“Keyk!” I shouted, one of the handful of command words I knew for Chopper.
Its blade turned from a blue glow to an icy white one. I leaped to the side as the creatures rushed me, trying to position myself so I would face only one at a time. A tall order.
As I danced aside, the closest beast startled me by spewing a gout of flame from its molten throat. The stream of fire scorched my ear as it blasted past my head. My charm protected me somewhat—my hair didn’t burst into flame—but the heat promised I’d be in trouble if the flames struck me full on.
With a fast swing, I whisked Chopper toward my attacker’s neck. Was it possible to behead a fire creature? I would find out.
My blade met resistance as it bit into the side of the beast’s thick neck—I’d been afraid it would sweep uselessly through like the bullets—but it didn’t behead it.
The creature wheeled, fiery maw snapping for me. Intense heat blasted me like a crematorium door opening. Forced to cut my attack short, I skittered backward.
The injury on my hand stung, irritated by the heat and the hilt of my sword. Too bad.
Another flaming beast charged me. I waited until the last instant to dodge, striking with Chopper, then gliding out of its reach. My blade struck the side of its head, but the blow didn’t seem to harm the creature.
As more of the beasts tried to surround me, I danced in and out and to the side, slashing and stabbing and doing my best not to let them flank me.
By the porch, Freysha called upon her magic, the flare of it tickling my senses. I dared not look in her direction to check on what she was doing.
Sindari yowled in pain. I glimpsed him releasing one of the beasts that he’d bitten and scampering back, shaking his scorched maw.
Silvery tendrils of energy flowed from the porch and wrapped around two of the creatures, keeping them from charging at me again. They spewed gouts of flame at Freysha, but she formed a barrier in the air, keeping the flames from torching her—and the porch posts.
“Thank you, Freysha,” I called as two beasts backed me toward the shrubs at the side of the yard. Little fires burned in the grass, charred spots forming where they walked.
The two creatures charged. I ran to the left, putting one beast in the way of the other, then rushed back in to attack the closest.
Need more power, Chopper, I thought to it, though I doubted that would help.
Heat blasted my cheeks as I stabbed Chopper at the beast’s skull. The icy blade drove in, the air crackling as its frost magic seemed to intensify. The blade met the molten flesh of the creature, and it flared white.
The beast didn’t scream, but it jerked away from me and rolled on the ground like a dog. Finally, a blow that had hurt one of them.
With the first on the ground, the second creature had the opportunity to rush close to me. It snapped as I sprang away, but my back struck one of the hedges, and I didn’t fully evade it. The beast’s flaming fangs sank into my arm.
Blistering pain lanced through my body. I twisted and slammed a side kick into its chest as I jerked my arm away. Its teeth were as solid as any real creature’s, and they raked through flesh and muscle as I shoved it back.
A surge of fury lent me extra speed and strength, and I rushed after it, slashing Chopper straight into its face. The beast tried to duck but not quickly enough. My sword hammered into it, again flaring with white energy.
My arm throbbed with agony, but I cut into the creature again and again. The sole of the boot I’d used to kick it burned, but I ignored it, only paying attention to destroying this enemy. Thankfully, there weren’t others nearby to take advantage of my singular focus.
Freysha still had two immobilized with her silvery magical vines, though a glance at her bared teeth and the intense concentration on her face suggested she wouldn’t be able to hold them indefinitely. Sindari was keeping the two others busy, much as I had, dancing in and out, raking with his claws. He’d learned not to bite them. I couldn’t tell how much damage his claws did, but they were paying attention to him instead of me, so it had to be something.
The two creatures I’d dealt lethal blows to started to fade before me. Their molten flesh melted, then disappeared completely, leaving only patches of lawn burning where they had stood.
Realizing my boot was on fire, I stomped it on the grass until it went out.
As I rushed to help Sindari, Zoltan stepped out from around the corner of the house. He wore some black-tinted goggles and carried not a weapon but what looked like a perfume atomizer. Since one of Sindari’s foes turned to attack me, I couldn’t watch him closely, other than to glimpse him striding toward Freysha’s captured beasts.
My new foe sprang for my face, orange jaws yawning open as it angled toward my throat. Instead of dodging, I stood my ground. I’d proven I could kill them, and I would do it again.
I struck before the beast could bite me, willing my own magic to flow down my arms and into Chopper’s blade to add force to the blow. The sword lopped off its head as heat blasted me, and it sprayed flames like a mortal being would spray blood.
The flames struck my clothing, singeing my jeans and striking sparks of pain all over my body. I flung myself to the ground, rolling across the grass several times. I sprang up, whirling toward the creature in case it survived that blow and came after me. But without its head, it was done. Like the others had, it faded from existence.
Panting now and in pain from multiple wounds, I turned to look for another foe. Sindari roared and swiped mightily at the one remaining fighting him. He gouged it deeply in the flank. It spun to snap at him, but he snapped back, their fanged jaws locking. The flames had to hurt him like crazy, but his powerful chest and leg muscles flexed, and he hurled the foe across the yard.
Flames flew off it as it tumbled through the air and slammed into the side of my Jeep.
“Sindari,” I groaned. “Please fling the Satanic flamethrower creatures at other people’s cars.”
Meanwhile, Zoltan was spraying his concoction all over the two immobilized beasts. Whatever it was, they dropped to the ground and writhed as the droplets struck them. One spat flames at him as it rolled, and he cursed, scrambling backward.
I rushed up in time to grab him and keep him from falling.
“Dreadful creatures!” he yelled and leaned back in, spraying them liberally.
“Give me that.” I grabbed the bottle, pulled off the sprayer top, and doused them a lot more liberally.
I rushed across the yard and also dumped the liquid on the one that Sindari had thrown. The creatures writhed even more vigorously as the liquid poured over them.
Noxious smoke flowed into the air, smelling like burning tires. But Zoltan’s concoction worked, and the rest of the creatures faded and disappeared, leaving only scorched earth behind. Our scorched lawn.
Freysha slumped against a porch post. Sweat glistened on her brow.
“Really, dear robber.” Zoltan snatched his bottle back from me and picked up the top I’d let fall to the ground. “Do you have any idea how much the bark of the Polylepis shrub, the primary ingredient in my fire-destroyer formula, costs? It grows only at a specific altitude high in the Andes Mountains.”
“I’ll get you a fire extinguisher that you can use next time.”
“That would do little against magical creatures. My formula was engineered specifically to thwart fire magic.”