CHAPTER THIRTY
A ROAR OF FIRE AND brimstone rose behind Ivan. He froze, grasping one of the tools he'd been randomly picking up and putting down as he waited for Finn to reappear from wherever she'd disappeared to. Poker in hand, he turned to meet the beast attacking him.
Metal rang on metal, echoing through the cavernous forge, as he ducked and prepared for the follow-through attack. A breeze whispered over the hairs on his neck as a hammer narrowly missed cracking his skull. He drove his shoulder into the torso coming towards him, at the same time swinging the poker around to take out the beast's feet. His attacker fell sideways onto the floor but had enough wherewithal to bring the pincers he held in one hand down hard onto Ivan's shoulder, with all the downward force of a falling bea
