Free Sabrina's Clan by Tracy Cooper-Posey Page A

moved faster, letting himself make more noise. Like Riley, his movement would help flush the creature out and drive it toward Nick, who was closest.
    There was a thicket ahead. American forests didn’t have thickets, generally. The growth was too vertical and interrupted by cold winters to develop the gnarled old knots of trees and bushes growing into each other, their branches tangling and intertwining until it was impossible to pass through them. This summer, though, with its heat and rain, had helped develop pockets of thicket-like growth where the trees overhead were thin enough to allow strong sunlight to blaze on the bushes below.
    This was one such grove ahead. It would be perfect cover for an enemy to hide behind. Far to Nyanther’s left, he could see Nick approaching it, his long sword in his right hand and his belt knife in the other. Riley was behind both of them. She had moved more slowly than either of them and he could hear her pushing through the forest clearly. She was no longer even trying to hide her progress. With every step she took, branches cracked and popped.
    Nyanther decided to move around the heavy growth. Going through it wasn’t possible. If there was something hiding behind it, Riley’s noisy approach might drive them out and he would be in a position to deal with it.
    Nick was to his left so he turned right and began to circle the thicket. It told him how large it was.
    Something was definitely moving behind it, only he couldn’t find the end of the growth. He kept circling, looking for the edge so he could step around it. The noises behind it were louder now. Something large was there. Large and moving.
    The truth slammed into him with a shock that made him gasp. “It’s a circle!” he cried aloud. There was no point in silence anymore.
    Whatever hid behind the enclosing growth made an inhuman growling sound that made Nyanther’s spine prickle hard. “Gargoyle! Inside! Inside!” he cried.
    There was no choice. He was going to have to go through the dense bushes. He hacked at them with his sword, moving as fast as he could, cutting a path through. Branches slapped at him. One scratched his face, making him hiss. He wore no jacket – it wasn’t cold enough to demand one and out here no human could see him ignoring what they considered to be a chill. He was paying for it now. Sharp twigs clawed at his arms.
    He ignored it all. He’d heal. Instead, he barreled his way through the narrow path he made, using bodyweight, speed and power. Riley, if she was smart, would follow his trail and save herself the effort, which would be beyond her strength.
    He almost fell into the clearing inside the thicket, at the same time Nick stumbled through into the space on the other side. It was a large, sandy shallow bowl, nearly ten yards across.
    In the middle of the bowl was an astonishing sight. One of the largest of the clan was standing on its hind legs, upright like a prairie dog, which put its head nearly fifteen feet up. It was flailing at the air around its head, as if it was waving at flies. Its eyes glowed red, pulsing with fury.
    The reason it was scrabbling about its ears with its shortened front legs was because of the man standing on its shoulders. No, not standing. The man was on his knees, using them to grip its neck and hold on. Underneath the man, snarling the creature’s wings and snaring its long pointed ears, was a netting made of thick, nylon rope. Apart from the bright blue color of the rope, it could have been one of the nets the gladiators had used in the Roman arena in Caerleon.
    This man had used the net in exactly the same way. He had thrown the net so it tangled up the gargoyle’s wings, preventing it from flying away. The net had also caught the gargoyle’s elbow spikes, disabling its arms.
    Then the man must have jumped up onto its back, using the net for climbing. Now he had a knife in both hands, the long blade pointed down at the gargoyle’s head. Nothing the