21. Leah #3
I reach inside myself for something else, bringing the prickling sensation of demon magic rushing to the surface.
A plume of shadow squeezes past her shield, which is designed only to stop ephilium magic.
I concentrate, and the shadow darts toward the demon’s face, her expression slackening with shock as darkness invades her open mouth.
She chokes, blindsided, and loosens her hold on me as she clutches a hand to her neck.
I’m not good enough with shadows to cause serious damage.
She coughs hard, and I can already see the magic starting to dissipate, but it gives me the wiggle room I need.
I yank Swiftwing out from behind the shield, stabbing into the leathery black membrane by the demon’s shoulder.
She screeches, and I can’t help but wince as I drag the sword through her wing, nearly ripping it in two.
Then with one, hard shove, I throw her off me, and she plummets to the ground.
Breathless and bloody, I watch her fall before quickly checking around me to make sure no one saw my trick with the shadow. But everyone is too busy with their own fights to spare even a glance for me.
I thought these trials were supposed to be about people distinguishing themselves, but how can anyone do that in this sprawl of death and chaos?
I brush the thought aside, pushing forward until I’m at the general’s elbow—with a blade placed at my throat.
“Shit,” she says, withdrawing the sword as she takes a closer look at me. “I thought you were demon scum for a minute there, fledgling.” Her eyes move over my feathers. “Those wings…” she mutters.
“One of the fledglings has spotted something, General,” I exhale heavily, aware of just how close I came to losing my head. “We think there’s an impending sneak attack on the western prong from a demon lord.”
She looks out to where the Brigade is advancing deeper into the Infernum line.
“Talk fast,” she says.
After I’ve explained about Lord Midane, Sawler is quick to dispatch soldiers to spread the word and sends me back to my post with the fledglings.
I watch anxiously from afar as the battle changes shape, shifting and reforming like a creature in metamorphosis.
Rather than concentrating their efforts on the existing prong past Infernum’s line, Sawler sends a second offensive low.
Too low for me to see what’s happening until the first prong splits and expands, golden forces streaming past the Infernum front line.
There’s an explosion from one side—small, black shapes and a thick fog of shadow.
I squint, trying to make out what Midane’s been using to undermine our attacks, but I’m too far away.
Whatever it is, Sawler’s tactics have driven it into the light—no more sneak attacks for Infernum today.
It turns the tide faster than I expected, but then the battle was raging since before we got here.
With their strategy torn apart, Infernum decides to cut its losses.
Three large rifts go up across the battlefield, revealing glimpses of a purple sky beyond.
My heart clenches a little at the sight of it, but I’m startled out of that emotion when the demon army starts to retreat through the rifts, and a shout of triumph goes up through the Brigade.
The ephilium army chases the demon troops down as they retreat. Several of the fledglings join in, buoyed up by victory after the grind of battle. I stay where I am at the rear of the western flank. I don’t feel like I’ve won anything today, and I certainly don’t want to cut open any more demons.
Instead of watching the carnage I helped create, I look out toward Pax.
I’ve avoided looking at it until now to keep from being distracted.
But now I take in the way the bright Stratan sunlight hits the city walls.
Seeing it from this angle, I can’t help but think how small it looks.
My whole world was contained in those walls for a time.
How complicated I’d thought things were then.
Now—blood-soaked and demon touched and full of winger magic—how relatively simple that life now seems to me.
“Illidore!” Mila, the fledgling I saved from the blood projectile, weaves toward me. “I saw your cousin. She was injured. Some demon scout that caught her on the edges of the battle.”
“What?” Panic tightens my chest. “Is she okay?”
“I don’t know. She got away, but she was bleeding badly. They’re opening the rift back to the academy soon. You might want to make sure she gets herself through it,” Mila says meaningfully.
Because if Filippa doesn’t get through the rift, she’ll be left here. My nausea returns.
“Thanks,” I throw out before taking off, searching for a glimpse of brown hair and hazel eyes. The minutes tick by, and I know I’m running out of time.
I search harder, eyes scanning every face I come across, my chest getting tighter with each passing moment.
My eyes snag on a body lying on the plains, crumpled in a pile of silver-spattered armor.
I’ve found my cousin.