A Witch's Trial (Witch's Path Series: Book 3) (14 page)

Starting with my left hand, I pulled the gloves on and wiggled my fingers to get them in the correct places. Clenching my hands, I was happy the gloves flexed easily. If anything, they were a hair on the large side for my hand, but that was better than being too small.
 

"These will work. Thank you."
 

Stallings smiled at me as she opened the back of the truck and slid three cages onto the ground. After closing the back doors, she went to the front of the truck and came back with a sword strapped to her back. At the next truck, Shalatar had dropped four cages on the ground and was attaching two large daggers to her belt. Given the options, I had to say I had more faith in the sword. It was hard to make trouble when you were in pieces.
 

"Do you have an exact plan?" Shalatar asked.

"I'm sure you ladies know more about gremlins than I do. I'll follow your lead." Honestly, I didn't want any more responsibility in this mess than I'd already gotten. This was way outside my experience and abilities.

Stallings studied the herd of gremlins and shrugged. "Given the look of things, I'd walk over and start stuffing them in cages."
 

Shalatar nodded.

"Ok, works for me," I said.
 

Shalatar handed me a small cage before taking a larger one. Stallings picked up a biggish cage, and we were ready to capture some gremlins. The three of us walked up behind the pack of gremlins, set down the cages, and looked at one another. The two of them nodded at each other and grabbed a gremlin.
 

I stood there, mouth agape, as Stallings gripped a gremlin by the neck with one hand and opened the cage with her other hand. The gremlin was in the cage before it knew it'd been separated from the group.
 

Shalatar was equally efficient, though she took a different approach. She opened the cage and kept the door from swinging shut with one foot while she snatched a gremlin in each hand and shoved them into the open cage. It was closed and locked by the time they started to hiss and fight.
 

The rest of the gremlins were still leaning against the gremlins in front of them, completely uncaring of the fate of their friends. Their apathy was the only thing that gave me the courage to go grab one. I decided to split the difference in the officers' approaches and held the cage open with one foot as I wrapped both of my hands around a gremlin and swung it into the cage as quickly as I could.
 

I wasn't as fast as the ladies, and mine started hissing, wiggling, and clawing at me halfway to the cage. The gloves protected me from its sharp nails, and I had it in the cage before it could do real damage. With my first one dealt with, I breathed a sigh of relief and tried not to think about the remaining gremlins. A quick look to either side verified my suspicions. Stallings had four and Shalatar had six in the cages.
 

We filled the set of cages without incident. The gremlins didn't care if their fellows were snatched and continued leaning into the group as if nothing were going on behind them. Coming back, we each carried two cages. Once they were filled, we would be out of cages and have to find a new plan for containing these beasties.

The three of us set up our cages, and I reached for a gremlin. The entire back row turned around and hissed at me before resuming their previous stance. I froze, hands outstretched and one foot holding open the cage door. When the gremlins didn't offer any violence, I relaxed and took a few steps back. Stallings and Shalatar joined me several feet away from the gremlins.
 

It took a few tries, but I did get my mouth closed. Clearing my throat, I said, "That's new."

"What changed?" Stallings asked.

"What? I'm confused."
 

"You said that was new, which I'm understanding to mean that was not behavior you had witnessed previously. It certainly differed from what I've seen since my arrival. With that in mind, what changed between last time we placed them in cages and now?"

I tore my eyes away from the mass of gremlins in front of us and focused on the rest of the area. The herd on the road was continuing to lean against the gate, which seemed to be holding thanks to the magical enhancements. Around the rest of the fence, small packs of gremlins had abandoned their attempts to break into the jail and were slowly marching in this direction.
 

"I don't know what changed, but we have more problems headed this way." I pointed to a particularly large group making its way along the fence. It would be nice if luck would join my side and groups of gremlins would start falling over dead.
 

Shalatar sighed. "We are not set up to manage nuisance creatures on this scale."

"Understandable," I said. It's not often that gremlins, or most magical critters, were found in groups this large. Even the most group-oriented ones were seldom seen in packs larger than thirty individuals. "Do we have a plan?"

"Finish filling the cages we have and hope help arrives before things get worse," Shalatar offered.

Stallings frowned and shrugged without offering any suggestions. "Might as well."
 

Squaring my shoulders, I marched up to the mass of gremlins, toed open a cage, and adjusted my gloves. Taking a deep breath, I lunged forward and got my hand on one of them. I was leaning back to stuff the squirming body into the cage when it stopped moving. Before it could resume its hissing and clawing, I shoved it in the cage and locked the door.
 

Swinging around, I jerked to a halt. All the gremlins had turned around and were looking at us. On each side of me, Stallings and Shalatar were focused on the wall of gremlins. They seemed to have forgotten about the pudgy gremlins in their hands.

The gremlin in front of me smiled, an expression that was unnatural and repugnant on its lumpy, disproportionate face. One by one, the gremlins around him broke into crooked smiles.
 

This was not a good sign.
 

"Michelle, it's so nice to meet you," the gremlin in front of me said.

Behind him, the rest of the gremlins intoned, "Nice to meet you."

I stood there, mouth agape, and tried to figure out what I should say.

The gremlin didn't have a problem choosing his next words. "Be sure to keep your family safe. It would be terrible if anything happened to them."

"It could happen to them," the rest of the crowd echoed.

My arms prickled and my vision clouded. This wasn't about getting a prisoner or attacking the police station. It was about me and mine. Gremory wasn't going to get my family.
 

"You can't have them," I told the gremlins.

"We will have you. Then we will get them." All the gremlins spoke at once in a flat tone that vibrated with their voices, which weren't perfectly in sync. "We will bring you to Gremory."

"I'll believe that when it happens. It would take more than a horde of gremlins best a witch." I didn't entirely believe my words. If I'd been alone, this many gremlins might have done it, but with a fey, an elf, and shifters, the odds were in my favor.
 

"We will bring you to Gremory," the crowd repeated in an eerie voice.
 

As the three of us faced off against hundreds of them, I tried to figure out my next move. We didn't have a way to neutralize or contain this many gremlins, and there was a limit to what I could do magically.

I never got a chance to voice any of these thoughts, because at that moment, the gremlins attacked. The ones Stallings and Shalatar were holding went from limp to violent—hissing, scratching, biting, and kicking with all their might.
 

I was awash with stout bodies. They launched themselves at me, digging claws into my legs and slashing and tearing at any available body part. One of them flew at my face, and I knocked it aside with my arm. When my face was, at least temporarily, out of danger, I kicked, thrashed, and yanked gremlins off every part of me, losing bits of skin in the process.
 

A quick look around revealed that Shalatar was faster than I'd expected with the daggers. The gremlins around her were forced to climb over her previous attackers, and she was starting to get some space from the group.
 

On my other side, Stallings had the sword moving so quickly my eyes couldn't track it, but I heard faint whooshes. There were plenty of pudgy bodies around her feet too, but she was doing quick footwork to stay upright and give herself enough room to use the sword effectively.

Then there was me, continually swamped by the creatures, sticking my left leg out and shaking it around before putting my right hand in and flinging a gremlin back into the horde. I felt like I was doing the hokey pokey, only deadlier.

I glanced over my shoulder again. Stallings was a good twenty feet from me, and Shalatar was even farther away than that. Shaking off another gremlin, I smiled. Now I had room to work.
 

Taking a deep breath, I contracted my magic into a tight ball where I gave it direction and shape. I forced the spell to expand, pushing it out in every direction as I shouted, "
Fehu
."

All around me, gremlins stilled and toppled over as frost encrusted them. A couple were caught in mid jump and crashed to the ground where they shattered. Several other were frozen to the earth, both feet planted solidly enough to keep them upright.
 

With the gremlins to my sides and back taken care of, I could focus on the mob in front of me. A few steps forward, and I pulsed the spell in a half circle, catching five or six ranks. The gremlins continued to rush me, trampling their fallen companions in the process.
 

At this point, I had a better feel for the area I was affecting and added more power to the spell, solidifying the next nine rows. Not wanting them to gain any ground, I picked my way through the fallen bodies, kicking them to the side when there wasn't a path. This time I froze enough of them that it stalled the progress of the column, which seemed to be contained to the road. The gremlins marching at me from the rest of the jail were under no such constraint and surged over the shoulder, coming at me from both sides.

The way I'd been tossing power around was taking its toll. A few more spells and I'd be back to doing the hokey pokey.
 

Feet planted, I let the gremlins swarm me as they closed in from every direction. When the first one was gathering himself to leap on me, I released another burst of the spell, turning gremlins into Popsicles down the road and onto the grass. Behind the iced gremlins, more of them were descending upon me. The gate was only a hundred and fifty feet away, but it felt farther with gremlins coming at me from every direction.

"I have had about enough of this. Gremory, they're gremlins! What are they going to do, gnaw me to death? We both know you want the satisfaction of dealing with me on your own," I yelled.
 

The gremlins replied in the same hair-raising voice they'd used before, but it had lost a bit of its power. It's hard to sound intimidating when most of your speakers are out of breath. "You are a bug to be squished, hardly worthy of my undivided attention."

"You think they're going to squish me? They aren't even two feet tall, and I've turned most of them into Popsicles!" I had one more good spell in me, and it had to finish the job.
 

The gremlins gathered around, encircling me but not attacking. If the past was anything to go by, they would rush me and that would be my chance to end this nonsense. My bravado dampened when I realized there were more than thirty ranks surrounding me. I'd yet been able to freeze more than fifteen rows, and I was on the waning side of my power.
 

"Gremory will have you and your family," they intoned.
 

I didn't bother to reply.

The gremlins charged, and I flung the last of my power at them. "
Fehu
!" Dozens of them frosted, but I didn't get all of them. The remaining gremlins started climbing over and around their friends, still headed for me.
 

From behind me, I heard a loud clap, and a shadow trailed across the ground, moving my way. A high-pitched whistle cut through the air. Panicking, I screamed and ducked.
 

"Mother Earth, don't let this be the end of me," I whispered.
 

Seconds passed and nothing happened. I wasn't attacked by a single gremlin or whatever was in the sky. Still on my hands and knees, I looked over my shoulder. There, plain as day, was Horst, gliding through the air while whistling. Gremlins scrambled to get out of his way, but everything he directed a whistle at turned to stone.

I slowly stood up, mouth agape. All around me were statues of pudgy bodies. My eyes trailed over the road, up and down each grassy shoulder and along the fence. There wasn't a moving gremlin to be found. Gray gremlins dotted the landscape, standing, fallen, and occasionally broken. One near me, which was frosted over from a spell of mine and gray from the gargoyle's ability, had fallen over and the arm had snapped off. Kneeling down, I picked up the limb. It was cold enough to make my fingers ache, but instead of seeing flesh and bone, I saw a monotone gray. The gargoyles had turned the gremlin to stone.
 

Gargoyles turning creatures to stone was a new one to me. I'd known they would fight evil and had tough hides, but this ability had been left out of my education, and it was fascinating to see it in action. One day I'd have to sit down with a gargoyle and figure out how they did it. It wasn't as simple as hearing the tone, or I'd be a statue too.

Two more gargoyles flew into view, and I turned my attention to the sky, shading my eyes with one hand. Sure enough, there were four gargoyles circling overhead. It was a relief to see the situation under control. All the credit on this one went to the gargoyles for accomplishing what I couldn't.

I wasn't very careful as I walked down the road. The gremlins were dead. Being in once piece or several made little difference. It took longer than I liked, but I finally made it past the piles of bodies Stallings and Shalatar had left. Like the rest of the gremlins, these were stone too.