“Not to rush you, Travis,” Beltan said, holding his sword ready, “but now would be a good time for those runes.”

Travis drew in a breath, but he felt so weak—just like rune magic did here on Earth.

By the Lost Hand of Olrig, that’s no way for a Runelord to think!Jack Graystone’s voice thundered in his mind. You’re a wizard, Travis, on this or any world. Now speak a rune.Gelth should do nicely, I think.

This time Jack was right. Travis clenched his right fist, knowing without looking that the silvery symbol—three crossed lines, the rune of runes—had blazed to life on his palm.

“ Gelth,” he intoned.

Again he felt the deep wrenching sensation inside, as if someone had just punched him in the gut. The rune had no effect.

Beltan tightened his hands around the hilt of the sword. “Travis . . .”

There was love in the blond man’s voice, and urgency. The gorlethswere so close Travis could hear their whuffling, could smell the putrid reek of their breath.

“ Gelth!” Travis shouted, straining with all his being.

This time a thousand voices chanted the rune in his mind, and he felt a hum resonate through him like a tone through a pitchfork. Instantly, tiny, glittering crystals precipitated out of thin air, frosting the gorleths’dark fur, and sheeting the tiles of the platform with a glaze of ice.

On Eldh, Travis would have been able to conjure an ice storm; he could have frozen the gorlethssolid. However, in some ways, the coating of ice was equally effective. The curved talons of the gorlethscould find no purchase. The nearest creatures let out shrieks of fury as they fell, skidding across the platform.

One slid close to Beltan, and the blond knight took the opportunity to swing his sword, lopping the beast’s head off. Another gorlethflew over the edge of the platform. There was a sizzling sound as the creature struck one of the electrified rails on which the trains ran.

Vani gazed at the smoking gorleth, then glanced at Beltan. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

The blond man snorted. “I think everyone is thinking what you’re thinking.”

Three more gorlethsremained close by and were starting to slowly crawl toward them, while five or six of the beasts clustered at the foot of each stairwell, testing the ice with their talons; it was already beginning to melt. They could fight four of the creatures, maybe five. But not a dozen of them, not even with Beltan and Vani.

The T’golprowled toward one of the nearby gorleths, moving across the ice as surefooted as if it were rough cement. Beltan started to do the same, but he swore as he nearly lost his footing, only catching himself by digging the point of his sword into the ice.

Travis knelt and touched Beltan’s boots. “ Krond,” he murmured.

“What are you doing?” Beltan yowled stamping his feet. “That’s hot!”

The ice melted through to the tiles where his boots touched.

“Oh,” he said, then started toward one of the struggling gorleths, able to move across the ice now, if not as quickly as Vani. The creature reached for him, trying to rake open his stomach, but Beltan swiped with his sword, sending the beast’s arm spinning across the ice. He kicked, and the gorlethflew over the edge of the platform, striking the rails. Again came the sizzle of electricity, a sound that continued as Vani heaved first one, then another gorlethover the edge. However, one of them raked its claws across her leg, and she limped as she came back toward them, trailing a line of blood.

“It is a scratch,” she said in answer to their looks, but her words were more for Nim’s benefit than theirs. The ice was growing slushy beneath her feet, not just Beltan’s.

“ Gelth,” Travis said, pressing his hand against the floor, murmuring the rune over and over. The tiles froze again, but they began to melt almost immediately. Despite the chill that radiated from them, Travis was sweating, and he couldn’t stop shaking. He kept speaking runes.

A group of gorlethsedged away from one of the stairwells. They crept across the ice, pressing themselves against the wall at the end of the platform for support, moving toward the edge.

“What are they doing?” Beltan said.

Vani’s gold eyes narrowed. “They’re learning.”

When they reached the edge of the platform, the beasts lowered themselves into the trench where the trains ran, careful to avoid the electrified rails. Slowly, the gorlethsbegan making their way parallel to the rails. Creatures from the other end of the platform were following suit. Travis knew what would happen when they reached the center of the platform. They would climb back up; and then there would be no escaping them.

Deirdre eyed the advancing monsters. “Travis, stop it with the ice runes. I think we need to run for the stairs.”

However, even as she said this, several more gorlethsappeared at the foot of each stairwell. Vani and Beltan stood at the edge of the platform, ready to try to fend off the creatures when they started to climb up, though there were far too many of them. The snarls of the gorlethsechoed off the curved walls of the tunnel, a cacophony that drowned out the voices of the Runelords in Travis’s mind. He stopped speaking the rune of ice and knelt on the tiles, bowing his head, exhausted.

A puff of air caressed his cheeks—warm rather than cold, smelling of steel and soot.

In Castle City, Travis had often stood on the boardwalk in front of the Mine Shaft Saloon, facing toward the mountains. He would feel an ache of possibility in his chest as he waited for the wind, wondering what it might blow his way. Only he knew what this wind was bringing. Already he could feel the tiles vibrating beneath his knees.

“Vani, Beltan! Get back!”

The two hesitated, then stepped away from the edge. Travis stood and grabbed Deirdre, pulling her and Nim back. The first gorleths, three of them, started to scramble up onto the platform, their eyes glowing with malice. They opened their fanged maws and roared.

The roar grew louder, deeper, filling the tunnel like thunder. The gorlethsshut their maws, but the roar continued. Their pale eyes flickered with confusion, and they turned to look down the tunnel—

—just as the oncoming train struck them.

Two of the gorlethswent flying through the air, their bodies limp and broken before they crashed onto the tiles. The third was caught between the train and the platform, its body smearing into a stripe of black jelly. The gorlethsin the trench shrieked, then their cries were cut short.

Beltan, Vani, and Deirdre all stared, motionless with shock, but Travis knew they only had a moment. The ice had melted. Already the gorlethsfrom the stairwells were loping toward them across the platform. The train slowed, wheels screeching in protest.

“Everyone!” Travis shouted. “Get into the train!”

His words shattered their paralysis; they started moving. The train rattled to a stop, and a set of doors whooshed open before them.

Anders stood on the other side.

“Hello there, mates,” he said in his cheery, gravelly voice. As usual, the Seeker wore a sleek designer suit that could barely contain the bulk of his shoulders. His close-cropped hair looked freshly bleached—an unnatural contrast to his dark beard and eyebrows.

“Anders,” Deirdre breathed. “How—?”

Travis shoved Deirdre, pushing her through the doors.

“Mind the gap,” intoned a voice over the loudspeakers. The gorlethssnarled as they drew close. Vani and Beltan jumped into the train, Travis on their heels.

“Close the doors!” Anders shouted into a black walkie-talkie.

The doors whooshed shut just as the gorlethsstruck them. The train rocked under the blow. Vani and Beltan stumbled back, and talons slipped through the crack between the doors, wrenching them open. A snarling head shot through the gap, and before Travis could scream, the thing’s maw clamped around his upper arm.