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- They passed into a ravine, worn smooth by the whistling wind. Butler
- didn’t like it. His soldier’s sense was beating a tattoo on the inside of his
- skull. He raised a clenched fist.
- Root double his pace to catch up.
- “Trouble?”
- Butler squinted into the snow field, searching for footprints. “Maybe.
- Nice spot for a surprise attack.”
- “Maybe. If anyone knew we were coming.”
- “Is that possible? Could someone know?”
- Root snorted, breath forming clouds in the air before him.
- “Impossible. The chute is totally isolated, and LEP security is the
- tightest on the planet.”
- And that was when the goblin hit squad soared over the ridge.
- Butler grabbed Artemis by the collar, unceremoniously flinging him
- into a drift. His other hand was already drawing his weapon.
- “Keep your head down, Artemis. Time for me to earn my salary.”
- Artemis would have responded testily, had his head not been under
- three feet of snow.
- …
- “We need cover. Fast!”
- Butler nodded. “Look. An overhang. Under the ridge.”
- The manservant grabbed his charge by the collar, hoisting him aloft
- as easily as a child would lift a kitten. They struggled through the snow to
- the shelter of the overhang.
- …
- Holly tapped her helmet to make sure the lenses were working.
- “Maybe I’m getting some Optix distortion, sir, but it looks like
- they’re missing on purpose, shooting way over our heads.”
- Butler felt the blood pounding in his brain.
- “It’s a trap!” he roared, reaching behind him to grab Artemis.
- “Everybody out! Everybody out!”
- And that was when the goblin charges sent fifty tons of rock, ice, and
- snow tumbling to earth.
- They nearly made it. Of course nearly never won a bucket of squid at
- gnommish roulette. If it hadn’t been for Butler, not one of the group would
- have survived. Something happened to him. An inexplicable surge of
- strength, not unlike the energy bursts that allow mothers to lift fallen trees
- off their children. The manservant grabbed Artemis and Holly, spinning
- them forward like stones across a pond. It wasn’t a very dignified way to
- travel, but it certainly beat having your bones pulverized by falling ice.
- For the second time in so many minutes, Artemis landed nose first in
- a snowdrift.
- -The Arctic Incident, Chapter 8
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