But the ground continued to shake and Maya turned her head to see rocks break free from the mountain and tumble down into the valley.
As she watched them fall, something else caught her eye—three small figures scaling the mountain, heading for a cave halfway up the climb.
Jade braced herself against the wall of the cave as it shook. The battle was not going well. They’d scored a minor victory against the green dragon, but without Maya’s own beast terrorizing the battlefield, the elves had simply regrouped and pushed forward, closing the gap between them and Derton.
With Aralith in full retreat, the elves gave chase, overtaking the men that had been injured or were too slow.
Jade didn’t want to die. She had hoped and begged the gods that Derton would hold and repel the invaders before it became necessary to blow the mountain. The good news was there were piles and piles of pyridis in these caves.
When Robert had dropped her off a few hours ago, that was the first thing they checked. But her orders had been explicit—only blow the mountain in the event that defeat was imminent.
They weren’t going to be difficult orders to follow. She had no desire to die if there wasn’t a need. At the same time, it was hard for her to imagine her future should victory be secured without her sacrifice. But as the minutes rolled past, it was becoming more and more likely that her life would be required after all, thus sparing her the torment of hypotheticals and “what ifs.”
She was about to turn and head back into the cave when another boulder came loose and rolled down the mountain. As it passed the opening where Jade stood, she heard a scream followed by several dull thuds.
Hobbling outside the cave, she looked over the edge of the cliff to find two elves scaling the mountain, a third elf lying at the bottom with a growing pool of blood beneath him.
Jade gasped causing the elves to look up.
Their eyes narrowed and they increased their rate of climb with intense ferocity.
Jade didn’t need to be told these elves were coming for her. Ophi knew she was there. Ophi always knew.
They should have seen this coming, but what were they to do? Sacrifice more lives by leaving bodyguards with her? No, it wouldn’t be needed because at the first sign of trouble, Jade would have blown the pyridis—all it took was a hard-enough hit.
But the pyridis was deep in the cave and Jade could barely move. If those elves got to her before she could reach the pyridis, Aralith would be doomed. With a surge of adrenaline dulling the pain, Jade limped back into the cave as fast as her legs could carry her.
Will danced away from Ophi’s sword as it sliced through the air. She came at him again, but he easily parried the blade. Pushing her off balance, Will struck, but she raised her sword just in time to deflect his weapon.
Ophi lunged forward, aiming for Will’s heart. He sidestepped and batted her sword away.
Circling around him, Ophi stepped forward and withdrew on several occasions as Will raised his own sword to defend. She came at him from the left, then reversed her direction as he moved to parry. He redirected his blade and protected his flank, but the angle put him off balance and caused him to stumble.
Ophi slammed her elbow into his arm, knocking his sword to the ground. With her other arm, she swung her weapon at Will’s defenseless chest.
He did the only thing he could think of and dropped to the ground, then rolled away from her as her sword arced down and dug into the dirt.
Before she could raise her blade, Will launched himself at her. But she was too quick and sidestepped, as Will fell to the ground. His sword lay beside him a few feet away.
Will flipped onto his back, and reached for his sword. Then Ophi straddled him, her foot coming down hard and pinning his hand to the ground.
“End of the road,” Ophi said, pointing her sword an inch from his face.
“Good!” Qirrut said, clapping. “Very good! Finish—”
The pounding of feet drew near and Will turned to see an elf in blood-soaked armor approach from the south towards the city.
“You asked to see me, Lord Qirrut?” the elf asked.
Qirrut held up his finger toward Ophi and addressed the elf. “Yes,” he said. “I’d like to know why our forces have yet to breach the city, Captain.”
“I apologize, my lord, but the enemy archers rain down death from above, and the door to the city only allows three of us to pass through at a time,” he said. “We’re being slaughtered before we can get a foot in the door and the bodies are piling up, making it even more difficult to breach.”
“You disappoint me, Captain,” Qirrut said.
“I’m sorry, my lord, it won’t happen again,” the elf said, bowing.
“You’re right,” Qirrut said. “It won’t.”
The god of destruction reached out and touched the elf’s face. As soon as Qirrut’s finger made contact, the captain disintegrated in a cloud of ash, his armor dropping to the earth.
Will gasped, drawing Ophi’s attention back to him.
“Your death will not be so swift,” she said as she raised her sword and plunged it toward his chest.
The heavy beating of wings drew near and great gusts of wind coursed across the ground.
“Stop!” someone yelled.
Ophi froze and looked up in the direction of the voice.
Will craned his head backward to see Erintos sprinting toward them with a limp, nursing his shoulders.
“Don’t kill him!” Erintos shouted.
“Why?” Ophi snapped.
“Hasn’t he been through enough?” Erintos said. “He’s already lost his power, he’s no threat to us. Let him go.”
“Don’t tell me you’ve grown attached to him,” Ophi said. “You knew the plan from the beginning. I specifically told you not to let your feelings cloud your judgment.”
Ophi lifted her foot off his hand as she took a step forward.
“You never think before you speak,” she continued. “You just react, and it’s going to get you—”
Will’s grip tightened on his sword then he lifted it, plunging it into Ophi’s side and angling it up under her ribcage.
“No!” Erintos cried.
Ophi grunted, small gasps of air escaping from her lips. Will twisted the blade and she collapsed to the side. Erintos started to run for her, but halted as bright bands of yellow light arced from her heart down to the pocket of her cloak, which must have held her soul stone.
Rolling over once more, Will reached out and grabbed her pocket. He didn’t have time to fish it out, and even if he did, he didn’t dare touch it. After jumping to his feet, he sliced through Ophi’s cloak and ran off with the pocket and the stone still in his hands.
He initially set off for Derton, but realized his elf form might be mistaken for the enemy and, without Lotess to save him, he couldn’t afford to chance it. Spinning, he instead raced to the nor’east toward the Frostpeaks.
“Stop him!” Qirrut and Erintos shouted together.
Will glanced over his shoulder as he ran. Both gods chased after him, though Erintos quickly fell behind as his injuries slowed him down. Six more elves accompanied the god of destruction in his pursuit.
He was now more thankful than ever for his mother’s constant insistence on run training, both physically and mentally. Though he no longer had his original body, the elf who now hosted his soul was not unfit by any means, and Will had learned that running great distances was more about the mind than the body.
Focusing back on the path ahead, Will increased his pace and pressed forward in a literal flight for his life.
46
The pounding of feet echoed against the cave walls, drawing ever closer to Jade’s position. She hobbled as fast as she could, but each step shot pain up her leg. At last she reached the main chamber where the pyridis was stored.
Pushing off the wall, she hopped on one foot toward the stack of crates lined against the wall in both directions five deep and ten high. Jade drew her swor
d as she neared it.
“There she is!” one of the elves shouted as they entered the room.
Jade raised her sword and swung at the pyridis.
Her blade was a foot from finding its mark when an elf slammed into her side, knocking her to the ground. She swung her sword at her attacker, but her angle was off and all she managed to do was punch him in the face.
The elf pulled a dagger from his boot and drove it toward her heart. Flipping on her back, Jade stabbed her sword upward, angling it so the elf impaled himself through the throat.
The second elf bore down on her and kicked her weapon away. There was no way she could stand to face him, and even if she could, she’d not be able to find the balance she needed to engage in a fair fight.
So she would just have to play dirty.
Kicking with her good leg, she took the elf’s legs out from under him and sent him crashing to the ground. She tried to lunge for her sword, but the elf grabbed her bad leg and squeezed.
He had had no way of knowing her leg was severely injured, but as dumb luck would have it he found it.
Jade’s screams filled the cavern and echoed so loudly it made her ears hurt.
The elf’s grip on her leg loosened as a surprised look crossed his face, then his eyes narrowed and he clamped down all the harder.
Lifting her other leg, she smashed her foot into his face with a satisfying crunch as her heel connected with his nose. The elf released her and grabbed his face, his own cries now mixing with Jade’s.
Jade crawled forward as quickly as she could, reaching for her sword, but the elf was up and on his feet almost immediately, kicking it away a second before she could reclaim it. He hissed and growled as he took a fist full of her hair and pulled it back, exposing her throat.
His blade soared in.
Jade’s fist flew up into his crotch causing him to groan and release the knife as he fell to the ground on his knees.
Jade picked up the discarded knife and used the fallen elf to boost herself up. With all the strength she could muster she ran for the pyridis. As she raised her weapon once more, hands clamped down on her shoulders and tossed her to the ground.
The elf placed himself between her and the pyridis, blocking her path to the only hope for Aralith. But nobody said she had to be the one to set it off.
Rocking back onto her shoulders, Jade tucked in both legs, and then kicked them forward, solidly connecting with the elf’s chest.
He stumbled backward and slammed into the pyridis.
Sowena had just loosed an arrow from the wall when the mountain blew into the sky, sending her flying onto her back. The impact knocked the wind out of her, but she managed to roll over and watch as dirt and stone rained down over the battlefield.
Even though she hardly knew Jade, a pang of loss filled her heart as she realized what the explosion meant. There was little time for remorse, though, so she pushed it away for now.
Great chunks of mountain the size of houses crashed into the valley, crushing elves by the hundreds. Their screams were drowned out by the deafening impact of stone both large and small.
Sowena watched in horror as a boulder twice the size of a merchant’s wagon slammed into Derton’s wall just west of her position, shaking the stone beneath.
“Run!” she shouted as loud as she could, but her lungs still struggled to find air, and it came out barely a whisper.
She climbed to her feet and jumped off the wall, falling twenty feet with Maya, Thallan, and Khate right behind her. As she hit the ground, Sowena bent her knees and rolled. Her shoulder took most of her weight, and the impact sent a surge of pain through her body.
Behind her, the wall began to teeter and fall in towards them. Thallan and Khate sprang back to their feet and rushed away, but Maya struggled to stand, still dealing with vertigo from the head wound. The western guard tower above the gatehouse broke free from the wall and spun in the air, heading straight for Maya.
Sowena raced forward and grabbed her by the shoulder, pulling her along as quickly as she could. Glancing back, Sowena realized they weren’t going to make it. With all the strength she could muster she pushed Maya forward and fell onto the ground in her wake.
Her last thought as the guard tower smashed into her was what a joy it had been to meet and protect her idol and queen.
“Sowena!” Maya shouted as she flipped onto her back and reached her hand toward the girl who’d saved her life.
Only a single dust-covered arm stuck out from beneath the massive pile of rubble.
Maya stood and rushed forward to help dig her out, but Khal appeared and pulled her away.
“Let go of me!” she shouted.
“It’s no use, Maya,” Khal said. “She’s gone. We need to go before the whole wall comes down.”
Even as he spoke, one of the great iron doors of the city broke free from its hinges and fell out into the valley, flattening the elves that had stood on the other side. Those that hadn’t been hit by either mountain or wall surged in through the now fully open gate.
“Fall back!” Kosta shouted to his men.
Maya tried to break free from Khal’s grasp once more, but he held firm, pulling her away back into the city toward the southern entrance. Maya clenched her jaw, but turned to leave, sadness filling her heart.
An elf screamed and sailed into the air, impaled on the end of a swordstaff as he was tossed down the stairs to impede the deluge of enemies flooding through the gate.
“Ocken,” Khate said. She stood on her tiptoes to peer over the sea of iron and steel between her and the big man. “He needs my help!”
“I’ll come, too,” Maya said, wrenching free from Khal. She took two steps, wobbled, and nearly fell when Khal rushed back in and steadied her.
“You’re not going anywhere but out of this city,” Khal said.
“Go,” Maya said to Khate.
She nodded and disappeared into the crowd as Kosta’s men continued to retreat.
Maya, Thallan, and Khal turned and ran through the city streets as quickly as Maya could move. Thallan came up along the other side of her and, together, the men lifted Maya off the ground and increased their pace.
As they reached the southern gate, the flow of soldiers shifted from leaving the city to running back in.
“What’s going on?” Maya asked as they pushed through the crowd and stepped out onto the staircase leading into the southern plains.
Before anyone could respond, the problem became apparent. A thousand or more elves had skirted the mountains through the night and were even now rushing to close off any chance of escape.
“Stop,” Maya called to the soldiers rushing past her.
No one heard her.
“Stop!” she yelled.
A few heads turned, but the soldiers still continued their retreat into the safety of the city walls.
Maya tapped into her power and projected her voice with an illusion of sound, “I said stop!” Her words carried out into the open plain, and even the elves halted at the deafening sound. Maya turned to a soldier with a red captain’s stripe on his helmet and asked, “Why are you running?”
“The general ordered us to fall back,” the man replied. “We need to set up a defensive perimeter and behind the walls is the best place to do that.”
“He ordered you to retreat so we could escape!” Maya said. “If we move back into the city, we’ll all be dead before nightfall. Now, you’re all going to go back out there and form a wall of steel holding back the elves. We just need long enough to get everyone out.”
The soldier shifted uncomfortably and glanced around, refusing to make eye contact with Maya.
“I am your queen,” she said, once again enhancing her voice. “You will obey me!”
“Y—yes, Your Majesty!” the captain said. He turned and shouted to his men, “You heard her! Steel wall! Steel wall!”
Kosta’s men slowly reversed their direction and once again exited the city, rushing out to meet the f
rontline of the elven army. Khal and Thallan started to descend the stairs, still holding onto Maya, but she pushed off of them and steadied herself.
“They need to see me strong,” Maya said.
“You need to rest,” Thallan said. “Your brain is still recovering from the head wound.”
“Then fix me,” Maya replied. “Can’t you trick my brain into thinking everything is normal?”
Thallan turned a questioning look at her as if he hadn’t thought of that. Then he steeled his features and gave a grim nod.
Immediately, Maya felt steadier, and a cloudy haze she hadn’t realized was there cleared away, giving her greater focus. Without waiting another moment, Maya ran down the steps at top speed.
“Come on!” she shouted as she reached the bottom and turned back toward the city, waving the soldiers forward. “Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!”
Spinning she led the charge south. Even as she did so, a squad of elves broke free from the main body and raced to cut off their escape. Maya pulled from within and made an imaginary fissure open up in the ground, separating the two forces.
The elves came to a halt at the edge of the perceived sheer drop into the dark below, but not soon enough. One of the elves was pushed forward and fell on solid ground, though he appeared to float in mid air. He was so frightened he could barely move as he continued to stare down into the deep.
An elf still standing at the edge lifted his head and made eye contact with her, then looked back down at his kin, who hung suspended over the gorge. With caution, he lifted his foot and placed it down over the expanse—and it found solid ground. He moved his other foot forward and took another step.
“It’s not real!” he shouted. “Forward!”
Maya dropped the illusion and the ground was whole once more, but the trick had served its purpose, as the elves had been stalled long enough for her men to get ahead. Glancing behind her, Maya saw Ocken, Robert, and Khate exit the southern gates, followed by a surge of elves as they spilled through the open doors.
Maya might have stopped the elves from locking them inside the city, but unless she dealt with this squad, they could still cut in and prevent her friends from escaping.
Soul Shade (Soul Stones Book 2) Page 36