Night Rune (Prof Croft Book 8) by Brad Magnarella (best e reader for academics txt) 📕

Broadway to find it dark and empty. Blackened lots and the occasional husk of a burned building stood on the side opposite us. That much hadn’t changed. When Bree-yark and Caroline arrived beside me, I pointed out the St. Martin’s site a couple blocks to the north. Stone slabs from the original foundation showed through a layer of earth and cinder, but that was it.

“No new construction,” I said.

Caroline consulted the folded map, then raised her face. “We’re a block from the copper panels on the corner of Broadway and Stone.” But she seemed to hesitate, a small fold forming between her eyes.

“What is it?” I asked.

“The ley energy is too diffuse.”

I shifted to my wizard’s senses. I could see the energy founting from where St. Martin’s had once stood, but Caroline was right. The passing currents were way too weak. I wondered if it had something to do with the plates.

Bree-yark grumbled, “I’m picking up some strange smells.”

Dropsy pulsed several times as if to announce something was bothering her too.

“We should go carefully,” Caroline said.

With a Word, I hardened the air around us into a shield. But with the dearth of ley energy, the manifestation was feeble. It sputtered several times before stabilizing into something semi-protective. Has to be the plates, I thought. Dismantle them and the energy flow will return to normal.

I took the lead up Broadway, eyeballing the approaching corner.

Caroline started to speak when, in a blinding burst of sparks, something crashed through my shield and landed against my chest. The impact jolted Arnaud from my grip and drove me to the ground. Blinking rapidly to clear the bright afterimage from my eyes, I made out a reptilian head with large serrated teeth.

And it was lunging toward my face.

20

I met the oncoming head with a sword swing, the flat of the blade smacking off the snout. The creature reared back, giving me my first good look at it. Reptilian, yes—but its body was sheathed in gray feathers. It stalked around on a pair of legs that ended in lethal talons, head cocked to one side to peer down at me.

The hell is this thing?

From deep in its throat, a series of bass sounds emerged, like air pumping from a thick sac. And it did not sound friendly. Restoring my shield, I struggled into a backwards scoot. The creature pursued and was met by a wave of enchanted light. Caroline moved up beside me as the creature swooned, then thudded to the ground.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

I nodded, even though my sternum felt bruised and I was sucking wind. Taking her offered hand, I gained my feet and peered down at the feathered creature. It was at least eight feet from head to tail, with that reptilian jaw of carnivorous teeth. But its upper appendages appeared more wings than arms. Whatever it was, it didn’t resemble any supernatural creature I’d ever seen or read about.

When Bree-yark joined us, I noticed with relief that he was holding onto Arnaud.

“Someone wanna tell me what a dinosaur is doing in 1776 New York?” he asked.

“Dinosaur?” I echoed.

Thoughtful ridges formed along Bree-yark’s brow as he circled the creature. “Raptor, from the looks of it. Don’t let the feathers fool you. Pretty common in the late Cretaceous period.” When he caught Caroline’s and my quizzical looks, he said, “Oh, yeah, learned all about dinosaurs on the Science Channel.”

I trusted him, remembering how much cable TV he watched when he stayed at Gretchen’s. But was this why the city had cleared out? An infestation of predatory dinosaurs? Though it didn’t make a lick of sense, I peered around anyway to make sure no more of the feathered raptors were approaching.

“Native to North America,” Bree-yark added.

“Yeah, but not two hundred fifty years ago,” I countered, force returning to my voice.

“More like a hundred million. And that’s what I smelled all right.” Bree-yark’s nostrils flared. “Prehistoric funk.”

Before we could begin to dissect the meaning, Broadway disappeared. In the place of a building-lined street, a forest rose around us, bright moonlight filtering through a thick canopy. Sword and staff drawn, I jerked around. Caroline was beside me, fae energy glimmering from her hands.

A grunt sounded about ten feet in front of us. A large frond fell away, revealing Bree-yark, who’d hacked it down with his blade. He still had a hold of Arnaud. Dropsy rotated side to side from the goblin’s belt, her light illuminating flying insects and an understory of ferns too giant to seem real.

Beyond the ferns, yellow eyes glinted.

“Heads-up!” I called as the rest of the raptor pack broke from their hiding and crashed through the brush. Thrusting my sword at the lead one, I shouted a force invocation. The whoosh through my mental prism was more air than ley energy, the emerging force barely enough to knock the raptor off balance and ruffle its feathers.

I need to scare them, I thought. Give them something they’ve never seen before.

Taking the shield I’d cast between us, I flattened it and rammed it toward them. The collision of raptors and wall created a predictable curtain of sparks. The raptors retreated from the light show in a chorus of bass sounds. But they didn’t flee, the prospect of warm-blooded prey too enticing, apparently. Caroline followed up with a beautiful aurora borealis that swam around the raptors, dazing them.

“This way,” she called.

I turned in time to see her cloak flutter behind a tree. But Bree-yark was stalking toward the enchanted raptors as if he meant to send them all back into extinction. Grabbing the scruff of his coat with one hand and Arnaud’s arm with the other, I pulled them after me, high-stepping through the undergrowth.

We rounded the same tree as Caroline…

…and stumbled back onto Broadway. I didn’t stop to look back. I broke into a full run, feet pounding the dirt lane for all they were worth. Bree-yark followed at my heels. We caught up to Caroline at the intersection with Garden, where she was waiting.