The hellhound—which was bigger and more muscled than a wolf—growled deep in its throat, and red foam spattered its muzzle as it lunged ather.
Angelique smacked it in the head with her muff as she struggled to hold onto her fire spell rather than releaseit.
The hellhound shook its head and tried to snag her skirt with its teeth, but Angelique turned on her heels andran.
“What are you doing?” Stilshouted.
“Getting closer to the nightmare.” Angelique zig-zagged a little when the hellhound almost managed to grab the edge of her whitemuff.
Stil almost dropped his spear. “What? Forget the nightmare; just use your spell on thehellhound!”
“Absolutely not,” Angelique snorted. “That would be awaste.”
“You’re getting chased by ahellhound!” Stil yelled, his voice cracking with anger andworry.
Angelique decided not to waste her air and tucked her chin as she ran for the nightmare and rider.Almostthere!
The rider had turned the nightmare around and was now considering Angelique as it slowly loaded another bolt into itscrossbow.
Between the hellhound snarling behind her and the rider raising his crossbow, she was in a tricky situation. If she could just fit in a few morestrides…
She heard the crunch of snow as the hellhound crouched, then lunged ather.
Angelique twisted around, but she could already tell she was reacting too late. The hellhound was going to grab her by thearm.
“Angelique!”
Stil threw his spear with a grunt. The hellhound pulled back in time to avoid the weapon, scattering snow into the air and tripping over its ownpaws.
“Thanks.” Angelique plucked the spear from the ground and swung around with her hand extended, just as the rider set its finger against thetrigger.
She hurriedly flung the spell from her, realizing—rather belatedly—that she had neglected to stop funneling magic into it, and as a result, it had grown quitepotent.
“Stil,duck!” Angeliqueshouted.
“What?”
The spell ignited, belching an incinerating fire that was the size of a small horse stable into existence, shaking the ground with the release ofpower.
The rider shot its crossbow at the same time Angelique’s spell ignited, making the nightmare rear and the shot gowide.
The fire blazed hot and high. It melted a great deal of the ice wall Stil crouched behind and set the hellhound’s tail onfire.
The nightmare shrieked in the heart of the fire—but its ear-piercing scream was covered by the hungry roar of theblaze.
Angelique brandished Stil’s spear above her head as she tried to line up a clear shot while the rider writhed. Flames licked at her knees, and the hellhound spun around and ran back into the shadows of the night.Yep. I did not mean for it to getthatbig.
Angelique’s eyes watered from the smoke of the fire, but when the flames started to subside, she ran toward the nightmare and rider, hefting thespear.
She skidded to a stop, barely avoiding the flailing nightmare as it reared again. She adjusted her feet to a firm stance and waited for the nightmare to land before she stabbed Stil’s spear forward and yanked it up in an upperslice.
The winged spearhead cut through the rider’s chest, making an uglywound.
The rider dropped its crossbow and grappled at its chest, a whispering hiss squeezing from it while the nightmare shrieked. But even as a tarry black substance leaked from the ugly slice, Angelique knew she hadn’t inflicted the rider with a mortalwound.
She snapped her hand, channeling her powers into ice magic. She exhaled silvery puffs as she started to clamp ice around the nightmare’shooves.
The creature crow-hopped—almost dislodging its stooping rider as it broke free of the ice—then took off at a gallop, swiftly disappearing into theshadows.
