by K. F. Breene
A wash of fear had her leaning to the right, directing the horse as much as it would let her. Trees streamed by. Sentries looked down at her, she felt many within her Gift, waiting for the emotional cues they knew would come. They’d had so little time, but they’d made great progress so far.
Yet another mind came into her map. The same type of man—she could feel his watchfulness as he neared one of the first sentries. A blast of fear colored his mind. He’d recognized the sentry as a Shadow, she had no doubt. He’d know the Shadow could feel him with the Gift.
For a moment everything seemed to freeze. A decision was left in the balance. And then the man was in action. He moved away quickly in the direction he’d come.
“No! We have to get him!” Shanti urged her horse faster, before her heart jumped into her throat. Warning sirens pinged through her consciousness like pops in a fire. All round the city, one after the other, the sentries scrambled out of their trees and ran, aiming back for the gates.
In another few moments, she knew why.
A wall of enemy, surrounding the city, was advancing. This was the first wave of attack, and there had been no warning.
4
Shanti yanked on the Bloody Bastard’s mane as hard as she could, preparing to jump off if the accursed animal didn’t slow. Thankfully, the horse complied, almost throwing her as it jolted and bounced to a stop. She schooled her emotions to send a message to her people, making them run back toward the city.
The thunder of hooves behind her started to slow. “What is it?” Sonson’s eyes went wide and the color drained from Rohnan’s face. They could feel what she did.
“This isn’t like him,” Rohnan protested, turning his horse.
“Which is exactly why he’s doing it. He is way ahead of me.” Shanti ripped the mane around and dug in her heels. “Hurry!”
A black shape flashed by, followed by two more. The cats had found her and anticipated their direction. Good. They could be of use in the city. If anyone got over the walls, hopefully these animals could help take them down.
Shanti monitored the sentries. The Shadow and Shumas had been warned ahead of time. They’d collected their horses and would make it back without any problem. But they hadn’t stopped to inform Cayan’s people, who were relying solely on their eyes. The Gifted weren’t making themselves clear to those without it.
“Shortsighted,” she muttered in agony, slowing for the second time. She’d just discovered a gaping hole in her training.
Before she could turn the Bastard, a large black stallion barreled out of the city gate. Behind him came sleek and shining horses ridden by some of Cayan’s elite. She felt fighters with single-minded focus exiting through the other gates.
“He means to get the sentries,” she heard Rohnan say behind her. Cayan had figured out what she had, and reacted ten times faster.
That was why he was the Captain.
“C’mon!” She urged her horse on, riding to meet up with the others. When she was close, the Bastard fell in line naturally, easily keeping pace with Cayan’s stallion.
Spreading her mind along the line of enemy horses, thundering down on the sentries, some of which were only now climbing down from their trees, she wrenched.
Equine screams rode the breeze. She stabbed, feeling the turmoil in the riders as their mounts bucked and kicked, dizzy with fear.
“Save your strength,” Rohnan shouted behind her.
He apparently thought she was a novice.
Behind the line of panicking horses rode another line, and then a horde of men on foot.
How had this many men moved so close without the Westwood Lands being warned? It didn’t seem possible.
A man in blue emerged through the trees, frantic, riding for all he was worth. A hundred yards behind him, between Cayan’s team and the Graygual, limped another. Determination radiated from him even though his situation had looked hopeless.
“Lucius!” Cayan called over his shoulder. The wind whipped his words away as the thundering of hooves drowned them out. But Cayan had his own way of communicating, built from years of working with his men.
He veered to the side, sending a feeling of distance to Shanti, having her veer the other way, opening up a hole to run around the struggling man so Lucius could make the grab.
And then they were on them.
Graygual looked up the instant before a thunder of power rocked the line of enemy. Men screamed, clutching at their chests. Shanti hit them a moment later, slashing through their brains and driving men to their knees.
Sunlight glinted off a sword as Cayan slashed downward. The Bloody Bastard hit the line a moment later, screaming wildly before rearing, lashing out with his front hooves. Red splashed as a head caved in. Shanti slashed a neck, dropping the man before readying another blast of power.
“We’re here long enough to get everyone secure,” Cayan shouted, piercing a man’s face with his blade before hacking down at someone else. His strokes were vicious and powerful.
Shanti monitored those around the city, identifying who was still outside the gates. On the far side, where the second largest cluster of Graygual approached, someone was in agony.
“We’d never make it in time,” Cayan yelled, feeling her discovery.
Shanti sent a request for aid to her people, hoping they remembered the difference between her needing help and someone else. She sliced down at an arm even as she tried to focus with all her person on the downed man.
A spark of understanding came from Kallon before she felt his action. Mela and Sayas were the next to give that spark of understanding. She didn’t know if they’d read her right, though. The system, despite their years of practice, was still imperfect.
“Shanti!” Lucius’ voice cut through her mental focus. She registered her surroundings a moment before she saw a black uniform with five stripes bear down. The flash of a sword announced a strike aimed right for her.
Reacting, she struck, piercing his brain before her arm could even lift to block. The sword kept coming; the Graygual officer had trained against excruciating mental pain and was not deterred. Suddenly she was weightless. Her body flew through the air, ass over end, as a horse scream cut through the clang of metal and shouts of men. Her body hit the ground in a painful thud as the scream sounded again.
Hooves swung up to the sky before crashing back down. The Bloody Bastard reared again, kicking out with his front legs. Blood dripped onto the ground below him. The sword must’ve sliced into his breast. Another scream and he turned, before bucking out with his powerful hind legs. The kick landed, punching a huge gash in the other horse to match the rips and scrapes from his previous attempts. The enemy animal reared, screaming his pain.
“Mesasha!” A large hand reached into Shanti’s line of sight as the Graygual toppled from his horse, a knife sticking out of his ear. She grabbed the hand and allowed Cayan to hoist her up as she slashed with her mind, cutting into man and animal alike, taking down anything near her horse. He might be an asshole, but he was her asshole.
“Are you hurt?” Cayan asked as he threw her over his saddle and turned his horse toward the city.
She realized, belatedly, that another round of fighting had kicked off near the downed man on the other side of the city. Kallon had understood. He was fighting off the enemy to get to the fallen sentry.
“No. I don’t know. How’s my horse?”
“Hurt. He’s following us. Do you feel any pain?”
Shanti bounced and jostled, lying awkwardly across Cayan’s lap with the pommel digging painfully into her side. Her breath came hard, and her right thigh pounded.
“I’m okay. Probably.” She bent to try and look behind them. It was a futile effort. “How hurt?”
Cayan’s irritation was overridden by his anxiety. She felt his large hand on the center of her back before the horse picked up speed. Her body bounded on his lap, sending waves of pain through her middle.
“We have to go faster!” Lucius yelle
d from beside them.
“I can’t go any faster with her like this,” Cayan said. “And I can’t stop to right her. We’ll make it.”
“That grab was poor planning.” Shanti’s words came out as little more than a collection of grunts.
Shanti felt the enemy, chasing them back toward the city. Only a few were mounted, and she seared the minds of horses and riders at the same time. Screaming sounded behind them.
“Save your strength!” Rohnan yelled.
“For when? After they’ve caught us?” Another collection of grunts.
“We’ll make it,” Cayan said again. More hooves passed within Shanti’s sight before Cayan’s horse slowed. Shouts and voices grew louder as Cayan’s horse went through the partially opened gates.
Once inside, he stopped his horse and helped someone take her down off the saddle. She looked up and felt a rush of relief as the limping and bleeding Bloody Bastard trotted forward, his head hanging and his sides heaving.
“See to my horse!” she cried.
Someone ran forward, only to flinch back as the Bastard tried to take a bite out of the man’s shoulder.
“Damn you, you stupid animal.” Shanti felt like slapping him, but under the circumstances, that might be a little abrasive. Instead, she put a hand on his neck firmly, hoping he knew that she would slap him if she needed to. “Let someone help you.”
“That animal doesn’t understand you, you know.” Sanders marched up with a hard expression. “Gates are all closed. Archers are positioned on the walls. Everyone made it back in.”
Cayan gave Shanti a long look, no doubt trying to ascertain if her stance meant she was in pain. It did.
“I’m fine,” she said as someone hesitantly stepped closer to the Bastard. She paused long enough to make sure the horse would allow treatment, before she moved away with Cayan. “That came out of nowhere. How was that possible?”
“I don’t know,” Cayan said, rage lining his voice. “We’ve heard nothing about their approach.”
“The Graygual with the knife in his ear had five stripes.” Shanti checked her weapons, making sure she had everything. “I didn’t expect Xandre to engage so soon.”
“I saw two others with three stripes,” Sanders said, surveying their surroundings as they walked.
Up the street people bustled, rushing for the hold that would hide them away from attack. It wasn’t impregnable, and not everyone took refuge there, but if a small number of the enemy made it over the walls, most of the city people would be safe.
“They didn’t have any larger units able to break into the city,” Cayan said as they rounded a corner and headed to the practice yard where the majority of the army was getting prepared. “I was in front of the largest horde of Graygual, and I didn’t even see a battering ram.”
Like ghosts drifting out of the mist, Shumas jogged in from the sides, falling in behind Shanti, awaiting direction. The three large cats moved among them, sleek and deadly. Shanti noticed Sonson up ahead, his flare of red hair catching the sun as he waited with his men and women at the edge of the practice yard. Among them were the three beasts on chain leashes—as if that would help if those animals went berserk.
To Shanti, Cayan asked, “Did you sense any Inkna?”
“None. The upper-tiered officers would usually be protected. Not this time.”
Cayan shook his head, marching onto the packed dirt of the practice yard. “This doesn’t make sense.”
“What are your orders, sir?” Sanders asked, standing in front of the army.
“Reinforce the gates. They don’t have enough to surround the city with any density. Our archers can easily take down anyone that nears the wall. Get women up there, too. The time for hiding them is over. Make sure we have men and horses on the ground in case they produce a battering ram we haven’t seen. Take down anyone that comes within range.”
To Shanti he said, “Station the Shumas and Shadow around the wall with the archers. I want immediate communication if anything comes up.”
“With the amount of power we have in the city, we can kill or cripple them with a single surge,” Shanti said, motioning Sonson over. “We don’t have to get our hands dirty.”
“That’ll severely weaken us. I don’t know how he moved this many people without word reaching us. I wouldn’t have thought it possible. We have no idea how many more are out there, and I don’t want to leave us defenseless against a mental attack.”
5
Cayan stood at the top of the wall, looking out at the lands beyond. He couldn’t see the enemy waiting out there patiently, but he could feel them. They remained out of sight, sticking to the trees and foliage. Their minds were watchful but at rest, not preparing for an attack or expecting one from the city.
What were they doing here if not waging war?
“Captain, we’re set.” Commander Sterling came to a stop beside him, forcing one of the dozen female archers along the wall to make room. “Commander Sanders has the ground forces ready, as well. Shanti is monitoring the mental workers. Maggie, the woman with the exploding devices, has teams set. We’re ready for the next move.”
Cayan clenched his jaw and shifted his weight. He didn’t like making strategies when the enemy’s intentions weren’t clear. It left too much up to guesswork.
He looked along the wall, eyeing those waiting. Eyes hard and bodies squared, his people were primed and ready. Not one harbored a spark of fear, not even the women or younger men. All were determined and ready to defend what was theirs. His people would not let someone invade again. They were warriors.
A swaying branch caught his eye. Nothing but the wind.
“We wait. They want us to come to them; I can feel it.”
“They are trying to draw us out?” Sterling braced his hand on the hilt of his sword. “Or maybe they’re trying to keep us put? Cut off our supplies?”
“With so few?” Cayan shook his head. “Doubtful. They have orders. I just can’t fathom what they are.” He turned toward the stairs leading down. “We wait. Let’s see if they make a move.”
“Yes, sir.”
Cayan nodded to ready the men and women as he made his way through the city. Commander Daniels was in Cayan’s larger office, bent over the maps of the land. Various points had been dotted in blues and grays, denoting known Graygual and Inkna forces. Other colors represented their various allies, minuscule in comparison.
“What do you think, Commander?” Cayan asked as he felt those with mental power moving around the city, shifting position. Shanti was using the opportunity to train them in mental communication. It was genius, though sometimes extremely hard to grasp, even with their Joining.
Daniels’ bloodshot eyes glanced up before he tapped the neighboring land. “I bet the Graygual have been collecting in the Mugdock city. They could trickle in there slowly until they had a large enough host, then they moved this way. That would seem the most reasonable explanation.”
It made sense. Since the Mugdock attacked all those months ago, they’d been unnaturally quiet. Cayan’s traders had remained unmolested; they’d had no more threats, and reported no real sightings. “You think the Graygual wiped them out after the Inkna made use of them?”
Daniels straightened up, wincing as he rolled his shoulders and massaged his neck. “There is no way to tell, but it seems likely. We’ve been so preoccupied with the larger issues, we haven’t checked in with our turbulent neighbors. Who’s to say what has been going on?”
“That could be why the Hunter was left unchecked. Xandre had his eye on the situation from close enough to get his prize if it was going to be easy pickings. I never thought he would be the kind of Commander to allow important pieces to slip through the cracks.” Frustration welled up in Shanti suddenly, turning into violent energy. She was getting restless. She hated waiting for an enemy to come to her. Cayan knew how she felt, but he also hated chasing an enemy that might be laying a trap.
His hands thudded against the desk as he
leaned over the map. “He couldn’t have assembled a large force in the Mugdock lands. Not with the host he had in the Shadow Lands. There hadn’t been enough time to move that many people.”
“That many valuable people,” Daniels said. “Kallon gave me the impression that he encountered a great many men who were little better than militia. They were starved out of their lands and given very little choice but to join the Graygual army. The Shadow Lands had good warriors and enlightened tacticians. That doesn’t mean the men waiting at our walls are of the same caliber.”
“But why are they waiting?” Cayan pushed off the wood and crossed to the window. The street beyond was empty, nothing but sunshine gracing the cobblestone. “Anything new from Burson?”
“Just the latest urgent plea to get moving.”
“Have any other reports come in?”
“The land is strangely quiet.”
Cayan turned around to find Daniels was looking at him with an unreadable expression. His shoulders were tight, and not just from the fatigue of constant planning. Something was worrying him.
Cayan thought about the port city of Clintos after they’d returned from the Shadow Lands. The people there kept to themselves. Only low murmurs and the clink of eating utensils graced the inn’s common area, where dice games and the raucous laughter of the drunk would usually vibrate through the space. The town had been plagued by the Graygual, and yet they were lying low. Sonson had said they were waiting for the Wanderer.
Was everyone?
The situation crystallized in Cayan’s head. Everything from the solemn looks of strangers to the glimmer of hope in the downtrodden. From the desperate acts of the Hunter when he was trapped to the hesitation of the army at their doorstep. Everyone, including the enemy, was waiting for someone to push back.