by Anna Logan
She bit her lip, as the thought replayed: Wylan had never looked at her like that.
Talea pushed it out of her mind as Skyve and Terindi woke up. Skyve was always uncharacteristically perky in the morning. Today, he smiled at her for no reason and complimented Rikky when he came back with a barbsit despite how little game there was in the area. The perkiness would wear off in an hour or two, so she tried to let it cheer her while it lasted.
After breakfast, they packed up their camp, and headed back to Aydimor. It was the third day since their last attack. She had her full strength back from the wave, and every day they delayed, Kaydor had more time to prepare. It was time to strike again.
Talea rode beside Terindi, sensing a solemnity in her friend. Terindi was often solemn. Still, she suspected it had a cause, today. Besides, she wasn’t ready to interact with Rikky again, no matter how many times she told herself there was nothing between them. “How are you doing?”
Terindi looked up quickly, drew in her breath, and looked away. Almost nervously. “Probably rather similar to how you’re doing,” she said at length.
“Probably.” Talea fondled one of Ember’s ears. “I wish the others were here. It would make all of this...easier, somehow.” At least that was what she kept telling herself.
Terindi nodded.
Talea wondered what the girl would think if she admitted what she really wished—that they didn’t have to fight at all, with or without the other wards and the Wardens. Terindi would probably understand, but Talea didn’t dare say it anyway. She heard Wylan’s voice in her mind, “Try to remember why we’re fighting in the first place.”
She was trying to remember. Every attack, as she watched the Kaydorians die by her hand, she remembered Ahjul. And she thought of the family and friends that would mourn the Kaydorian’s death, just as she had mourned Ahjul’s.
Remembering didn’t help her.
At least if Yhkon were there, he would listen, and he would try to understand—even if he couldn’t, he would try. And he would be sympathetic, because to him it mattered more that she was conflicted than it did whether or not she should be. Or if Wylan were there, he would understand. He would remind her of the importance of the war, or of how many thousands had suffered, and how many more thousands would continue to suffer if they didn’t win. His words would hurt at first, but in the end, they would be exactly what she needed to hear. If nothing else, he would be right there at her side when she desperately needed support. Jaylee, Grrake, all the other Wardens and wards each in their own way, would support her.
But they weren’t there. And they wouldn’t be anytime soon.
“Lea?” Rikky brought his stallion beside Ember. “We’re within a mile of the wall. The plan?”
How she hated being Aysa. “Um...I guess the same thing as usual.” That just sounded like she didn’t know what she was doing, which of course was true. “Hard to have a detailed plan until we get in there and see what’s waiting for us today. Unless anyone has other ideas? Skyve?”
Skyve’s morning perkiness had faded two hours ago. He sat on his celith looking around the woods as if perplexed. “No.” The way he said it wasn’t convincing.
“Okay…?” She waited, but he didn’t offer anything more. “Alright. Then let’s go. Half a mile out, we’ll leave the celiths.”
They got within half a mile, dismounted, and made it to the wall without running into any patrols. Talea stopped at the treeline, their final bit of cover before they’d have to make a dash for the wall. It was crawling with guards, as usual. The last few attacks, they hadn’t bothered with distractions, she’d simply taken down a couple dozen of the nearest guards to make an opening. At Skyve’s suggestion, they’d also gone to other points of the wall and done the same thing before attacks, so that the Kaydorians wouldn’t realize they were coming in at the same spot every time.
She brushed a few loose strands of hair from her face, surveying the guards. The tightness in her gut felt familiar now. The less she thought about it—the quicker they got in, made the attack, and got out—the better. “I’ll take down the twenty directly ahead of us, and fifteen more farther to the right. Everyone ready to—”
“Wait.” Skyve made a slow rotation, scanning the trees around them all the while. “We should have seen a patrol. We should have seen several.”
Rikky indicated the wall. “But there’s just as many guards up there, like normal. Maybe it’s just luck.”
“One should always assume in a battle that luck, isn’t luck.”
Talea squeezed the bridge of her nose, sighing. The perkiness had definitely worn off. “That is really pessimistic...okay so I get that it’s weird we didn’t see any patrols. But if they were trying to entice us for some sort of trap, Rikky’s right, I would expect the guards to be fewer and less attentive. Nothing else is amiss. But if you think we should call it off, or take a look around first…”
“If we go looking for a patrol, I’m sure we’ll find one,” Rikky frowned, “and that kind of defeats the point.”
Skyve shook his head, giving the forest a final scrutiny. “No, let’s go.”
She tugged her hood down, her mask up. Just do it. Just do it. Get it done. Closing her eyes to concentrate, she pictured fifteen of the guards on the wall, a quarter mile to their right. She lifted her hand and didn’t open her eyes—there was no need to see the fifteen lightning bolts that struck them, she could feel them. The twenty guards directly in front of them fell next. She had tried to keep her bolts below the killing strength...it was impossible to tell if she’d succeeded. All that she could see was forty piles of burned armor.
They sprinted for the mote, swam across, and crawled through the bars into the drain. Talea took the lead and sent Rikky to the back, as she usually did—while Skyve and Terindi were plenty capable, she and Rikky were more likely to withstand a sudden attack.
The eerie sound of water dripping from the ceiling, of their boots splashing softly, their quick breathing and rustling movements. Just do it, she kept saying in her mind.
It was about halfway through the tunnel that she realized she could hear more than four pairs of boots.
“Back! Go back!” she hissed, turning and pushing Terindi back the way they’d come.
Except Rikky was pushing Skyve toward them. “They’re behind us!”
Shouldn’t have done it.
Talea faced forward again and threw an orb down the length of the tunnel. It illuminated a wall of men in their way, twenty feet ahead, just before it struck. There was no scream. She let another sphere hover in her palm, holding it up to light the drain. The men held large shields that didn’t reflect the light. So the Kaydorians had learned even more than they’d thought—they’d learned to use nonconductive materials to block their lightning.
A glance back told her that Rikky was facing the exact same thing.
One of the shields moved closer, part of a head appearing from behind it. “You come peaceably, and it’ll be easy. You resist, and I can’t guarantee you’ll be alive when I take you to Kaydor.”
The chances of making it out of the tunnel unscathed were slim. The chances of escaping once they were outside were much better. She absorbed the sphere back into her fingers. “I like peaceably.”
To her relief, Rikky, Skyve, and Terindi must have guessed her play, because none of them objected as they otherwise would.
“Do you speak for the other three?”
Unfortunately. “Yes.”
“Good. Back the way you came, please.”
Talea waited until she heard the boots ahead of her moving, and followed. The Kaydorians behind never breached the gap between them, only coming within a few feet of her. It was a solemn, tense trip back out the tunnel, toward the circle of light ahead. She flexed her fingers as they neared. They would have to move quick—take down however many men had them hemmed, and book it to the celiths.
The men in front were filing out into the sunlight. Rikky stepped out. Skyve.
Terindi. Talea hesitated for a split second at the entrance, then lunged out. Now that they were visible, the soldiers were already rushing to grab and restrain them. She ducked the swipe of one and sent an explosion of sparks into him and several of those closest, like so many glowing blue butterflies. Unprepared as they were, the shields only protected a few of them. They didn’t last under a barrage of lightning bolts from multiple directions.
The other wards had fought their way free of the nearest Kaydorians. “Let’s go!” She dove into the mote, swimming as fast as her arms and legs would take her. The four of them climbed out the other side with soldiers close behind and took off running for the trees. A rumble in the ground drew her attention right, then left. From both directions, cavalry, at least fifty strong. They rode coliyes, slower than celiths...still much faster than humans.
Taking down that many would tire her out. So she didn’t—she brought down a weak sheet of electricity in front of the cavalry. It didn’t touch or harm a single one. But the coliyes balked, their riders sawing on the bits to gain control of the frightened animals.
It bought them some time. Not far into the woods, she whistled, praying the Kaydorians hadn’t somehow found and subdued their celiths. The animals were trained to avoid being caught.
She sent a silent “thank you” to no one in particular when the four celiths appeared, galloping to meet them. Two more harmless walls of electricity stalled the coliyes enough that she, Rikky, Skyve, and Terindi could mount. As the cavalry advanced again, they were already hurtling up a hill, outdistancing the coliyes.
Her breath came a little easier. There was nothing the cavalry or the infantry that had snared them could do now. They had escaped.
Ember came to the top of the hill and planted her hooves, skidding to an abrupt halt. Talea’s stomach leapt to her throat as she lurched forward, almost unseated in her surprise. She heard Rikky’s growled profanity, and righted herself to see what had spooked the animals.
Over a hundred warriors on celiths.
Tomorrow
T ALEA had to stop and stare a moment longer than she should have, as the new cavalry started toward them. Because...they weren’t normal cavalry. Few besides commanders and soldiers on patrol rode celiths. The Kaydorian cavalry was massive, the supply of celiths wasn’t—unlike coliyes, they were difficult to breed.
More notable than the celiths, however, were the warriors themselves. Not a single one wore the iron armor with Kaydor’s maroon insignia on the breastplate. Their armor was dragon leather—almost as durable as iron, while being more flexible. It was fashioned with spikes and blades, fastened over gray and navy uniforms, and holding an assortment of weaponry. Their helmets were the likeness of a dragon’s head. Finally, what must have been shields were attached to each warrior’s back, giving the appearance of folded wings.
Altogether, they were terrifying.
Ember needed no instruction to turn and bolt from the new threat. “Rikky, take the lead!” She watched to make sure he had heard and obeyed, then craned her neck to study their pursuers. It didn’t take long to conclude that not only were the men riding celiths, they were riding conditioned, well-bred celiths. Celiths that could keep up with their own. Allowing herself one inward profanity, Talea twisted as best she could to face backwards.
If they couldn’t outrun the enemy, they would have to take him down.
She brought a lightning bolt down on two of the leading riders. Apparently anticipating the move, both yanked the large shields from their backs and held them above their heads. The shield, looking to be more dragon leather, absorbed the electricity at no harm to the man holding it.
One more inward profanity. This made everything harder. Still—no number of shields could stop a wave.
She lifted her hands, collecting energy in her fingers...and didn’t see one of the riders drawing back an arrow until it was too late.
Hot pain sliced across her bicep. An outward profanity escaped her lips. So they ride celiths, they can block our electricity, and they have Warden-level archers. Fantastic. Rather than give her the chance to attempt the wave again, five more of the warriors lifted bows, giving their celiths free rein as they knocked arrows and let them fly. Focused on avoiding each arrow—whether aimed for her or one of the other wards—or stopping the archer before the arrow was loosed, she had to give up on offensive. The archers seemed satisfied to fire only enough arrows to keep her busy. If they had been genuinely trying to take her down, a lot more than six of them would be taking a shot, at which point she would have to call off the escape, and the four of them would deal with the dragon-warriors head on.
It’s a trap. They’re chasing us into something.
There wasn’t time to react to the revelation. She spotted silver glittering in the sunlight up ahead, seconds before they burst into a clearing full of Kaydorians. At least five hundred. There wasn’t time to go around—the dragon-warriors would catch up to them.
They either fought the one hundred celithmen, or they fought the five hundred foot soldiers. Her rationale said the one hundred. Her gut said the five hundred. Yhkon’s voice rang in her mind. “When it comes down to it...trust your instincts.” She kicked Ember forward. “Rikky, back!” They swapped places, he took the rear, she took the front, and kept Ember hurtling toward the mass of Kaydorians.
Just before they entered the throng, she brought down a vertical wall of electricity over the first fifty feet worth of soldiers, creating a twenty-foot wide hole for them to run through. She could feel the drain instantly, like strength seeping from her muscles, leaving a sense of hollowness. But she would need to make three more walls the same size, before they were through. Trusting Skyve, Terindi, and Rikky to maintain the gap once it was made, she reserved every bit of energy she had to clear the next fifty feet...and the next...and the next.
Black dots like a thousand flies invaded her vision the second the final wall of electricity left her body. She felt her muscles going slack, distantly as if it were happening to someone else. A vague sense of fear told her that slack was dangerous...that she was falling...something cool grabbed her arm, grazing the cut from the arrow. The sting was enough to open her eyes, clearing her mind partially. It was Skyve’s hand. He had caught up in time to keep her in the saddle.
“Hey!” His voice barely cut the chaos that surrounded them. Noise. So much noise. “Okay?”
Talea forced a reluctant spine to straighten, tired muscles to keep her poised. And a throbbing head to nod. She looked back, grateful at least that they had successfully carved their way through the Kaydorian army...but the dragon-warriors were still hard on their heels.
Her gut, twisted and queasy as it was, still told her that they wouldn’t win a head-on fight with the mysterious new adversaries.
She looked to Skyve. The way he was looking at her, then at the celithmen behind them—his gut was saying the same thing. Okay. “If I take them down…” She bit her lip. “Can you guys get me out?”
He nodded. Clearly knowing what she meant. Skyve, with all his study and observation, understood better than anyone her exact abilities, and her limitations. Most likely, she could make another wave big enough to stop the dragon-helmeted Kaydorians...but it would knock her out, possibly for some time.
“Then that’s what we’re doing.” She nodded back, jerkily.
He brought his gelding even closer to Ember, their thighs almost brushing. “Climb over.”
It was something they’d practiced in Calcaria plenty of times, yet it never failed to terrify her. Talea took her feet from the stirrups, pulling her knees up, and reached one hand to the pommel of Skyve’s saddle, keeping the other out for balance. She took a deep breath...and jumped. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled at the same moment. Just like that, she was squished into his saddle. He took Ember’s reins and tied them, to make sure she’d follow.
A fresh wave of dizziness made everything dim. Whether it was from the jump, or the energy drain, she didn’t know
. Skyve gripped her arm, as if expecting her to flop out of the saddle at any moment. “I’ll be a gentleman and keep you up here, I suppose.”
It made her smile, even as pressure rose in her throat. Just do it. She’d never had to exert herself to the point of passing out. Yhkon had had her practice using large amounts to get an idea of how much she could do, but never this. “Okay,” she whispered. Looking over her and Skyve’s shoulder to see her target, she lifted her glowing hands. Pulling the energy from her core to her fingers was already making her body tremble. It would take more energy than she had to kill that many riders, or their celiths. All she had to do was take down most of them, or knock them out temporarily from the shock. Pulling even more energy, feeling like she was ringing it out of herself, Talea squeezed her eyes shut. Concentrated on her target. And let it out.
“Lea, hey, can you hear me?”
Everything ached. Like she’d slept on a rock. She wanted to respond…yes, she could hear him...her eyes refused to open.
“Come on, you gotta wake up.”
Her mind drifted away from Rikky’s voice. Water. The sucking sounds of celiths drinking. It was loud, as if they were mere feet from her head, yet somehow she knew they were at least a few yards. Other voices...slurred. No distinct words, just pitches. It was Skyve. Terindi answered, part of it audible. “How long do...her?”
“She’s almost...give her a minute.”
Something touched her cheek, tapping gently, then brushing her hair back. “Come on, Lea.”
Her mouth was dry. The sensation in her limbs was returning. Talea reached out with her hand toward his voice, until she found his knee. Her eyes finally opened to blurry shapes and colors. When she tried to sit up, a black wave and a stab of pain put her down again.
“She needs water.” She heard Skyve crouching on her other side. While Rikky carefully lifted her upper body off the ground, Skyve put a canteen to her lips. The water moistened her dry throat and awakened her mind further. “And food. But I can’t dump that down your throat. Awake yet?”
