LOT'S MOUNTAIN

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN: ...

Everything happens at once.

Somehow Grim and me get separated. I don't know how. Hounds charge us, but some Nøkken keep them away.

We have to get to that church.

But what about Grim? And South?

The shit's hitting the fan right in front of me. Hell, all around me.

And the Huntsman ...

Shard jumps back as the Huntsman hurls his spear forward. It misses Shard, but crashes into the hound next to it. The spearhead bites through the thing's chin, coming out the other side to pin the thing to the church wall.

Screeching and yowling, the hound yanks itself free. Glass grows over the gaping hole in its neck. It's getting ready for another launch at the Huntsman. As it jumps, ten other hounds plow at the Huntsman.

Curs throw in there, too, not leaving their leader's side.

When a bunch of hounds dig into the Huntsman (that son of a bitch Shard stays just out of the Huntsman's reach) and rip his arm open so that he's bleeding real bad, Zephyrys rears, his hooves ripping out the hound's eyes.

Man, I can't see the Huntsman anymore. He's somewhere in all the snarls and blood. Did they knock him down? Where is he?

I can't do anything about that because I've got about seven Glass hounds barreling toward me and Jamie.

South and the Nøkken charge forward, slamming right in them. There's biting, slashing, kicking and cussing.

Yeah, I'm the one doing most of the cussing.

And Grim ... where is he? I still can't see him either...

As more hounds come after us, South lashes out at them, trying to drive them back. Or at least hold them off. Eurus rears as a hound gets ready to swipe at South. Where the hell did Eurus come from? And where's her rider?

Dead. Dead for good.

More Nøkken gallop toward South and Eurus as hounds surround them. Water springs up from their hooves, but it only turns to glass. Goddammit!

At first, I almost jump in there, but then there's a POP! POP! POP! sound and I see lights, like fireworks. Grim! There he is! More of his orbs explode in a Glass hound's face, shattering its eyes. POOF! It disappears in a cloud of smoke. One down, twenty zillion to go!

And there are more than Glass hounds.

Esther ... She was here just a minute ago ... Where is that crazy—

Something flies by us ... well, a piece of something.

Is that part of a cur?

A Glass hound?

It doesn't matter. The only thing that'll help any of us is getting to that church.

Another one of the Nøkken with us goes down. We have to keep pushing ahead, but the hounds are coming from all directions.

And Esther ...

She's off to the right of us and rips the leg off a cur. More curs move in, but a new batch of Glass hounds spring out from behind the church. The second wave. Well, from the howling I hear in the distance, the third and fourth waves are on their way.

Esther's not too worried about me right now. She's not too worried about anything. With some hounds shredding the curs in front of her, she strides forward. She slings glass spikes at everybody. She doesn't give a good goddamn if she's getting curs and hounds. Then I realize where she's going.