“Scatter,” I whispered to my bees. “I need to see everything in this city – every vantage from the wall, every gate, every leader who braces the walls for battle. And one of you needs to find Wing Ivo. And another should stay near the prince.”
They were already scattering as I finished breathing my request. We were the swarm. We would defend our hive.
I turned on my heel away from the gates and my hopes of escape.
Chapter Nineteen
I HURRIED THROUGH THE crowds of distressed people. Most of the civilians were streaming into the city, while groups of Claws ran outward toward the walls. Like two rivers running in opposite directions, side by side, they poured through the avenues and streets, sweeping up anyone in their paths.
I had a moment of dizziness as another flash of vision seared across my mind – Ixtap raced across the land, his snake rising before him as he reached the walls.
That’s where I needed to be if I wanted to help defend Karkatua. On the walls.
I angled toward them, falling in line behind a group of Claws in short bright-blue coats thick with white stitching. We rounded a corner toward a wide staircase leading up to the walls. The men in front of me ran up the staircase, but I paused. Now what? I’d run into this without knowing what to do next. If only my bees could tell me where Ivo was, or someone else who might know what to do.
A Claw cleared half the stairs in a leap, landing beside me as she regained her balance.
Brielle! I reached out and grabbed her.
“Hands off!” she bellowed.
“Claw Brielle!” I objected, holding on tightly to her.
“I have orders to join the crown prince,” she said grimly without turning. I clung to her jacket, pulled along by her momentum. “Civilians are barred from the wall. Leave immediately.”
“Stop!”
She turned for just long enough to recognize me, shaking her head as soon as she did.
“I’m not your nursemaid. Go find Osprey. He’ll take you in hand.”
“I can help!” I said, certainty I didn’t have filling my voice.
Brielle looked both ways before grabbing my collar and hauling me into an alley, shoving me against a worn plaster wall.
“Now isn’t time for revolutions or militia, girl. The city is under attack. I have Claw business.”
I nodded. “You have to get the crown prince onto a ship.” Her jaw dropped but I plowed on. “My bees can scatter all across the city and report to me. Clearly, that’s a needed skill right now.”
She nodded once, curtly.
“There’s a small gatehouse on top of the wall where the seagull flag flies. Inside are those who will lead the defense. Offer this talent to them. If anyone tries to bar you from the wall, give them my name and for sky’s sake, girl, don’t embarrass me.”
She was gone before I could reply, arrowing through the crowds toward the docks.
I gritted my teeth and ran back toward the stairs, elbowing my way through groups of Claws waiting for orders at the base of the stairs. As I ran, I snatched a polearm from a stash of supplies.
“Stop!” one of the Claws stationed next to the stack called after me. “Those are for Claws only! The citizenry is not to be armed!”
Even under attack, they clung to their ridiculous new ideals.
I barely paused. “I’m under orders from Claw Brielle.”
He opened his mouth, but I ignored him, hurtling up the steps and onto the wall. At the crest of the steps, I wavered, falling forward to one knee and losing my polearm.
A vision flashed before my eyes. The crown prince screaming, hands clenched to where the honeycomb in his belly held him together as a middle-aged woman spoke frantically beside him. Osprey held the crowd back, stumbling and shaking his head as the Claws ringing the prince stood in a white-faced ring around them.
Osprey pulled his toothpick from his lips, looked directly at my bee, and cursed as he fell to one knee.
“Stay there,” I whispered to the bee. “Stay with him.”
My vision swam back and I pulled myself to my feet, tottering slightly as I regained my place on the last step and leaned on the wicked-tipped polearm to steady me as I worked my way across the wall to the gatehouse. The wall was nearly as wide as an alley, but already it bristled with soldiers readying their defenses.
“You there!” One of them called to me. “Get off the wall!”
I sped up, hoping to hurry past before they could stop me, but another man leaned out from the wall, his arm reaching out to grab me. I blinked when I realized it was Ames, still wearing his blacksmith apron, a blue armband around his arm.
“Citizen militia,” he said warily. “By order, all citizens without the armband must remove themselves from the wall.”
“Then you’d better get me an armband,” I said, setting my jaw determinedly. “I can see everything happening in the city and I need to get to the guardhouse.”
He opened his mouth as a green glow washed over him. Before he could speak, I grabbed his apron, trying to pull him with me as I threw myself to the ground.
“Get down!” I said but pulling him was like trying to pull a rock five times my weight. He didn’t budge.
Above me, something screamed – high-pitched and horrifying. The buzzing in my head intensified. I shrank against the earth as the snake head plunged from the sky before us, wrapping itself around the man beside Ames with a mighty gulp.
My heart pounded in my chest as I scrambled to my feet again and jabbed at the snake with my stolen polearm. This must be the point of attack. But no. My vision flickered and I was somewhere else along the wall. Screams filled the air as a snake manifestation rippled between the defenders. Flickered again and there was one coming in from under the gate. Flickered again and there was one rising to fight us from out of the sea.
I fell to my knees, clutching my head.
The buzzing was so loud, I could hardly think. I’d dropped the polearm. Someone was pulling me. But I wasn’t seeing with my own eyes, I was seeing with the eyes of the swarm.
Flash.
Osprey snarling at me – no, at my bee! – as the healer yelled that the prince was losing consciousness.
Flash.
Another snake over the wall like a grappling rope – but a grappling rope that could fight. It snatched a defender from her post, swallowing her into his semi-transparent magic body. Unlike a real snake, there was no bulge where she had once been. She was simply there one moment in her bright blue jacket, screaming defiance, and then gone the next.
Flash and I saw Wing Ivo thundering through the crowds, his bird sweeping up to the wall in a flash of gold. Beside him, a pale-faced Zayana had her hands stretched wide for her bird to sail ahead of them.
Flash.
I fought the visions. I needed to see what was happening to me in my actual body before I was eaten by a spirit snake. My heart was pounding so hard I could hardly catch my breath.
My vision cleared for just long enough to see I was being dragged into the gatehouse by Ames.
“This is no place for civilians!” a Claw roared. “Get out!”
“The girl claims she can see all over the city!” Ames said. “She can tell us where the attacks are!”
“And my aged mother claims she can see the face of the girl you will marry in a tub of dishes. Out!”
We were shoved out and my vision clouded again. There were too many snakes crawling up the wall where the red flags were. “How do I tell one place from another?”
Ames grunted. “They’re marked by the scarves. Flags that are posted. Look for the ones with the seagull totem and a color. Those tell you whether it is north, south, east, or west.”
My vision had already flashed back to Ixtap, his face full of triumph as he rode on the back of a snake as broad as a horse. I shuddered.
“Red,” I gasped. “They are sending more snakes to red.”
“What are these snakes?” Ames asked. “A nightmare come alive?”
“Manifestations,” I gasped.
I felt his hand leave me as I sank into the next vision. In the background, I heard him fighting with the Claw to let him in again.
Flash. Fight on the wall. People falling, arms windmilling as they screamed.
Flash. A glimpse of my brother Oska’s face. That couldn’t be right.
Flash. Zayana’s mouth wide open as Wing Ivo’s eagle dove and snatched a snake out of the air seconds before its jaws closed around her. It struggled, writhing in the air as he gained height.
“Go!” Ivo screamed at her and she scrambled forward, fast and graceful as a dancer, weaving between fighters effortlessly. Her bird was showing its power in that.
Flash. Masked snake people pouring over the wall, running up the backs of the snake manifestations.
I needed a better way to see these visions than in flashes like this! This couldn’t be how bees saw all the time ... could it?
And then there were gentle hands on me.
“She doesn’t look hurt.”
“Zayana,” I gasped. “Graceful as the most talented dancer.”
I wasn’t even making sense. My visions were flickering too fast as my bees grew frantic. I needed them to calm down.
Flash. A man fell from the wall, hands grasping for his friend above. His friend’s face a gut-wrenching mask of loss. He twisted in terror as his fingers caught at nothing.
Flash. A woman clutching a child as a snake manifestation escaped the wall and chased her fleeing through the streets. Her breath was so loud in her throat that it sounded as if it would saw her in half.
My eyes popped open.
“Purple flags. They’ve breached the wall. Snakes in the streets.”
“We need to tell the Claws,” Ivo said, emerging from behind Zayana. His face was streaked with dirt and sweat and his breath came quickly from the fighting.
“Do you believe her?” Zayana asked. “How could she know that?”
I could hear Ames explaining the situation to Ivo. About the Claws throwing him out. About the militia ready but needing orders. He must know Ivo was a Single Wing.
I gasped as my vision filled with a snake creeping up the wall, ten others behind him. A snake ridden by Ixtap.
“Ixtap,” I gasped. “With ten other snakes. They creep up a wall with blue flags.”
Ames cursed, pushing up to look over the wall.
“Don’t look, you fool!” Ivo hissed. “Zayana! Did you learn the language of the scarves in your training as an Imperial High’un?”
“Yes,” Zayana whispered.
“Then come on.” He grabbed my arm and pulled me up a ladder on the side of the gatehouse. I could barely find the rungs, but Zayana, coming up from behind me, doggedly put my feet into the right ones as I swayed, bucking under the constant shift of visions. My stomach was ill. My head wasn’t made for heights and now we were on the roof of a guardhouse on the top of a wall over a gate. I swayed as we reached the top. A wall that went only to my knees rimmed the roof – just enough wall to remind a person where the edges were.
There were silk flags all over the ground and two frantic Claws were working the flags, raising and lowering them as someone called up orders through a hole in the floor. They were both young, their Claw jackets fresh and bright. One of them paused, staring at Ivo with round, terrified eyes.
“Stop!” Ivo roared. “I am Imperial Wing Ivo of House Golden Eagle and I am commandeering this flag post.” He shoved Zayana to the flags. “Raise the flags as I give orders.” He turned to his bird. “Defend this guardhouse with all power. None shall gain access. Go!”
“Now,” he said, leaning in close to me. “Let’s see what those bees can do.”
Chapter Twenty
IT WAS LIKE A NIGHTMARE that wouldn’t end.
“He’s over the edge of the wall, where the purple banners are, riding a snake,” I gasped as the vision took me. Claws fell – screaming – horror filling their faces as the snake hurtled between them. Two Claws braced themselves on the wall as the spirit snake’s body rippled over the summit. The leather bands holding their hair back lashed as they looked back and forth to either side of the wall. Their eyes met and with a grim nod to each other, they charged.
They had to know it was a doomed attempt. They had to know the snake could crush them like insects, and yet they rushed forward, courage filling their faces, swords held in both hands. The swords plunged into the snake and he trembled.
For a moment, it seemed their sacrifice was worth it, and then the snake bucked. Their swords were wrenched upward, but the Claws held on as they were flung into the air and then smashed down again. Teeth gritted, they readied themselves to be bucked again as they wrenched their swords back and forth in the body of the snake. My bee didn’t see its head snaking back until the jaw opened and gulped down the Claws in a single bite.
I shuddered.
“How many are falling?” Ivo asked.
“The whole defense,” I gasped, clutching my ringing head, eyes closed. “At least a hundred. Oh, sweet skies and winds! The other snake has wrapped around the tower.”
A snake warrior dropped from the back of the snake, waving a spear above his head with an ululating cry that echoed across the defenses. Behind him, others rushed over the wall like black ants, their scale mail shimmering in the sun.
“Raise the flag for ‘retreat to nearest point of strength’ and the ‘east’ flag,” Ivo called to Zayana. He grabbed my shoulder, keeping me with him for a moment. “What do you see now?”
I closed my eyes and a new bee flickered to life.
“Claw Brielle has reached Le Majest with a group of a hundred Claws to escort him to the ships.”
She was bellowing orders in a voice so deep it made me want to snap to attention, her fingers darting in a language made of signs that saw her Claws spread out, surrounding Le Majest and clearing a path toward the port wall.
“Not that!” Ivo shook my shoulder. “What about the east wall?”
“I don’t control what I see!” I gasped.
Ivo cursed. “Then see faster.”
I saw faster.
“A family – they’re fleeing down the street. Oh, please save them! Please! The child!” I felt tears streaking my face. It was too late. I closed my jaw with a snap, but though I couldn’t help them, I couldn’t stop seeing.
“Any landmarks?” Ivo barked.
I shook myself. “A fountain. Like a falcon.”
“Raise the flag for ‘Hold in Place.’ And the gold flag.” Ivo’s orders were sharp and fast. In the background, I heard the sound of pulleys and ropes as Zayana and the two Claws hurried to raise flags. “Then raise the flag “Marshall” and the orange flag. That should send any reserves to that sector to fight the breach.”
“We can’t survive a breach like this!” one of the Claws muttered. “We’ve already lost the east wall. The city is open.”
“If you can’t speak hope then at least have the decency to speak the language of the wise – silence!” Irritation burred Ivo’s voice. “More, Aella. Dive into the nightmare and bring us back pearls.”
“The nearest flag station is questioning our orders,” Zayana called. “They say they are overriding the orders of ... House Frigatebird?”
“The Claw Captain in the guardhouse under us,” Ivo said shortly as I rocked back and forth, seeing what I didn’t want to see over and over again. My breath was coming too fast. I needed to concentrate to remember to breathe evenly. “Use the flags to tell them I am Wing Ivo of House Golden Eagle and I am taking over command of these defenses.”
Above us, his golden eagle screamed and then dove again. How did he manage to invoke it while doing all of this? I needed more control. I needed my bees to hear me rather than forcing me to dance to their hum.
I tried to focus on all of them at once so I could try to send them that idea. My eyes crossed like I was trying to pick out someone wrapped in drabs lying under the leaves. And then, with a painf
ul twist, my eyes seemed to change how they were seeing. I crossed into some new mental sense – and I saw it all at once.
The view snapped away from me almost as soon as I had it. I reeled, gasping. “They’re trying to distract us on the east wall so we won’t see that they’ve slipped in around the docks. They have snakes swimming through the water toward the ships. It’s a trap,” I gasped.
“Mmm,” Wing Ivo said, his face screwing up in concentration.
“Osprey is taking Le Majest to a ship for safety,” I whispered.
“See more,” he ordered, standing to give orders.
I leaned my weary head against the wall, crossed my mental eyes, and let myself drift in the strange world where I saw everything else. With it came a strange sense of detachment as if nothing really was real.
“The Claws sent to the fountain square are all dead. There are more snakes there. They’re bursting through the walls of houses, going from house to house and killing everything in their paths. No, not that ... please.” I could see the carnage, the death. I tried pinching my eyes shut, but it kept coming.
“What else girl? What else?”
“There are children,” I gasped.
“Focus! Deal with the horror after. Right now, we need your eyes. See for us!”
I shook myself and forced myself to really see. “It’s a distraction from what they really want. I see a group of the masked ones on foot, led by Ixtap. They follow his snake through the streets, hunting. I don’t know what they hunt for. They are getting close to the center of the city. They’ve met little resistance. All the Claws are at the walls and the citizens are unarmed. The north wall is overrun. The east wall has fallen. Snakes everywhere, hanging over the wall. Everywhere. We need to fight them back before any Claws can retake the wall.”
I felt like I’d only been talking for seconds, but when my vision cleared again, Ivo and Zayana looked worn, the Claws beside them leaned against the wall for support. I’d been feeding them a steady stream of information. I swayed, clutching the wall as nausea rolled over me.
Hive Magic (Empire of War & Wings Book 2) Page 12
