“Aim for the neck,” Kull whispered, “Their hides are too thick to stab anywhere else.”
I nodded, wishing I’d trained more in combat and less in magic. I felt as though I were fighting with a blindfold over my eyes.
“Their skin excretions are acidic. Don’t touch them directly unless you want your fingers burned off.”
Right. Aim for the neck. Don’t touch the skin. What lovely creatures we’ve stumbled on.
A muffled human voice joined the wails. “Help!”
“Heidel?” Kull called out.
I took deep, steady breaths, but it didn’t help my shaking hands.
A pair of milky white eyes came into view. In the mist, the goblin’s body looked ghostly and translucent, pale gray against mist of the same color. Sinewy muscles corded its hunched frame. Had it been standing tall, it would’ve been a head taller than Kull. Its black, snakelike tongue flicked from its mouth.
A tart stench pierced through the air like vinegar and rotting eggs. Fear threatened to overwhelm me as more goblins appeared from the mist.
“Heidel,” Kull called. “Where are you?”
“I’m here.”
His chest rose and fell.
Dozens of forms emerged. I tried to swallow my fear, though I felt death nearer than ever before, as if Charon waited among the crowd of goblin warriors.
The creatures gathered like a plague of locusts, swarming in a mass of stinking bodies and leathery skin. A goblin lunged at Kull, teeth bared, and Kull spun his broadsword. The blade connected with precision. In a blink, the goblin’s head fell to the ground with a thud.
I’d never seen a person move so fast. He’d described himself as a killer. Now I knew why.
His fight became a dance of death. I didn’t think it possible that someone so muscled could move with such grace. Kull’s sword blended into his body like an extension of his arm. More bodies than I could count fell around him. I stood with my knife ready, but none of the goblins had a chance to attack me.
I’d started to think of Kull as human, had started to think the legends about him were bogus. Now I wondered if I knew him at all. This surely wasn’t the same person I’d traveled here with.
Sounds of ripping skin and sputtering blood filled my ears. A goblin broke away from the rest. Dark blood covered his torso, and he loped toward me with jerky movements. His milky white eyes seemed unfocused as he leapt for me.
Sinking my dagger into his neck seemed an easy job, though as I stabbed at him, his tongue flicked along my exposed wrist. Fire burned my skin, and I dropped my dagger as red blisters formed along my wrist. My flesh blackened as the acid sank deeper. I pushed the pain away as best as I could as the goblin lunged for me again.
I grabbed my dagger and stumbled back.
Skin hung in tattered flaps from its neck where I’d cut it. I thrust my knife at the exposed wound, but the creature darted back.
Kull made this look so easy. I couldn’t even bring down a wounded one.
I gripped my knife’s hilt. I can do this.
The goblin lunged again.
I let him come. At the last second, I sidestepped back, then dove for his neck and sank my knife deep into his exposed muscles. Warm blood gushed from the wound. I pushed the knife deeper until I felt it connect with bone.
The goblin fell with a gut-wrenching scream, writhing at my feet. I stared in fascinated horror as its lifeblood soaked into the ice-crusted earth.
When I stepped away, silence filled the air.
A pile of bodies surrounded Kull. I had expected blood to coat him, but only a few smears stained his hands and cheeks. He stepped out of the pile and walked toward me.
“Are you hurt?” he asked.
“Just my wrist. You?”
He smiled a wolfish grin. “Never felt better.”
Behind him, a cloud of black matter appeared. Piercing red eyes stared from the semi-formed, skeletal face. My scream caught in my throat as the figure lashed out. Dark magic erupted like a whip and caught Kull in the back.
His knees buckled as pain contorted his face. The whip lashed at Kull again.
I reacted with magic. I knew using my magic was risky, but I also knew that creature would kill Kull if I didn’t.
“Banish.” I whispered the word for a spell that should have sent the creature to the farthest wasteland on the planet. Instead, dark magic flooded from the dream catcher. Its presence overwhelmed mine, mingling with my spell. An enormous headache flooded my brain. Blood clouded my vision, and my knees smacked the ground hard. It was the last thing I remembered.
Chapter 17
My first thoughts were of the bitter cold. I tried to sit up, but my muscles refused to cooperate. Ice crystals stuck to my eyes as I opened them. I tasted snowflakes on my tongue, and the air stung my lungs as I breathed it in.
I lay on a bed of snow. A blue, cloudless sky spanned overhead. I wiggled my fingers, then my toes, hoping I would feel them soon.
As I sat up, I tried to get my bearings.
A barren expanse surrounded me.
I concentrated on remembering the last couple of hours. Images tumbled through my head in a jumbled haze. The temple ruins. The goblin tombs. The ambush. And the black fog. It had tried to kill Kull.
I’d used a banishing spell, but the dream catcher had mingled with my own magic. Had the dream catcher’s magic banished me as well?
I tasted bile as I stood. Pain shot through my joints with my first step forward. I needed to find Kull. And Heidel, assuming they were still alive.
But where was I?
The temple ruins and
