I needed to be ready.
Ahyana took a drink from her waterskin and then asked me, “Do you think there’s a way to manipulate the sword’s flame?”
“I don’t know. And I’m not sure I want to attempt it out here.” We were trying not to be spotted.
“I keep thinking about you having Dea’s sword,” Io said. “And how it means we’re one step closer in the prophecy.”
My sisters averted their faces at Io’s words. Like Xander, it seemed they preferred to pretend that my death wasn’t certain. I understood why they felt that way. I also wished that I could ignore what was coming.
But I didn’t want to dwell on it. “Then let’s be glad that there isn’t any water or aether out here.”
Although with my luck the earth would open and suck me down into a giant whirlpool while stars from the sky landed on top of me.
Eventually the sun overhead burned away the fog that Zalira had created and the army began to move west again.
The only way to continue was through a pass that had high, sheer walls on either side.
And it was right where Suri wanted them to go.
When the first line of dirt-spreaders entered the pass, she said, “Dea Chthonia.”
She created a massive hole at the far end of the pass. It stretched from one wall to the other and looked deep.
Then ... she began to push the hole forward, toward the army.
If Suri kept going, she would turn the entire pass into one giant pit.
I looked at her and saw the way that she was shaking. Her face indicated how much she was suffering.
“It’s enough,” I told her.
“Not yet.” Her voice trembled.
“Aren’t you in pain?”
She tipped her face up toward me. “Lia, I’m always in pain.”
Suri went on, pushing the pit forward, her entire body racked with tremors.
Io came over and put her arm around her. “Let it go, Suri.”
With a groan, she finally did and collapsed into Io’s arms. Io stroked Suri’s hair away from her face.
Suri had always been able to go longer than any of us when wielding magic. She could endure unspeakable amounts of torment and it broke my heart.
Some of the army attempted to go around the pass. We saw them break off from the main group. But the high hills ran north and south for miles, and the pass was the most direct route to Troas. Going around would add time to their march.
We had discussed having Suri try to break apart the hills and fill the pass with rocks, but she said making the pit would be better because manipulating that kind of rock from this distance would be difficult.
Unfortunately, after several hours the Carians came up with a solution. They brought two of the earth dragons over and had them hit the walls with their tails. Giant chunks of rock began to fall and fill up the pit.
And somehow they managed to do it in a controlled way that prevented the entire hillside from collapsing in.
Again I wondered how they were directing the dragons.
It was nearly nightfall when they finally filled the pit. They had to send their supply train north, to go around the hills. They would never be able to get all those wheeled carts and siege engines over the jagged terrain in the pass or over the hills themselves. The cavalry went with them.
Not all the riders left, though. Some of them stayed and walked their horses across the pit.
