76. Ryker
Ryker
The night mist had barely settled on the pine nettles when the first explosion rocked the farthest outpost tower.
Beren had never been one for subtlety once his mask fell.
At my nod, the warriors shouted and banged their swords against their shields.
“We’re attacked!”
“Inform the Commander!”
“Get the civilians inside the fortress!"
The ruckus grew, carried to the outskirts of the city by the wind, the blue flecks of Allie’s power catching in the breeze as they rushed between the trees.
The warriors stomped their feet in the dim candlelights flickering in the windows, left between the pine branches and red ribbons to ward off danger. They rustled the bushes, and banged the closest doors closed. Inside the fortress, the lights flashed fiercely.
More voices travelled through the streets, scared and raspy, until the entire city turned into a panicked cauldron.
In the distance, the Northern soldiers raced through the pines with a speed and precision that confirmed Nadya had been mapping every inch of Solkar’s Reach.
The troops marched from the East, where most of the eldest civilians tended to their farms in peace. The wolves rarely ventured there, and only accompanied by warriors, in case one of them got a craving for goat flesh.
The most exposed part of town.
Exactly like we’d predicted.
Through the spotless window, I looked at the fortress roof, where a blue light waited safely hidden behind the tower.
Allie guided the wind, a stack of arrows waiting for her to wreak havoc with.
I caressed the flutter of her in my mind, absorbing more of the heat as her power blazed. In return, she tugged on the connection lightly, just enough to let me know she was alright.
A ripple of emotions spilled from her.
Weary.
Angry.
Apprehensive.
But underneath them all was unflinching courage and hope.
We needed them both to survive this night.
Sylvester, freshly returned from delivering the message to The Capital, flapped his wings on the awning above her, like he wanted to help guide the wind as well.
The uproar in the city center swelled as the soldiers approached.
My power rushed through my veins to cool them and quiet my heart. I needed all my wits and calm to protect my land tonight.
I sent a quick prayer to our ancestors and silently unsheathed two daggers. In the darkness, they shined purple, demanding blood.
As soon as the soldiers passed Krysor’s pen, the goats bleating up a storm, Allie cocked her first arrow. It always gave me an overwhelming sense of pride to see her handle the bow with unwavering precision.
But this arrow was different.
It wasn’t meant to spear–but to scare.
It hissed through the air, almost invisible even to my own eyes. But everyone saw and heard the blast flashing through the trees.
Elysia would have been proud the petards made the Northern soldiers cry out in shock.
“Traps! They’ve set up traps!”
Not quite, but not far from the truth.
Another arrow.
Another blast.
Not enough to wound, but to guide the soldiers away from the houses.
The wave of soldiers quickened, weapons scraping against the cobblestones.
Close.
Closer.
The warriors around me gripped their weapons harder, the leather of their armors rustling as they tensed.
In the moonlight filtering through the lacy curtains, I saw determination blaze in their eyes. They’d seen unimaginable horrors in war, but this was the first time our land was invaded.
We’d make sure this was the last.
The first window broke a second later, three houses away.
The crack of splintering wood filled the air as the soldiers kicked down doors which had been cared for and painted year after year by the same civilians they now wanted to kill in their own beds.
But those civilians weren’t there.
The Northern soldiers would never get their weapons wet on my people’s blood as long as I had air in my lungs.
The door to the small house I’d laid in waiting shattered a moment later.
Instead of scared, cowering civilians, I and a handful of fully armed, enraged warriors greeted the soldiers. They froze in the threshold, hook weapons raised.
“You are not welcome here,” I said before kicking the largest one so hard, I propelled him outside the house and flat on his back in the street.
“Now!” My roar carried through the entire city.
Droves of warriors poured from inside the homes, their cries shaking the ground. They tackled the invaders to the ground and sliced through the rest.
We didn’t have the Borderline Bands’ vigor, but a different kind of calling beat through all of us.
Protecting our home against the invaders.
More arrows rained down upon them, this time sharp and silent. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted one of the soldiers following the arrows’ path. His dark gaze shined as he located Allie on the roof.
He spun the thick rope and the hook on its end, eyes narrowed on her.
I saw red.
With a flick of my wrist, one dagger cut through the rope just as he released the hook meant to impale her. The second stuck into his neck, halting him forever.
Allie sent a flutter of gratitude my way, before loosing her bow string again. And again.
My daggers hissed through the air to the same tune of Allie’s arrows slashing through the night sky.
Yet I sensed a growing dread wafting from her.
A few moments later, I understood.
Like in the war, our opponents kept coming and coming. Wave after wave, pouring from between the trees. Hundreds. Thousands.
For a breath, I was transported back onto that battlefield, rain on my face, the stench of bloodied mud in my nostrils, Geryll lying on the ground.
My hand froze mid-air as my lungs fought for breath.
I tried to force myself to move.
It only made the bloodied images in my mind sharper. The dread in his eyes as the snake fell down upon him.
Only the ice that suddenly raced down my spine snapped me back to reality.
“Watch out!” Allie blared in my mind.
I whirled around in time to see a Northern soldier behind me, hooked sword raised above my head. Before he could strike and crack my skull, my dagger was embedded in his shoulder. I pushed him away as he cried in pain, hoping he’d stay down until he could retreat back to his own land.
“Thank you,” I said through our connection, wishing the message made it through.
“You’re welcome,” she answered and made my heart swell. “Now please don’t die.”
I didn’t make promises I didn’t know I couldn’t keep, but I would try my best. For her. For this crater.
My power surged forward to cool my blood, even as screams still echoed in my mind, both old and new.
The warriors and I cut through the flood of soldiers with a precision that made some of them hesitate.
We pushed the soldiers back in a chorus of metal clinks, cries, and grunts. Dozens of them tried to go around us, slinking through the back alleys.
They should have just faced us.
The alleys roared alive as the trolls obliterated the intruders. Armors banged against the walls, bones cracked, and sickening splatters resounded from the shadows before the trolls emerged, burly and menacing, their fur shining in the dimness.
Their nostrils flared as they swung their clubs, sending the soldiers flying through the air.
I didn’t know how Allie managed to tell them to patiently lie in waiting, but the soldiers had definitely not been expecting them, either.
Allie had told me how the Northern Clans had killed the creatures’ younglings in the attacks.
The trolls hadn’t forgotten.
The ground shook as they barreled forward, mouths open, fangs on display. Even my own warriors flinched at their approach for the briefest moment, old fears wrestling with the new reality.
But then they saw what I did.
The same fervor drumming through our veins reflected in the trolls’ eyes.
This was their home, too.
We were all defending the same realm against the same attacker.
Together, we rushed forward, overwhelming the first lines of soldiers. Some ran away, their cries now less victorious.
That tendril of hope I’d clung to grew.
Even with the trolls by our side, we were outnumbered. But we were fiercer.
With the fortress now behind us, we'd become an impenetrable barrier.
A horn blared through the chaos, shaking the trees.
Everyone and everything quieted.
“Commander,” Beren’s voice slithered through the darkness. “Parlay.”