Ericen appeared before me, his face sprayed with red—someone else’s blood. “Can he move?”
“I don’t know.” The words were half sob as he pulled me to my feet.
“Come on, you bloody chicken!” he snapped. “You don’t see me lying around.”
Res cawed, his power surging alongside a flash of indignation. The golden light flared, and he wrenched himself to his feet.
“There you go,” the prince said with a smirk. “How injured is he? We need him to close that opening.”
“He doesn’t even have enough strength to heal,” I said. “I don’t think he can close it.” Even if Res had been at full strength, forming something that large out of the earth alone would have been a true test of his earth crow powers.
The Rhodairen and Trendellan cavalry had lined up at the opening and now engaged the incoming flood of Illucian soldiers. Horses slammed together. Soldiers fell screaming. Thunder beat the sky alongside their cries.
Eventually, our cavalry would be overrun, and our infantry wouldn’t be able to stop the tide of warhorses.
Someone broke free of the fighting, heading toward us. I had an arrow nocked before I recognized Estrel.
Her left arm was stained red, and she cradled it close to her body. She readjusted her grip on her blade. “I lost track of the Sella I was fighting. How many of the damn things are left?”
“That’s the last one,” I said with a small flicker of relief. “If the other two are here, I haven’t seen them. We just have to last until the reinforcements arrive or Res has enough energy to re-form that wall.”
Estrel grunted. “Easier said than done.”
As if in recognition of her words, our line broke.
* * *
Illucian infantry flooded through the wall gap on the heels of the cavalry line. Rhodairen and Trendellan soldiers rushed to meet them, but their organization had failed, and we could only last so long against the sheer Illucian numbers.
A contingent of soldiers broke off, rushing for our group. Ericen and Estrel turned to meet them. I nocked an arrow, laying down cover for them as they fought, and we formed a protective arch around Res.
Time slowed. My muscles burned. I thought only of the next arrow, the next swing. Of the forward and backward momentum of Estrel’s and Ericen’s strikes. Attack, step back, arrow. Attack, step back, arrow. Breathe.
Soldiers fell.
My thundering heart filled my ears. I became aware of every breath, every movement. The world fell away as blood splattered my pants, my hands, my bow.
A Trendellan monk and two Rhodairen soldiers had joined Ericen and Estrel, but Res was too noticeable of a target. More and more Illucians broke off, making straight for us. Our line was wearing down, and my open shots were few and far between. Every time we fell back deeper into the city, they pursued us, Res limping just ahead of us.
We couldn’t hold out much longer.
“Fall back!” Lady Kerova’s voice sounded above the tumult. “To the lake!”
The lake. It was a death trap. With only the thin strip of stone across it, our troops would bottleneck and be slaughtered.
But they were already being slaughtered.
We fought and ran and struck and fell back. Ericen killed two Illucian soldiers in a row. Estrel took down a third. Six more took their place.
Somehow, we reached the far end of the town, drained and bleeding and with muscles burning. The city was overrun. A tide of black and blue slid inevitably toward us.
A Rhodairen soldier stumbled back beside me, her dark eyes wide. “It’s gone.”
I seized her shoulder. “What’s gone?”
“The path.”
I spun. Over the heads of the backed-up infantry, I could see through the arch leading out to the lake.
The earth Sella had destroyed the stone pathway.
They’d cut off our retreat.
A sword caught the monk in the stomach, the tip piercing through his back. Another cut across Estrel’s leg, sending her to the ground.
The battle Sella grinned down at us.
Ericen stepped in front of Estrel, downing a Vykryn as he moved. I put an arrow in the one coming for his back. But there were too many. The battle Sella’s makeshift sword caught Ericen along the side of his arm, then he slit the throat of a Rhodairen soldier. She fell, a sickening wheeze cutting through the thunder in my ears.
My fingers sought another arrow—and found only air.
The battle Sella stepped back and threw something wide over our heads. A net fell over Res. He let out a piercing screech and flared his wings, but they only tangled in the ropes. Two Vykryn moved in, tugging him down. A third lifted a sword.
A scream tore through me as I threw myself at the Vykryn. My shoulder rammed into his chest, knocking him back. I swung through with my bow, catching him across the face with its sharpened edge. The other Vykryn closed in on me, and I backed away, panting hard.
Over their shoulder, I met Ericen’s gaze. Saw him fighting viciously to get to me. Saw the tide of soldiers swallow him up and knew that it was over, that we’d lost.
The battle Sella raised his sword over Estrel’s exposed neck.
Then a black gold blade pierced through his chest.
He dropped, the Vykryn turning too slowly. Kiva killed them before they realized what she’d done.
Relief nearly sent me to my knees as Kiva, bloody and scratched and bearing a wild grin, said, “I brought some friends.”
Over her shoulder, a ripple went through the Illucian soldiers. One by one, they turned, forced to face something charging through their ranks from behind.
Our reinforcements had arrived.
* * *
The Jin and Ambriellan forces flooded across the field.
Unlike Rhodaire’s, Jindae’s cavalry had been second only to Illucia. That might showed in the line of horses rushing the exposed infantry’s backs. Soldiers turned too slowly as horses barreled through them, blades flashing.
Ericen broke between two soldiers, shoving his way to Kiva’s side as Estrel and I tore the net away from Res. He let out a low caw, tugging at me along the line. He wanted to fight.
I swung back around and into the saddle. He straightened, his leg finally healed.
“Get those ranks formed back up!” I shouted to Kiva. “And stay out of Res’s way!”
Then we shot into the sky.
Magic stuttered down the bond, then flared to life. He coasted out along the sea of Illucian soldiers.
Then lightning began to rain.
Soldiers screamed and ran for cover beneath the towers, but there weren’t enough to shelter them. Res’s storm tore through their ranks.
This was the true power of the crows. For all Illucia had done to counteract them, when their tricks and weaponry failed, they had no response to the crows’ magic.
Between the rallying forces inside the city, the reinforcements flanking from behind, and us wreaking havoc down the center, the army broke.
Soldiers fled. Lines splintered. Bodies fell.
Res and I swept back along the wall, the power of the storm flooding our veins. It was like Res drew strength from it as power undulated along the bond.
We alighted atop the battlement, surveying the battle inside the city, looking for places to help, but our forces were already driving the Illucians out.
Then I saw a familiar figure picking its way toward Ericen’s exposed back, sword drawn.
Shearen.
* * *
My arrow caught him in the leg.
He screamed as he dropped to his knees. Res landed before him, and Ericen spun, sword raised. I leapt off Res’s back, another arrow nocked, but Shearen threw up a hand.
“Stop!” His voice tore with pain. “I didn’t come to fight.”
I drew back my bowstring.
“Please!” he cried, letting his sword drop and holding up his hands. “I’m on your side.”
Ericen’s hand stayed mine. Reluctantly, I lowered my bow.
“Explain,” the prince ordered.
Shearen stared up at him, dark blue eyes exhausted and pained. “I came to warn you. This entire battle has been a distraction.”
My stomach dropped. “What?”
His eyes met mine. “Razel is attacking Aris.”
* * *
Sounds blurred in my ears, and I forced myself to breathe even as I surged forward, seizing Shearen by the throat. “What do you mean?” My fingers dug in sharply. “Tell me what you mean!”
Ericen grabbed my wrist, pulling my hand back. “He will, Thia.” The steel in his voice calmed me as Shearen coughed, hand going to his throat.
“One of the Sellas she freed rebuilt the road to Aris,” he said hoarsely. “Or at least he was rebuilding it when I left. They said it would take a few days, but if this battle has begun, then the road must have almost been finished before they attacked.”
“Liar,” I hissed. “You just want Res and me out of the battle.”
Ericen leveled his sword at Shearen’s throat. “Give me one reason to believe you.” The second meaning of his words was clear—give me one reason not to kill you.
Shearen lifted his head, exposing his throat openly to Ericen’s blade. “Because you were right.” He swallowed hard. “Back in the wood, you were right. This has gone too far. Razel has lost control. Her need for revenge has taken over. She’s not doing what’s best for Illucia. Maybe she never was. I’m not the only one who thinks it either. There have been protests in the streets. Civilians who are tired of this war. Vykryn too.”
He held Ericen’s gaze unwaveringly. “I’m so sorry, Eri. I made so many mistakes, and by the time I understood what I’d done, I’d already driven you away. I thought earning her respect would regain me yours, and perhaps, in time, your friendship. But that night in the wood, I realized that serving her was only going to lose me you for good. Any leader willing to sacrifice her own family isn’t someone I want to follow.” He bowed his head. “You are.”
I looked to Ericen, his face slack with shock. Indecision riled through me. Every instinct told me not to trust Shearen, to stay and fight, but I couldn’t ignore the fear that Aris was truly in danger.
Caliza. My heart panged.
My hand closed around Ericen’s. “It’s your call,” I said. “I trust you.”
His fingers tightened on mine, and his gaze lifted to Res. “Let’s go.”
* * *
We sent word to the others of our departure and orders to accept Shearen’s and any other willing Illucian’s surrender rather than kill them. Then Ericen climbed onto Res’s back behind me, and we took off.
What boost of energy Res had gotten from the storm, he funneled into the wind, propelling us even faster across valleys and forests, rolling hills and lakes dark with the setting sun. The prince held fast to me, his arms around my waist as we soared along the racing current.
Every second felt a lifetime long, every minute an eternity. Even with the boost of the wind, Aris felt so far away.
When at last we sailed over the Kessel Woods and Aris rose before us in the night’s distance, I knew immediately that we were too late.
The castle was on fire.