs of animate rock marched forward through the pelting snow.Beside me, Sam braced himself, chin tucked to his chest, ready for the fight. They would be upon us in moments.
Your love one breath away from death…
His fingers brushed mine.
And clinging by his fingertips…
I curled my hand around Sam’s.
My thoughts floated in a peculiar bubble of calm. I felt detached from the events around me, a dispassionate observer of my own terror. The stone giants seemed far away, their movements lethargic, as if they were walking underwater.
What good had Gnoflwhogir’s warning been? There was nothing I could do. I wasn’t powerful enough. And I had no way to increase what meager power I possessed. I did not have the Golden Key, or a hair plucked from a devil’s tail, or…
Or…
If you would save him from the grave, / The answer lies upon your lips.
Maybe Liam had given me something useful in my dream after all—a clue, pressed against my cheek before he vanished.
