by Lisa Cassidy
“Is all well?”
“Yes, Magor-lier! The Lord-Taliath has us encamped in a rugged valley well to the west of Shiven supply lines and marching routes.”
“Good. I’ll need you to lead me in.”
It was late evening when four hundred Bluecoats wound their way down a narrow goat track and into a large valley just north of the Shiven border. Tents filled most of the open space, crowding up against a swift-flowing stream running down the centre.
Warned by Rody, the militia sentries greeted them eagerly, eyes widening at the sight of so many mounted cavalry. A tall man wearing captain’s stripes came forward to greet Lord-General Caverlock and offer to show him to the space they’d set aside for the Blue Guard.
Alyx left them and rode Tingo towards the centre of the valley, flanked by her five Bluecoats, squinting against the bright orange of the setting sun. Soldiers moved around them, all flicking amazed glances at the new arrivals.
Rody must have warned Dashan too because he emerged from one of the larger tents and came striding quickly towards her. A smile spread across her face, and then she was jumping out of the saddle and running. He wore that laughing grin she loved so much, and his arms opened, lifting her off her feet and swinging her around in a wide circle.
“Alyx!” He pulled her tightly against him.
“Dash,” she murmured, sinking into his embrace. Momentarily some of her despair lifted, and she clung to him tightly.
“You look beautiful.” He stepped back as his hands framed her face, and then he kissed her. Alyx pulled him closer—two months was far, far too long to be apart from him.
“I love how excited you are to see me,” Alyx murmured in Dashan’s ear before stepping away from him. The Bluecoats were all either staring at the ground or studiously off into the distance.
“Casta, Tijer!” Dashan boomed, going over to greet them. “Roland, get that smirk off your face. And don’t you dare laugh, Nario. Josha, always good to see you.”
They dismounted and clustered around Dashan, old friends greeting each other excitedly.
“Your father’s here,” she warned once the boisterous hellos were over.
“Right, I’d best go talk to him, get the Bluecoats settled in.” He frowned slightly, seeing something in her expression. “Is everything okay?”
“No,” she said honestly. “But it can wait until you’ve spoken with your father.”
His brown eyes searched hers. “All right. I’ll send one of the boys over to show you to my tent.”
Dashan came back not long after she’d washed and changed out of her travel-worn clothes. He came straight over, pulling her in for a long kiss.
“You seem cheerier than I expected after a conversation with your father?” she noted.
He shrugged as he sat on the rumpled covers of his sleeping pallet and began pulling off his boots. “I think he bothers you more than he does me these days.”
“Really?” she asked in surprise. Even the mention of Dashan’s father had always sent him into a dark mood.
“Really.” He unbuckled his sword belt, resting Heartfire reverently on the chest by his pallet. “He’s a bitter old man. I don’t have to let him upset me anymore. I certainly don’t need him to make me happy.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” she said softly.
He glanced over at her, flashing a warm smile that turned her insides to mush. She cleared her throat and looked around. “How many do you have here?”
“Only what Mastaran could spare. The large majority of the militia is engaged keeping the Shiven forces in Tregaya tied up so they can’t head back home in a hurry.” Dashan sighed. “Maybe two hundred in total.”
“Plus four hundred Bluecoats now.” She didn’t like the pensive look on his face. “Hey, you’ve done what we needed you to.”
“I have.” He stood, running a hand over his face as if to dispel his worries. “Now, tell me what’s wrong.”
His face grew progressively stonier as she relayed what had happened, finishing with, “and don’t you dare try and take the blame for this. My choices are mine, and I wouldn’t have done anything differently.”
“I don’t blame myself,” he said quietly, sadly. “I just wish we lived in a better world, where people were kinder and less intolerant.”
“You and me both.”
“So we’re done, aren’t we?” He met her eyes. “Even if we win this part, facing Shakar means death.”
She nodded. “Yes.”
Unbelievably, a slow smile spread over his face. “Well, at least right now, in this moment, I have you alone in my tent.” He reached out to tug her closer.
She sniffed, surrendering to his warmth and love. “I see you still haven’t learned to make a bed.”
He shrugged. “Why would I?”
She tugged on his shirt, pulling him against her. “I missed you.”
“Is that so?” he murmured, right before he kissed her.
Dashan was already moving as Alyx shot upwards in bed, waking abruptly with a gasp. He pulled her against his bare chest and wrapped his arms tightly around her.
“I’m okay.” She accepted his hug for a moment before sitting back, thinking.
“You look troubled. What just happened?” His hand gently stroked her cheek.
“I felt the touch of Shakar’s magic. I think he tried to give me another nightmare.”
Dashan frowned. “He tried?”
She nodded, a weight settling heavily in her chest. “He couldn’t, because I’m invulnerable. And now he knows it.”
“Him knowing doesn’t really change anything, though, does it?” Dashan mused. “And it meant he couldn’t read the details of what we’re doing inside your head.”
She smiled, shifting closer so that she could drop kisses down his neck and chest. She didn’t want to talk about Shakar anymore. “You know what I love most about your body?”
“No.” He sounded amused.
She smiled and leaned up to murmur in his ear. “No chest hair.”
Dashan stilled in her arms, and his voice was quiet when he spoke. “The thing you love most about my body is the Shiven part of me?”
“Yes.” She drew back to meet his dark brown eyes. “Is that a problem?”
“No…I just.” He gave her that somewhat unbelieving, but utterly happy smile she’d seen often. “It’s just still hard to believe sometimes that someone loves me so much…loves all of me, even the parts that other people hate.”
“Well, I intend to keep loving you like that the rest of my life, even if that’s only a few more weeks. Is that all right with you?”
“I suppose I can manage,” he teased.
“Good.” She returned to trailing kisses down his chest.
“Shouldn’t we get some sleep?” He tried unsuccessfully to slap away her wandering hands.
“Sleep is the last thing I want to do right now.” She kissed him hard, then looked up at him. “Do you really want to sleep?”
He shifted, pushing them both down and pinning her to the bed, his hard body pressed against every inch of hers. “Does that feel like I want to sleep?”
Alyx laughed. “Not in the slightest!”
Chapter 45
Alyx glanced back as hoofbeats approached. Moments later, Finn appeared, his mare kicking up snow into a cloud.
“It’s a big city,” he murmured. “So much bigger than Alistriem.”
“Even a little bigger than Carhall, I think,” Tarrick said.
Alyx nodded and turned back to study the view that had occupied her for the past hour, despite the bitterly cold air.
Karonan sat in the centre of an enormous lake that was currently frozen over and covered in thick snowfall. It was walled, like Carhall, with four stone causeways reaching out from the north, south, east and west gates to join the city to land. Each heavy iron gate was overlooked by battlements wide enough that large numbers of archers could fire down on any attackers.
“It’s hard to beli
eve we made it here,” Finn said wonderingly.
She shot him an amused smile. “It was your idea.”
Finn had seen, even years earlier, how Shivasa might be momentarily vulnerable if Shakar pushed too quickly into Tregaya. Once he’d made that mistake, it had simply been a waiting game. Shivasa’s army was stretched thin. Too thin. A large bulk of their soldiers were tied up in northern Rionn, pushing hard down towards Alistriem. The remaining heart of their fighting strength was in Tregaya, needed for the push to take Carhall so quickly and now caught up battling the militia as they tried to either push north or withdraw.
And ever since receiving Ladan’s message, Tarian Astohar and his rebels had begun attacking garrisons in south Shivasa, not to take them, but to keep the army distracted while Alyx’s Bluecoat and militia force snuck down from the north and Rionn’s army marched on Karonan from the east coast.
Once in Shivasa, Alyx had ridden on ahead while Dashan led the Bluecoats and militia against the largest remaining garrison in the north on their way.
Now they surrounded Karonan.
“It was brilliant, Finn,” Tarrick said quietly, his dark eyes full of respect.
Over the past day and a half, Alyx and Third Patrol had taken out every army outpost in the area. There were only a handful, and they hadn’t been fully staffed. None had had time to raise the alarm. As far as Alyx or Dawn could tell, nobody in the city was aware of what was about to happen.
“Surely Shakar knows what’s happening by now?” Finn spoke all their misgivings aloud. “Thousands of minds of our army out there he could have read.”
“Maybe he does, and he hasn’t been able to get word to Karonan? Telepath mages are rare, maybe he doesn’t have one in Karonan?” Tarrick suggested. “That’s why we moved so quickly, after all, to limit any warning he could give them.”
“Maybe he’s distracted by something else and hasn’t paid regular attention to Karonan, assuming it’s safe?” Alyx didn’t believe it, and from the looks Finn and Tarrick shot her, neither did they. “And while it’s fortunate he’s not here, it makes me wonder where he is and what he’s doing there.” She shared a glance with Finn, and the flash of pain and worry in his eyes matched hers exactly. Maybe Brynn had succeeded, but if he had, that meant…She cleared her throat and turned her gaze away. Worry could be felt later.
The air was still and the plains around the city empty. Those few travelling along the causeways or on the roads surrounding the city appeared completely unaware of the hundreds of rebels, Taliath, and Rionnan soldiers hidden in the deep forest only a short distance away.
A touch of familiar magic brushed over her mind and she dropped her shields and summoned a touch of magic. Becoming invulnerable had made it substantially more difficult for her telepath mages to contact her—she now had to physically reach out with her telepathy to establish a connection. If she noticed one of them trying to reach her.
“Magor-lier!” Rody’s excitable voice. “We’re approaching your position.”
“How did it go?” she demanded. Rody had remained with Dashan’s force when she rode on ahead.
“We took the northern garrison yesterday morning. They were taken completely by surprise and our casualties were limited. Lord-Taliath Caverlock left his father behind with a skeleton force to guard the Shiven prisoners, but he’s worried that word from surrounding villages could leak south quickly.”
She worried about the same thing. They weren’t equipped to stand and fight a war in Shivasa. This was a surgical strike—it needed to be done quickly.
“Thanks, Rody.” She sent him an image of where they were. “We’ll see you soon.”
“Dashan’s almost here. I don’t think we should wait any longer. Tarrick?”
“I agree. The quicker we do this, the more chance of success. Someone could stumble across us at any moment.”
She nodded. “I—” Dawn brushed over her mind and Alyx reached out again.
“Alyx, your brother is getting antsy.”
Alyx huffed a laugh. “Dashan’s almost here. Once he is, we’re good to go.”
There was a moment’s silence as Dawn relayed that, and then, “He says it’s time you tell us how we’re going to breach those walls, because if we don’t do that, Karonan can hold for months, time that we don’t have.” A pause. “I did tell him you were aware of that.”
“Tell him not to worry. He just needs to focus on his job. Once we’ve—”
“I think he knows his job too, Alyx.” Dawn cut over her.
“Yes, all right.” Alyx sighed. “But can you also tell him to make sure our king doesn’t get himself killed in the process of leading his army.”
“I wouldn’t worry about that.” Amusement lilted Dawn’s mental voice. “Jenna hasn’t let him get more than half a step away from her all morning. Wait a second, I think Deskin is reaching out…”
Alyx opened her eyes, relaying her conversation to Tarrick and Finn while she waited for Dawn to talk to the telepath mage stationed with Tarian Astohar. According to Dawn, Deskin had heard of the mages walking away but had firmly declined to do the same.
“Deskin says Astohar is ready to move. He doesn’t want to sit tight much longer—too much danger of discovery.”
“Wait a moment, Dawn.”
Alyx cut her off as hoofbeats approached. Moments later horses and riders were coming through the trees. Flashes of blue and green caught her eyes. Dashan appeared, dark Shiven eyes roaming the clearing till he spotted her with Tarrick and Finn, then he kicked his horse over.
“I don’t think we can wait much longer.” She recapped the situation. “Astohar and Ladan are both getting impatient. The fighters will be getting anxious too. Besides, someone is going to stumble across an army hiding in the trees sooner rather than later.”
Dashan nodded. “My boys aren’t too tired for a fight.”
“Give the go ahead, Magor-lier.” Tarrick encouraged. “Let’s get this done.”
Before he’d even finished speaking, Dashan was wheeling his horse, riding back to the Bluecoats, shouting orders to form up. The clearing became a chaos of noise; horses whinnying, captains calling instructions, swords ringing as soldiers checked their weapons.
Alyx looked back towards the city, reached out to Dawn. “Tell Ladan and Sparky to call for the advance.”
“It’s done. Good luck.”
“You too.” She sent a flood of warmth and affection with the thought then broke away. She needed to conserve her strength.
A horn rang out from the east, cutting over the sounds of Bluecoats forming up into neat rows in the trees around her. It rang again, louder this time. Then came a matching horn-blast from the south, where Astohar’s rebels were bunkered down. Face alight with anticipation, Dashan lifted their horn to his lips and blew hard.
As the echoes of it died around them, Alyx urged Tingo forward. This first part was up to her. His hooves kicked up snow as they moved out onto the open plain, approaching the frozen lake and the entrance to the northern causeway. Movement flickered in her peripheral vision—shouts sounded in the forests surrounding the city and Shiven rebels boiled out of the trees, running gracefully for the western causeway.
Her eyes flicked to the walls ahead. Movement stirred atop them as the approach of their army was spotted. Metal screeched and the northern gate winched closed with a loud clanging sound. Running figures began to line the top of the wall.
“Alyx?” Finn raised an eyebrow. His cheeks were flushed with the cold, the breeze tousling his always too-long hair.
“You still haven’t told us how you’re going to bring down those walls,” Tarrick added.
She glanced back. The Bluecoats were riding out of the trees in perfect formation behind her, the green-jacketed Militia arranged around them. Dashan rode at their head, and he flashed her a grin when he caught her looking at him. She grinned back.
“Well,” she said. “You all know how I hate to be unoriginal…but if Shakar can do it, then I
can damn well do it too.”
Ignoring their queries, Alyx kicked Tingo forward a few steps, then loosened her shoulders before closing her eyes and sinking deep into her magic, gathering as much of it as she could. Then, raising her hands, palms outwards, she sent every bit of that gathered power roaring towards the northern walls of Karonan.
Two massive bursts of pure concussive energy flew towards the gates; the soldiers on the walls had a few moments to brace for impact, and then Alyx’s magic hit. It ploughed into the gate and surrounding walls before exploding with a massive roar. Silver-green light flashed, temporarily blinding anyone watching, and then the concussive force expanded outwards, sweeping over all of them, before dissipating into the trees. When the light faded, the gates, along with half the northern wall, had entirely disintegrated.
“Go!” Alyx turned and shouted to Dashan.
Without waiting for him to reply, Alyx leapt up in the saddle and soared into the sky. Below her, the Bluecoats roared in unison, kicking their big cavalry horses into a flat-out gallop, streaming down the causeway towards the broken walls of the city.
High above, Alyx turned to the east. The thousands-strong Rionnan army had emerged from the trees and was marching steadily over the snowy plains towards the city. She could just make out Cayr riding at the head of his soldiers, Jenna’s golden hair at his side. Sparky rode behind them, one arm raised as he bellowed orders.
In a row directly behind marched seven Taliath, swords already drawn and glinting against the snow. Alyx allowed herself a moment’s fierce pride for what her brother and father had achieved.
She hovered above until Dashan and his Bluecoats hit the broken north wall and pushed through. Shiven defenders swarmed to the breach, and she sent more concussion bursts flying amongst them until they were in total disarray. Dashan dismounted, militia falling in behind him as he clambered agilely up the rubble to the top of the wall to engage the fighters there.
Alyx flew higher until she reached an apex in the sky above the centre of the city. Astohar’s rebels had reached the southern and western causeways and were running unchecked towards the gates. Her staff spun again, shuddering with the force of her magic as she sent concussion blasts to blow apart the gates ahead of them, using enough force to blow them into pieces. Magic swept through her and she gasped with the rush of it.
