Life

by Rosie Scott

  Kacela looked absolutely perplexed. “It's abandoned. A shadow of its former self. Not only did your mother die while hiding like a coward, but her reputation is completely ruined. Her magic dispelled upon her death. All those mortals who worshiped her...” Kacela lifted a hand up to her face and mimicked an explosion “...awakened.” The goddess devolved into crazed laughter.

  “Good,” I said, standing up straighter when I got my answer. “You did me a favor.”

  Kacela went quiet. Her confused golden eyes flicked from me to Azazel and back again, desperate for an explanation. “What?”

  “I have freed thousands of slaves in this war,” I told her. “I want nothing to do with a place that enslaves mortals, whether by shackles or faux emotion. I will own Chairel. Under my rule, Whispermere and my mother would have needed to be dealt with eventually. They had to go. You did the job for me. For that, I thank you.” I decided to quickly switch subjects. “Give me your illusion spell. The one that made you hard to see.”

  “I'm not giving you anything!” Kacela retorted, still scrambling to understand our exchange. “Your mother! She's dead!”

  Coral-pink energy zipped from my palm to Kacela's head, and she blinked rapidly as she came under the effects of charm. “Give me the illusion spell,” I repeated.

  “Bilda te miir del vicin,” Kacela replied. I summoned the spell. Though I saw no energy above my palm, I could feel its power. I cast it on myself, and Azazel nodded beside me. Then I dispelled it.

  “Do you not understand what I've told you?” the goddess breathed, appearing panicked.

  “Yes,” I replied impatiently. “You killed Nanya.”

  “Your mother,” Kacela insisted.

  I stared at the goddess a moment. “Do you honestly think I care? Nanya was no more my mother than Sirius is my father.” I tapped Azazel's shoulder once, before pointing at Kacela as she rambled protests.

  Azazel released the final arrow, and Kacela's head fell back to the forest floor with a thunk, one golden eye split perfectly in half. He retrieved the ammo a moment later as I healed his wounds.

  “How does it feel?” I asked him. “To kill your first god?”

  “No different,” Azazel replied. “I care more about the fact that I was able to protect you.”

  I smiled at him as I mended the cut along his face. “You did protect me. Thank you.”

  “I take care of you, you take care of me,” he said, mimicking his words to me the year earlier during our heart-to-heart outside of Olympia.

  “That's how it'll always be,” I replied, mimicking my response.

  Azazel gathered his other arrows from Kacela's corpse. “Now let's go back to camp,” he said, with a fatigued chuckle.

  “On the way, let's stop to pick up that gorgeous bow you threw so carelessly into the brush.”

  “Why?”

  “Holter's been wanting his own bow,” I explained. “Kacela picked the perfect time to show up.”

  Thirty-two

  45th of New Moon, 428

  Tree trunks laid haphazardly through the forest in a sea of stumps. Many of the trees had been shaved of their branches, leaving nothing but pure, thick timber. Multiple lumber camps were scattered throughout the area, large saws sitting above piles of cream-colored sawdust beside hardy log cabins.

  According to all of our sources, we were just minutes away from Griswald's outer wooden wall. We couldn't see it, for the forest still managed to be dense even though many of the trees had been harvested. Most of the log cabins surrounding us had stone chimneys, and the pine branches nearest their crowns were blackened and dull with soot and oxygen deprivation. Now, however, no smoke rose from any of them.

  “This is...eerie.” Nyx hadn't spoken very loudly, but it was so quiet in the area that her voice echoed through the trees. There was a city somewhere ahead, yet we couldn't hear it. There was an army of tens of thousands behind us, but they were silent. We'd expected a fight by now.

  Cyrus walked up to my side. Though his blue eyes were on the abandoned clearings ahead, he spoke to me. “Dax was right. This is a trap.”

  “Send me out there,” Nyx suggested. “If there are traps, I'll find them.”

  “Hold on,” I said, before using alteration magic to check for signs of life. The magic picked up nothing. I turned to Azazel. “Do you hear anything?”

  “Far ahead, yes. I can't make anything out at this distance, but it's the murmur of a city.”

  “Do you see anything?” Cyrus asked him next.

  Azazel hesitated. “Not anything outright, no, but this—” he pointed to the lumber camps ahead “—is suspicious.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “The way everything's set up,” Azazel explained. “The buildings cannot be moved, obviously, but they've left the lumber sitting around on the ground between stumps so it encourages a bypass. There are clear paths from the forest to the city.”

  “Why is that suspicious?” Cyrus asked.

  “It's a hunting tactic,” Azazel said. “A lure. If you want your enemy to tread certain ground, you make an easy path. Discourage other routes. The dwarves know we'll be coming, so they're doing their best to file us down over these paths. Which means that you're correct, Cyrus. This is a trap. Since there are no signs of life ahead, we can expect machines or inventions.”

  “Dwarven machines require someone to wield them,” Cerin said.

  “Most of 'em do, love,” Maggie replied. “They've experimented with other methods, though. Much like dwarven crossbows have a trigger, many of their inventions do, too.”

  “What would you suggest we do, then?” Cyrus asked her.

  “Scout it out,” Maggie answered. “Preferably with someone who can climb.” She pointed one giant finger to a log cabin that had a lower roof than the rest. It was close enough to a nearby pile of logs that it would be able to be reached from the ground.

  “I'd offer to transform and fly,” Holter spoke up, “but I'd have to walk through that clearing just to have enough space to take off into the skies, and the trees here are so full I don't think I'd see anything.”

  “And I'm feeling lazy today,” Nyx sighed, nudging Azazel in the shoulder. “Your turn.”

  “Whoa, whoa, wait,” I grabbed Azazel's arm just as he started to move forward. “Surely we can find someone else to walk straight into this.”

  Azazel looked down at me with his superior eyes. “You know I'm the best person to send.”

  “You don't even know what to expect,” I argued. “What's a dwarven trigger, Azazel?”

  Azazel exhaled slowly and directed his next question to Maggie. “What do I need to look out for?”

  “Anything out of the ordinary, love,” Maggie replied. “Honestly. Anything. I've heard of tripwire, pressure activation, light activation, heat activation—”

  “For gods' sake,” I hissed, frustrated. “You're not going out there.”

  Azazel glanced around at the others. “Does anyone have any better ideas?” When silence was his only response, he murmured regretfully, “I'm sorry, Kai.”

  “You are not—”

  “Seriin.” As soon as Nyx said it, my protests ceased. My fears and worries were suddenly far from my mind, leaving me to sit back and watch the scene as if I was no longer a participant.

  Azazel exhaled with frustration and glared at Nyx. “That was unnecessary.”

  “I'm getting her back for Narangar,” Nyx retorted. “Now do your job before she snaps out of it.”

  Azazel turned toward the nearest log cabin, walking right up to the edge of the obvious path before seeking life. After he found nothing, cream-colored alteration magic swirled above his hand just before he directed it toward himself. Newly lightweight, he slowly moved forward, heading for the pile of logs.

  Our army was silent, watching Azazel with bated breath as he carefully climbed on top of the log pile, each move preceded by multiple sweeps of the area with his eyes. Once he was on top of the highest lo
g, he slowly walked toward the nearby cabin overhang and pulled himself up. He stopped to refresh alleviate on himself and then continued forward, disappearing over the peak of the roof.

  Only when my heart picked up its pace did I realize that Nyx's calm spell had faded from my mind. When I turned to her and smacked her in the arm, she seemed surprised.

  “I'm getting you back for Narangar,” I mocked her earlier words, forcing her to remember when she'd hit me after its harbor was destroyed.

  “We're even, then,” Nyx teased.

  All was quiet as we waited for Azazel to come back to us. I was so worried something had happened to him that the previous illusion magic seemed like an aid for the mind, not a hindrance.

  It was minutes before Azazel returned, but when he did, he said nothing and made no rash movements until he was back in safe territory. He noticed the concern in my eyes and nudged me affectionately when he stood beside me again.

  “I didn't see a damn thing,” Azazel said, “and it's bothering me because I know something's there.”

  “How do you know it's there if you can't see it?” Nyx retorted, confused.

  “Something's just not right.” Azazel sighed, frustrated at the inability to explain it. “This?” He pointed to the path he'd said was suspicious. “It's like this as far as I can see on the way to the first wall of Griswald. They harvest trees here. Cut them up for use in construction or whatever. So why are they lined up along this path individually like markers? It doesn't make sense.”

  Cyrus exhaled thickly through his nostrils and looked over at the other Sentinels. “Well, we have to get through this regardless.”

  Kirek stared at Nyx. “Let's send out the assassins on foot. They can check the path before we march through it.”

  “Not really sure what we're going to find that he didn't,” Nyx mused, flipping a finger toward Azazel. She turned to Calder and the army of Alderi behind him which darkened the forest with shades of black, purple, and blue. “Anyone want to volunteer to come with?”

  Than and a few other assassins came forward to scour the area. As the women infiltrated the suspicious path, our army watched in silence. The Alderi had the best ears of any race, but no one wanted to risk sabotaging them with distractions.

  The path was mostly dirt and scattered with pine needles and flecks of sawdust. It was well-trodden due to serving as the main road, but it was also wide in order to stretch between various buildings. Nyx and the others spread out over the area to scour every inch of it, looking for anything out of the ordinary.

  Azazel stepped forward, his brow furrowed as he watched them work. I noticed he'd prepared his bow in the last few minutes. It was unlikely to be helpful here, but his cautious nature was getting the best of him.

  “Uh...guys?” Than called out from far down the road, where she hunkered down in the middle of the path. She stared back at us as she pointed toward the ground. “Something's been buried here.”

  “How do you know?” I called back.

  “The ground's uneven, and the dirt's all smooth like somebody tried to cover up tracks, but they made it really obvious.” Than leaned over the area. “Dirt's loose, though. I can figure out if it's anything to worry about.” She started to wipe the dirt away from the suspicious spot.

  Nearby, Nyx called to us, “I got something buried over here, too!”

  “Don't dig it up!” I yelled back. To Azazel, I murmured, “There's no good reason someone would bury something in the middle of a—”

  “Retreat!” Azazel screamed, jogging forward a few steps. My heart sped up its pace. Nothing had changed visually, so I assumed he'd heard something. As he reached the edge of the log pile, he yelled again, “Retreat!”

  Than glanced up at the archer and laughed at his concern. “Don't know why you're so scared of—”

  BOOM!

  Screams of confusion and fear echoed through the forest as the middle of the main road erupted in a pillar of smoke and fire. The ground Than had been wiping at was now just a scorched hole, and the assassin herself was missing. The earth beneath our boots trembled with the aftershock of an intense explosion.

  Mere seconds after the explosives went off, the pitter-patter of rainfall echoed through the pines. Only when I looked up in confusion did I realize it wasn't actually rain. Blood was falling to the ground in a circumference around the explosion like ripples extending out from a pebble thrown in water.

  Clunk! I backed up a step as the entirety of a severed arm splatted onto the dirt before me, spraying my deep green armor with blood. The arm was dark-complected and adorned with a variety of red tattoos. Ironically, a few of them depicted severed limbs.

  No wonder Than had disappeared. Her body was falling through the forest in hundreds of parts like shrapnel. I heard someone vomiting as a section of her scorched, hollowed torso fell in the midst of Uriel's army, the rib cage poking through singed flaps of skin. In multiple places over the main road, displaced organs were falling.

  “Get the fuck out of there!” Azazel screamed desperately. The other assassins were either in fear or shock because few of them had moved since the explosion.

  They finally listened to Azazel's plea. Nyx and the others rushed through the main road as more of Than's mutilated corpse rained over it. It was too late for some of them. One of Than's feet fell from the skies, blood spraying out from the ankle of the boot she'd been wearing. It hit the ground just yards before two escaping assassins.

  BOOM!

  The severed limb itself had triggered the explosion. One of the women was now missing as if the upward trajectory had shot her body up into the canopy. The other had been off to the side, but she'd still been hit. The force of the explosion had broken her body apart while it threw her in the direction of the forest. Severed limbs and lonely organs were hanging heavily on the branches of pine trees, and deep brown bark was leaking red as if the trees themselves were bleeding.

  Nyx and the rest of the assassins made it back, panting heavily as they turned to watch the scene with us. As more parts fell from the skies, more bombs were set off. Sections of the path ahead erupted in pillars of dirt and scorched earth, and one of the explosions collapsed the corner of a log cabin, leaving pieces of lumber strewn across the path.

  All finally fell silent. Heavy breaths of adrenaline echoed through the forest as we all tried to come to terms with what we'd just witnessed.

  Nyx stared at Than's arm, leaning over with her hands on her thighs. “Hell. That could've been all of us.”

  “It was supposed to be all of us,” I said, rubbing her back to comfort her.

  Calder cursed behind me. “Than was one of my best fighters.”

  “I'm sorry, Cal,” I offered.

  “No, I'm sorry,” Azazel spoke up. “I should've caught this before anyone had to go out there.”

  “If you saw it, you would've said something,” Calder replied, walking up to be on Azazel's other side. “But you clearly heard something. You warned them.”

  Azazel nodded. “There was this ticking noise after Than started clearing the area of dirt. Muffled and really low, but I heard it.”

  I turned to Maggie. “What caused this?”

  “Either heat or pressure, love,” Maggie replied, appearing much more anxious than before.

  “So we still don't know,” Cyrus said regretfully, before a humorless laugh.

  “It doesn't matter,” I replied. “I'll handle this.” I walked forward to the edge of the path and raised both arms to the sky.

  Generat le meteora a multipla.

  The skies peeking through the canopy darkened, leaving the main road cast in shadow. Charcoal clouds rolled in above our heads, so thick and rolling they looked like ropes of blackening fluff. The heavens grumbled with complaints before they hissed, releasing giant balls of flame that crackled as they rushed to the earth.

  BOOM-BOOM!

  A meteor crashed into the dirt road so hard that there was a crater made even before the explosives went
off in tandem. The land beneath us rattled as balls of fire triggered explosions throughout the forest. Trees which were too close to the action shattered and fell, setting off even more. The road ahead was a symphony of detonations, dirt and sawdust spraying into the air in surges of brown. Pine trees and log cabins alike were destroyed by stray meteors, and our view was spotted with fire.

  Generat le shouer. I sent two orbs of water magic into the air, and the element was soon taming the flames, keeping them from becoming a full-fledged wildfire. As the rains calmed the area ahead, I turned to Holter.

  “Build a metal golem,” I requested. “I'm running low on energy.”

  Holter did as I asked, turning the earth near his boots into metal moments before the element cracked and split into parts of giant limbs. When the golem was complete, I imbued the monstrosity with fire. The metal of the golem glowed orange with heat as it waited for further instructions.

  “You are our scout,” I told Holter, motioning to the golem. “Use this as your eyes.”

  As soon as the rains ceased, Holter sent his golem into the road first, following at a distance behind it. Our armies progressed exceptionally slowly as we used the golem to sweep the area, but at least we were moving at all.

  The meteors must have cleared the path, for we came across no further explosions. Instead, the first wall of Griswald rose like a blockade through the trees, stretching as far as we could see to our left and right. This wall was wooden and simple, standing about ten feet tall and only seeming to exist to keep wild animals out. Pines and conifers stood tall above it, keeping the upper city out of our view and the lower city cool with shadows. There were two small towers built on either side of a giant two door gate. Neither of them had occupants, and the area beyond the wall sounded silent to me. But our arrival here had been preceded by many explosions, and I wasn't stupid. They expected us.

  Azazel lifted up a palm beside me, and multiple individual slivers of red energy hovered above it as if there were dozens of dwarves in wait in entirely separate areas. I imagined our foes had left the gate unguarded to draw us in.