Free Tricked by Kevin Hearne Page A

to convince Frank to stop, but I couldn’t tell what was being said, because they spoke in Navajo. The last thing I saw was that Frank had worked the knots loose and dumped the contents of the
jish
on his head. Said contents appeared to be nothing more than various colors of herbs and pollen and sand.
    Then I had to concentrate my attention on the first two
draugar
that Oberon had knocked down. After a few moments of disorientation, they did not lumber to their feet so much as dissolve into mist and re-form again—except that when they re-formed, they were standing up instead of lying prone. I was still behind them and gaining fast.
     Oberon explained. blam
, they’re blueberry death on the march.>
    Let’s see if they can go all misty on a sword blade
, I said. Iron hurt them but wasn’t always fatal, from what I’d heard. This was the first time I’d ever run into
draugar
. Though I’m sure Hel had other forces at her command,
draugar
would be the bulk of her army. They wore heavy helmets with chain ventails to protect their necks; it was low-cost stuff but enough to prevent easy decapitation. Otherwise they wore nothing but the ragged remnants of tunics and breeches that they had died in long ago. White bone shone through here andthere where the blue necrotized flesh had torn or rotted away.
    I came in from behind and hacked at the arm of the
draugr
on the right, expecting the blade to shear through fairly easily, but it sank into flesh and bone and got stuck as if it was lodged in soft wood. Caught by surprise, the
draugr
jerked away, and suddenly I was disarmed, Moralltach dangling impotently from the arm of this corpse. The Fae magic began to work, the blue flesh turning black, but it only made the creature shudder. Its flesh was already necrotic, the creature already dead, so the enchantment was unable to kill it again.
    “I miss Fragarach,” I said, as both
draugar
turned to face me. Empty eye sockets and gaping skeletal smiles grimaced at me as they lurched forward. The one I’d hacked at made no effort to wrench the sword out of its arm. The arm was swelling, sealing the blade in if anything.
    Can you knock down the blue one and buy me some time?
I asked Oberon.
I need to take care of this black one first
.
     Oberon said. He was behind them now. Juicing up my speed and strength, I charged the blackened
draugr
, who opened his arms wide to welcome me. Oberon charged the blue guy, and as he leapt up onto his opponent’s back, I dove down and to my right, wincing as the rock tore at my skin. My dive put me next to the
draugr
’s legs and, bracing myself with my hands and forearms, I spun around to kick the back of its knees; it crashed down heavily onto its back, right next to me. Its left elbow rammed into my back ribs and drove all the breath out of my lungs, but I was thrilled to see the hilt of Moralltach hit the ground first on its other side: That impact forced the sword to pop out of the thing’s arm and fall backward. Before the creature could decide to turn into mist, I snaked my left arm across its throat andthen pulled with all of my might as I tried to fill my lungs again. It flailed at me, putting that left elbow to good use, but I wasn’t letting go. A couple of cracking vertebrae, a sudden lack of tension, and I had torn its head from the body. I rose with it, gasping, and located the blue
draugr
not five yards away, newly re-formed out of mist after Oberon had knocked him down. I threw the head of his buddy at him and it caught him in the face; he staggered backward a couple of paces. That allowed me time to locate Moralltach and retrieve it. As I set myself to meet the
draugr
, I heard a massive bellow to my right. I risked a quick glance toward the sound and saw the most incredible possession I’ve ever seen.
    Frank Chischilly was suddenly unbelievably strong, because he held what must have