HEART OF ICE

CHAPTER 25

All at once the cold air of the late afternoon enveloped me. I opened my eyes, disoriented and dizzy. The ringing in my ears had been replaced by the cries of car alarms and the fairy-like tinkling of broken glass hitting the ground a little bit at a time. I sat up on my elbows. The scene in the street in front of the laundromat had changed.

The parked car we had taken shelter behind was on its side, impaled into the smoking and crumpled ruins of the lead van of the armored convoy. The combined mound of broken and twisted metal was across the street, pressed against another car that was now halfway onto the sidewalk. Almost every window I could see acround the street was missing its glass. The broken remains were a blanket of tiny shards that glittered on the ground in the amber of light of the early evening. Thin columns of black smoke climbed into the air, curving and bending in the gusts of cold wind. They rose from the flames jumping out of the dark confines of the other armored vans. One of them was standing upright on its nose. I noticed damage on the wall of the building it was leaning against. A long, jagged scar was cut into the old, faded facade. The van must have gone airborne then hit the building before sliding back to the pavement.

"What was that," Baron moaned nearby. He was lying face down with his arms wrapped around the lamppost.

"Did the sun just pop a solar pimple," Gerald asked, trying to catch his breath. He was laying on the concrete near Baron. One hand was gripping one of Baron's ankles. His other hand was held by Moe who was laying in front of me, his own fingers still tightly gripping my arm.

"That was intense," Moe said as I sat all the way up and he finally let go of me.

I glanced over my shoulder to see the front of the laundromat had been blown out. The people inside were whispering fearfully.

"Everybody okay over there," Orion called out from across the street.

"Ughh," Moe groaned. "I'd almost forgotten what that felt like."

I looked across the street to see Alejandra and the dwarves walk wearily out from between the wreckage obstructing the road and sidewalk. Huron rubbed the side of his head, wincing from the pain he was trying to soothe away. "Big boom," he said.

"Yes," Orion agreed. He kicked a Legion helmet away from his foot. "Nice job."

"That one seemed more powerful than the ones before," said Alejandra.

Moe finally sat up. "It sure felt that way."

"That fog," I said. "That purple fog-mist stuff..."

"Yeah," said Moe, rubbing the back of his head. "The Legion lady was using some kind of power. Like Poriece did."

"You must have countered it before she could be ready," Orion said, not hiding his uncertainty. "Your pulse reacted to her power. You used her own strength against her and her army."

"Whoa! Way to take out an army," said Gerald.

"Did you get the bad guy-err-lady," asked Baron, finally sitting upright.

I shook my head, glancing around. "I don't know."

"Can you sense her," Alejandra asked.

"No," I said. I could sense the Legion soldiers, though. The holes their armor created in my thoughts were starting to stir. A few were already on their feet moving with uneasy steps into new attack positions. "But this isn't over yet."

Orion's eyes shifted left then right, scanning the smoky surroundings for anything moving closer. Huron sniffed the air. He peered toward the alleys across the street, then the rooftops above them. "Soldiers moving again," the taller dwarf said slowly. His slingshot was in his hand again.