CHAPTER#107

The one with the cane drew a blade out of it and charged at Yuki. The Queen intercepted him, but he made a gesture with one hand that sent her flying back and through the front window of the house. A few more golems showed up in a car, driving right through the open gate, and a few of the ones already there were starting to glow. Whoever was controlling them was now funneling massive amounts of magic into them.

Two golems grabbed onto the King of Wands and exploded, spraying the yard with debris. The blast knocked Yuki off her feet, and they swarmed in toward her. Hands grabbed at her feet, dragging her down the stairs, and she let out a snarl, ripping at them with her claws.

"Hold her down," a voice cried. "Amir will want to see this."

"I've got something to show you." Tearing her hand free, she yanked off her eyepatch.

Pain flooded her head. Using the Gorgon's Eye always came with a minor price, but she screamed in agony when she locked eyes with her nearest assailant. Fighting free of her captors, she fell into a pile of nearby snow and vomited, holding her belly as waves of pure agony washed over her. What had he done to her? It was taking everything in her power not to rip the eye from her own head.

Moaning in agony, she realized that the yard had gone completely silent. Moving slowly, she closed her bad eye, squinting against the bright white of the snow.

They were frozen, all of them, unmoving. Yuki stood, walking over to where she had dropped her eye patch. Once it was back in place, she approached the statue nearest her, puzzled.

This one was facing toward the house, a knife held in his hand. The King of Wands stood next to it, his staff ready, but there was nobody to attack. With a mental command, she had him stand down, and summoned the Queen of Wands from inside the house.

"Why are you all holding still?" Even the sound of her own voice was too loud, causing her to wince. Placing a hand behind the statue's head, she leaned forward, trying to concentrate.

The Gorgon's Eye pulsed in her socket, and it occurred to her that these were no mere golems. The sand had been made into flesh, which made them vulnerable to her magic, but she should have only turned the ones nearest to her. In fact, three of them had been turned to stone.

Sitting on the porch, she pondered the crowd of men, both stone and flesh. Looking at their identical features, a grin crossed her face.

"You were driving them, weren't you?" A laugh escaped her lips, which triggered another bout of agony, but it was worth it. The man who had created these beings hadn't just made them and set them loose. He had been piloting them, his mind jumping around between them.

Which meant he had been looking at her when she used the Eye.

"Oh, I wish I could see the look on your face. Well, your actual face." These were sand clones, identical to their creator. And right now, their creator was a beautiful statue somewhere. Standing up with an assist from the Queen, she walked to the one closest to her.

"Smash him," she commanded, and the Queen shattered the statue. Nothing happened. She picked another one, and the Queen leveled the creature with a swing of her staff. Frowning, Yuki looked around the yard.

Whoever this was, he wouldn't put himself in harm's way. So where could he be hiding? Commanding the King and Queen to remain behind, she wandered out of the front yard, carefully watching the street while the Page of Wands followed her. Sniffing at the air, she caught a whiff of magic, following it across the street. It was nearly a block over that she found a black town car parked in front of somebody's house. The driver inside was unmoving, but she was more interested in the man in the back of the car.

The passenger had turned to stone, but his clothing had not. Maybe it was a function of seeing her through one of his golems? As a result, the strange device near his ear was unharmed, and she heard someone speaking through it.

It was a woman's voice. She slid the device out of his hands and held it in front of her face. A glass screen displayed the name Kali.

"Sebastien? Sebastien, are you there? We are only a couple minutes away, what is happening? Do you have Mike in custody?"

Yuki tilted her head back and forth, looking at the device. She held the device near her head as Sebastien had. "No, he doesn't."

There was a moment of silence. "Who is this?"

Yuki nodded at the Page of Wands. He dragged the statue out of the car and smashed it face first on the concrete. It broke apart, sending sharp fragments through the air. The driver let out a loud moan and crumbled into a pile of sand.

Satisfied, she held the device to her lips. "Sebastien's gone. All the king's horses and all the king's men won't put this bastard together again."

After a few more seconds, a new voice came over the phone. This was a man whose voice resonated with energy, even over the device.

"Who is this?" he demanded. She felt the magical compulsion wash over her, but shrugged it away.

"I'm the fucking Snow Queen, that's who." Her hands rippled with fur, and she crushed the device with her claws, bits of metal, glass and plastic raining down on the concrete. Leaving the car behind, she walked back to the safety of the house. The pain in her head was finally subsiding, but there was still work to do.

All of her years in the tower had taught her a lot of things, but some of the most important lessons had involved the traps she had discovered. The clouds darkened above as she funneled magic into producing more ice and snow. The only way any new intruders could come in was through the front walk. She layered traps on top of each other, thinking back on the voice she had heard. It had been the voice of someone who was used to getting his way, and if she was correct, he would be there soon.