“And that’s why I wanted to wait until we were here so you treated him as you do each other and he’d be less obvious,” Evony said, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Our swords are always yours,” the man said, bowing to both of them.
“Then get yourselves ready in case we’re attacked,” she replied. “We’ll figure out a proper configuration in a moment, once we take stock of what we have.”
“Evony,” Admina said, coming up to her, face set.
She turned to her friend, hiding a wince. She’d half forgotten Admina was with them. “Are you alright?”
Admina nodded. “I’m of no use to you here,” she said, voice even, though her eyes were wider than normal. “I can’t fight. But there are more people, more soldiers than we thought. You said so. You need more help.”
Evony did wince now. “Yes, but there’s not much we can—”
She was actually cut off by Admina. “You can’t, but I can. You’ve already proved that most of the soldiers will ignore a lone woman. I can go find more help for you and bring them here.”
“No,” Evony said immediately. “It’s too dangerous.”
Admina stood straighter, her gaze steady, eyes narrowed. “I am Rector Admina of Miletum. I have my honour as you have yours, and I want to live by my honour rather than hide away here, unable to do anything.”
About to argue with her, Evony stopped when Galen laid a hand on her shoulder. She turned to stare at him but his attention was on Admina. “I appreciate your bravery and honour, Rector Admina,” he said. “If you are willing to go, we will not stop you.”
Evony choked, but Galen squeezed her shoulder and gave her a look. Admina didn’t wait for her to say anything else, bowing to both of them before hurrying away. Evony jerked herself out from under Galen’s hand and glared at him. “Do you have any idea of what you’ve done?”
“She is in as much danger in here as she is out there. In fact, she has a better chance out there as she will have more places to hide. Rector Admina has her pride too.”
Her hands balled into fists, Evony didn’t want to admit he was right, not when it was Admina in danger. If anything happened to her, she didn’t think she’d be able to live with herself. Even if it was Admina’s choice.
But there was nothing she could do now. Instead, she turned towards the men and said, “Alright, let’s set up some defenses and get someone to act as scout up ahead.” She would focus on getting everything right, on doing what she could rather than on what she couldn’t. Evony could only pray that she saw Admina at the end of this and that her friend made it through in one piece.
Chapter 24: Incentive
Evony finished briefing the men on what she wanted them to do, the first line of five already having their shields at their feet, ready to create a shield wall as soon as the enemy approached. The second line of five stood ready behind them, shields in a similar position, prepared to take the place of anyone who fell. The remaining three, who had no shields, stood to the sides, makeshift spears made out of four of Evony’s knives and some wooden flagpoles they’d found in the back. While not the Amazzi way of fighting, this was the style the men were familiar with and had been trained in.
She had just stepped back when she heard running footsteps approaching them. The men all moved quickly, getting shields up and swords out before the runner came into view. “Stand down,” she called when she recognized the man they’d left as scout.
He shook his head as he grabbed his own rough spear. “Don’t stand down! A big group is on their way! They were all marching straight this way, like they knew we were in this area.”
Evony frowned, but repeated, “Stand down.” When the men looked at her, she said, “This may be a long battle. You need to conserve your energy as much as you can. Your shields are heavy. Leave them down until you hear or see people coming. You’ve already shown how quickly you can get them up.”
She stepped back and checked on the worn and stained stone bench she’d had dragged to the middle of the room. Then she recounted her arrows, wishing again that she had more. Even with the addition of a quiver that one of the men had been carrying, she still had only about two dozen. She was going to have to make every shot count and even then...
Evony turned away from the men who were tense and moved over to stand beside Galen. He looked down at her, a frown pulling his lips sharply downwards. He cleared his throat, making her look at him. “I apologize for getting you involved in this,” he said. “If it were not for me—”
She cut him off with a smile. “I’m here willingly. It was my choice.” She reached up and pulled his face down so she could kiss him, not caring who saw. When he stared at her, she smiled again. “If I’m going to die, I’d rather die with the taste of you on my lips. And at least if we’re going to die, I get to die with you, fighting side by side.”
Galen held her gaze for a long moment then he reached out and yanked her into a kiss far deeper than the one she’d just given him, a kiss that had light tingles running through her, despite the danger. He released her and pressed his forehead against hers, his arms still around her. “I love you, Evony of clan Aureline,” he said quietly, blue eyes practically burning into hers. “If we survive this, I intend to keep you by my side no matter what.”
Evony’s face split into a wide grin before she pecked him on the lips again. “That is definitely an incentive to fight like a demon so we both survive,” she told him as she let him go.
Because as much as she’d have liked to stay there, to take comfort in Galen’s presence, to revel in the joy that he loved her too, she needed to do everything she could to ensure they both survived this. Then she could be happy. Until then though, she had a job to do.
She hopped up on the stone bench and pulled out her bow, grabbing an arrow out while she was at it. Evony didn’t bother nocking it yet, not when she didn’t have a target. Instead, she listened intently, her eyes closed so she could concentrate on her hearing, waiting for the inevitable sound of approaching footsteps.
Evony didn’t have long to wait. The sound of tramping feet echoed down the hall, the sound slowly growing in volume. The men moved swiftly, assembling the shield wall and ensuring each shield was overlapped so it was nearly impossible to get anything by them. The spearmen to the sides shifted their grips on their weapons, while the second line of shields stood ready.
But they weren’t the only ones well versed in shield walls. As their enemies came into view, Evony hissed at the sight of the same formation from their front line. Except their men were six across and seemingly the same number deep, with more crowding around at the back. They were outnumbered almost four to one.
A man stepped up beside their shield wall, his helmet bearing a large crest. “We wish no unnecessary bloodshed,” he told them, gaze on the soldiers. “If you surrender Emperor Galen of Fuscienne and Princeps Evony of Aureline, we will let you leave, unharmed and with no trouble. If you do not... Well, we have an ample force to take you out.”
Evony’s eyebrows rose. She’d expected them to want Galen, but wasn’t too sure why they wanted her. Unless they were worried about an eventual retaliation from her people. Which was something they should be worried about.
“We are loyal soldiers of his imperial majesty,” snapped Erryl, the leader of the main group of men.
“Then we have no choice but to attack,” said the man with the crested helmet. He stepped back, raised his hand and then dropped it.
Evony’s men braced themselves just before the front shield line ran into them. They held, but she could see them pushing back, the muscles in their legs straining. She took careful aim from her position, able to see over the heads of her people and pick her targets. She had to wait several moments before one of the men in the enemy shield line put his head far enough up that he exposed his neck.
&nbs
p; Her arrow flew across the distance and never gave him the chance to notice his mistake until it was too late. He went down with a gurgling cry, the arrow protruding out as his shield slipped from his fingers to clatter against the ground. One of her spearmen took advantage of the brief opening to stab at the men to the side before they shifted over to close the gap.
His move was rewarded by a red bloom against the grey of his target’s tunic. Evony didn’t pay attention, gaze constantly looking for a new target. As the shield wall filled in the front gap, she saw her chance and was able to shoot at a man of the second rank, catching an unsuspecting man in the eye. His scream ripped through the grunts, bashing, and general noise of the battle.
“It’s the Aureline woman. Someone shoot her!”
Evony heard the order and watched as one archer hurried behind the others to take aim at her. But she’d spent her life practicing against other archers and was far faster. Her shot sliced through the bow string to lodge itself in the man’s chest. He reeled back from the bow, hands going to the arrow to tug ineffectively at it as he dropped.
She waited, but no other archers took his place. A harsh grin crossed her face for a fleeting moment before she went back to looking for targets. In an archery battle here on the mainland, it would take a rare man indeed to beat her.
The next shot to present itself was one of the shield line shifting over to try and put side pressure on her men, but in the process, he left his side open. Evony showed him the folly of that when she sent an arrow into the side of his neck. He fell back, not dead, but injured enough that she didn’t think he would be re-entering the battle any time soon.
Reaching for another arrow, Evony risked a glance at her people. They were straining, but holding. But she didn’t know how long that would last. She wished she had more arrows, more people, more time to prepare. This was the hand she’d been dealt, and it was the hand she was going to have to play. And more than anyone else, she wanted to win.
* * *
Her breath coming in pants, Evony stabbed out at an exposed throat. Her blow was shallow and she did no more than nick the man’s neck. He immediately pulled himself back behind his shield and she was stuck waiting for her next target.
She risked a quick glance back, hiding a wince as she again saw where they were. They only had two men with shields, Galen one left in reserve. He was still breathing hard from his last shift on the wall. Four of their people were already down, their wounds roughly bound with strips of the sheet Evony had been wearing. One was dead, the thrust he had taken to his neck having been deep enough that he bled out in minutes.
Evony was out of arrows, almost out of men, and still their enemies continued their assault. Galen’s guards had done well, taking out nearly half their attackers, taking out two of them for every one guard. But it wasn’t enough and it wasn’t going to be enough. Evony cursed her decision to dig in and defend rather than continue moving. She should have taken them to the trees, hidden them in the forest as only Amazzi could and had them pick off any small groups that ventured in.
But there was nothing she could do about that now. The die had been cast and she had to go with that roll.
Her men were breathing heavily, sweat dripping as they continued to fight, to hold off the enemy. The sound of the battle was heavy in her ears, constantly reminding her that she’d made the wrong choice and now she only had two left. And with the situation as it was, Evony knew she really only had one, if there was to be even a chance of Galen getting out alive.
She waved up her man on shield reserve and traded off with him so she could speak to Galen. He looked at her, face gone to stone again, only the blaze of his eyes showing that he was aware of how bad their situation was. “This is it,” she told him, voice even despite the crushing knowledge that she’d failed him and failed everyone here. “We can’t win like this and to be honest, we’re most likely all going to die.”
He made a half noise of protest, but couldn’t really deny what was as obvious to them as it was to their attackers.
“Still, if we die, we’ll die with honour, fighting to the end as true warriors. But if we have any hope of getting out of this, we’re going to have to try break through them and run. If we rush them, we will have to leave our wounded and there’s no guarantee any of us will make it.”
Galen reached out and grabbed her hand, squeezing it for a second before releasing her. “You know we will all follow your decision in this.”
Evony nodded, even as her stomach twisted. She’d thought she was ready for command, ready to lead people and be responsible for them. Knowing she had brought this down upon everyone was showing her she wasn’t. There were so many things she should have done, things that could have saved them, things that could have at least gotten Galen through this.
“Put your helmet back on,” she told him. If they were going to try to break through, any advantage she could give Galen, any confusion she could cause among the enemy would buy them that much more of a chance for this to work.
She moved up to their shield wall to tell the men of the plan as quietly as she could so their attackers didn’t get wind of it. They needed the element of surprise on this or it would never work.
Evony inhaled deeply, trying to find the words to tell the men that they were almost certainly all going to die when she heard something that had her head snapping up. Her eyes widened and her heartbeat thudded even louder in her ears. She knew that sound, knew it so well she couldn’t mistake it for anything else.
The sound brought laughter bubbling up inside of her and she let it out, relief washing over her to the point of giddiness. She fought that down, not able to relax yet, not with the enemy still hammering at them. “It looks like we won’t die today after all,” she said, grinning, while Galen stared at her, the others too focused on the battle to look at her.
She stepped back to avoid distracting her men any more than she was going to then threw her head back and let out her clan’s warcry. Only then did she take her place back at the side with a spear, ready for what she knew was coming.
Stabbing out at an exposed thigh, Evony felt the heartbeats passing by. Each one that passed brought more doubt to her. What if she hadn’t heard it? What if the knowledge that she’d killed them all had broken her, had brought on hallucinations from a mind unable to cope? What if they were really all going to die?
Then screams erupted from behind their shield wall.
Evony couldn’t see what happened, but the sight of an arrow sprouting out of one of the enemy’s shield bearers gave her a pretty good idea. Her men stared, their shield lowering as their eyes widened. “Hold firm,” she told them, already taking advantage of their enemies’ distraction to lash out with her makeshift spear.
Her men stiffened and turned their attention back to keeping the shield wall strong as Evony and the spearmen struck out at their attackers. Their enemies were stuck, half turning towards what was coming down the hall, the other half trying to keep their attacks off themselves.
And they weren’t succeeding. Bolstered by the obvious distraction and sudden turn in their favour, Evony’s men redoubled their efforts. Her shield wall bashed out at those who weren’t paying attention, while she and the spearmen slashed at every target that presented itself, drawing more than one scarlet burst of blood.
Pinned in from two sides, it was a matter of minutes before their attackers were either dead or throwing down arms. And only a handful made it to the latter. As much as she wanted to rush out, Evony waited until the men they’d been fighting had been backed to the end of the hall before she had her men break the shield wall enough that she could get out.
Only then did she run to greet their rescuers, grinning.
Chapter 25: Splitting
“Well, you’ve certainly been put through the mill,” said the woman in the lead, lowering her bow as ot
hers hurried past to bind those who had surrendered. Her brown eyes crinkled up in the corners and her curly dark hair shot with grey was tied back in simple horsetail, the woman wore a short chiton that was a match for the one Evony was wearing.
She held out her arms and Evony ran straight into them, hugging her tightly. “Thank you,” she whispered, letting herself have the brief luxury of leaning on her mother’s strength before straightening.
Her mother grinned wolfishly. “You sent a letter telling us the Adnuhom was in danger and that the nobles couldn’t be trusted. Of course we came. It’s not every day we get the opportunity to fight in a battle of this size.”
“Evony! Evony! Guess what?”
She turned to smile at her brother, who was bouncing on his feet, bow held in both hands. “What?”
“I’m a blooded warrior now!” Marnin told her, grinning.
“Good job,” she told him, reaching out to ruffle his hair.
“This place is a maze,” Balera said, looking around. “We’ve been running around since we ported trying to find you. Also that captain of yours isn’t too pleased with us at the moment.”
“Most captains don’t like docking at night, and doubly so for people who all but hijacked their ship,” Obelia retorted.
Evony smiled and hugged both of her sisters briefly then grinned at the assembled warriors of her clan, most of who were related to her. There were more than a few that she didn’t recognize, making Evony guess that her family had gotten some of the other clans nearby to send warriors. Which was all to the good. They needed all the help they could get.
Footsteps behind her had Evony turning as Galen came up to stand beside her. He didn’t even have a chance to open his mouth before her sisters and mother closed in on them, their eyes appraising. “Who is this?” her mother asked.
She could feel her cheeks heat up a bit, but Evony said, “This is Galen of Fuscienne, my chosen lifemate and the Adnuhom. Galen, this is my mother Zarina, my sisters Obelia and Balera, and my brother Marnin.”
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