"'Should,'" Michelle said with a quick smile. "Always an encouraging word."
"Wouldn't want life to be dull, now would we?" Michelle replied--and then the hounds were upon them. They just plowed through the wards, either not seeing them or not caring, she had no idea which. The wards might have slowed them by half a step. Or maybe not.
One of the lead dogs ignored her, racing toward the animals. Michelle turned and took its head off. Her blade sliced through it with almost no resistance, and she turned back just in time to impale another animal as it leaped for her. The sheer mass of the creature slamming onto her blade forced her back a step.
The weight of the dead hound dragged the tip of her blade down before it slid to the ground. Michelle punched one in the head with her buckler, but before she could free her sword, another dog darted in to sink its teeth in her ankle. "Fuck!" she cried, stabbing it.
Behind her, the cows were bellowing in alarm. She spared a glance to see two hounds attacking the nearest cow, and a third getting its ribs caved in by a kick from another cow. It tumbled away and sprawled unmoving. You show 'em, Bessie, Michelle thought.
Another thrust of her sword and the dog gnawing on her ankle collapsed. She glanced over at Stephen. How was he doing?