Lightning struck the Temple of Pentacles, arcing down its abalone roof and webbing across the open doors so that despite the darkness of the stormy dawn, the red stars set in the peachwood panels could be seen on the far side of the Gate. Beyond the temple steps the flash illuminated the rear of the Tothan army as it crossed the fields, driving into the Autumn Palace. Ji-hyeon stepped through onto the top step, the smells of lightning and the wet earth turned up by the marching invaders making her eyes fill. Fellwing flapped back to her shoulder, perhaps to strengthen herself before the coming struggle or maybe just because she didn’t like flying in such heavy rain. They were home. And even better, her sister Yunjin’s scrying was proven accurate, the timing of their return as perfect as Ji-hyeon could have hoped—Jex Toth had already punched a way into Othean for her, now all she had to do was follow them through and claim the empress’s head.
Tempting though it was just to let the Tothans and the Immaculates fight it out for a while, weakening each other before she swept in to dominate them both, that sort of cold calculation had no place in a hot-blooded mortal heart. Well, okay, it initially had, when Yunjin had intoned in her witch-trance that Othean had been besieged by a monstrous army, but that was over a year ago now and in the intervening months Ji-hyeon had reconsidered her initial impulse to sit back and watch them kill each other from a safe distance. She had sworn vengeance against her hated enemy, no matter the cost, but if for convenience’s sake she stood by and let the innocent subjects of the Immaculate Isles perish at the hands of the Tothans, that made her no better than the empress. Besides that, her loyal Cobalts were probably still locked up in Othean.
All the same, sounding the attack now would be trouble. Better to wait until the Tothans had advanced farther across the fields toward the Autumn Palace, lest they become aware of the danger at their rear and stop the flood before it even started. Using a Gate had its advantages, but there was no escaping the fact it was one tight bottleneck—something to keep in mind once she sat on the Samjok-o Throne. If you built a barrack out here and positioned a standing force of a hundred soldiers they could defend the Gate indefinitely, no matter the size of the army attempting to cross through; you wouldn’t need more than a dozen of your best, really, but eventually their arms would grow tired from all the slaying and they’d need to be swapped out.
“Ahhh!”
She jumped at the sound of Hyori’s voice, and turned to scold her for coming through before Ji-hyeon gave the command—what was it with family and thinking they were exempt from following direct orders? Seeing the look of rapture on Hyori’s face as she breathed in the sultry Immaculate air, though, Ji-hyeon gave her younger sister a great big hug instead of a reprimand. Her formerly younger sister, anyway—besides being one of her best captains the woman was also as old as their fathers had been, back when all this started.
“Do you think they’re through the inner wall yet?” asked Hyori, a far better tactician than her sister. This was her plan, and she was more excited about seeing it go off well than hugging her general.
“Let’s get up on top of the temple for a better look,” said Ji-hyeon. “Choi showed me how right before we used the Gate for the first time. We crawled up and watched the sunrise over the palace. If you can reach that beam up there you pull yourself up into the eaves and—”
“You are not getting onto a roof in the middle of a thunderstorm,” said Hyori, sounding exactly like their first father … and then like their second when she added a cheeky, “General.”
“Oh gods, do you remember when we were climbing that droning pyramid north of Turbid and Sasamaso started in about how—”
“That’s our signal,” said Hyori, and following her nod Ji-hyeon saw that their appearance on the temple steps had finally been noticed, half a dozen spindly demons breaking off from the advancing army to double back and investigate. This was how it started, Ji-hyeon’s three-fingered hand itching for its sword just as she knew the sword was itching for her palm. “Should you—”
“You do it,” said Ji-hyeon, the inside of her chest vibrating with anticipation. She was a hardened veteran of a hundred battles, none could refute it, but this war was different, the first in a very long time to make her nervous. And if all went well, the last she’d ever fight.
“Yes, General!” Hyori ducked back inside the temple, crossing a gulf between worlds quicker than it would take Ji-hyeon to reach the bottom of the steps. Her sister loved giving orders so much Ji-hyeon would have stepped down as general and let Hyori take over long ago if she hadn’t promised their first father she would lead her sisters home—he had a lot more faith in her command than she did, and you don’t break oaths you swear to the dying. Would that he had held on a little longer …
Hyori came back through, leading Shagrath and Therion by the reins. Once Ji-hyeon had earned his respect Shagrath had carried her through many battles; they called their mounts dire pangolins, though they were about as close to their namesakes as the monsters cantering toward them were to horses. She petted his black-scaled head while he snuffled her, then put her boot in the stirrup and mounted up. By the time she had settled into the saddle and set her flag upright in its holster the first dozen Cobalt riders had come through, and after walking their steeds to the base of the temple steps they took off at a gallop to intercept the charging jade-eyed monsters. Before Hyori could object Ji-hyeon rode after them, not intending to plunge straight into the Tothan rear by herself but damn sure wanting any Immaculate defenders on the wall to see the Cobalt pennant flying as their salvation came charging from the very Gate through which they had banished her.
The Tothans had figured out the ambush now, the whole rear turning to face the Temple of Pentacles, but their foot soldiers had a lot of wet ground to cover. These riderless equine monsters moved fast, however, chittering herds of them galloping out of the holes the massed infantry opened for them. There were more of the demons than Ji-hyeon had anticipated, but that just meant her cavalry would have to fight twice as hard to keep the Gate clear for the rest of their army to come through. Ji-hyeon blew the horn she had carved to replace the one lost during the Second Battle of the Lark’s Tongue, a trophy taken from something even bigger and meaner than a horned wolf—she couldn’t wait to show Choi and sing her its song, once she rescued her captain and the rest of the Cobalts from the Immaculate stockade.
Lightning splintered the rainy heavens over Othean, and down on the ground it was pure hell as the first Cobalt riders met their spear-legged foes. These things cared nothing for the mounts, focused entirely on snatching the riders in their split-mouths, and succeeding more than once. Ji-hyeon’s flanks were clear for now, but straight ahead a massive demon came barreling toward her, its flaming eyes locked on her, its sideways jaws spreading wide, and she lowered her spear … but didn’t get a chance to use it.
Shagrath huffed in warning, and she held on to the saddle horn as he reared up, trotting on his hind legs with his front clearing the ground. As the Tothan monster reached them her pangolin backhanded its gaping mouth. Its entire head nearly came off, but before Ji-hyeon could cheer three more rode down on them.
She slapped Shagrath’s scales but as usual he was already ahead of her, slowing to a stop as quick as he could in the wet mud and wheeling around. His thick, scaled tail was twice as long as the rest of him, and while it looked less than graceful dragging along behind him most of the time, when he put it to use it was fast as a bullwhip and sharp as a bundle of saw blades. He snapped the legs out from under two of the stampeding monsters, and Ji-hyeon punched her spear all the way down the hungry throat of the third. As it fell Shagrath looked over his shoulder to check on her and, seeing she was all right, extended his ridiculously long tongue to lick the spattered grey blood from her face. Her exploits kept him just as well fed as Fellwing, albeit on less ephemeral provender; the owlbat braved the downpour as more of the monsters rushed toward them.
Shagrath retracted his tongue and pulled toward the incoming herd but Ji-hyeon steered him back toward the temple. The Cobalts were making good time clearing the Gate, all five hundred of the cavalry on the ground and the first of their war machines wheeled over by the side of the temple. Now that it was the infantry’s turn things were going to slow way the hells down, though. It would take all her cunning, and that of her captains, to see that the Tothans were held at bay long enough for the entire army to come through, and she couldn’t contribute that from the front. As she glanced back to make sure they weren’t pursued, lightning touched down atop the Autumn Palace, and to the accompaniment of a thunderclap she saw a huge, sagging band of the inner wall collapse.
A part of her hated to see it fall, the palace a symbol not just of Othean but all the Immaculate Isles. The larger part of her felt an ugly warmth at the sight, however, knowing that no sooner had it crumbled than word of the event had reached the empress. Ji-hyeon imagined the fear on the woman’s mean, pinched face as she contemplated the end of everything she held dear … and then the confusion and shame when she was informed that none other than the exiled Bong Sisters had come to the defense of the realm.
Ji-hyeon was still smiling when another flash lit up the fields to the north, and then her confidence dropped as hard as the wall of the Autumn Palace. Another army marched down upon them, hundreds of the horselike horrors galloping at their vanguard, and larger, slower monstrosities shambling in the vast field of Tothan foot soldiers. Then they were again but a dark blur to the north as the flash failed and the rain came down harder.
Well, fuck. Even if all the Cobalts arrived before this second force, which was unlikely, they would still be pinched between the Tothan armies. While Ji-hyeon had no doubts her soldiers could overwhelm one monstrous regiment before swarming into Othean to tackle the surviving Immaculates, there’s a world of difference between fighting two lesser armies in a row and fighting two at once.
“Bad luck!” Ji-hyeon called to Hyori, who sat astride Therion by the temple steps, directing the flow of soldiers as they came through the Gate. “That great plan of yours, where we trap the Tothans between us and the Immaculates? Crush one army between two?”
“I saw! I saw!” Hyori shouted over the rain and clamor of steel and shrieks of mortal beasts and chattering horrors. “Take it up with Yunjin—my strategy was based on her vision.”
“What do we do?” asked Ji-hyeon, waiting for another lightning bolt to show her how close the second army was but the weather refusing to oblige.
“We fight like devils and see what unfolds,” said Hyori. “Maybe the Immaculates come out from the castle to hit this first crew, keep them off our backs while we do the second.”
“Maybe,” said Ji-hyeon, “but they might take the opportunity to try to shore up the wall instead of running outside to fight. We Immaculates are sensible like that.”
“Some of us are,” said Hyori. “If something doesn’t happen, though, I’d say maybe we all die out here! Wouldn’t that be a laugh, after all we fucking went through to get back here?”
“I’ve heard better,” said Ji-hyeon, her heart sinking at the prospect. “But then I’ve also heard worse. I guess we just have to wait and see.”