“Believe me, ” she replied, “they don’t need your help. Now keep

your goddam head down!”

The last of Kobayashi’s men fell and Nishikawa’s men moved in

toward the bridge. A group of the black-clad assassins suddenly

found their path blocked by an old man in white robes. They opened

fire with their automatic weapons, but Yohaku simply extended his

arms and the bullets all stopped before they reached him,

suspended in mid air, each of them surrounded by a glowing aura.

All at once, they turned around their axis, facing back the other

way, and sped back toward the gunmen like lethal fireflies. In

panic, the assassins tried to flee, but each burst unerringly struck

the man who’d fired it and one by one they crumpled to the ground

as the magically redirected rounds shredded their bodies.

Wyrdrune and Billy appeared simultaneously behind two other

groups of men who were running toward the bridge. Blue bolts of

thaumaturgic fire lanced from Billy’s eyes and struck several of the

assassins in the back, killing them instantly. Wyrdrune spoke a

kinetic control spell and the others suddenly felt their guns seem to

come alive in their hands. It happened so quickly that before any of

the selected killers could react, their own weapons turned them

toward each other and opened up on full auto, of their own accord,

with the result that they mowed one another down.

“Wyrdrune! Behind you!” Merlin cried.

Instinctively Wyrdrune leapt to one side and rolled as another

machine pistol clattered behind him. He heard the bullets whistle

past him. There were two black-garbed, hooded men behind him.

He gestured toward them and the guns flew out of their hands.

Faced with an adept, the men knew they were committed. One of

them quickly reached into a pouch at his belt and rapidly hurled

three throwing stars at Wyrdrune, one after the other. Wyrdrune

used his kinetic control to turn them in midflight. They described a

graceful arc in midair and spun back like miniature boomerangs

toward the man who’d thrown them. His scream was cut short as

the lethal stars embedded themselves deeply in his chest and

forehead. The second man, disarmed of his automatic weapon, knew

that it was pointless to ran. He reached behind him and unsheathed

a gleaming sword from the scabbard on his back.