He trailed off, cheeks tinging pink in embarrassment.
“Enhanced senses?” I supplied for him.
He nodded vigorously.
“Sorry,” he said quickly. “Viljar, my mentor back at camp, said the Victors don’t like to talk about their magic much. I shouldn’t have asked.”
Was that so? I looked forward to whereValinled us.Aigeushad made his way to his side and was alreadygesturing wildly as he spoke.Valindidn’t seem to respond with any more than a nod from time to time as his eyes darted around our surroundings.
“I don’t mind,” I told the boy.
He beamed up at me.
“This is my first time out,” he said. “Viljarsaid it would be a good experience.”
“Me too.”
“You train with Castor, right? Well, andValin, of course. Makes sense they would put you with them, seeing how important you are and everything. I’m glad you’re here. GladValinis too, andAigeus. Not that I think we’re going to see anyZvertoday but you never know beyond the walls, right?”
“Right,” I agreed but I was hardly listening.
The boy had been right about one thing. The vast expanse of this desert certainly seemed endless. The wind picked up a bit farther from the city and sand rose and swirled around us until some of the men were forced to raise their arms in an effort to shield their eyes. Still, we pressed on. Some spoke in muttered whispers. Some remained silent. All kept their eyes on the horizon.
“My mother didn’t want me joining up,” the boy next to me confessed as I fought to maintain my focus on enhancing my senses, trying to see what the others couldn’t. “She said it was too dangerous and she’s probably right. But we’ve got to defend our homes, yeah? TheGeistare generous enough to allow us to live in their city of light. The least we can do is make sure it stays that way. The others, the ones outside the walls, I’ve never seen them but my older brother has. He said they’re barbarians, the lot of them. They hardly even have armor and their weapons are all made of sticks and stones. At least we get plate metal. At least we get proper spears. And of course, we have magic on our side. The gods themselves—”
The boy’s words died off with a sudden gurgling noise. I whipped my eyes back to him to find an arrow protruding from his neck just above where his armor and helmet were separated.
My eyes widened in shock as he fell to the sand, staining the orange dirt crimson. His fingers clawed at the arrow as if he would attempt to extricate it but then, just as suddenly, his legs stopped twitching and he went still. My lips parted to shout the warning, too late, but someone beat me to it.
“Zver!” someone cried and our soldiers all raced to formation.
I stood still, blinking down at the boy’s body in the dirt as he stared up at the beating sun with glassy eyes. It was his first time beyond the gates. It was a scouting mission. It was supposed to be safe. He was supposed to be safe. And now he was dead.
“Viper,” someone snarled.
I turned to findValin’sdark gaze narrowed upon me.
Hefting my spear from over my shoulder and holding it in front of me in a defensive position, I raced to the others and got into position alongside them. We stood in a circle, back to back so we couldn’t be taken unaware at any flank. We kept our gazes up in the sky, searching for the beast and it’s rider who’d shot one of us with their arrow.
For a moment, nothing happened. The broad blue sky was just as empty as ever. Then, they appeared.
ThreeZverand their riders broke through the clouds, sweeping down toward us. For the first time, since awakening in this strange new world, I felt the disadvantage. We were a small unit, meant only for scouting, most of us ordinary soldiers without magic. And we were up against three vicious, snarling beasts with dagger-like claws, venomous saliva, and the ability to fly. Not to mention the riders atop them which were armed far more heavily than the dead boy’s brother had claimed. Each of them possessed a bow and a quiver of arrows on their backs, perfect for a ranged assault from their beast’s back, somethingwe had little defense against. They carried daggers at their hips and a long, gleaming sword strapped to their chests as well. Yet they rode as if unencumbered, their bodies shifting and rising on the back of their mounts as if they were moving upon the ground.
“Shields!”Valincried and we all obeyed, lifting our heavy metal plates into the air just as an onslaught of arrows fell upon us. They clattered against our iron and fell to the sand.
The soldier on my left was shaking. The one on my right was gripping his shield with a fist so tight his knuckles were turning white. I could hearValinissuing commands but his words were drowned out by the fierce beating of wings as one of the beasts swooped low enough for its rider, a woman with fiery red hair tied into a braid, to roll onto the ground below. She was back on her feet in an instant and charging our line with the battle cry of a true warrior. She hit the line of our shields directly to my left and the shaking soldier’s arm gave out, his shield falling away long enough for her to slice her blade right through the meat of his belly.
He fell to the ground, holding in his intestines, and choking in agony. My gaze fell to him briefly, my first instinct crying out for me to drop to my knees and heal him. I could. I knew I could. But she seemed to sense that as well.
Her gaze narrowed, braid whipping around her shoulder, as she turned her blade on me. I raised my shield just in time, letting out a hiss of pain as her steel clanged against my iron. She thrust forward again and again. I was able to raise my blade to parry her attacks, even land some of my own, but I didn’t gather my wits about me enough to remember my magic until she'd drawn me somewhat away from the rest of my party.
They were facing a brutal assault of their own, I noticed in a split second over her shoulder as she swung at me again. Another rider, a man around my age, had landed on the sand onthe other side of the group and was hacking through the ranks as well as she had. Already, two men laid dead on his side and now he was engagingValin. The last rider was still circling above, swooping from time to time so her beast could swipe its lethal claws down onto us, peeling away the last of our shields and leaving us bare.
Aigeus, who'd been busy defending against the onslaught, let out a guttural scream and raised his palm. A blast of light shot from his hand and struck the beast right in the chest. It dropped from the sky, tumbling end over end before hitting the sand with a shuddering crash. Its rider fought to scramble away from the creature’s body, pulling her mangled leg out from under it and reaching for her blade. But it was too late.Aigeuswas already there, glowing against the desert sand. Her head flew from her shoulders a minute later.
“Kaia,” the woman fighting me muttered as she stared back at her fallen comrade, her attacks shuttering and then halting altogether.
Aigeuslooked up then, blood covering him from head to toe, and his gaze narrowed to a glare as he strode forward, toward us. To the warrior’s credit, she didn't back away. Instead, she took a few steps from me, making sure to keep me in her peripheral vision, and flipped her blade, squaring her shoulders in preparation to battle a god.
