But Aidon strung up his bow, his movements quick as he said, “Getting the party started.” He drew back the string, one eye closed as he sought his target. He paused, his eyes opening and cutting to Liam, as if waiting for the order to stand down.
Liam gestured for him to continue.
Aidon grinned as he called his power forward to light the tip of his arrow. “Here goes nothing.” He glanced at Dauphine. “Ready, darling?”
Dauphine’s hands tugged in, as if she were summoning the wind. And then, as Aidon loosed his arrow, she sent a gust right along with it, sending the arrow sailing across the field.
It landed pointedly right in front of the first line of Kakos troops.
A loud yell rose up from the mass of Kakos soldiers as they poured into the field.
Liam grinned, his fingers tingling where they gripped his sword. He tugged it from its sheath, the blade catching the firelight as he gave the final anticipatory command.
“Caeli and Auqin, release!”
The clouds above the Kakos soldiers opened up as the Caeli and Auqin sent every last drop of tonic pouring down upon them.
***
An almighty roar rose up from their soldiers as they took off across the slope, backed with howls from the Athatis scattered throughout them. Josie let out a shout of her own as she sprinted just behind the front lines, Aleissande and Cole on either side of her. They met the Kakos army in the dead center of the field, the two armies slamming together, a deadly symphony of raging magic and clanging metal echoing across the mountains.
Arrows whizzed overhead, lit by the Incends and directed into the further lines by the Caeli, and all the while shouts filled the air, the chaos of battle so thick in Josie’s lungs that she thought she might choke on it.
She saw a flash of Aleissande’s golden hair in her periphery, and there was Cole, sword swinging with precision, but the Kakos force was too strong, too numerous, for her to do more than send up a silent prayer that they would be safe.
And yet…there was no one to pray to. No gods whocared about their people would allow this.
Josie grunted as she thrust her sword into the neck of an approaching shoulder. She yanked the blade out, whirling to dodge the blow coming from behind her.
She cut down the soldier, and then another, her blade slicing through the air so quickly that she wondered if it hadn’t fused to her arm.
The ground was firm beneath her boots, the grass dead from the lack of rain. It made it easy for Josie to move, to pivot, to cut.
The tonic, it seemed, had done its job, for she’d yet to feel the almighty power of an affinity brush against her.
Josie locked swords with a Kakos soldier, their blades meeting again and again. His hits were hard, his movements designed not to injure, but to kill, a burning rage lighting up his eyes as a frustrated shout tore from his throat.
The sound died on a gargle as Cole appeared and put his blade through the man’s neck. The man hit the ground with a thud, his blood staining the grass red.
“Easy enough,” Cole chirped. A laugh fell from Josie as she panted, but Cole’s words settled uneasily in her. Her sword found another mark, but this time, she kept her attention on her surroundings.
From what she could tell, Kakos was fighting with both sword and affinity, but their armies were evenly matched. And while the tonic was supposed to have given them the advantage, there hadn’t been nearly enough of it to take down all of Kakos’s Visya or…
“The Diaforaté,” Josie breathed, her head whipping from side to side. She’d faced those monsters before. She knew what their power was capable of.
This was not it.
“Where are the Diaforaté?”
68
It was fitting in a way that Will and Aya had chosen this particular section of the Wall. They’d stood here together nearly four years ago, just before everything had changed.
Will glanced down at the severe drop—it didn’t scare him. Not with Aya standing beside him. Akeeta growled from where she was stalking the ground behind him, Tyr and Aster at her side. Her ears twitched as she took in the fighting, her hackles raised, a wolf primed for attack.
Aya stood at his side, silent but for the soft whizz of her power as she sent a pulse of lightning into the sky.
A call for a demigod that had thus far gone unanswered.
