Transversals

XVI. Frostbite

I turned and started to run back down the hill where we came from as fast as I could, but a large hand grabbed my ankle again and threw me away from civilization. I screamed, landing in the fluffy drifts, but rolling and getting cold snow down my neck and in my shoes, in my sleeves and against my bare skin. Jeremy's coat had flown off while I was in the air. It was like Ben's dream all over, except I didn't wake up.

Another cold, large hand grabbed my ankle and threw me once more. The cold shocked me and I yelped in pain as I rolled, but still tried to get up before they could grab me again.

A whoosh of snow knocked me onto my face once more, burying my knees. Pulling my feet out and trying to run once more, I glanced back to see Ben amongst the disappearing wreckage of an ice monster. His navy eyes looked up and caught mine.

"Ben," I breathed out.

They narrowed angrily. "Get out of here!"

I stumbled to my feet and started to run again, towards the next opening of an alley not blocked by ice monsters. I heard a grunt and impact of a body on snow and turned to find an icy fist raised, ready to punch through Ben. He rolled out of the way in the nick of time and sliced the hand off with his swords. I noticed that the monsters were thinner than the ones we've faced before. And loads faster. But, bigger.

"I can handle this, Axelson!" Ben yelled, fending off two monster's reaching hands with each of his swords. A third was ready to grab him by the midsection, but he extended wings and flew up away from the mess, closing his wings and doing an acrobatic aerial-type maneuver to slice one of the mosnters into nothing. The other two had called in back-up though. Ben saw them the same time as me.

I ran towards him and he tossed me a sword of his. I caught it, facing the two approaching us. "We have to flee!" I yelled over the wind.

"We're not fast enough in this!" Ben called back, the screech of an ice monster piercing our ears. I gripped the sword tighter and waited for the two running towards me, trying to stay calm and under control. I've got this.

I dove left and stuck a hand into his snow leg as hard as I could, getting a small hold. He stepped forward with me still hanging on, nearly yanking my arm out of my socket, but I cut his foot off with a war cry and as much strength I could muster. The blade went through easier, and I realized what the weakness was to this breed. Might be bigger and faster, but with thinner limbs, we could cut through easier and dismantle them piece by piece.

The monster groaned and started to tip back towards me, off balance. I gripped the hilt with two hands and swung in a rainbow arc, easily cutting through the monster with my effort. It fell around me in two halves. Blue strings started to reconnect the pieces around my ankles.

Ben suddenly came flying in and yanked me up and away from the mess, turning around and slicing the other way on the monster like cutting steak. It fell away into blending snow, then nothing. Three more were still after us.

One smacked Ben and the other grabbed for me, but I cut its hand off and dove under its legs, cutting them both off in one great swipe. The torso flopped to the ground and the blue strings were going every which way, unsure of how to reconnect the legs. I brought my sword up and sliced twice, in an X, as hard as I could. The monster disappeared in a poof and no blue strings eminated from the snow anymore. I breathed hard, feeling my arms getting weak with so much swinging. But hey, I just single-handedly killed my second monster.

I heard a pained grunt from behind me, Ben furiously trying to pat out fire on his wings. A monster was beginning to reconnect its two pieces, but I cut the other way just as it was complete, having to hack a second and third time with my tired arms not doing an A+ job anymore.