by Julia Knight
A horn sounded from a watchtower farther within their home island of Weshern. The blast set Bree’s heart to hammering.
“They’re starting,” she whispered.
Both turned to face the field where the two theotechs hovered. The horn sounded thrice more, and come the final call the forces of Weshern arrived. They sailed above the field in V formations, their silver wings shimmering, powered by the light element that granted all seraphim mastery over the skies. Hundreds of men and women, dressed in black pants and jackets, armed with fire, lightning, ice, and stone that they wielded with the gauntlets of their ancient technology. Despite her fear, Bree felt an intense longing to be up there with them, fighting for the pride and safety of her home. Sadly, it’d be five years before she and her brother turned sixteen and could attempt to join.
“Bree…”
She turned her head, saw her brother staring off into the open sky beyond the edge of their island. Flying in similar V formations, gold wings glimmering, red jackets seemingly aflame from the light of the midnight fire, came the seraphim of Galen. The two armies raced toward each other, and Bree knew they’d meet just above the fallow field, where the theotechs waited.
Bree pushed herself away from the edge of the island and rose to her feet, her brother doing likewise.
“They’ll be fine,” she said, watching the Weshern seraphim fly in perfect formation. She wondered which of those black and silver shapes was her mother, and which her father. “You’ll see. No one’s better than they are.”
Kael stood beside her, eyes on the sky, arms locked at his sides. Bree reached for his hand, held it as the armies neared one another.
“It’ll be over quick,” she whispered. “Father says it always is.”
Dark shapes shot in both directions through the space between the armies, large chunks of stone meant to screen attacks as well as protect against retaliation. They crashed into one another, and as the sound reached Bree’s ears, the battle suddenly erupted into bewildering chaos. The seraphim formations danced about one another, lightning flashing amid them in constant barrages. Enormous blasts of fire accompanied them, difficult to see with the sky itself aflame. Blue lances of ice colored purple from the midnight hue shot in rapid bursts, cutting down combatants with ease. The sounds of battle were so powerful, so near, Bree could feel them in her bones.
“How?” Kael wondered aloud, and if he weren’t so close she wouldn’t have heard him over the cacophony. “How can anyone survive through that?”
Boulders of stone slammed into the fallow field beneath, carving out long grooves of earth before coming to a stop. Bree flinched at the impact of each one. How did one survive? She didn’t know, but somehow they did, the seraphim of both islands weaving amid the carnage with movements so fluid and beautiful they mirrored that of dancers. Not all, though. Lightning tore through bodies, lances of ice with sharp tips punctured flesh and metal alike, and no armor could protect against the fire that washed over their bodies. Each seraph who fell wearing a black jacket made Bree silently beg it wasn’t one of her parents. She didn’t care if that was selfish or not. She just wanted them safe. She wanted them to survive the overwhelming onslaught that left her mind baffled by how to take it all in.
The elements lessened, the initial devastating barrage becoming more precise, more controlled. Bree saw that several combatants were out of elements completely and forced to draw their blades. The battle had gradually spread farther and farther out, taking them beyond the grand field and closer to the edge of town where Bree and Kael stood. Not far above their heads, two seraphim circled in a dance, one fleeing, one chasing. They both had their twin blades drawn. Bree watched, entranced, eyes wide as the circle tightened and the combatants whisked by each other again and again, slender blades swiping for exposed flesh.
It was the Galen seraph who made the first mistake. Bree saw him fail to dodge in time, saw the tip of the sword slice across his stomach. The body fell, careening wildly just before making impact with the ground. The sound was a bloodcurdling screech of metal and snapping bone. Bree’s attention turned to the larger battle, and she saw that more had been forced to draw their blades. The number of remaining seraphim was shockingly few, yet they fought on.
“No one’s surrendering,” Kael said, and she could hear the fear threatening to overtake him completely. “Bree, you said it’d be quick. You said it’d be quick!”
The area of battle was spreading wildly out of control. Galen seraphim scattered in all directions, loose formations of two to three people. The Weshern seraphim chased, and despite nearing town, they still released their elements. Bree screamed as a pair streaked above their heads, the thrum of their wings nearly deafening. A boulder failed to connect with the fleeing seraphim, and it blasted through the side of a home with a thundering blast.
“Let’s go!” Bree screamed, grabbing Kael’s hand and dashing toward the barricade. More seraphim were approaching, seemingly the entire Galen forces. They wanted to be over the town, Bree realized. They wanted to make Weshern’s people hesitate to fight with so many nearby. As the twins climbed over stone barricade, the sounds of battle erupting all about them, it was clear their seraphim would have no such hesitation. Lightning flashed above Bree’s head, and she cried out in surprise. She ducked, stumbled, lost her grip on her brother’s hand. He stopped, shouted her name, and then the ice lance struck the cobbles ahead of them. It shattered into shards, and Kael dove to the ground as they flew in all directions.
“Kael,” Bree said as she scrambled to her feet. “Kael!”
“I’m fine,” he said, pushing himself to his hands and knees. When he looked to her, he was bleeding from several cuts across his face and neck. “I’m fine, now hurry!”
The red light of the midnight fire cast its hue across everything, convincing Bree she’d lost herself in a nightmare and awoken in one of the circles of Hell. Kael pulled her along, leading her toward Aunt Bethy’s house, where they were supposed to have stayed during the battle, waiting like good children for their parents to return. Hand in hand they ran, the air above filled with screams, echoes of thunder, and the deep hum of the seraphims’ wings.
When they turned a corner, they saw two seraphs flying straight at them from farther down the street. Fire burst from the chaser’s gauntlet. It bathed over the other, sending her crashing to the ground. Kael dove aside as Bree froze, her legs locked in place from terror. The body came to a halt mere feet away from her, silver wings mangled and broken. Her black jacket bore the blue sword of Weshern on her shoulder, and Bree shuddered at the sight of the woman’s horrible burns. High above, the Galen seraph flew on, seeking new prey.
“Bree!” her brother shouted, pulling her attention away. He’d wedged himself in the tight space between two houses, and she joined him there in hiding.
“We have to get back,” Bree insisted. “We can’t stay here.”
“Yes, we can,” Kael said, hunkering deeper into the alley. “I’m not going out there, Bree. I’m not.”
Bree glanced back out of the narrow alley. With the battle raging above the town, Aunt Bethy would be terrified by their absence. They were already going to be in trouble for not coming in like they were supposed to in the first place. To hide now, afraid, until who knew when it all ended?
“I’m going,” she said. “Are you coming with me or not?”
Another blast of thunder above. Kael shook his head.
“No,” he said. His eyes widened when he realized she was serious about going. “Bree, don’t leave me here. Don’t leave me!”
“I can’t stay,” Bree said, the mantra overwhelming her every thought. “I can’t stay, Kael, I can’t stay!”
She dashed back into the street, racing toward Aunt Bethy’s house. As strongly as Kael wanted to remain hiding, Bree wanted to return to their aunt’s home. She wanted to be inside, in a safe place with family. Let him be a coward. She’d be brave. She’d be strong.
A boulder crashed thro
ugh the rooftop of a home to her right then blasted out the front wall. Bree screamed, and she realized she wasn’t brave at all. She was frightened out of her mind. Fighting back tears, she turned down Picker Street, where both they and their aunt lived. Five houses down was her aunt’s home, and Bree’s heart took a sudden leap. Her legs moved as fast as they could carry her.
There she was. Her mother was safe, she was alive, she was…
She was bleeding. Her hand clutched her stomach, and Bree saw with horrible clarity the red gash her fingers failed to seal. She lay on her back, her silver wings pressed against the door to Aunt Bethy’s home, a dazed look on her face. Beneath her was a pool of her own blood.
“Bree,” her mother said. Her voice was wet, strained. Tears trickled from her brown eyes. “Bree, what are you… what are you doing out here?”
Bree didn’t know how to answer. She fell to her knees, felt her pants slicken from the blood. She reached out a trembling hand, wanting so badly to hold her mother but fearing what any contact might do.
“It’s all right,” her mother said, and she smiled despite her obvious pain. “Bree, it’s all right. It’s…”
Her lips grew still. She breathed in pain no more. Her hand fell limp, holding back her sliced stomach no longer. Bree touched her shoulder, shook her once.
“Mom,” she said, tears rolling down her cheeks. “Mom, no, Mom, please!”
She buried her face against her mother’s chest, shrieking out in wordless agony. She didn’t want to see any more, to hear any more. Bree wrapped her arms around her mother’s neck, clutching her tightly, not caring about the blood that seeped into her clothes. She just wanted one more embrace before the vultures came to reclaim her wings. She wanted to pretend her mother was alive and well, holding her, loving her, kissing her forehead before flying away for another day of training and drills.
Not this corpse. Not this lifeless thing.
A hand touched her shoulder. Bree pulled back, expecting to see her brother, but instead it was a tall Weshern seraph. Blood smeared his fine black coat. To her surprise, the surrounding neighborhood was quiet, the battle seemingly over.
“Was she your mother?” the man asked. Bree could barely see his face through the shadows cast by the midnight fire. She sniffled, then nodded.
“Then you must be Breanna. I—I don’t know how else to tell you this. It’s about your father.”
His words were a dagger to an already punctured heart. It couldn’t be. The world couldn’t be that cruel.
“No,” she whispered. “No, that can’t be right.”
The seraph swallowed hard.
“Breanna, I’m sorry.”
Bree leapt to her feet, and she flung herself at the man, screaming at the top of her lungs.
“No, it can’t. Not both, we can’t lose them both, we can’t… we can’t…”
She broke, collapsing at his feet, her tears falling upon his black boots. She beat the stone cobbles until she bled, beat them as she screamed, beat them as, high above, the midnight fire burned like an unrelenting pyre for the dead.
BY JULIA KNIGHT
DUELISTS TRILOGY
Swords and Scoundrels
Legends and Liars
Warlords and Wastrels
AS FRANCIS KNIGHT
ROJAN DIZON TRILOGY
Fade to Black
Before the Fall
Last to Rise
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Contents
Title Page
Welcome
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Interlude
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Interlude
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Interlude
Chapter Ten
Interlude
Chapter Eleven
Interlude
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Interlude
Chapter Fourteen
Interlude
Chapter Fifteen
Interlude
Chapter Sixteen
Interlude
Chapter Seventeen
Interlude
Chapter Eighteen
Interlude
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Interlude
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Interlude
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Interlude
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Extras Meet the Author
Interview
A Preview of Legends and Liars
A Preview of Skyborn
By Julia Knight
Orbit Newsletter
Copyright
Copyright
The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Copyright © 2015 by Julia Knight
Excerpt from Legends and Liars copyright © 2015 by Julia Knight
Excerpt from Skyborn copyright © 2015 by David Dalglish
Cover design by Wendy Chan
Cover illustration © Gene Mollica
Cover © 2015 Hachette Book Group, Inc
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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ISBN 978-0-316-37497-2
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