Page 91 of ColdIron
Coldiron ignored him. It had a new master.
The spike drove for his throat. He threw up his armguard at the last instant. Coldiron punched through armor plate, through flesh, and out the other side of his forearm. That saved his life.
Got him!Coldiron cheered.
The archdemon howled. The hell beast beneath him buckled, wings beating wildly. Black blood streamedfrom the wound and sizzled where it struck the beast’s hide.
His burning gaze locked on me.
“Who are you?” he demanded in a demonic tongue.
I glared at him. Wind whipped my hair. The train rocked beneath my feet.
“Who are you?” He shifted to a common tongue. Louder. “Answer me, female! How can you command Coldiron?”
“How about I show you, demon?”
I dove for the first arrow I’d kicked away. It hadn’t fallen off the train but clung to the edge of the carriage, wedged against a rivet. Coldiron gripping the steel on its own.
I grabbed it. The metal sang warm in my fist.
The archdemon gave me and the arrow a look. Then he barked a retreat. The hell beast wheeled and launched skyward. In a blink, his burning silhouette shrank against the churning dark of the Veil.
The remaining demons broke away. Some leapt from the train in tumbling rolls and sprinted for the Veil. Two rushed me instead—not to attack. To grab. To take me with them.
Kidnap us? Ha, ha,the creature in me snickered. Then it started to instruct me: open them from navel to throat. Let the insides trail.
I blocked it out. If I let the creature take the wheel, the frenzy wouldn’t stop at enemies. I could never let anyone know what lived in me.
It chuckled. The blood excited it.
I shook my head. The shit I had to deal with.
The first demon came from my left—gray-skinned and hulking. He lunged with both arms spread. I dropped low and drove an elbow into his knee joint. He staggered, but that didn’t stop him from charging me again, intent on throwing me off the train with him.
Drakken materialized beside me. His ebony broadsword came down in a vertical stroke that split the demon from collarbone to sternum. Black ichor sprayed across the roof. The creature folded and rolled off the edge, trailing steam.
The dragon prince didn’t look at me. Didn’t pause. He was already pivoting toward the next threat, broadsword dripping, his powerful frame cutting the wind.
He’d shown up to save my life. But I knew he’d rather choke than acknowledge it.
From the right, a green-scaled demoness dashed toward me, her yellow eyes locked on mine. Caspian closed from behind, claws out. But she feinted past his reach and bore down on me.
Her claw swiped for my face. I jerked back. The tips missed my cheek by an inch, close enough to feel the displaced air. I drove the Coldiron arrow into her gut with both hands.
“Take this,” I shouted. I didn’t like to call anyonebitch.
The arrowhead sank through her bone armor. Coldiron had been told to kill, and it followed orders to the letter.
She looked down at the arrow buried in her stomach.Her yellow eyes went wide, pain and recognition in them.
Got her!Coldiron chirped.
“This can’t be,” the demoness whispered.
Dark flame erupted from the wound and consumed her from the inside out. Scales blackened. Flesh charred. I yanked the arrow free—I needed it back. The demoness opened her mouth to say something more, but dark fire poured out instead. Three seconds. Ash.
Aelindor arrived at my flank. His longsword sang a horizontal arc that took the head off the third demon coming for me. The head spun into the wind. The body stood a full second before it toppled.
