by Becky Allen
“Of course not,” she said, barely a murmur. Even Jae had to strain to hear her.
“Of course,” Elan echoed. Even if Minn had been attacked before, she’d never have been able to fight back. She must have seen bloodshed and violence during the Break if not well before it, but it was possible she’d never taken part in it. Had never hurt anyone herself.
Jae glanced at Karr. If he was similarly affected, it didn’t show.
“Well,” Lenni said, drawing their attention. “That was certainly…eventful. We probably should have expected it. It means we really did scare the Highest—and it means that was the best idea they could come up with. An assassination attempt that didn’t even get near you.”
“The next one might,” Elan said.
“We won’t let it.” Karr’s voice was soft but certain.
“What do we do with the prisoners?” Palma asked, and then, as everyone else gave her pointed looks, she rolled her eyes. “It’s just easier to ask it like that. I don’t mean anything by it.”
“It is a good question,” Lenni said. “More than a dozen of them survived. It would make quite a statement to the Highest if none of them came back. Or at least, not alive.”
“No,” Elan said quickly, vehemently. “They’re our prisoners, we’re not executing them.”
“Why not? We’re at war,” Lenni said.
“They’re Avowed,” Palma said. “They were just doing what the Highest told them.”
“I don’t have much sympathy for Avowed,” Karr said, pointedly. “Anyone who does shouldn’t be here.”
Palma crossed her arms, huffing, and a small part of Jae enjoyed her discomfort. But still, Jae said, “We aren’t going to execute them. We aren’t like Elthis. But we need to figure out what to do next.”
“We don’t have enough food,” Minn said, her voice trembling. She looked around the room, then seemed to gather herself up. Her voice was a little louder as she continued. “We don’t, and more and more Closest join us every day. We need more food and space and…and everything else. We need to move, and we need to find the rest of the Closest survivors from across the world.”
“Gather a real army, and find a place to settle down,” Karr said, nodding. “Somewhere secure.”
“Nowhere is secure,” Lenni said. “We gave the Highest a chance at peace, and they attacked instead. They don’t care what happens—they don’t care about anything except killing Jae, and all the rest of us. You all must know that’s true.”
Jae waited for someone to speak—for Elan, especially, to object. But instead, he seemed to fold in on himself a little. “I hate to say it, but Lenni is right. I wish…I’d hoped Erra would…but we know she got our message and this happened anyway.”
“She’s with them,” Lenni said, but her usual hostility at Elan was gone. For a change, she sounded a little sympathetic.
“And now we can’t just sit here and do nothing, either. Minn is right, our supplies are running short,” Elan concluded. He sounded miserable.
“Then we should end this as quickly as possible,” Lenni said. “No more warnings, no waiting for another attack. We can strike, really strike this time. Instead of their water, we go after their lives.”
“Or we could go to Aredann,” Elan said. He caught Jae’s gaze, and for a moment her whole body sang with agreement. Aredann—home. “There are no Avowed to fight with there, and it’s isolated enough that no one could sneak up on us.”
“That’s too far away,” Lenni said. “Besides, if we flee, we give the Highest time to rally their resources, to plan, and instead of a useless force like tonight’s, they’ll have an army, too, with the Twill fighting under the Avowed. Exactly like you saw in Danardae. None of us will be safe until the Highest are toppled. We aren’t safe until we rule.”
“We,” Karr repeated. “Do you mean the Closest, or the Order?”
For a moment, the whole room held its breath. Even Jae gaped, staring back and forth between Karr and Lenni, the tension in the air as thick as any of the elements.
Finally Lenni said, “We’re on the same side. And all I’ve done—all the Order has done—is help. The Break wouldn’t have happened without us.”
Karr eyed Elan and Jae, and said, “I’m not so sure of that. It seems like Jae could have managed it on her own.”
“It’s all right,” Jae said, surprised to hear so much doubt from Karr. “They’re our allies. They did help.”
Karr gave her a long look, and finally said, “Of course, Lady Mage.”
“What we do next is up to you, Jae,” Lenni said, and now her pointed looks were all at Karr. “But I vote we attack.”
“I agree,” Palma said. “I just want this all over.”
Jae looked at Karr and Minn. Neither one ventured an opinion, just waited expectantly. They’d already given her their input anyway, and Closest who weren’t used to speaking at all certainly weren’t used to repeating themselves. They’d both voted to find somewhere more secure.
She looked at Elan, wondering what he felt about Erra. He’d finally admitted that she must have been turned against them, but Jae still had a hard time imagining him striking against her. He gave a tiny shrug. “I’ll follow whatever choice you make, Jae.”
“With your magic, we can win the day,” Lenni said again. “Quickly, decisively.”
Jae looked around the room again, trying to think it through. She needed to be rational about this—because her first instinct was to attack. Not because of Lenni’s tactical concerns, but because after so many generations of sorrow and anger, the idea of leading the Closest against the families that had enslaved them sang in her blood. She couldn’t help but remember the moment she’d realized Rannith was dead, that he would never hurt her again. That no one would, at least not like that. There had been a ferocious joy in unleashing her anger.
But she could almost see Tal shaking his head in disappointment. He hadn’t understood then, and he wouldn’t now. His concern wouldn’t be revenge—it would be saving the most Closest lives possible.
That led her back to Lenni’s plan. The sooner this ended, the more lives they’d save, in the long run. There wouldn’t need to be a huge clash of armies, Twill and Closest fighting one another on a battlefield, so intertwined that Jae could barely help them. That would bring Tal to her side.
The sooner this ended, the better. So she said, voice steady, “We attack.”
It was probably after dark, but impossible to tell from within the tunnel. Jae could sense the cities as they approached, though—the tangle of elements and people, all that flaring, roiling energy. She reached out with her mind, trying to ascertain if it was safe at the mouth of the tunnel, but the thicket of elements and humans was so tightly interwoven in the city that she couldn’t sort it all out.
Her army, small though it was, trekked toward it all. There were several hundred of them, but only the dozen members of the Order were fully trained in how to fight. They’d be leading the way, with the Closest broken up into smaller groups, following them.
Jae had widened and reinforced the aqueduct that led to the park in Danardae. It had worked to sneak Elan in, and the members of the Order who’d delivered her ultimatum—and though there was no way the army would stay unnoticed for long, the duct would still serve to get them in, past the walls, and even relatively close to the estate house. Danardae was the weakest of the four cities right now, so they’d take it first, solidify their hold, and continue the fight from there until they’d conquered all four cities, and all four Highest.
Something like excitement gripped Jae. Everything would be over soon. Her people were free now, and soon they’d be rid of the Highest once and for all.
“We’re almost there,” Jae said, as the tunnel began to slope up. She hadn’t enlarged the opening yet—there was too much chance that opening up such an enormous pit would be noticed. So she waited, while her force crowded as close together as they could.
She looked over at Lenni and the
other members of the Order, saw them nod in signal. They were all ready, some of them even eager. The Avowed inside the city would be unprepared, and Jae’s magic would further ensure a victory—if it held the way it had when the Avowed had attacked their town. She nodded back, shifted the earth above them, and opened the aqueduct tunnel to the park above.
One of the members of the Order led the charge, dozens of Closest following, hurling themselves past Jae and up into the night. She took a moment to brace herself, found Elan on one side and Karr at her other, and joined the next group that made for the open air.
Screaming filled the night almost as she reached the ground. She looked up, grateful that the night was dark enough that she wasn’t blinded from coming out of the tunnel, and then recoiled in horror.
The Avowed were waiting for them. The fight was already raging, as Avowed pressed forward—but not just Avowed. There were others, not as well armed or uniformed. Twill who’d joined their cause followed the Avowed guards’ leads and attacked the Closest.
The shouted warning echoed back into the tunnel, but it was too late. More and more Closest broke through, running past Jae as she tried to figure it out. The Avowed had known—somehow they’d known this was happening.
“Jae!” Elan pushed her sideways as someone rammed into them. She danced back, whirling around, trying to find somewhere she wouldn’t get stabbed or trampled while she called up the magic. Once she had a plan, it would only take a heartbeat, but the further embroiled the two sides became, the harder it was to act.
“This way,” Elan continued, pulling her. She didn’t know if he’d spotted somewhere safe or if he was just determined to get her out of the thick of it, but she followed, dodging between fighters, over bodies.
The violence was cacophonous and overwhelming. The park stank of blood and mud and echoed with screams and shouts as the plan they’d laid out had fell to bits. Two of the Order leaders were still attempting to push forward, Closest following them, but Avowed and Twill had driven the groups apart and closed in to devour them. One of the Order members fell, and the Closest following him panicked, losing what little formation and togetherness they had.
They weren’t well enough trained—barely trained at all. No one was supposed to know they were coming; that had been their biggest advantage, and without that it would be a slaughter.
Jae’s mind went blank. She couldn’t drown or bury the armies, not without sacrificing her people, too. She couldn’t even raise the mud the way she had when they’d been attacked—there were too many people around who could strike from a distance, throwing rocks, or setting the park on fire and letting everyone burn—
“We need to retreat!” Elan shouted, trying to catch everyone’s attention.
Jae dodged as someone else rushed toward her, unthinkingly raising a wall of muddy rock. Her would-be attacker hit it, and someone shouted. She heard the word “mage” repeated, and then one of the groups of Avowed started straight for her.
They knew who she was now, where she was in the crowd. Though Closest threw themselves in the way, trying to keep her safe, they were going to lose. Outnumbered, untrained, dying for her, to protect her—
She threw her arms up, raising another wall, longer and larger. It was imperfect, it wouldn’t do more than slow the Avowed attackers down, and it cut off as many of her own people as it helped. But she couldn’t stand not acting, and she couldn’t sacrifice her own people, and she couldn’t let them all die for her.
“Jae, get back to the tunnel,” Elan said, shoving her, then shouted, “Karr, get her back!”
Karr grabbed Jae’s arm and pulled her back the way they’d come, but they were surrounded. She raised another muddy wall between her and an attacker, knocking the Avowed over and sending a blade askew moments before it would have reached Karr. He yanked her again, but something at the side of her vision flared bright with magical energy.
She blinked into other-vision. The world was just as chaotic like that as people twisted around, covered in mud and blood and pain, throwing themselves toward her frantically. A handful to protect her, most trying to get closer—leading a strange null spot, like she’d seen at the Break before her magic had faltered.
When she looked in true vision, she could see it clearly. Erra. The Avowed were rallying around Erra, who somehow carried the void with her, wielding it along with the weapon in her hand.
Jae turned toward Erra, grabbed energy from the earth beneath her feet, and threw it, sending the world trembling and shuddering, splitting apart. If that null spot reached her—
Her magic reached Erra and flared for a split second, then—then went dark, completely gone, as if it had vanished. The chasm she’d opened tapered off, a crack in the battlefield that didn’t even come near the approaching force. It just suddenly stopped, not big enough to do more than trip and confuse people.
The Avowed pressed closer. Karr punched someone, trying to keep her free, and she ran toward the tunnel again. The way was thick with bodies, some upright and fighting, but more and more on the ground, dead or dying.
She tripped on one and went down hard, jarring one of her knees and elbows. She rolled as someone closed in on top of her, but Elan was there. He was fast, but not fast enough: he could block her, but not the blade itself. He tried to dodge but it was too late, and the blade bit into his side. He screamed in pain and the world seemed to slow down around Jae as he fell.
He landed a few hand spans away. She struggled to her feet, trying to get to him, but people pressed between them. He’d be trampled. She screamed as she grabbed at the earth again, pulling it upward this time, a peak rising, sending everyone skidding down and off. His body slid, he grabbed desperately for a handhold. She pressed the ground up under his feet, but Erra was too close now, and—
Jae’s magic stopped. Again. Erra was close and getting closer, only a few people between Jae and the awful approaching edge of that blank area.
Karr fought someone off, Jae lost track of Elan in the mess, and Lenni ran right for the null area but was pushed aside. The null area hit Jae and she was dizzy, overwhelmed, and confused, as the magic she always sensed around her vanished. She groped for it but couldn’t find anything, earth or water or air, and she wilted as if her own energy was being sucked out, too.
“I can’t,” she tried to say, not sure who she was speaking to, as she swayed on her feet, so weak she could barely stand. She stumbled and one of the Closest hit her in the midst of a fight with a Twill. She barely caught a glimpse of Elan as she fell, still on the ground on the side on the hill she’d raised. He wasn’t moving.
Someone closed in on her. She struggled up to her hands and knees, and as the Avowed raised a blade, Lenni slammed into him. Jae could barely stay upright, barely keep her eyes open even in the midst of all this, now completely useless. She didn’t even have a weapon, didn’t know how to use one anyway, and even though at the vow ceremony her magic had come back after a moment, now it didn’t.
Violence closed in around her. More Closest killed, more Avowed pressing them all back. She saw a knife stuck in a body—Minn’s body—and managed to crawl forward to reach for it, but before she could get there, someone kicked her and she hit the ground again, sprawling in the mud.
Desperate, she tried to reach for magical energy, but she couldn’t find any. She clawed her way through the mud, trying to get away before whoever was attacking realized exactly who she was—
Then the body that had kicked her fell back, and Karr was there. He leaned down, grabbed her arms, and hauled her up.
“Find Elan!” she tried to say, but she couldn’t get her mouth to work. She’d hit her head when she’d fallen, her magic was gone, and she was lost and couldn’t make sense of the world around her. She couldn’t see Elan anymore, even as Karr shouted something and the Closest seemed to rally around him. Even as he picked her up, when her legs wouldn’t work right, and ran for the tunnel mouth. Even as they retreated.
She wanted to use
magic, close the tunnel behind them. But her magic was gone.
So they ran, still fighting, until finally there was enough distance that the Avowed fell behind. But they still didn’t slow.
Jae tried to tell Karr she could walk—she could run—but she couldn’t. Couldn’t talk, certainly couldn’t hold herself up. All she could do was picture Elan falling, clutching his bloody side.
So many people had died tonight, trying to protect her, following her orders to attack. She should have saved them but she hadn’t been able to, and not even a quarter of the force that had attacked were with them as they retreated. Minn was gone. She didn’t know where Lenni was, if she’d survived. And Elan…
“I need Elan,” she finally managed, making Karr hear her at last.
“He’s lost,” Karr said. “We’re retreating. We’re going to take you to safety.”
Jae went cold and gave up struggling, totally numb and too weak to protest. She lost track of Karr, of the other Closest who’d survived, of the tunnel and the world and everything else. She couldn’t focus on any of it, because Elan was gone. Just like her magic, Elan was gone. She’d freed the Closest, but now they’d be killed, because she was useless, and the Highest would follow them, would attack anywhere Karr took her. They’d lost, and there was nowhere safe.
Except…
Her head was swimming. She grabbed Karr’s arm, not sure he’d hear, or that he’d understand even if he could. It was all she could do to make her mouth work, get out one single word: “Aredann.”
The last thing Elan remembered was skidding down a hill in a slide of mud and bodies, clutching his side, pressing his drenched, sticky robe against it in an attempt to stop the bleeding. But he already knew the wound was too deep, that he was too weak, that he wouldn’t be able to save himself. Footsteps crashed around him, everyone frantic and shouting and running toward somewhere nearby….
The world faded to black.
The next thing he knew, he was being yanked up. He couldn’t really see, didn’t know where he was, who was grabbing him. He shouted but couldn’t form words, and it didn’t matter, anyway. He was pushed back down somewhere else, his body lit with pain, his mind unable to focus.
