Chapter Twenty-Eight – Mira
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Mira
I dreamt of battlefields and death. Charred remains of people and animals littered the ground around me, the screams of those still fighting filling the air as they crashed against a shadowy enemy force.
Their screams grew louder. So loud, so desperate, that I clapped my hands over my ears, trying to block out the horror, silently begging someone to make it stop—
A sharp, stinging sensation erupted across my cheek. My eyes flashed open, my mind a haze of shock and confusion as I struggled to make sense of why Cassius had struck me. Why he was grabbing hold of my shoulders and dragging me to my feet.
I struggled against him until I heard the shrill, piercing screams. Not part of a dream at all, but—
‘Ravalian Warriors,’ Cassius told me, every word harsh and clipped.
‘How many are there?’ I asked urgently as we reached the door. Because that was what survival would come down to: their numbers against our own.
‘Too many,’ was Cassius’s grim reply. ‘They’re already’
BOOM.
Something heavy slammed me to the ground, the impact sending stars exploding before my eyes. For a heartbeat, I could only lie there, dazed and winded. Then my vision cleared, and I realised I was pinned beneath the remains of the door.
I turned my head to see Cassius fighting a Ravalian in red and gold armour, whose two blades moved so fast they were a blur of silver.
Cassius was engaging the Warrior with a sword in one hand and a dagger in the other, cutting and parrying and stabbing – compensating for his opponent’s strength and speed by keeping him distracted.
But that approach would only work for so long.
And it wouldn’t work against two of them.
My eyes locked with the second Warrior as he stepped into the splintered doorway, looming over me like a spectre of death. Quickly freeing myself, I reached for my discarded sword and thrust it upwards, skewering the Warrior through the stomach as he lunged for me.
But I was too late to stop his warning shout. It echoed through the tree house and into the crisp night like a call to arms.
I could only hope that it went unanswered.
Hurrying towards Cassius, I saw that the Warrior he was fighting was larger than normal and far stronger. I grasped my mother’s locket, needing the fiery magic contained within. But when my fingers enclosed around it—
It glowed red, flickered, and then went out.
Staring down at it in shock, I barely dodged in time as the Warrior disarmed Cassius and struck at me with his blade. I hurled myself to the side, his blade slicing off a lock of my hair.
And then his attention returned to Cassius.
‘Your left!’ I shouted. ‘ To your left! ’
Cassius heard me and turned – too late. The Warrior’s sword sliced through the air as if in slow motion, seconds away from slicing through Cassius’s neck.
No. I wasn’t sure if I thought it or screamed it, but it was deafening in my mind. Fury tinted my vision red, and thorny red tendrils exploded out of my hands, snaking up the Warrior’s body with impossible speed.
I willed them to tighten. To–
The Warrior’s sword hit the ground along with what remained of his arm. An agonised groan left his mouth as blood sprayed in a gushing torrent. The tendrils fell on it immediately, like leeches sucking up his blood. Yet as they grew thicker and stronger–
Something hot and wet trickled down my neck. Another nosebleed, I assumed – until I saw Cassius’s expression and the direction of his gaze. This blood was coming from my ears.
‘Release the magic.’ He took hold of my shoulders, drawing my focus to him – even as the sounds of fighting drew closer. ‘You’re bleeding from the brain, Mira. Release the magic .’
Another Warrior entered the tree house, her weapon already drawn. But my tendrils were waiting. They latched onto her hungrily, heedless of her screams. In moments, the Warrior’s body was entirely gone from view, buried beneath a pulsing blood-red mass.
My vision darkened, my heart stuttering. A wave of exhaustion crashed over me as more blood dripped onto the floor. My blood.
The tendrils devoured that, too.
Without giving me the chance to realise what he intended, Cassius drew his sword and sliced through the tendrils – hacking them into pieces until their eerie red light was extinguished and they dissolved into a puddle of blackish blood.
‘What have you done ?’ I demanded as Cassius pulled me from the tree house. ‘I’m too weak to summon them again.’
‘Good,’ Cassius said shortly. ‘Maintaining them was killing you. Using blood magic is clearly a death sentence.’
‘The cost doesn’t matter,’ I snapped as screams rent the air around us. ‘I’m the reason Roran is slaughtering these people. I have to stop him. I have to do something .’
Smoke clogged my lungs as flames consumed the wooden dwellings below.
A glance over the side of the suspended bridge showed black-armoured Warriors advancing in four neat, uniform lines of fifty – an overwhelming force, yet if anyone could break their lines it would be the shifters.
They were fighting in animal form, their roars loud enough to shake the branches around me.
An aerie of eagles launched themselves into the air, their talons extended.
Cassius’s grip tightened as I prepared to wrench my arm from his. ‘You’re of no use to anyone down there. Besides, they’re bringing the fight to us.’
Panic settled into my bones as I saw the Warriors scaling the trees, their red and gold armour a stark contrast amongst the thick brown trunks.
Making a split-second decision, Cassius and I raced across the bridge to a much larger platform between the various dwellings, where Thoren and his twenty clansmen were fighting to hold the line.
Cassius unsheathed his sword as he prepared for battle. I wanted to do the same, but what use would that be? V?lund had once told me that Queen Rúna destroyed an entire army with blood magic. And yes, it had cost my great-grandmother her life, but–
I reached desperately for my magic. There was so much blood here. Surely I could tap into it, use it to increase my power–
Cassius took one look at me and swore, reaching for me when I swayed on my feet. The effort of summoning those tendrils had been too much, and I felt weighed down by the knowledge that my magic was next to useless when it counted.
‘Get in front of her,’ Cassius shouted as he ran to meet the attacking Warriors. ‘Protect your queen!’
Half a dozen clansmen immediately encircled me and Odessa – and Jadis, who was bleeding from a wound to her side.
‘Take it,’ she grimaced, passing me her dagger.
Gripping its hilt, I straightened my shoulders, preparing for the inevitable bloodshed when the Warriors made it onto the platform.
My berserkers surged to meet Roran’s forces, Thoren leading the charge.
He was incredible to watch in action, his movements almost as unnaturally fast as the Ravalian Warriors.
I knew he had given himself completely over to the fight, as had the others – embracing a wild, adrenaline-filled state where they barely felt pain.
And yet, no matter how strong and fierce they were, they were being steadily worn down.
Overcome by the multitude of injuries they sustained, by their enemy’s superior numbers and unnatural, magically enhanced endurance.
Tears blurred my vision as I sent my guards to boost their numbers, all the while knowing it was hopeless. Even Thoren was beginning to tire.
No matter how many Ravalians he killed, more kept coming. And with the shifters occupied below . . .
We’re going to be overrun.
Just as I had the thought, their commander crossed the bridge. I realised he had been holding back for this very moment, waiting until my forces were diminished. His Warriors followed suit, striding onto the other bridges and facing the few clansmen who remained.
Cassius retreated to the platform where I waited with Jadis and Odessa, our backs to each other as we each kept our eyes on the bridge in front of us. I glanced around me for my other guards, but they were all gone. All dead on the bridges, except for Thoren and eight of his best warriors.
Four were still standing on the bridge in front of me: Thoren and three others.
They met the Ravalian general as a united force, but it was immediately clear they were outmatched.
If Thoren hadn’t been fighting for so long already, if he hadn’t lost so many of his companions, he might not have been drawn in by the feint.
At the last second he recognised it for what it was and tried to shift his position.
But the Ravalian general didn’t give him the chance. He disarmed Thoren and promptly ran him through.
A scream burst from my lips as Thoren fell from the platform.
I thought I saw the general glance in my direction, but it was difficult to be sure with the helmet concealing his face.
I noticed that he wore golden armour as opposed to the red and gold of the others, and he fought with such brutal grace that for a moment I thought I was facing Roran himself.
But there were no mocking taunts as he stalked towards me, cutting down the remaining warriors who tried to attack him and kicking them off the platform. He was all momentum, and I knew that I had to be too. I strode to meet him, heedless of Odessa’s shout behind me.
Our swords met in a shower of sparks, my arms already straining at the effort of holding him off.
I broke away from him, knowing that I couldn’t maintain that position for long. I whirled to the side and stabbed at his ribs, but he countered my attack almost lazily, resisting my attempts to gain ground. It was as if he could anticipate my every move.
I aimed thrust after thrust, until he forced my sword aside with an elegant flick of his wrist–
A familiar flick of his wrist.
The Ravalian general flung off his helmet. And I felt all the blood drain from my face.