Chapter 30
Sloan
“You’re crazy.” Sloan looked at Kade first, then to Croft. “And you’re crazier for listening to him. This was going to be hard enough when we planned on being dropped outside by the gargoyles.”
“It’s a better plan.” Kade motioned to his armor still in the bag by Sloan’s feet. “Once you put it over all these muscles I’m carrying, jump on my back. I can outrun any unicorn over a short distance.”
“What? This is getting out of control. I’m not riding you into battle.” Sloan held her helmet in her left hand, her right hand already unzipping Kade’s bag full of armor.
“Come on! It’ll be so much fun! I promise.” Kade leaned in and gave Sloan a kiss on the cheek before making his shift into the golden sabertoothed tiger.
“As much as I have come to hate agreeing with Kade”—Croft looked over at Sloan—“he’s probably right. He’ll be faster in the short sprint to the enemy.”
“In what world are you two coming up with the plans?” Sloan groaned as she secured brown leather straps connected to dull grey armor pieces on Kade’s arms and back. “I can’t believe we’re about to do this.”
After Kade had joined the women on the wall, his plan had been adopted, then evolved into an all-out frontal assault on the New Hope army.
The cavalry, along with the shifters, would attack the New Hope army head on while the gargoyle units swooped in to rescue the slaves furthering the track the mage engine traveled on.
The rest of the militia, armed with bows and rifles, stood ready in the wall and would cover their retreat back into Azra. If all went well—and that was a big “if”—they would be in and out of the gates in twenty minutes.
Croft backed away from Sloan toward her cavalry unit readying their unicorns for war.
Each Azra guard lifted a lance in his right hand and a shield in his left.
Every Azra shifter who was able to turn into an animal stood side by side with their brothers and sisters.
Cheetahs, rhinoceroses, lions, and bears stood hungry and ready.
“Captain Sloan.” Croft looked over to Sloan as she placed a helmet of silver-and-gold on her head. The symbol of a phoenix crested its brow. “If you would say a few words.”
“I’m not a captain anymore,” Sloan responded, pulling the last strap tight over Kade’s back. “That part of me died in New Hope.”
“You’re right.” Croft mounted her white unicorn, accepting a shield and drawing her wand that mirrored a lance with yellow magic as she formed the weapon. “You’re not a captain of New Hope anymore. What do you say to being a major in the Azra army?”
Everyone in the courtyard quieted to hear Sloan’s response.
Sloan took her time in responding. She wasn’t going to be peer pressured into a decision she didn’t fully stand behind; she wouldn’t say yes for the sake of saying yes.
“I say that I stand with you and the people of Azra until our enemy is defeated or the last breath in my lungs is spent killing as many of our enemy as I can.”
RAAA!
A massive cheer broke across the courtyard.
Kade pawed the ground, then nudged Sloan to go on.
Sloan understood she needed to say more. All eyes were on her now. Word had spread of the battle that had taken place the night before, how Sloan had led a small number of warriors against the much larger New Hope army and had prevailed.
“Our first objective is to create a distraction for Cherub and her unit to free the slaves being used to lay the track,” Sloan shouted in the light of the moon and stars against the torches. “But while we do it, I say we take their fighting spirit while we’re at it.”
RAAA!
“I say we break them now!”
RAAA!
“I say we make those who live through the night—if any of them live at all—remember forever the day they marched on Azra.”
RAAA!
“Let history remember for the end of time what happened here. How the last free city in the Outland screamed in one voice: ENOUGH!”
The roars of approval were deafening. They were ready now. No more needed to be said.
Kade winked at her and motioned with his head for her to jump on his back.
“You’re ridiculous.” Sloan clipped on her helmet. There was a space for her eyes to see, and her mouth was covered by dark mesh that masked the area but allowed her to breathe easily. She mounted Kade, accepting a lance and a shield brought to her.
If she was being completely honest with herself, Kade’s muscular frame felt good between her legs.
Although she was lower to the ground than she would have been on the back of a unicorn, her feet didn’t touch the ground.
But there was something different, some sense of safety she felt on Kade’s back.
His frame was solid with muscle as he inched forward, and he practically vibrated with anticipation as the gates opened.
“Hey, how come we didn’t get armor?” Saber and Sasha joined the line of shifters and unicorns behind Kade.
“Open the gates!” Croft ordered.
Immediately, soldiers ran to obey, lifting first the giant crossbeam off the inside of the gate. Others then used a pulley system in the gatehouse to slowly open the massive wooden-and-steel doors to Azra.
The doors slowly swung outward. The distant thrum of the mage engine, the grunts of the army could be heard, now that the cheers from the Azra army were silenced.
“Follow me,” Sloan gave the command as Kade began to slowly trot forward.
The mile that separated the New Hope army from the walls of Azra seemed like the shortest Sloan had ever traveled. Her senses were on overdrive as she sought to pick up every single detail before the forces clashed.
It was dark, but her eyes still saw enough in the light the night sky provided. Slaves maneuvered heavy mage-powered machines to even the ground, while another slave force-pulled along yet another machine that laid wooden pieces and metal bars across them, forming the track.
Next to them, the New Hope vampire army dressed in their black-and-greys prepared for the assault. What worried Sloan the most was that the enemy army didn’t look terrified as they bore down on them.
Sloan leaned down and shouted in Kade’s ear, “Let’s get there quickly!”
Kade’s golden-haired pointed ears twitched as he heard her words, and the shifter doubled his speed, increasing his trot to a run and a moment later, to a full-out sprint.
Sloan braced the lance under the armpit of her right shoulder.
She gripped the large square shield in her left hand tightly around the leather straps.
Holding on to both weapons while balancing on Kade’s back was a skillset all its own.
With no reins to hold, Sloan hunched low and used her legs to hold Kade’s sides.
Yards from their target and closing fast, Sloan realized why the army wasn’t panicking.
The New Hope vampire soldiers had formed three lines of rifles: the first line of soldiers had lain down onto their stomachs, the second line knelt just behind them, and the last line stood.
All in all, over a hundred rifles were pointed at Sloan and the charging Azra guards.
It was too late to stop now. All Sloan could do was to protect the man she loved with her shield and body. She would be able to heal quickly, whereas he could possibly die in the oncoming volley.
Sloan maneuvered the shield in front of Kade. She did her best to lie on his back as flat as possible to also take advantage of the cover.
BLAM!