Chapter 86
Ellowyn
My strides were aggressive, my long legs eating the distance between the mess hall and the armory.
The three Mages I’d chosen to fight alongside me hovered just behind, flanking both my sides and covering my rear.
We moved silently, the rattling of the Academy’s walls as it desperately tried to withstand the magical attacks from Torin’s rebels the only sound.
I picked Leal, Tine, and Talamh not just for their cunning and shown prowess in their respective magics, but also because they were unBonded. I’d seen firsthand what happened to a Bonded Mage when they lost their Vessel and vice versa, and I didn’t want to risk that happening to anyone I knew.
This was war, and I knew the likelihood that all Bonded pairs surviving together was very slim, if possible at all.
But I’d be damned if their forcible separation happened under my watch.
Where I was leading my team was undoubtedly dangerous, with the most potential for injury and death, but I was incensed. My body practically vibrated with unconstrained rage, both of my magics twining around the bracers I’d strapped to my arms before leaving my room.
I cracked my neck to each side, the braids I’d woven into my hair brushing along my back with the movement as we neared the armory door.
It was already open, weapons of all kinds hanging on the walls and strewn about on top of wooden tables.
There was little order to the chaos, aside from a loose grouping of weapon type, and I was grateful my task force had beaten the majority of the army here.
There were a few other groups carefully but quickly selecting weapons before moving on with nods of acknowledgment to my small group.
I wasn’t a warrior.
Far from it, in fact. I’d only just gotten control over my magics and had no business wielding a weapon of any kind, especially since I had a seemingly never-ending well of magic that I could tap into at any point.
The Mages accompanying me, though, did not have that luxury.
At most, they each carried four crystals; far less than what we would need before the Battle for Vespera was over.
Wordlessly, the three Mages moved like wraiths in the night as they quickly selected a handful of weapons each.
Leal positioned three throwing knives in her boots before grabbing a dagger with a blade as long as my forearm.
The twins seemed to have the same mindset, each of them selecting a small axe, meant for both throwing and close-quarter fights, before clipping them to their belts.
I raised my eyebrows at their lack of weaponry.
“There are over five hundred men and women who need to be outfitted tonight,” Talamh said with a shrug. His twin nodded in resolute agreement. “Save the knives and steel for the unAwakened cadets. We have crystals. And an all-powerful queen.” He added the last part with a savage grin.
I rolled my eyes to disguise the nerves that fluttered to life in my belly at the faith and trust they placed in me.
I don’t even know how to be a queen. I can barely control my own power.
Hopefully my rage would cover up any shortcomings I had throughout the night and, even more so, keep the three Mages I’d selected for this disastrous mission alive.
Leal, Tine, and Talamh checked that their crystals were positioned against their skin as we left the armory and headed down the stairs and toward the tunnel that led to the manor, passing a handful of other groups as we walked, each of us painfully focused on our own task.
My plan was to escape through the connecting tunnel, exit the manor through the back gate that led into the garden, and assess the situation through the cover of trees that dotted the front yard.
Hopefully we’d be able to surprise the rebels enough that a few of our Academy task forces would escape unharmed and be able to take the fight to the gods’ army on the outside of the protection wards that surrounded the square.
Hopefully.
My three companions said nothing as we descended quickly to the fake wall that guarded the entrance to the manor tunnel.
“Each of you touch a point on my body. You will only make it through via contact with me,” I commanded, and felt as three hands rested on my shoulders.
We progressed forward together as one, the wards sensing my magical signature and allowing us to pass uninhibited.
Their hands dropped just as quickly as I led them through the tunnel.
Down here, the sounds of battle were completely muffled—the near silence almost eerie after the constant booming from the magical barrage.
As we ascended, new sounds swept over us—the screams and shouts of the servants from inside the manor mixed with the booms of the attack on the protective barrier.
The fear here was a tangible thing, and I watched as they scampered from room to room on the lowest floor, some grasping their things as if thinking to flee.
I grabbed one particularly fearful woman—a maid who had attended me before—and halted her steps.
“Don’t leave the manor,” I said as the woman turned glassy blue eyes to me. Her chin trembled, but she nodded her head. “Tell the others. If you leave the protection of the wards in here, you will die. We don’t have enough people to protect you from both the gods and the rebels.”
“Yes, My Queen,” she whispered before scampering away, hastily scolding any others who were attempting to leave the manor.
“Kind of you, that,” Leal remarked while twirling one of the daggers between her fingers.
“They’d just get themselves killed. Or distract one of us so we get killed.
There’s already going to be enough bloodshed tonight.
Better to reduce whatever unnecessary death we can,” I said without emotion as we finally pushed open the doors that led to the lawn out front of the house.
The sounds that greeted us were like nothing I’d ever heard before, and as we climbed a tall oak in the center of the garden to gain a better vantage point, my breath caught in my throat.
Holy gods.
Rebels swarmed like ants across the grey cobblestones of the courtyard, nearly obscuring it from view. And, just beyond the courtyard, I could see a line of dirty and bedraggled people simply waiting for the barrier to fall. The whole scene made the attack on Hestin look like child’s play.
A warm-up.
The rebels below us shouted and called as they cast against the Academy, desperately trying to bring the glittering obsidian stone down around their feet.
Fireballs arced through the air, illuminating the night in swaths of red as Earth Mages used some of the fallen stone to hammer against the exterior of the Academy.
The whole building seemed to shudder with the last impact, and I involuntarily winced.
That won’t be standing for much longer.
Shouts rang out, stealing my attention as I saw the first of our task force groups exiting the Academy to engage with the rebels.
Tine whistled through his teeth. “How’d they get in here?”
I clenched my hands in anger, Torin’s words ringing through my head.
“You’ll see me soon, I promise.”
“They’ve been here,” I ground out, and all three turned to look at me with matching expressions of incredulity. “Their leader is Torin d’Eshu, also known as Cael, the Matriarch’s lead general.”
“Wait, Torin? The guy we’ve been training with? Weren’t you engaged to—” Tine’s question was cut off with an audible “oof” as his brother elbowed his ribs.
I ignored his question, my attention still drawn to the burgeoning fight outside the Academy. I winced as one of the unAwakened cadets charged a Fire Mage, sword raised high and a wary cry on his lips, before he was incinerated by the same Mage he attempted to attack.
We have to get down there.
My time at the Academy and in Lex’s strategy classes was woefully short and incomplete. I had no idea how to lead a task force.
What was I thinking?
“We should scale the wall there.” Talamh pointed to a section of the wall surrounding the manor farthest from the battle. “It’ll provide us enough room to draw them away from the Academy entrances.”
“Done,” I said as I started to climb down the tree, dropping the last few feet with a thunk.
I heard three other thuds as each of my Mages hit the ground.
We ran across the empty courtyard, and I willed the grass to join together to create four ladders against the smooth stone of the courtyard wall.
As one, we grabbed onto the grassy rungs of our respective ladders and, before long, were at the crest of the wall.
“No matter what happens, stick together as much as possible. Our goal is to draw the rebels away from the Academy. That’s it.
Once that is accomplished, we radio back to the General,” I said, the top of my head barely cresting the wall.
All three Mages nodded in grim assent before I pulled myself over the top of the wall with shaking, clammy hands.
What am I doing? I’m a queen—and barely that—not a warrior.
My reservations came too late to stop my feet from striking the stone with a thwap. My magic instantly flared, ashes and embers and sweet-smelling vines curling possessively around my shaking hands in anticipation of the fight to come.
“Where to first, little queen?” Tine asked from over my left shoulder.
He had to shout just to be heard over the cacophony of battle.
Unintelligible shouts were overpowered by the crackle and boom of magical attacks, the shrill screams of men and women as they died, a sharp undercurrent.
The acrid scent of smoke flooded my lungs when I inhaled to reply, forcing me to cough violently.
I quickly surveyed the groups of rebels through my watering eyes. There was no rhyme or reason to their placements, no strategic movement. Just a mass of Mages and Vessels, all hell-bent on razing the Academy to the ground.
My gaze focused on the Fire Mage who incinerated the unAwakened cadet moments before, and I pointed with a shaky finger.
“That one,” I yelled to be heard over the constant booming and crackling of magic. My team nodded, each readying their magic as we quickly made our way behind the attacking rebels.
“Hey, asshole!” Leal shouted once we were within speaking distance—not too close as to block the exits from the Academy.
A few rebels turned at the sound of her voice, dropping the control on their magic incrementally—just enough for the task force caught in the protective overhang of the Academy’s main entrance to jump from the stairs and run along the side of the building.
A few Mages and two Vessels with feral grins broke away from the main group to approach my small task force. My Destruction Magic flared, sensing the approaching threat. I held onto my magic, containing it as best I could, waiting for the most opportune moment to strike.
Not yet—they stepped closer, one Mage readying a large fireball while the other created a water vortex that spun faster than I’d ever seen.
Just as they were about to release their creations, I screamed, “Now!”
As one, we let our magics loose, and I watched as the chaos unfolded.