50. Chapter 50
Chapter fifty
“ I’m getting nervous, Cyrus. ”Even through the blood bond, Bash’s voice betrayed his worry. “ Aleon’s army is massive. Where are you now? ”
“ Settle ,” Cyrus told him. “ I’ve got good news. The Mercian army is marching to join Aleon. ”
“ How is that good news? ”
“ Aleon won’t act until the Mercian army arrives. It buys us time. All you have to worry about is Gregor, which shouldn’t be any worry at all so long as you keep distance between you. ”
“ He’s pushing for us to launch an attack. ”
“ Let Ram handle Gregor. ” More like let Ram ignore Gregor.
“ Aleon’s army is scouting us. ”
“ Let them. Like I said, they won’t act until Mercia arrives. ”
Bash’s silence betrayed his uncertainty.
“ How is Miriel? ” Cyrus asked.
“ She’s good ,” Bash said. “ But she’s pushing hard—too hard. She won’t rest. She’s obsessed with holding every detail. For you. Did Ram show you the army? It’s incredible. ”
Ram had shown him in his mind—Miriel’s illusion of a vast army spread across the horizon, staring down the Aleon line. Had they been a real army, any attack against them would’ve been suicide.
“ He did ,” Cyrus said. “ Tell her I’m impressed. ”
“ She said you would be. ”
Cyrus smiled.
“ Where are you? ” Bash asked again.
“ We’re passing the ruins of Aviron. As soon as I reach the Shadow stronghold, I’ll pull you. ”
“ Hurry, Cyrus. Please. ”
Bash’s fear tugged at his heart. “ I’m going as fast as I can ,” he said. “ Miriel will be all right. You’ll all be all right. I promise. ”
Despite this promise and his belief in it, Cyrus pushed his army harder.
“The men are tired,” Kord said as they made camp late the following night.
“Oksana is growing weary as well,” Essandra added, taking a seat beside Cyrus by the fire. Oksana was her illusion witch. “I don’t know how much longer her power will hold,” she said.
“I’ll give her my blood.”
“Your blood doesn’t solve for exhaustion. You should be worrying about Miriel too.”
“Miriel’s strong. She held her own army’s illusion for weeks after her father died.” He was worried about Miriel, though—all the more reason for them to move faster.
“But this is so much more.”
He knew that.
“We have another problem,” Everan said as he joined them. “We have some deserters.”
Cyrus straightened in surprise. “Men are leaving?”
“They’re upset about Osan.”
“Why?”
“Because Osan wasn’t our enemy,” Kord said.
“We gave them the option to let us pass, yet every man stood and fought.” So every man died.
“Osan was a place we would have taken refuge,” Everan said, “back when we were bloodsport fighters, if we’d ever gotten the chance to escape.”
“Well, they don’t offer us refuge now.”
“They fear what we’re becoming,” Kord argued. His voice lowered. “What you’re becoming.”
“I am what I’ve always been.”
Everan and Kord conceded, offering no more argument, and ate around the campfire in silence.
Cyrus looked at Essandra.
She only put her hand on his knee.
By the end of the following day, mountains loomed in the distance, and Cyrus’s pulse raced faster. His blood ran hot through his veins.
He was close now.
So close.
“Oksana can’t hold the illusion any longer,” Essandra told him.
“She can drop it. It doesn’t matter anymore. The Shadow King can do nothing. We’re here.”
Shouts rang out as a man approached on horseback, and Cyrus smiled as he got closer.
Jaem.
It had been a while since Cyrus had seen him, and he was happy to have his friend with him once again.
Jaem pulled his lathered mount to a stop and slid down with a grin on his face. “Having an army appear like that will give a man a fucking heart attack,” he said as he held out an arm for Cyrus. “Cyrus,” he greeted him warmly.
Cyrus clasped it and pulled him close. “Good to see you, brother.” He cuffed him on the shoulder. “What are we looking at?”
Jaem had been scouting the stronghold for the past several days.
“The main entry is on the west side, but there’s no getting through that—the gates are Mercian steel, I’d wager. Mercia held this stronghold for the past several years before giving it back to the Shadowlands, and unfortunately, I think they made a lot of improvements.”
“We brought Necross.” The coven’s geomancer. If Cyrus couldn’t get through the gates, he’d bring down their walls.
Jaem nodded. “Most of the walls are built into the mountain, so destroying them won’t necessarily make our task easier. But there are a few places on the north side where we might be able to breach more easily.”
“Find them,” Cyrus told him.
“Will we hold until then?” Everan asked.
“No.” He couldn’t wait. He nodded to a dip in the valley just before the mountains. “When we reach that syncline, we’ll send the first wave.”
“I’ll lead them,” Everan told him.
“No,” Cyrus said again. “I want all of our men from the arena to wait.”
“For what?”
“For the end, when the real fight begins.”
Cyrus pushed them to advance as Jaem and Necross broke away to continue scouting opportunities to breach the stronghold.
Suddenly, Ram’s voice broke through in his mind. “ He’s attacking! ”
Wait, Ram was with Miriel. Cyrus didn’t understand. “ What? What’s happening? ”
“He’s attacking!”
“ Aleon? ” Phillip was attacking?
“ The Shadow commander—he leads them! ”
Wait… the Shadow commander wasn’t in the stronghold?
“ Cyrus! ”
“ Is the Mercian army there? ” Cyrus asked.
“ No! ”
None of this made any sense. Aleon would wait for Mercia to join them before launching an attack against Gregor, and against an army the size that Miriel was projecting.
“ Cyrus! ” Bash’s voice joined the panic. “ Aleon’s attacking! ”
“ Get out of there! ” Cyrus ordered both of them. He ripped his sword from its scabbard, but there was nothing he could fight himself, nothing he could do. His heart pounded in his chest.
“What’s going on?” Everan asked, alarmed.
“Aleon’s attacking!”
Essandra gasped. “Is Miriel still there?”
“ We’re falling back!” Ram shouted down the bond.
“ Fall back behind Gregor’s army ,” Cyrus told both Ram and Bash. “ Then make a retreat to the coast. Get Miriel out of there! ”
“ We’ve put too much distance between us and Gregor’s army ,” Ram said. “ They’re too far. ”
“ Then just retreat. ”
“ Miriel’s trying to stop them! ” Bash called.
Cyrus was going to lose his fucking mind. “ With what? It’s a fucking illusion! Just get out of there! ”
“Can they get out?” Everan asked.
He couldn’t process it. He blocked Everan out. “ Drop the illusion—run! ” he bellowed at Ram and Bash. If it came between a few men of Rael and the whole of Japheth, he was pretty sure Aleon would focus on Japheth.
“ Cyrus, we’re surrounded! ” Bash said frantically.
“ Ram, do you see Bash and Miriel? ”
Ram didn’t answer.
“ Ram! ”
Still no answer.
“ Get her out! ” Cyrus barked at Bash.
“ I don’t see Ram. ”
“ Get Miriel out! ”
“ I’m not sure I can. ”
The bond broke.
His mind went quiet.
“ Bash? ”
Bash didn’t answer.
“ Ram? ”
Kord and Everan stood, gripping their swords. Essandra covered her mouth with her hand.
Cyrus waited, his heart pounding. “ Bash? ”
There was nothing but quiet.
He bellowed into the air as he set his raging eyes on the mountain. He’d kill this king. He’d kill this commander. He’d kill every last one of them. “Charge!” he thundered to his army.