Chapter 36
I was relieved that Atlas hadn’t moved the camp while I was gone. I would have been able to track them, but it would have meant an extra day of riding, and I needed rest.
Atlas came to greet me with food and water. I told him almost everything, leaving out the part where I had promised to present myself to King Goa in Ephemeros as payment.
‘He is going to give us one hundred of his men?’ Atlas’s brows drew together.
‘Will that be enough?’ I hoped it would be.
‘I think it can buy us enough time,’ Atlas replied. ‘But why is General Toro helping now? He was prepared to put a sword through his son’s heart, from what you told us.’
‘I’m a persuasive person.’ I shrugged.
His eyes narrowed, but thankfully, he didn’t press for more. Tomorrow, Ania and Wolfe would remain hidden in the woods with a few soldiers for protection while the rest of us set out for Danu.
?
Nervous energy ran through me, coiling under my skin and through my limbs until I couldn’t stand still a moment longer.
‘Stop pacing.’ Atlas was calm but alert, as if he were on any regular watch duty. Danu was spread out below us. Lights no longer flickered in windows, and the streets were dim and silent. I could never be a guard. Hours of standing with nothing but my thoughts would be torture.
Danu streets were crawling with Capita soldiers and men in black robes, which meant they were still looking for us.
At nightfall, Atlas sent men dressed as hawkers to the city entrance to tell him when the Ephemeros general arrived. It was too dangerous for us to be anywhere near the city.
‘He’s not here,’ I said, my breastplate becoming too tight. General Toro said two days, and it was only a few hours till dawn. ‘What if he doesn’t come?’ Each breath became a struggle, as if my lungs had suddenly grown unfamiliar with the task.
‘Hey, this is not like you.’ Atlas stood in front of me, putting a stop to my pacing.
I looked at him, trying to breathe normally.
He pulled me into his arms awkwardly, our armour clanging.
‘Where is the girl who went into a raging river in the dark and survived? Where is the woman who entered a tournament and crushed every other competitor without even breaking a sweat?’ Atlas looked deep into my eyes.
‘Where is the woman who can turn a man into ash like the goddess Hecate herself?’ he whispered.
‘I have a feeling something bad is going to happen,’ I whispered between gasps, meeting his steady gaze.
‘Something bad is going to happen. You are going to kill and maim many people today.’ Atlas smirked at me and my breathing slowly returned to normal.
A soldier called out. The general was here.
The introductions were brief, and Atlas and the general immediately began discussing tactics.
We would leave Danu now and strike Capita at dawn.
If the city’s gate was open, the Ephemeros soldiers would charge full force and take out all the guards at the wall and gate.
If the gate was closed, they would use a battering ram, and archers would remove those on the wall.
Once there was an opening, the general would send men over the wall to gain access from the other side.
When the gate was open, our rescue party would enter the city.
The hope was that castle knights would hurry to defend the entrance, allowing us to move quickly and freely throughout the castle.
‘What about the dragon fire?’ I asked.
‘Dragon fire?’ asked the general.
We explained, with the help of Finn, the volatile fire weapon the Order had created.
He thought over our revelation before replying. ‘I would expect them to be reluctant to use it unless they want to burn down their city.’
I hoped the general was right.
?
Nightmare huffed and snorted, blowing steam into the frosty morning air. Atlas and I were on a hill with his remaining men behind us. We watched as the Ephemeros army descended on Capita.
It appeared the general didn’t intend to start a war between the kingdoms, because his riders had red-and-blue capes flying out from behind them. It gave the impression that Lord Warwick’s depleted army had hired soldiers to get their captain back. I couldn’t help but admire the general’s guile.
We watched in anticipation as the soldiers reached the city gates.
Even from this far back, we could hear sounds of panic escape the city walls.
Nobody had dared to attack the king’s home city before.
His army and the Order of Men had given people a false sense of security.
I hoped Torgrin and Cillian could hear that I’d come back for them.
The sound of the battering ram reverberated around the valley.
The gate had been closed, then. I smiled as General Toro’s archers sent arrows flying over the wall, and black-robed men tumbled off the sides.
I doubted Merrick and the king would have expected me to return with an army and a battering ram.
It was time for us to join the fray. Atlas and I needed to make it to the dungeon with our men. Once we had Cillian and Torgrin, we would get clear of the castle before Tomas and Finn lit the dragon fire hidden beneath it. We had to be in and out as fast as possible, or risk being blown up.
Half the soldiers fell in behind me and Atlas as we rode.
Tomas and Finn were leading the other unit.
Tomas’s face was stony, and I mourned the loss of the nervous soldier with an immense talent for the bow.
In his place was a hard-edged man who had suffered tremendous grief and was now out for blood.
No horse was as fast as Nightmare, and I had almost reached the fighting when I heard riders approaching behind our unit.
My stomach sank when I glanced back to see King Hared’s guards coming out of the trees in droves.
Atlas called out in alarm, and everyone halted their horses and turned to cover their backs.
I unsheathed both my swords and held on to Nightmare with my knees.
The guards were upon us in an instant, and I began ferociously slashing away at our attackers with deadly force. Our swords bounced off their armour, but Atlas and his soldiers fought hard. We were pushing them back and making them scatter.
That was until the sky rained fire.
A ball of fire struck a nearby horse, and I watched in horror as it created a hole the size of my fist in its flank.
I could see right through the poor animal to the trees on the other side.
The horse stood eerily still as if the animal’s body did not know that it was dead. Then both horse and rider fell as one.
Nightmare screamed in panic as another fireball came close to us and singed her tail. I tried to halt the dragon fire with the Darkness, but it travelled too erratically for me to stop it.
‘Caris!’ someone yelled. I looked around, but the smoke and noise made it impossible to pinpoint where it was coming from.
A horse bearing a king’s knight rode past, engulfed in flames. The Order’s dragon fire was indiscriminately hitting both sides.
I’d lost sight of Atlas and the others. Nothing would prevent me from freeing Cillian and Torgrin, so I turned Nightmare towards the commotion, pushing through those trying to escape the deadly fireballs.
Out of the chaos ahead, Braya’s blood-smeared face appeared. She yelled above the noise. ‘Come! I need your help!’
I looked at where she was pointing. The smoke cleared momentarily, and I could see several men in robes on the wall with two long iron tubes cradled in tripods.
A robed figure stuffed one of the tubes with an iron ball and powder.
Another figure turned the tripod to the left.
They inserted a piece of rope into the hole and lit it.
It took seconds for the rope to burn down and then a resounding boom filled the air.
A fireball flew high into the sky and dropped incredibly fast. Several Ephemeros soldiers close to the gate went flying backwards.
The Order had to be stopped, or we wouldn’t get the gate open.
I rode alongside Braya, and we stopped at the wall where a rope hung. I got down from Nightmare and followed her, scaling the high wall.
We climbed unnoticed, thanks to the chaos created by the dragon fire below us.
When Braya reached the top, she disappeared over the side.
I reached the parapet and saw her crouched down beside the wall.
There was an Ephemeros soldier dead at our feet, an arrow in his chest. It must have been his rope we had climbed.
The plan to send people over the wall had not gone well.
‘We need to destroy both cannons at the same time,’ Braya whispered close to my ear.
I gestured to Braya, signalling that I would take the iron weapon she called a cannon on the right. She nodded, pointed at the cannon, and then at the inside of the city wall.
I nodded. I would use my shadows to Weave the cannon high enough to get it over the side and into the city below. The most I had ever lifted before was a wine barrel and Braya, both much lighter than a solid-iron cannon.
Staying crouched and out of sight, Braya moved left, and I crept to the right. I stopped when I was close enough that my powers could reach them. I waited until the men had reloaded the cannon. As soon as the rope was lit, I raised my hands.
Shadows coiled around the weapon, lifting it into the air and causing one of the robed men to topple off the side of the wall. The floating cannon stunned the other man, freezing him in place.
I had little time, as the rope was nearly burned down. My hands trembled as I used the Darkness to throw the cannon over the side of the wall, ensuring I aimed it at the king’s soldiers inside the city gates.
I ducked low as the explosion sent heat and stone flying back at me. The robed man hadn’t taken cover in time, and he was now lying facedown, unconscious or dead with a large head wound.
When the smoke cleared, I saw Braya had got the second cannon hovering, but it wasn’t high enough to make it over the parapet.
I ran to the other side, jumping over the two dead men Braya had disposed of, to find Braya’s nose and eyes were bleeding profusely with the effort of raising the cannon. The rope was lit and if she didn’t get it off the parapet soon it would explode, and we would both die.
I focused on helping her, allowing the dark shadows to coil around the iron.
Braya dropped to her knees in relief, and my shadows lifted it over the side.
It was too late; the cannon blew up before hitting the ground, and I had to dive on top of Braya as half the parapet was taken out.
Rock flew in every direction, some hitting the back of my head.
I saw specks of light, and Braya’s concerned face blurred before me.
I was still dazed when I felt her pushing me off.
‘Are you okay?’ she asked.
‘I think so. I’m still alive.’ The ground beneath us shuddered, and Braya’s eyes widened. The wall was going to collapse. ‘You need to get off this wall now!’ I yelled.
I could go down and find Atlas, or I could cross into the city on my own. I didn’t want to waste more time finding the others to regroup. Cillian and Torgrin were so close.
I returned to the rope and retied it so it fell down to the city. ‘Tell Atlas I’m headed to the castle.’ Braya got to her feet and nodded.
I jumped. The rope burned my hands through my torn gloves, but I needed to get down fast so Braya could use it. I waited until she pulled the rope back up before I turned away.
There was a lull in the fighting as the king’s soldiers and robed figures scrambled away from the swaying wall. I hoped Braya had made it off in time.
The wall collapsed, dry and brittle, crumbling into a cloud of grit that choked the air. Shadows moved through the haze – General Toro’s soldiers poured over the jagged remains, boots crunching on stone, their war cries slicing through the chaos.
I left the commotion behind me, following an unobstructed path into the city.