Chapter Twenty-Five
Xander barked out instructions to the soldiers, who were milling about, unsure of what to do. I followed him to our bedroom, where he started putting on armor and gathering weapons.
I went to change out of my own clothes and get ready.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Going with you.”
“No. You can’t come,” he said as he slipped two daggers into his belt.
“I can help you,” I said. “That metallic smell in the air—it’s the same as when that house exploded in Lycia. Which means the Carians are behind this.”
“What?”
I realized that I’d been so busy earlier telling him about the man who worked for Erisa that I hadn’t shared what I’d learned from the bard. “I will explain later, but the Carians are the ones attacking us. If they stand on their red dirt, it gives them power from their god.”
“All the more reason for you to stay here,” he said.
“No, I want to be there so that I can—”
“Wife, this will be easier for me if I don’t have to worry about you getting hurt.”
“Fine,” I said. This was part of choosing differently. He would worry about me. I understood his concern.
He looked as surprised as I felt. “Promise me you won’t go to the docks.”
“I promise. So long as you promise that you’ll be careful and come back to me.”
He crossed over to me and was about to pull me in his arms when Dolion and Stephanos entered the room.
“I promise,” Xander said before kissing me quickly on my forehead.
The three men left and I headed out into the hallway to find my adelphia, but they were walking toward me from the opposite end. We all went into Io’s room.
“We’ve caught Zalira and Ahyana up on everything,” Io said.
I nodded. Smoke and that metallic scent hung heavy in the air around us. People were still screaming and crying outside.
“We have to help,” I said. “I told Xander I wouldn’t go to the docks, but we have to do something. I can’t just sit here.”
Ahyana stood near the window, looking out. “What if the attack is another distraction?”
I hadn’t even considered that. “We should go make sure the main gates are shut. We’ll start with the southern one. I’m going to go get changed.”
When I went back to my room, I realized I hadn’t even asked my sisters if they wanted to come—I had just assumed that they would. We were a fighting unit, a true sisterhood.
I dressed more quickly than I ever had before, loading myself up with weapons. Thankfully my sisters had done the same—they were waiting for me in the hall and all wore a similar determined look.
We ran through the palace, which was in total chaos. Nobles were fleeing for the safety of their homes, and there was a confusion of chariots and horses outside, all tangled up in each other.
I had to shove my way through the crowd. When we got past the palace grounds, the citizens were every bit as frightened as the nobles had been. No one knew what to do or what was happening.
After we had checked on all of the gates, I would suggest to my sisters that we help direct people to safety. Try to calm the panic.
Zalira led us to the southern entrance, where the gate was partially open. It would only allow one person through at a time. Which meant that a Carian soldier could enter and throw it open for the others.
I was about to yell at the guards to close it when a long howl sounded. Then another. And another.
Terawolves.
And they were headed toward Troas.
“They’re coming here!” I said.
“Maybe they’re being drawn by the smell and the screams,” Zalira said.
The reason didn’t matter. Stopping them did. I was not going to allow them to attack Xander and his men, who were outside the walls. Not when I could do something about it.
“This is our chance,” Io said. “We can prevent them from hurting anyone else and get what we need for the scroll.”
I hadn’t even been thinking about the scroll.
It didn’t matter. We needed a plan, even if I was terrible at them. “Follow me,” I said, leading my adelphia outside the gate. A lone soldier called out to us, but I ignored him.
We ran to the edge of the thick forest. “Suri, I need a deep pit here.” I took a branch so that I could show her where it should be located and how long it should be. “After you make it, cover it with brush. That’s how we’ll stop the terawolves.”
The howling came closer.
“Io, stay here with Suri and be a lookout. If the wolves come and you aren’t done, run back into the city and have them close the gate,” I said.
“What are you three going to do?” Io asked.
I exchanged glances with Zalira and Ahyana. “We’re going to draw the wolves here and trap them.”
Suri raised her eyebrows at me as if to ask how.
“Io said once the terawolves have selected their prey they never stop hunting. I’m going to go out there and make sure they know we’re here.”
The panicked look on Io’s face wasn’t enough to deter me. If those terawolves got any closer . . . they could harm so many people. Everyone at the docks would be at risk.
“Which way?” I asked Suri. She closed her eyes for a moment and then pointed southeast. We ran off in that direction.
We had been running for around ten minutes when Zalira came to a stop. “There. I see them.” The wolves were coming this way and seemed spread out.
“For the trap to work, we need them closer together,” I said. How long did we have before they turned invisible and we could no longer see them?
“I have an idea,” Zalira said. “Dea Maimaktes.”
A bolt of lightning crashed down southwest of us, and then another bolt equidistant in the opposite direction.
She turned off her aspect. “That should drive them straight down the middle.”
“I can help with that, too,” Ahyana said. “Dea Karpophoroi.”
High-pitched shrieks filled the air. Zalira went over and put her hand on Ahyana’s arm to help, to give her more strength.
“The bats can see them,” Ahyana said, slightly out of breath. “They’re herding them this way. No, wait, they’re invisible now.”
“Let’s give them something to follow.” I took out my xiphos and cut my hand as Ahyana shut off her power.
We turned and ran back toward where we had left Suri and Io. My blood dripped from my hand along the ground. I heard the moment when the terawolves caught wind of it. The howls and snarls increased. They sounded close.
Too close.
I felt the air around me shift, as if one of them were leaping at me.
“Dea Erinys!” I turned and used my ability to grab the invisible wolf by the throat and throw him hard against a tree trunk.
He turned visible and collapsed to the ground with a whimper.
My adelphia sisters wisely kept running and I hurried to keep up with them, shutting off my power. I had to conserve my energy.
I should have taken a fortification potion.
When we got closer to the city, I noticed that there was now only one path. Io had used her abilities to create vine nets between the trees so that the terawolves would have to follow us straight to the trap.
Suri knelt on the ground, tired, and waited with Io next to the city wall. I saw when Io’s eyes went wide. I risked a glance behind me.
There were a dozen terawolves, with their golden eyes and terrible growls. All visible. My heart leapt up into my throat.
“Right!” I yelled to Zalira and Ahyana, and they pivoted at the last moment, barely missing the trap themselves. Suri had made it longer than we’d anticipated. We ran alongside the trap and I stopped at the middle, praying that this would work. That the terawolves wouldn’t notice what we had done.
“Come and get me!” I shouted.
All the wolves barreled toward me and I stood with my sword in hand, waiting. My whole body pulsed with adrenaline and fear. Zalira and Ahyana stayed by my side with their weapons out.
I held my ground as they raced closer, even though my instinct was to flee.
One moment they were there and the next they were gone as the ground collapsed beneath their giant paws.
The trap had worked.
I had to draw in several big breaths and wait for my heart to stop thundering before I let myself glance over the edge.
The pit was not only deep, but somehow Suri had managed to add rock spikes at the bottom.
Every terawolf was dead.
The three of us were breathing hard as we stared down at them. We were quickly joined by Suri and Io.
“I was off making those nets and had no idea that you did this,” she said to Suri. “Those spikes? That’s amazing.”
Suri ducked her head, as if embarrassed.
How had she managed it? I was about to ask her, but the stinging in my hand drew my attention. I needed to clean and bandage the cut.
“Your husband’s going to notice that,” Zalira said.
I was sure he would. I wondered how many marks and bruises I would have on me before the night was through.
“How are we going to get one out?” Ahyana asked, and none of us had an answer. I probably should have thought about that.
All the hairs on the back of my neck suddenly stood up.
“Down!” I screamed. My sisters all dropped to the ground.
The terawolf that I’d thrown into a tree earlier came straight for me, leaping over the trap, teeth bared, mouth open.
“Dea Erinys!”
It slammed into me, its foul breath right above my face. It kept snapping at me with its teeth. I used my left forearm against its throat to keep it away. The impact had caused me to drop my xiphos, but I reached for a knife in my belt.
“Lia!” Io screamed.
I plunged the knife up through the beast’s jaw. I kept stabbing until it collapsed on top of me, dead.
I lay there for a second, being crushed, until I shoved the terawolf off. I released my aspect as my sisters gathered around me.
“I’m fine,” I said. “At least now we don’t have to go down into the pit to grab one.”
Io hugged me fiercely and the rest followed.
“Can I get up now?” I asked, and they laughed, sounding relieved.
Zalira helped me to my feet and I noticed that the terawolf had four swords in its back. While I’d been attacking it from the front, my adelphia had been stabbing its other side.
After everyone had retrieved their weapons, Io asked, “How are we going to transport that thing?”
Suri went and found a sturdy stick and used the length of rope she had at her waist to tie the terawolf’s paws to the stick. Zalira and I, being the tallest, carried the stick on our shoulders with the beast hanging down between us. It wasn’t easy but it worked.
The soldiers at the gate gaped silently at us as we approached.
“You just killed all those monsters,” one of them said in an awed voice.
“Can you please help us transport this back to the palace?” I asked. Several guards volunteered and the captain directed the others to return to the posts and make sure the gate was shut. I wondered where he had been earlier.
The guards took the load from us and my shoulder ached with relief.
Normally we would have been able to carry it ourselves, but using the magic had wiped us out.
Tired and bedraggled, we made our way to the palace.
The screaming had stopped and people were no longer running through the streets.
Many had returned to their homes, while others had gathered in groups and spoke in hushed tones. Everyone stared as we passed by.
I heard a cawing above us and Kunguru came down and landed on Ahyana’s shoulder. He cawed again, flew up into the air in the direction of the palace, and came back to Ahyana, still calling out.
She turned toward me, her expression serious. “Something is wrong at the palace.”