Of Enemies and Endings Read Free

checking to see if she was all right, but it turned out to be just one of those be careful kind of yells.
    Mistake. I shouldn’t have looked away.
    The witch’s second kick caught me in the shoulder before I could stand. I went sprawling. My head cracked against the hardwood floor. The witches outside the bars cawed, like a green-and-black flock celebrating. Istalina preened. She raised both her dagger and her wand, like she wasn’t sure which one she wanted to use on me first.
    Half-dazed, I waited for her to decide. Another wrong move could cost me.
    â€œWatch out!” one of the witches shouted.
    Istalina took a step back, and a can of tomato sauce sailed past her face, inches from her long nose.
    â€œDon’t worry, Rory,” Amy said. I couldn’t see her, but I could picture her on the other side of the island, her arm cocked back, another can at the ready.
    Istalina lifted her wand toward Amy’s hiding place with such a sinister smile. In the Arctic Circle, the Snow Queen had raised her hand, just like that, right before the ice shards flew from her fingertips, seconds before Hadriane died.
    â€œNo!” I sprang to my feet and tried to push Istalina’s wand arm out of range with my blade and my shield. She caught my sword with her dagger easily, but the shield . . . well, the tip of her wand slid through the metal weaving and exploded. Tiny splinters flew in all directions.
    The pot lid saved me from the worst of it. I only felt one big sliver impale itself in my left shoulder.
    Istalina wasn’t so lucky. Shards stuck out from her forearm. The witch’s green blood spilled down her elbow, over her fingers, and dripped off the end of her wand, which was considerably shorter than before.
    Hopefully, that meant she couldn’t use it.
    The Wolfsbane clan stopped squawking. They stared at Istalina’s wand, horrified.
    â€œYou still have your blades!” one of them shouted.
    If that was all she had left, I could handle her. I still had a magic sword.
    She slashed her dagger at my face.
    I blocked it with my shield arm, hitting her fingers with the lid’s edge so hard that she shrieked. Her dagger clattered to the floor. She struck with her other hand, swinging a second knife. I hadn’t seen it. She must have dropped her ruined wand and grabbed the hidden blade.
    With my luck, she probably had extra knives stashed in her boots. Well, if disarming her didn’t work . . .
    I kicked out, three times in quick succession just like Chase and I practiced—once to bash the weapon out of her hand, once in her stomach to knock the wind out of her, once in the face to stun her. She choked, gasping for air. Her face twisted with rage, her lip bleeding. With a fresh knife, she tried to stab my belly, but the movement was much slower than before. I whacked her blade aside with my shield, stepped inside her guard, and smashed my hilt into her temple. She dropped into a heap, her arm twisted under her in a really uncomfortable-looking way.
    She probably wasn’t faking.
    â€œBehind you, Rory!” Amy yelled.
    I glanced back. A third knife sailed though the air, aimed directly at my head. I jumped out of the way, but then a throwing star shaped like a snowflake flew into my path. I deflected it with my shield.
    The witches of the Wolfsbane clan had lined up along the comb cage. I gulped. The bars only stopped magical attacks. A regular blade or arrow could make it through. The Wolfsbane witches had come prepared for this, armed with knives and snowflake-shaped throwing stars in every green hand.
    â€œWe gave Istalina the honor of first blood, if she could get it,” said a short, squat one. “But make no mistake, Aurora Landon. We bring your death with us today.”
    They all threw at once. Amy screamed, but the witches’ aim was less than awesome. A few barbed snowflakes knocked into the bars and fell to the floor. A small knife