The Gates of Night: The Dreaming Dark - Book 3 by Keith Baker

thrust.
    Driven by anger, she moved with uncanny speed. But the Huntsman was quick to react. Man and horse moved as one. The stallion stepped to the side and the rider raised his lunar shield.
    The impact was stunning. Thunder rolled across the valley, as if the sky itself were outraged.
    The staff howled.
    It was a terrible sound, a keening filled with agony and grief. The cry tore away hope, leaving a horrible void and sense of doom. As painful as it was, Lei could sense that she was only feeling the barest edge of the despair it channeled at the Huntsman and his hounds. The rider fell back before her, wilting against the force of the wail. Then the moment passed, and the bloodhounds charged.
    “I hoped to escort you, my lady,” the hunter cried over the continued keening of the staff. “But I will bring you by force if I must.”
    Lei let the fury guide her. The first hound to reach her leapt into the air, intending to tackle. Lei’s thrust caught the beast directly in the chest, sinking deep into the flesh as if the staff was a spear. Even as Lei staggered back against the impact, the hound seemed to
boil
, lines of heat rippling around it. An instant later it exploded, and Lei felt warm blood splatter across her face.
    Lei reached up to wipe the blood from her eyes, but the distraction came at a crucial moment. A second hound smashed into her, throwing her to the ground and pouncing on her chest. It knocked the staff from her hands. The wail came to a sudden end, and Lei’s strength and anger drained away. The hound moved with blinding speed, striking at her throat with bloodstained teeth. Powerful jaws closed, straining to snap her neck … and failing.
    Before the battle, Daine had ordered Lei to weave a protective enchantment into her vest, and this magic dispersed the brunt of the attack. The pain was great,and Lei gasped for breath, but the hound couldn’t pierce her armor. There was a breath of wind, and the creature jerked back as it was struck by Pierce’s arrows. It dissolved, pressure vanishing as blood flowed over Lei’s chest.
    Xu’sasar danced among the hounds, lashing out with knee and elbow. Lei heard the
thrum
of Pierce’s bow as arrows cut through the air around her. Then she saw the dark stallion charging her.
    At one point in her life, Lei might have been terrified. But after all she’d been through over the last few days, a man on a horse just couldn’t frighten her. She saw the stone mask of the Huntsman, the single tear gleaming in the moonlight, the silver tip of his spear leveled at her heart, and the stallion’s hooves, tearing the ground as it thundered toward her. Her staff had been knocked from her grasp, and there was no time to reach it. She was empty-handed.
    But there was a golden glyph painted on the palm of her left hand.
    Raising her hand, she reached out with her thoughts to touch the power she’d bound into the glove. The symbol exploded outward in a burst of light, catching horse and rider in a brilliant spray. Thousands of golden motes filled the air, then the light condensed around the Huntsman and his mount, covering both with a layer of glittering dust. The stallion staggered to a halt, stumbling blindly and pawing at the earth. Two of Pierce’s arrows sang through the air—one was aimed at the stallion’s eye, while the second caught the rider in the throat. Both shafts shattered on impact. The hunter didn’t even seem to notice the blow.
    “Fie!
” the Huntsman cried, his voice thunderingacross the plains. He shook his head, but the magical dust could not be removed that easily. “Such trickery will not keep me from my lady!”
    “Then let’s try a new trick.” Daine vaulted up behind the hunter and wrapped his arm around the man’s throat. The blinded stallion bucked and leapt, but Daine clung to the hunter with grim determination. The two struggled, and Daine pulled the rider from the saddle, sending them both tumbling to the ground. The Huntsman