CHAPTER 43 #3
“Healer! HEALER!” A soldier’s voice cried out behind her.
She turned just in time to see him dragging his blood-soaked comrade across the beach.
She moved towards them on instinct, but at that moment three Drakens slammed into her valmare, forcing her away.
She yanked her reins and threw her free hand out; golden-yellow magic sparked instantly and roots tore from the ground, coiling around the ankles of the Drakens swarming their mounts.
They yelled, thrashing, buying her mere seconds to swing again from the saddle.
She whipped around, searching desperately for the soldier that had called for help, but the line was chaos already. She couldn’t find them.
Sebastian ran another Draken through and twisted towards her, eyes blazing.
She felt it – his urge to shield her, to fight for her, but he was leaving himself open to do it.
He was going to get himself killed. She glared at him and raised her blade high as she shot a shield over him that a would-be attacker slammed into.
“Watch your back,” she cried. “Fight with me, not for me!”
And together they did. For a time, the line held.
But then the next wave came, rushing towards them like floodwater, pushing them further back towards the barricades.
Kara’s arms ached, her lungs burned with exertion, but still they kept coming.
A Draken broke through her guard, his blade coming down at her before she could defend and then–
A Thorne soldier crashed into him, smashing his shield into the man’s skull. “I’ve got you, Healer!” the soldier roared, never once looking back at her.
Kara gasped. Not just because of how close it had been, but from the fierce loyalty shown to her by a man she’d never even met. All she saw was a glimpse of a scarred cheek before he was gone from view in the chaos. She couldn’t dwell on it.
Keep fighting.
She wheeled around, and saw Drakens hurling blackened torches over the barricades, and the dry grass caught immediately. Flames raced across the field, smoke rising in choking waves. Kara’s breath left her, the memories of the pyre flashing white-hot.
But she fought on.
She wouldn’t let fear win. Not now. Through the smoke, she glimpsed Jax still fighting, his blade swinging side by side with Thorne soldiers, casting bursts of water with his left hand in an attempt to douse the flames.
But further down the line, other Vallennans, Thorne and Navyrian alike were beginning to falter, fear clawing at them as Drakens pressed harder, their black magic gnawing at their will to fight, making them want to run.
They were battling through, but their resolve was crumbling.
Kara didn’t think, she pulled her valmare up short, sheathed her sword, and raised both hands.
Golden light flared through her veins, exploding outward in a pulse so bright it lit the whole battlefield.
The wave of magic rolled across the sand, suffocating the Draken ranks.
One after another, they crumpled where they stood, blackened eyes fluttering shut as golden sleep claimed them.
Dozens – no, hundreds – fell in an instant, their bodies hitting the sand almost in unison. Stronger than anything she’d practised.
Sebastian’s fierce relief and awe crashed through her. He turned on the enemy. “FORWARD! Push them back!”
Thorne and Navyrians roared, throwing themselves forward to cut down those still standing.
Sorrel arrows rained. Kara’s head spun, her whole body trembling with the effort it had taken.
But when the dizziness passed, she saw the soldiers alive who would not have been.
The Draken advance had stilled, the black tide momentarily halted thanks to her spell, but the moment was fragile, fleeting.
Sebastian must have felt it too, because suddenly he spurred his valmare forward, sword raised high.
“Navyrians!” he roared. “With me!”
The water answered before the men did. Sapphire and gold magic spilled from Sebastian, the tide surging at his call.
Waves rose from the bay, unnatural, towering, curling into walls of foam and spray.
Navyrians watched in awe at the sight of a Thorne commanding the sea as if born to it, and lifted their hands in unison, latching onto his power.
Together, they pulled. The ocean itself crashed forward, smashing into the Draken ships nearest the shore.
Their hulls splintered. Black-veined bodies were torn screaming from the wood, dragged beneath the fury of the tide.
Kara watched as he made the sea obey, the sheer force of him, the awe-striking truth of the Arcanth in his blood.
He looked unstoppable. The Vallennan line roared at the sight, sailors and soldiers alike pounding blades against shields, hope flaring as dark ships buckled and broke apart.
Sebastian sagged slightly, gripping his saddle for balance.
Kara raced to his side, brushing his arm with emerald, chasing away the fatigue before the next wave of battle hit.
“Thanks,” he muttered gratefully.
For a moment, just a moment, they’d broken the tide. Only two hours into the fight – and Vallenna held. But it would not hold for long.