“You’re right about my hex,” Bryn spat at him. “Rangar is alive. He’s leading the ambush.”
Captain Carr sneered, “You think he’ll save your life again?”
She grabbed a bottle of liquor that the captain had packed as an offering to the saint’s shrine. He held up a hand to protect his face, but she smashed it against the side of the carriage, not him.
“I don’t need Rangar to save me.”
The alcohol’s sticky-sweet smell permeated the tight space as it soaked into the walls and seats. She traced a shape in the air, then whispered, “Kora yoquin.”
A flame ignited in her palm. She thrust it toward the dripping liquor, which caught fire immediately. An entire wall of the carriage erupted in flames.
Captain Carr coughed against the smoke. He drew his sword with one hand and gripped Bryn’s arm tightly with the other, refusing to let her go.
She clawed and kicked at him. The flames spread, singing her hair. Outside, battle cries rang out along with the clink of steel blades. Through the window, she glimpsed cloaked rebels engaged in combat with Captain Carr’s golden-armored soldiers.
“Let me go!” she shrieked.
Captain Carr dragged her away from the flaming wall toward the opposite door—
But the door was suddenly flung open.
Rangar stood in the opening with a sword at his side.
He took one look at Captain Carr and then Bryn’s ripped gown. With a growl, he grabbed the captain’s shoulder and pulled him out of the carriage.
Captain Carr fell onto the ground amid the battling soldiers and rebels. He drew his sword, but Rangar slammed a fist into his face before he could strike. Rangar dug his boot against the captain’s torso, pinning him to the ground, while he held out a hand for Bryn.
“Hurry,” he barked.
She was all too eager to be out of the flaming carriage. She fell into Rangar’s embrace, fingers latching onto his shirt as their eyes met.
“By the saints. Rangar . . . ”
Sparks shot out from the carriage, and Rangar shielded Bryn as he moved them back toward the trees. Now freed, Captain Carr lifted himself onto his hands, coughing. Smoke poured out of the carriage, blinding Bryn and Rangar.
The captain shoved to his feet, swinging back his sword—
“Rangar—watch out!”
Before Rangar could move away, a falcon shot out of the smoke, clawing at the captain’s eyes.
Captain Carr growled and swung a hand at the falcon. It flapped away, but a second falcon immediately launching itself at the blood seeping from his ear wound where Bryn had bit him.
The captain cried out in pain.
“Zephyr!” Bryn gasped, whirling toward the forest.
Saraj and Aya stood at the edge of the trees, dressed in forest-brown cloaks, commanding their falcons with hand gestures. Saraj’s falcon’s talons dug into the captain’s cheek. Aya’s falcon went for his eye, but the captain was too fast. He ducked it just in time.
Saraj whistled loudly and made a gesture. Zephyr swooped down on the carriage that was now engulfed in flames. The falcon plunged into the carriage, and then burst out moments later with a piece of burning wood in its talons. It dropped it into the center of the fighting soldiers, who scrambled back from the sparks.
The Mir soldiers tried to fall back into the northern woods, away from the fire and the rebels, but Calista was waiting for them at the edge of the shrine. She had her hands raised in the air and was focused on the soldiers who were scrambling out of the way of the flames. She traced a hex symbol in the air, and thebabbling water from Saint Serrel’s shrine rose as though swept up by a great wind, forming a shield of water to keep Christof’s rebels safe from the fire.
“Bryn, get somewhere safe!” Saraj shouted.
“Come on,” Rangar commanded, tugging her toward the forest. She glanced back over her shoulder at Captain Carr, who was bleeding badly from his wounds but still standing. Aya’s falcon, Hurricane, was circling him for another dive-attack. On the other side of the clearing, Bryn spotted Christof leading a group of rebels, protected by Calista’s wall of water, to push the soldiers toward the fire.
As Bryn and Rangar took cover among the trees, a figure in a hooded cloak materialized out of the shadows.
