But I’d barely freed the short swords from each other when bloodcurdling screams began to sound outside the gates.
What in the nine hells?I might have yelled the question at Valens, but he’d already engaged with an opponent.
And then I heard it.Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.
Were those wingbeats? What new, psychotic hell beast had Narcissa found to throw at us now? I clutched my sword hilts tightly, bracing myself as the sound grew closer, but even I had to blink to double-check my eyes when I saw two giant-ass dragons fly over the castle walls. One had scales as black as a moonless midnight; the other’s were sparkling blue, shining brightly against the sky.
“Holy fucking shit.” I stared agape, as did everyone else in the courtyard, as the dragons turned in graceful unison to avoid the castle, then swept back out over the enemy army and blasted out scalding gouts of fire the width of a city bus.
Wait.
They’re attacking Narcissa’s people!
Did Shay’s coin call dragons? Some people had all the luck.
We fought with renewed vigor, but the flood of people pushed us out of the busted-open gates and beyond the courtyard. I gave up on my sniper plan for now, hoping Gael had had better luck getting into a usable position.
Once we were out on the open ground outside the castle, I caught my first glimpse of Narcissa. She was a radiant beauty, and suddenly, I understood all those legends about Helen of Troy launching a thousand ships. This was a woman men would gladly go to war for. Her thick black hair flowed down her back in glossy waves, and her eyes were big and soft, as if she were delicate and needed protecting. Ironic, given it was the opposite of the truth.
Bran stood at her side now, not fighting, just… watching. Or perhaps arguing?
I couldn’t study them for long before another opponent drew my blades and my attention. A goblin catapult clanged nearby, distracting my opponent. I used the distraction to run him through, as the catapult took aim at Bran and Narcissa toward the back of the army.
About halfway up the apparatus, a frantic goblin waving got my attention. “What is it?” I called, stepping away from Valens to the green-haired little fellow.
“Our strap has broken! We need a mighty warrior to help hold it in place so we might launch our stone at the mistress of great evil!” He said it all with over-the-top hand gestures. A quick glance back told me Valens was holding his own, since a third or more of the enemy army had run for it, when the dragons began to spew fire.
I raced to the base of the catapult and, spotting the too-tiny-for-a-shifter ladder the goblins used to climb up it, groaned.The things I do for this pack.
Climbing the tiny rungs three at a time, I came nose to nose with the goblin—who, upon closer inspection, was definitely Rivestky the Grand Inventor from Canada—in a few short seconds. “Give me one second.”
This wasn’t the sniper perch I’d planned, but it was the one that presented itself. I knelt on the wooden platform, resting the barrel of my rifle over a piece of steel that made up the catapult’s frame. Sighting it in on Narcissa’s throat, I breathed for a moment, and after I exhaled, pulled the trigger.
I watched as the bullet flew, my aim true to the target. But Narcissa’s eyes snapped up as if she sensed it coming, and she lifted a glowing red hand. My bullet fell from its trajectory, useless, at her feet.Shit.
A rifle wasn’t going to work against an omega with the power of war.
I turned back to Rivetsky, who’d watched me shoot with quiet awe. “Put me to work.”
He clapped his hands and jumped onto the ladder above me, leading me all the way to the top of the platform, where two other goblins argued in high, squeaky voices. I had to crouch to feel stable on the platform, which had only a single railing about shin height to keep the much shorter goblins from toppling off.
“Here, mighty warrior, is the broken strap. If you would kindly hold it while we fasten it so we may execute our most grievous attack.”
“Sure thing,” I agreed, grabbing the leather strap and pulling until he gestured for me to stop.
I watched as he worked, efficiently reattaching the leather strap to its post. Within five minutes, he leaned back, dusting off his hands with satisfaction.
“Release the boulder!” he cried to the other goblins. None of the attackers below noticed or cared, too crazed under Narcissa’s influence to try to take out the obvious threat posed by the catapult.
“I’ll just get out of your way—” I tried to escape, but the goblins worked quickly.
Before I could turn to the ladder, which was the only way down besides leaping off, one of them had already screamed, “Fire!”
The entire wood platform we stood on shook violently as the catapult arm began to rise. There was no way in the nine hells I’d make it down in one piece, and a broken leg wasn’t an option at the moment, so I held tight to the nearest railing, trying my best to stay on my feet and off my ass as the whole world shook around me.
I watched, a little awed, as a massive stone flew overhead, the entire catapult kicking backward as it released to tumble through the air, right on target. The goblins may have been different, but they still got shit done, and I could appreciate that.
Holding my breath, I watched as the stone sailed directly for Narcissa. She glanced up, clocked the projectile, and gestured to a supernatural standing a few feet away. The man raised both hands, and, almost as if it were happening in slow motion, the stonereversedin midair.
