He paused, listening.
“Those are people, many of them. Far more than there should be. That is an army, Hylos, waiting. Because they knew all along exactly where you would strike. Because Calypstra told them. Please, don’t do this.”
He looked back at me.
With bated breath, I waited.
“If there is an army, we will cut it down,” he seethed. Then Hylos continued. His army marched onward, toward the shore.
My nails cut into my palms. Power, I could feel it hammering in my soul, slamming into my bones. I reached inside for that force Hylos had, because it radiated from me now too, on the beat of regal drums. The power of a ruler. The power of a king. The power of Aegir.
Reaching out like a steady hand, I pushed on Hylos’s forces. They halted under my power. Somehow, I was stopping them. Controlling them.
Hylos whirled to me. “How are you doing that?”
“Would you just bloody listen to me. Plea—”
With a flick of Hylos’s wrist and a single percussive beat, a wave slammed into me, sending me flailing across the expanse of sea and slapping hard into the water.
My bones clacked from my impact on the plane of ocean, as hard as stone. My legs tumbled over my head. Deep, I was so unthinkably deep in the ocean. Every bare ounce of my flesh burned from the smack of the impact.
Guardians, Hylos was so unthinkably strong.
But I had to stop him.
Trudging through the water, I swam back to the surface. In the distance, Hylos’s army was now progressing toward the city. The siege was fully underway.
Then I saw them, turning a corner across the bay. Large naval ships raced out to meet the incoming forces. Ready for them. Just as I warned Hylos they would be.
None of this needed to happen. No blood needed to be shed. Not today.
Ships and sirens clashed as hard shards of water pierced sails and cannons exploded, sending projectiles smashing into the sea.
The battle began.
Closer, I had to get closer. Hylos had sent me so far from the carnage that the ships and arms of catapults atop them looked like playthings in the distance as they sent deadly projectiles arching through the air, colliding with siren bodies.
Focusing my mind, I willed the water with music, moving me forward. The water rushed past me as I played it, commanded it, far faster than before.
Soon, the shouts of fierce siren warriors harmonized with my melody.
Dodging arrows and firepots that sizzled when they collided with the sea, I waded through the chaotic army for my brother.
Thwack. A siren, handsome with dark-red skin, locked wide eyes with me. An arrow protruded from his crimson chest. His death stare washopeless and gaping. Blood the color of his flesh dribbled down from the wound and encircled him in the water.
His sea-mount reared, throwing him off its back with a shrill cry. The siren sank, motionless, disappearing into the sea, his song fading with him. Gone before his time.
“Elowyn?” Raylik’s familiar voice boomed. With one hand, he wrangled the fallen soldier’s mount. “What are you doing here?”
“This is a trap,” I said, breath ragged. “I found Aegir, and those behind the sirens’ disappearance.” There was so much to tell him but no time.
His eyes traced the blue of my hair and skin. Understanding altered his expression. “They shouldn’t have been this prepared to fight us. Not yet.” He pulled the sea beast toward me. “You need to speak with Hylos. Get on.”
In one swift movement, I mounted.
He pointed east, toward the sun rising over the carnage. “Hylos is there.”
“It was Calypstra, she arranged all of this,” I said over the roar of battle.
