Blue fire erupted behind the fae, stopping them from retreating backwards as April funneled more of her magic into the fire, and Medium Sized Robert moved to support her.
I rushed to join Considine, ducking under his extended arm and slugging the dryad in the gut. When he folded he dropped the club and I pistol-whipped him in the head. He fell with a groan.
Considine stepped around me, his fingers grazing my leg before he tugged one of my daggers from my thigh bandolier. “I’ll be borrowing this!”
He sidestepped a goblin who tried to run him through with a rusty sword and rapped my dagger on the goblin’s fingers.
The goblin let go of the sword and tried to back up, but Considine grabbed him by the neck of his dirty shirt and flung him at an incoming brownie, squashing the shorter fae.
A banshee started screaming—the noise was so painful it would make our ears bleed if I didn’t take her out fast.
She was just beyond the goblin and brownie, out of reach.
“Considine, boost, please!” I shouted.
Considine changed his stance to something wider legged and formed a stirrup by clasping his hands together.
I put my left foot in it, and he flung me up, so I flipped over the brownie/goblin pile and landed squarely on the banshee.
Her cry cut off with a croak.
Frightened by Considine and me, but penned in by Medium Sized Robert and April’s impressive show of firepower, some of the fae tried to escape to the opposite side of the street.
Orrin, standing in the shadows, activated both of his stun guns, which hissed and popped so loudly they eclipsed some of the fae’s screams.
Come on, run scared!
We were relying heavily on intimidation—and the hope that the fae wouldn’t know what stun guns were and might think Orrin was another wizard.
The show worked. The fae fled back to the narrowing strip of street as Considine and I pushed them closer to Team Fire.
Chaos reigned as the two opposing Courts tramped each other, running to put their backs against the one side of the street we’d left clear for that reason.
Orrin moved out of the shadows and jabbed a fae noble—using both of his guns to deliver a shock of electricity that made the fae lose control of his legs and fall with a scream.
I snapped one end of magic cuffs around the banshee’s left wrist, before I holstered my gun. Hearing movement behind me, I swung around and applied the base of my hand to the nose of another goblin, audibly breaking it.
When the goblin fell I snapped the other end of my magic cuff around his wrist, tying him to the unconscious banshee.
Off to the side, Medium Sized Robert took out two leprechauns with a swing of his club.
Considine drifted past me while Orrin and Team Fire moved in, and we had the few still conscious/uninjured fae pinned with their backs against the wall.
A fae screamed when it ventured too close to April’s fire and was burned for its troubles.
Considine scooped up one of the leprechauns Medium Sized Robert had knocked out, and tossed him at the back of a fleeing gnome, flattening her.
I stepped out from behind Considine, then ducked back behind him, barely avoiding the blood-spattered mace a minotaur flung at me.
Crouched as I was with my arms up to counter balance, I was at a disadvantage even though I was pressed against Considine’s back as the Minotaur made a break for it through the opening.
Wait, I’m at Considine’s back!
I plucked the dagger he kept for me at the small of his back, and flung it with a flick of my wrist.
The dagger hit the minotaur, biting into his leg. He hobbled a step or two before his leg gave out and he collapsed with a roar.
Six fae remained standing—two of them taking cover behind a bench while four of them tried to break open the front door of the storefront we’d pinned them against.
