“How many people can you affect at the same time?” Kleon asked.
The boy shrugged. “I’m not sure. I haven’t used it much.” He fidgeted like he had done something wrong. “My parents had a fight a few months ago. I soothed them and my crying sister in the room next to me from mine.”
So, he could calm at least three people at once, and he didn’t have to see them to do it. Would he be able to affect all Sparrows in the courtyard right now?
Kleon paled. “You could soothe the enemy’s army.”
What would it do to an army like Tramura’s that ran on hatred? If someone took that away, calmed their animosity… It’d be a slaughter.
The boy shuffled his feet. “I don’t know about that.”
“We’ll test your limits,” Commander Dryden said. “If we have another protester speaking out against Rachael, you could calm the crowd so their words don’t affect them. You could prevent a lot of infighting.”
Kleon looked at the commander and nodded. There were two sides to everything, especially magic; he wouldn’t forget it again. His mother had taught him better than that.
“What else do we have?” Kleon asked.
A man stepped forwards. His eyes were bright, but worry had creased his forehead and made him look older than Kleon expected he was.
“I can shield myself, si—commander. Dryden, I mean.”
“All right, we’ll start with that,” Commander Dryden said. “Show me your shield.”
The air shimmered around the man, then lay over him like a second skin.
“How strong is it?” Kleon asked.
“It can block light sword attacks, but it’s harder to keep up under heavy hits.”
“I’m sorry you found out the hard way,” Commander Dryden said.
The man smiled. “Not at all. Just wanted to be prepared, in case.”
“Have you ever tried it against magic?” Kleon asked.
“No. The gifted in this city stuck together, we didn’t attack one another. The last thing we wanted to do was hurt one another, even by accident. Those of us that did want to do more joined Cale.”
“I’d like to try it now.” Commander Dryden waved at Gwen. “Stand over there.” He turned back to the man. “What’s your name, Sparrow?”
“Tanner.”
“Stand opposite Gwen. Is your shield ready?”
The shimmer Kleon had seen before had disappeared. Kleon wouldn’t have known it was there without Tanner’s nod.
“I want you to attack him, Gwen,” Commander Dryden said. “Take your time. Throw your water at him, practice until you can aim it and put some force behind it. Tanner, block whatever she throws at you.”
They both looked nervous but got into position. Kleon felt their nerves as much as his own.
Commander Dryden looked at him—because he oversaw them or because he knew this was difficult for Kleon? —and Kleon breathed deep. Magic. Right in front of him. In an army he commanded.
Kleon braced himself. “Whenever you’re ready.”
Both Sparrows widened their stances. He could tell they were new to this—someone had clearly shown them how to stand, but neither stance was strong. He made a mental note to work on it with them.
Gwen threw some water from one hand to another. It was shaped like a small orb, like the fireballs Mist Women had used when the Mothers attacked the palace, but more contained. The fireballs had sizzled like they were alive. This water orb didn’t lose one drop. She had some careful control over her gift. It was a better start than he’d hoped for.
Then again, maybe no skill was involved. He needed to see a lot more before he could judge her actual talent.
Gwen shaped two smaller orbs and threw them both at Tanner. He widened his stance and crossed his arms in front of his face to block. The water balls hit his arms with a small splash and dripped to the ground.
Both Sparrows were breathing heavily—not from effort, he expected, but from exhilaration.
“That’s a good start,” Commander Dryden said. “Can you make them larger?”
She formed an orb twice the size of the first ones. “I don’t want to hurt him.”
Kleon looked back at the other Sparrows, who had mixed together and watched with wide eyes. “Can any of you heal?”
A man and a woman stepped forwards.
“Be ready in case we need you.” Commander Dryden looked at Gwen. “Can you trust them to keep Tanner save?”
The girl smiled at the two Sparrows. “Yes. I trust them with my life.”
“Good, then try again. We—”
A White Guard burst into the courtyard. “Commander Dryden, sir!”
The commander hurried over to him. Kleon had a bad feeling and gripped his sword’s hilt out of habit.
“What is it, recruit?” Commander Dryden asked.
“Mothers. Down in the city.”
Kleon’s blood ran cold.
Commander Dryden drew his sword. “How many?”
“I’m not sure, sir. Too many for our patrols.”
The commander turned around to Kleon, but Kleon was ready. This was war. He knew war.
“Follow me, Sparrows,” Commander Dryden said. “I don’t expect you to use your gifts to fight today, but if you see an opportunity, don’t hold back. Support each other as you always do. You two.” He pointed at the two healers. “You’re the exception. If you can save a life with your gifts—Sparrow, White Guard, or civilian—I expect you to do so. You—” He pointed at the boy who’d calmed his parents and his sister. “What’s your name?”
The boy swallowed. “Meldrick, sir.”
“There’ll be panic, Meldrick. If you can calm people so they can get to safety, do it.”
Meldrick straightened. “Yes, sir!”
For the first time, Kleon felt out of his depth on a battlefield, but he wasn’t the one using the gift today, just the one fighting besides it. All he had to do was kill Mothers.
“Can any of you use fire?” Commander Dryden asked.
One Sparrow stepped forwards—a boy, barely old enough to enlist.
“Keep our weapons burning if you can,” the commander said. “Enchant the Sparrows’ before they head out and mine now. After that, find my guards in the city. Enchant theirs if necessary.”
The boy paled. “I don’t know if I can, sir. I’ve never—”
“Then learn quickly,” Kleon said. “Fire is all the Mothers are weak to. Burn them whenever you see an opening. Without your gift, our weapons might not be enough.” Maker willing the last enchantments still held.
The boy gulped but nodded. “Yes, sir.” He ran to Commander Dryden and the White Guard who had brought them the news. They held out their swords, and the boy touched the blades with a look of pure concentration.
It took a few seconds longer than Kleon had hoped, but both swords began to glow. The boy already looked tired after so little.
“Run to the prison,” Commander Dryden told his guard. “Tell them what you told me. Every guard is to defend the city immediately and allow their weapons to be enchanted.”
The man saluted and hurried away.
“Commander?” Kleon had expected him to fight with his own soldiers.
“I will stand with the Sparrows today,” Commander Dryden said. “I’m already here, it saves time. My men have their orders, they know what to do.”
Kleon nodded, then turned to the Sparrows. “You have your orders too. Follow me. For Rachael!”
With the Sparrows behind him and the commander of the White Guard beside him, Kleon moved into the city to fight beside the gifted.
For the first time in his life, he didn’t need to justify drawing his sword in battle.
Chapter Forty
The situation in the city was worse than Commander Dryden had feared. Mothers were everywhere he looked, but worse than that, the people were panicking. They didn’t look where they were running, they were just trying to get away from the demons.
When the Mothe
rs had attacked before, they had been focussed on Rachael. All other deaths had happened because someone had stood in their way. Today, they slaughtered anything that moved. They weren’t here for Rachael. They were here to kill.
“Show no mercy,” Kleon said next to him. “If it’s a demon, it dies.”
They had already cut down several of the infernal things, but they were thickest here in the market square. Between Aeron’s attack and now this, he’d be surprised if the people still trusted the square after today.
Kleon had sent the boy with a talent for fire with the White Guard so he could enchant their weapons before they reached the city. Commander Dryden prayed they’d get here soon.
He raised his sword so everyone saw it. “For Rachael!”
He hoped it would give the civilians hope. The Sparrows repeated it and threw themselves into the battle.
“Protect their left flank,” Kleon said. “I’ll take the right.”
Both men dashed in opposite directions. The Mothers noticed their counterattack and moved towards them as one thick, black wall of ever-shifting Mists. Commander Dryden had never seen anything so terrifying. The Mothers didn’t take on the shape of a wall, exactly, but the way they moved as one, the way they seemed to share an unspoken purpose, made them worse. They were a dark wave washing through the city, their swords sharp and out in front. All Mothers had formed two where arms should have been, one on each side. Their movements were smooth, almost elegant in a disturbing way, and for a moment Commander Dryden feared that his enchantment wouldn’t be enough, that they’d simply wash over the city and leave nothing but corpses.
But then the first Mother threw itself at him, and he was forced to stop worrying. He’d either die or he’d live to slay another demon.
The Mother raised both blade-arms, merged them into one, and brought them down fast. He raised his sword to counter and staggered back when the weapons connected. The Mother was stronger than he’d thought, but the impact hadn’t broken his sword, and now he knew what he was dealing with.
Commander Dryden pushed into his weapon to drive the Mother back. It separated its weapon into two swords and screeched. Before it could attack again, he drove his blade through where its heart would have been and sliced down.
A wide gash opened in its head. It was grinning at him, a hideous distortion of his nightmares.
The cut he’d left in its body glowed, like the last embers of a dying fire, and sparked into a flame that consumed the monster.
The enchantment worked.
Commander Dryden risked a quick look to his right and saw a line of fire kill the first wave. The Mothers behind them screeched and grinned.
A cold shiver ran down his back. Nothing good watched its comrades die and responded like this—like it was an invitation to more violence they were thrilled to accept.
“Be ready!” he shouted. “Prepare yourselves for the next wave!”
Commander Dryden had a feeling it’d be worse than the last. He knew what he was dealing with now, but so did the Mothers, and they wouldn’t hold back. He only hoped their numbers were limited, but from what he’d seen, they’d keep coming until they’d fulfilled their purpose, and he was afraid that goal was to destroy the entire city.
The fire died down. Behind the ashes, the horde watched, waited, and it made him more uneasy than an immediate attack would have done. They weren’t in any rush. Or maybe they considered retreating now they’d seen what his men’s swords could do? He doubted he’d be so lucky. It certainly hadn’t scared them off before.
But he wouldn’t take the bait, either. Let them come to him—he refused to send the Sparrows into a potential trap.
Next to him, one of the Sparrows inched forwards. Next to that Sparrow, another’s knuckles had turned white around his sword’s hilt.
“Don’t attack,” Commander Dryden said. “That’s what they want. If it seems too easy, always assume that it is.”
The Sparrow closest to him gulped but nodded. Both Sparrows stepped back, but they were still restless. Commander Dryden felt it too. Something terrible was about to happen, and he had no idea what. With regular enemies, he could guess their motives, their drives, their next moves, but these demons didn’t think like normal foes.
One of the Mothers glided out front. The grin had disappeared; instead, its face was blank. No eyes, no mouth, no features of any kind. It set him more on edge than the grin had, and he resisted the urge to inch closer himself.
Then the demons vanished.
The square in front of him and the Sparrows was empty except a few ash heaps right by their feet and a few corpses the Mothers had left behind.
The Sparrow next to him laughed, but it was a nervous sound that didn’t quite believe itself. “Did we win? Are they gone, commander?”
The air still felt too heavy for that. “No. Stay alert, they’re still here.”
He’d never seen one go invisible, but he had seen one disappear just like this and reappear behind Kiana.
Ice filled his veins. “Maker. They’re—”
Screams filled the silence behind him. He jumped around, only to find that the horde of black Mists had ambushed them.
“Don’t move! Don’t panic!”
The old Sparrows, the ones that had died in Aeron’s attack, had been disciplined. He prayed these new recruits had been with Cale long enough to follow order despite their own fears.
Commander Dryden dashed to the front. He didn’t want the Sparrows to scatter, but he and Kleon could do more damage and support their small army where the Mothers were. To his left, he saw Kleon run to the enemy.
He threw himself into the Mothers with his sword slicing out in front in an arc. A half-moon of fire erupted, but there were more. He didn’t see what the Sparrows were doing, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw flames blazing.
But there were more. There were always more. The strategist in him knew he couldn’t win this fight, but he also knew they’d never let him retreat. The Mothers were here to murder and nothing less.
Sometimes, the only option was to fight until it was over, and this fight could only end one way.
Fire blazed from the back. Faint cries of, “For Rachael!” reached him over the clanging of swords and screams of wounded soldiers.
The White Guard had arrived.
Commander Dryden buried his sword to the hilt in a demon. He smiled back when it grinned in its last seconds. “You’re not taking this city today. Not while we’re here to defend it.”
The Sparrows fought with more energy too.
“Hold on, Sparrows! We have them surrounded!”
More and more flashes of white appeared on his left and right. There was no time to look, but he knew his men were cornering the demons. If the demons knew it, they didn’t seem to care. They didn’t fight harder or with more ferocity; he didn’t think they could. They were made of mists, and mists didn’t rush. Perhaps the infernal Mists weren’t so different to the ones he saw over the river in the early mornings.
All he and his armies had to do now was cut the demons down until there were no more. They’d stopped coming, but he doubted it was because his reinforcements had arrived. Chances were they were needed elsewhere—and that meant Rachael was in immediate danger.
Chapter Forty-One
Rachael held on to Kaida’s scales as best as she could as they crash-landed in the Red Wastes. Kaida’s heavy dragon legs dug trenches in the parched soil as they skidded before coming to a final halt. They jumped off as soon as Kaida had stopped. Rachael wanted to be closer to the library, in case they could find any books that might help them, but Kaida had barely made it halfway across the dead country before she’d gone down and landed less than gracefully.
The dragon collapsed. Kaida turned back into her human form, motionless on the ground.
Desma looked at her like Kaida was a particularly large spider she didn’t dare touch. “What do we do?”
“Someone should carry her,” Kiana s
aid. “Unless we’re going to make camp here?”
Kiana had woken up over the Cold Sea. She wasn’t happy that she’d missed most of the battle, but she’d had most of the flight to get used to the idea. “More energy for when Cephy arrives,” she’d said.
“I want to get closer to the library,” Rachael said. “If there are any ideas about surviving this battle, they’ll be there.”
Reeve frowned. “I thought you had a plan?”
“I do.” Rachael looked at Kaida’s form on the ground. She hated asking the impossible of Kaida when the dragon had already done so much for them. What would happen if Kaida had spent too much? She’d never seen Kaida this exhausted, but then the last few days couldn’t have been easy for her. Kaida had saved their lives by enchanting their weapons in the desert and again on Kaethe, she’d carried Rachael out of a losing battle, she had got Cale away from Cephy when Cephy had trapped them on Kaethe, and now she’d flown them across the ocean to save them yet again and because Rachael had asked her to. How could she possibly ask Kaida to bleed for them? What if her blood wasn’t enough? Was this what she wanted the first gifted queen’s gratitude to look like? “But we should have a backup plan.”
Kaida moaned and moved her legs. Kiana and Desma knelt beside her to help her sit. Rachael felt a pang of guilt. They had reduced her to this, unable to sit without the help of two humans. Her dragon’s pride as well as her Mist Woman’s pride must have taken a hit.
“I will be fine,” Kaida said. “I simply need a few days more to recover.”
“Thank you, Kaida,” Rachael said. “For everything you’ve done.”
“We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you,” Cale said. “I hope I haven’t asked too much.”
Despite being in worse shape than Rachael had ever seen her—even Kaida’s ever-perfect hair looked like it’d been in a storm—Kaida smiled. “Not at all. I am glad I could take this many to safety.” She looked at Cale. “I am sorry about your fallen Sparrow.”
Cale nodded. “Thank you for making it quick.”
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