No. Someone was going to slip up. Nadine had to end this. Now. She changed her lancet to a spear. The man to her left was tall and outweighed her by a lot. The one to her right, however . . .
Nadine reared back and kicked her circle mate hard in the back of the knee. His heavy snow pants would save him trauma, but he fell forward all the same. He barked out a cry of pain, and Nadine shoved her elbow into his back for good measure, ensuring he fell outward from the safety of the circle.
Paw steps raced from both sides of the circle. Nadine didn’t wait. She leapt forward, her lancet out. The first eyeless face appeared with extended paws. She shoved her lancet straight into the back of its massive throat. Its hissing mate retreated into the shadows.
The impaled beast rolled with a shriek, ripping Nadine’s lancet with it. A whip of something hot slapped her neck as she ducked low. Some of the men cast their own lancets into the monster’s thick pelt before it slunk into darkness once more. Ignoring her neck, Nadine grabbed the man she’d kicked and hauled him backward into the center of the re-forming circle while the wounded beast whimpered and gurgled from its hiding spot. At least now they knew where one was. Had the other gone for good?
Instead of reaching for another lancet, Nadine lit her last flare. At her command, her companions lit more too, and soon a volley of fire rained down around the wounded creature, which was now panting and howling on its side while it frantically tried to get the lancet out of its mouth.
Three more lancets flew, each embedding itself in the great cat’s body. A final, strangled yelp punctuated the night, and the monster stilled.
No one cheered. Another hair-raising moment crept by before a mound of white peaked out of the shadows toward the fallen cat. Nadine tossed her backup lancet, as did the men on her side of the circle. Two lancets hit. The living beast shrieked one last, deafening roar, then retreated into the shadows.
Whoops of victory chorused. It was done. One beast was dead. One retreated. They had survived.
Nadine’s shoulders heaved up and down as she fought to regain her balance, her center. Her heart seemed to be ripping through her chest, but that was only awareness coming back. Soon she was able to pick up fully on what was going on around her, on her comrades breaking away from the circle, the oil flares glimmering on the ashes of the wool blankets, Magnus watching her. The barbarian was right in front of her.
“Are you hurt?” she asked.
He shook his head. “You?”
Nadine barked an order to the men idling nearby. “Search for the fallen.”
As they nodded and moved to obey, Nadine swallowed and considered what Magnus had asked her. She forced herself to close her collected lancet, signaling to herself that the battle was over. Something didn’t feel right. She lifted a hand to her neck. It came away sticky. Blood. The monster’s tail had nicked her.
“If you need someone to suck out the venom, I’ll gladly do the job,” Magnus said.
Venom? Nadine’s blood chilled. Few things frightened her more than the thought of lying helpless on the ground as venom ravaged her body, a spectacle for her men, the gods, and every bird flying past. She took a step toward Magnus. “Do it. Hurry.”
Magnus made a little choking noise, and it was only then that Nadine caught the guilty grin curling the corners of his mouth. Her ears went hot, and she was about to smash her fist into that lying mouth of his when Samar’s voice interrupted.
“All are accounted for, Captain.”
Nadine stiffened and turned toward her second. He still wore the Dokiri garb just as she’d ordered. He stood stiff, his dark eyes darting between her and Magnus, at the closeness between them.
“Our losses?” Nadine asked.
“Two dead. Three wounded. They won’t be able to continue.”
Erik came tromping through the snow, and Magnus’s shoulders seemed to ease. She fixed her gaze on the older brother. “What were those?”
“Scatta. Ice cats,” Erik said. He came to stand by Magnus, and the two savages exchanged something in Dokiri.
Samar narrowed his eyes. “Perhaps my men ought only speak Ebronian around the pair of you.”
Magnus and Erik looked at Samar, but before they could answer, Nadine spoke. “One of the fires was still glowing before the creature attacked, Lanta. Why?”
Samar blinked at her. “I’ll find out.”
“I’ll bet it’s what drew the beast,” she snapped. If not the light then at least the heat?
Magnus grunted. “Doubtful. They’re completely blind. They’re drawn by tremors in the snow and ice.”
Nadine locked eyes with Samar. She didn’t need to ask. His mouth formed a tight line before he admitted, “My lieutenant was in charge of the watch.”
“Were they pacing?” As the Dokiri had instructed them not to do.
Samar inclined his head.
“Have them whipped.”
Samar’s expression didn’t change, but he nodded his agreement. He could’ve expected no other command after two of their men had died. Three had been wounded. Her words seemed to bother Magnus more than anyone. He turned awkwardly and whistled for Yrsa. The lazy beast had retreated at the first sign of trouble, something Magnus had warned she would do, but Nadine hadn’t quite believed him. Apparently, size was no accounting for bravery among the gegatu.
Erik exchanged a few more words with his brother and started to go. The men whom she’d not set to work tending the wounded or gathering up flares were already settling back down. They were all veterans and knew the value of returning to rest as quickly as possible after an encounter, no matter how hair-raising.
Samar raised a brow at Nadine. “Will that be all, Captain?”
“No,” Nadine said, loud enough to gain Erik’s attention before he left. “Tomorrow our Dokiri allies will take us to Bedmeg.”
Erik halted in his tracks. Magnus turned. Samar froze. Three men looked at her.
“What?” Samar demanded.
“We’ve lost enough time. Now we’ve lost men, too. I’ll lose no more of either.” She turned her gaze on Erik. “Tomorrow I’ll ask you to call your clansmen. As many as you need to bring us safely to your homeland while we wait for the Nozverak.”
Erik blinked at her, his expression surprised. Then he nodded and left. It pleased her that he hadn’t looked to Samar to gauge his reaction. To see if he would approve. She cringed inwardly. It was more confidence then Samar’s men had shown her thus far.
Nadine turned back to her second. A muscle tensed in his jaw, and he looked for all the world like he wanted to challenge her then and there. He glanced at Magnus.
She wanted to look at Magnus, too. Wanted to see his reaction to her announcement. But if she took her eyes off Samar now, she would lose the upper hand, and that was something she simply could not afford. She stared him down until his sputtering breath came evenly once again, albeit tighter.
His lips parted, and he ran his tongue along the insides of his lower teeth. “Are you going to come tell the men yourself? Or are you back to spending the night with an animal?”
Anger suffused her. The nerve. Who do you choose, Nadine? Your own people? Or barbarians? A manipulative challenge. Well, Samar could shove it up his own ass.
She turned while keeping her eyes on Samar and strode toward Magnus. The barbarian didn’t pull away, didn’t move a muscle as she found him with her palms and rose up on her toes. At the last moment, she broke eye contact with Samar to press her lips to Magnus’s in a long, hard kiss.