“How long until we reach the ruins?” Corec asked, his words punctuated by the eerie howls of the snow beasts calling out behind them.

“We’re here,” Gregor said, pointing to a stone marker at the side of a trail. He’d joined Corec and Boktar at the rear of the column so he could listen to the creatures. “We’ve got two hours, maybe three, before they catch up to us.”

“I don’t see anything,” Corec said, staring at the trees ahead of them.

“The city’s all around us.”

“The forest grew up over it?” Boktar asked. “I hadn’t thought about that, even with how old Ellerie said the place must be.”

“It’s been thousands of years since anyone lived here,” Gregor said. “If it wasn’t all stonework, there wouldn’t be anything left today.” He pointed to the left. “I think that hill over there is a building; it’s just covered with snow.”

The procession came to a halt in front of them, and everyone gathered together around Sarette and Fergus, who’d been in the lead.

“Where should we go?” Sarette asked Gregor. “I don’t remember much from when I was here before.”

“There are some big buildings farther in, some that even still have roofs. Fergus, you and your people come with me and we’ll find a spot for you.”

“What about the snow beasts?” the headman asked.

“You don’t have any armor or bows,” Corec said. “We’ll take care of the snow beasts. Those of you with axes, could you make some long spears, and something to brace them against? It doesn’t have to be fancy; anything will do.” He didn’t have a line of men armed with pitchforks, like he’d had against the ogres, but perhaps he could fake it.

Fergus frowned, but nodded. “We’ll do what we can.”

Corec turned to Gregor. “Do your people keep any weapons around?”

“No. A High Guard patrol passes by once a month, but we don’t store supplies here.”

Well, it had been a long shot. “We’ll need a good spot to fight them. They’re following our trail, right?”

“Yes; when they see tracks in the snow, they follow. It seems to be instinct.”

“Then wherever you take these people should pass by where we want to lead them. This snow is too deep to fight in. Can you think of a spot where it won’t be so bad? And with high ground nearby for the archers and mages?”

Gregor pursed his lips. “There’s a courtyard with a hot spring running close below it. It melts the snow above. There are a lot of buildings nearby, and not too many trees.”

“Then that’s where everyone should go first, so the tracks lead where we want them to go.”

#

Two hours later, Corec, Sarette, and Ellerie were standing on top of a tall building that had a partial view of the trail leading to the ruins. Corec had had to remove his plate armor so he could carefully crawl up the crumbling stairs, but he wanted to see the snow beasts for himself.

He kept Gregor’s spyglass trained on the trail, while Sarette did the same with her own.

“There they are,” she said, as the howls grew louder once again. There were more of them this time.

Corec aimed the spyglass in the same direction she was looking, and finally caught his first glimpse of the beasts. It was difficult to judge their size through the lens, but they seemed just as large as Bobo and Fergus had suggested. They walked upright, like ogres, but their entire bodies were covered with curly gray fur. They carried clubs or spears, and some wore satchels made of animal hide, which suggested a level of intelligence.

They ran with a strange hopping gait, not bothering to use the trail that had been broken. With their long legs, they simply leapt through the deep snow.

And they kept coming, one after another. Sarette handed her spyglass to Ellerie, but Corec kept watching and counting.

“They’re too far away,” Ellerie said. “I don’t think I can reach them from here.”

“There’s got to be twenty of them, and they’re less than a mile out,” Corec said. “We’d better hurry if you’re going to try.”

She held the spyglass up to her eye with one hand, reaching out with the other as she whispered the words to a spell. A white beam of light shot out, but it faded before it reached the target. The snow beasts didn’t even notice.

Ellerie cursed in Elven, then said, “That was a waste of a spell. I should have saved it. Sorry.”

“It was still a good idea to try. I just wish there’d been time to construct catapults, but we’ll have to make do. Let’s go.”

They made their way back down the stairs again as quickly as they dared, and Sarette helped Corec strap his armor back on before they ran to the courtyard they’d chosen as their battle ground.

“They’re almost here!” Corec shouted out to everyone as he joined Boktar. “There are a lot of them!” He detached his scabbard from its harness and tossed it well out of the way after drawing the blade.

Ellerie peeled away from the group and ran to a hill where Gregor and Shavala stood waiting with their bows. The dirt mound looked out of place among the buildings surrounding the courtyard, but Gregor had suggested it was likely a structure that just hadn’t been excavated yet. Katrin and Bobo were there too, having refused the suggestion of hiding with Nedley and the villagers from Jol’s Brook.

Corec turned to Sarette, and to Treya, who’d been waiting with Boktar. “You should join them,” he said, pointing to the others.

“How are we supposed to help from there?” Sarette asked, a faint blue light flickering over her staff-spear.

“Those things look like ogres to me, and I’ve seen what an ogre’s club can do close up. My armor barely stopped it. Yours won’t do much good. Treya, I know you don’t like armor, but all it would take is one lucky hit, and who else do we have that can heal you?”

“My people fight snow beasts all the time!” Sarette protested, looking up at the heavy clouds above them and biting her lip.

“You said yourself that they use crossbows if they can. It’d be different if you had more men, but you can’t form a spear wall with a single spear.”

The howling was close now, and getting closer by the moment.

“He’s right,” Treya said to the other woman, tugging at her wrist. “If we see a way to help, we will, but we shouldn’t be in the middle of it.”

Sarette still looked reluctant, but she jogged to the hill with Treya.

“Just you and me then, eh?” Boktar said, unslinging his warhammer from his belt. He pulled his helmet on, lowering the face guard, and Corec did the same.

“Oh, I suspect Ellerie and the others are planning some surprises.” Corec concentrated, casting his combat spells, but held off on the new one that strengthened his sword. It didn’t last long, so he wanted to save it for when it would do the most good.

The dwarf chuckled. “She does have a few tricks up her sleeve. Looks like we’ve got company.”

The snow beasts rounded a bend and headed straight for the courtyard, through what had likely once been a street. They ran two abreast, and suddenly went silent when they saw their prey before them. One reached into its satchel and pulled out a stone the size of Corec’s head, hurling it at them. The aim was good, and Boktar had to dodge to the side to avoid it. The stone slammed into the ground and rolled.

Corec waited a moment more, as the beasts drew closer to the courtyard, then shouted, “Now!”

Hidden by partly tumbled walls, two men on each side of the street pulled back hard on the ropes they were gripping. A row of spears rose up diagonally from the snow, strapped together in a line and bound to some sort of wooden contraption the villagers had constructed. The base of the device was braced against a row of rocks they’d gathered, and the men nearest the street risked sticking their feet out behind it to make it sturdier as the first rank of the creatures crashed into it.

The spears were just pointed branches, prepared in a hurry, and weren’t particularly hard or sharp, but the snow beasts themselves provided the necessary force, the points piercing deep into their torsos.

They squealed then, an even more haunting sound than their howls. The spear contraption disintegrated into sticks and splinters as the beasts twisted and writhed in an attempt to free themselves. The villagers fled from the commotion, but one—Fergus—was hit in the head by a flying spear handle and fell to the ground. The man nearest him dragged him back out of the way.

The next group of the creatures pushed the injured two to the side and streamed into the courtyard, one falling almost immediately to Ellerie’s beam spell.

Corec cast the strengthening spell on his sword and charged forward, Boktar at his side.

#

Shavala waited as the beasts approached the courtyard. She couldn’t see them from her angle, but she could hear them running. She nocked an arrow, though Gregor had warned her that her bow wasn’t likely to do any good.

Sarette shifted impatiently at her side, continually looking up at the sky. “I should be down there,” she fretted. “If I could only call lightning. It’s so close…”

The clouds above were snow clouds, but they could still cause lightning under the right conditions. Shavala lowered her bow and reached up to the sky. The other woman was right—it was close. A rush of warm air upward would cause the necessary chaos to form a lightning strike. Wind was difficult to manipulate, but she wouldn’t need to hold it for long. Once it started, it would keep going.

Before them, the snow beasts crashed through the spear trap, and Corec and Boktar rushed forward. Ellerie cast her beam spell, taking out one of the creatures. Gregor fired his crossbow, then grabbed his metal claw device to cock it again. Ellerie launched a second beam, and a third, but then stumbled and fell to one knee. Treya ran to her side.

Shavala continued pushing warm air upward until the conditions were right. “You wanted lightning?” she asked Sarette.

“I can feel it!” the other woman exclaimed. “But you’re too close! I need to…” She ran back down the hill, holding her staff-spear up high. Shavala hoped she knew what she was doing.

Lightning struck, hitting the spear and flashing over Sarette’s body. The searing boom of the thunder was immediate—and far too close for comfort. Katrin squeaked and stepped back in surprise. Sarette never stopped running. One of the snow beasts saw her coming and swung its club. She leapt over the creature, landing behind it and spinning around to stab it in the back. A flash of blue energy crackled and the beast fell to the ground.

“Huh,” Katrin said. “I guess we found our Venni.”

Shavala couldn’t spare the time to reply. She loosed an arrow, then another, but Gregor had been right—her bow didn’t have the power to penetrate through the snow beasts’ thick fur, especially from this distance. The scout was doing better, with the creatures reacting in pain to his crossbow bolts, but so far he hadn’t managed to take one down.

It would be pointless to waste time trying to line up a shot against an eye or some other vulnerable spot from this distance, and with the creatures running around as quickly as they were. Shavala set her bow down behind her. She’d have to be closer to the battle to call fire. She was about to run down the hill after Sarette when another thought occurred to her. The storm was still building above the courtyard, and another lightning strike was imminent.

Meritia had taught her a way to guide a lightning bolt to a target by manipulating the air. She tried it now, and the bolt struck a tree south of the courtyard, splintering the trunk. Branches showered the ground. Between the thunder and the explosion, the sound was deafening, and this time, all the combatants in the courtyard stopped what they were doing to stare. The pause was only momentary, though, and soon the snow beasts renewed their attacks.

The storm was too dangerous to play around with, but it wasn’t over yet. More lightning would fall whether Shavala wanted it to or not. Perhaps Sarette could have controlled it better, but she was otherwise occupied, ducking and weaving her way through the battle. Shavala couldn’t let the storm just do what it wanted—Corec and Boktar were wearing metal armor, and the rest of her friends were standing at the top of a hill. To prevent them from attracting the lightning themselves, she’d have to keep control over it.

She was able to direct the next blast away from the battle, to a taller tree, but she got lucky on the third. One of the snow beasts had ranged away from the fight, pulling a large stone out of the rubble of a collapsed wall. As it prepared to throw it, Shavala took aim and let loose.

If the creature made a sound as it died, it was impossible to hear over the thunder. It dropped to the ground immediately, its fur on fire and its arm a mangled mess.

The storm was already building up the power for another strike. Shavala could do nothing other than manage it as best she could.

#

The hair on Katrin’s arms tingled, and for a brief instant, she thought she saw a flash of white trailing up from the ground ahead of her before lightning struck at the exact same spot, the thundering boom so intense it almost knocked her backward.

What was Sarette doing? Or was it Shavala? The elven woman shouted something, but all Katrin could hear was the ringing in her ears.

The next lightning bolt was on the far side of the battle, giving her a chance to recover. It struck in between two of the snow beasts, knocking them off their feet.

“What’s going on?” Ellerie yelled. Treya had helped her back to her feet after she’d collapsed.

“I’m trying to stop it!” Shavala said. “Maybe cold air?”

The other three women shared looks of confused concern, but there was nothing they could do to help, and the battle was still raging.

Ellerie shrugged, then said, “Gregor, the tall one on the right!” She whispered the words to a spell. Three small darts of light shot from her fingers, striking the snow beast in the back, and Gregor’s crossbow bolt followed soon after, hitting its leg.

It whirled around, searching, then roared when it saw the group on the hill. Ellerie cast her spell again and hit it in the face, knocking it to the ground, but its cries had caught the attention of others nearby. Four of the beasts charged the hill, two coming straight at them and the others running wide out to each side, trying to flank them.

There was no time for the flute, so Katrin sang as loudly as she could. It was a children’s lullaby, one her mother had sung to her when she was a child. She felt silly singing a lullaby at the top of her lungs, but she had to make sure the snow beasts could hear her over the noise of the battle. It wasn’t the delivery of the song that mattered, but the intent behind it.

The two beasts ahead of her slowed down and stopped, swaying back and forth. Their eyes blinked closed, and they slammed into the ground with heavy thuds. Katrin kept singing, hoping the fall wouldn’t wake them up.

Treya ran for the one coming around to the right. She’d removed her boots and coat before the battle, despite the cold, and now her fists and feet glowed with white light. She dove into a roll just as she reached the snow beast, its swing passing above her. Coming up, she punched at its knee with both hands, causing it to stumble.

Ellerie’s face had gone gray from the effort of her spellcasting, but she extended her hand toward the creature coming from the left. Before she could start another spell, lightning struck again, hitting the beast at the back of its neck and streaking down to its right foot, which started smoking as the creature fell. Katrin turned back to her own opponents to make sure they were still down. She continued her song, not sure how long the effect would last if she stopped.

Shavala sat down on the ground abruptly beside her, crossing her legs and putting her face in her hands. The lightning had finally stopped, and the storm clouds were lighter than before.

Treya’s opponent was the only threat remaining nearby. Gregor turned his crossbow on it, calling out to warn her.

Bobo’s cudgel was shaking in his hand, but he drew Katrin’s dagger from its sheath. “If you can keep those two down, I’ll go…take care of them,” he said.

She nodded, not able to reply and sing at the same time.

#

Corec swung his glowing blue blade into the snow beast’s side as thunder rolled over the courtyard yet again, echoing off the buildings. The sky had been cloudy all day, but the lightning storm had seemed to come out of nowhere just as the battle began. With how close the strikes were falling, someone was likely to get hit if they didn’t take shelter soon.

His opponent fell, and another jumped over it to take its place. Corec deflected a wild stab from its spear, then swung but missed, the tip of his blade brushing through the beast’s curly fur. The creatures had a longer reach than any opponent he’d fought before, even a bit taller than the ogres.

He and Boktar had been lucky so far, but they were at risk of being overwhelmed. The only point in their favor was that the snow beasts were so large, they got in each other’s way. Only a few could crowd around at one time.

Corec blocked the monster’s spear again, but then Sarette came out of nowhere, slashing her own spear—which was crackling with blue light—against its leg. There was a flash and the beast collapsed, already dead.

The stormborn woman was gone just as quickly. Boktar grunted to Corec’s right, dropping his hammer and using both hands to brace his shield against a blow from a club. The force drove him to his knees and the shield fell to the ground. Corec rushed between the two combatants, whipping his sword around in an arc to parry the club as it fell again. The blade cut through the thick wooden handle, snapping the club into two pieces. The snow beast stopped to look at it in confusion, and Corec thrust his sword into the creature’s gut.

Sarette rejoined them, her spear no longer glowing, and helped Boktar to his feet. He was gripping his left elbow and made no move to retrieve his hammer or shield.

Corec ran for the next snow beast, dodging away from its swinging club. As it charged past him, heading for Sarette and Boktar, he slashed at the back of its ankle. The beast crashed to the ground, and Corec stabbed down into its back, killing it.

Another of the creatures came near. Corec tried to block its club, but the glow of the strengthening spell faded from his blade, and the snow beast’s weapon found some weakness in the metal. Corec’s sword shattered into a dozen pieces, and he was left holding just the hilt.

Tossing it to the side, he ran to get inside the beast’s reach, making it harder for it to swing at him. He grabbed the creature’s arms, his strength spell strained to the limit. Sarette swung her staff-spear at the back of the snow beast’s knee, hamstringing it, and as it collapsed, Corec wrestled it to the ground. Boktar’s hammer was nearby. Corec grabbed it and swung the pointed end down into the creature’s head, stilling it.

He stood, gasping, just as another snow beast came for him. Three of the village men who’d sprung the spear trap rushed in behind it, felling axes in hand. Fergus wasn’t with them. They attacked the beast from behind, overwhelming it before it even knew they were there.

There was an eerie silence across the courtyard. After the thunder and the howling, the quiet seemed almost unnatural.

“Is it over?” Sarette asked, peering around. The creatures were all down, either dead or dying.

“We finished off the two that got caught in the spear trap,” one of the refugees said. Corec thought his name was Tomas.

“How’s Fergus?” Corec asked him, peering around for the headman.

Tomas exchanged glances with the other two men. “He didn’t make it.”

“But…I saw it. He just got knocked out!”

“Whatever hit him got him on the temple.”

Corec looked away, leaning over and resting his hands on his thighs. Fergus’s role had been simple—just trigger the trap and run. He and his people were never supposed to have been in any real danger. More of the villagers had offered to help, but Corec had turned them down since they weren’t trained fighters and had no weapons. The red-eyes’ weapons were still back in Jol’s Brook, since there hadn’t been any room for them on the sleds. The men who’d triggered the spear trap weren’t supposed to have joined the fight either, but they’d insisted on keeping their axes nearby just in case. At least those three were still alive, but Fergus was dead, after Corec had promised to take care of things.