Tariq looked down at Aisha. Her face was pale, her hair plastered to her cheek by the wind. She had saved dozens of his men’s lives.
‘Get down there and see if he survived the fall,’ Tariq told Kaidon.
With a nod, Kaidon set off back down the path.
‘Everyone else, with me,’ Tariq said. ‘We’ll take position further down, where there’s cover.’
Safiya took Aisha’s other arm, since her legs weren’t cooperating yet, and they descended at a controlled run. Below, the roar of the fires and the shouting grew louder. They reached the lower slope, a narrow shelf of earth and stone that overlooked a jagged stretch of shoreline. While they could no longer shoot at the galleys in the water, they could reach some of those closer to the shore.
‘Form a line!’ Tariq instructed.
Archers spread out along the shelf, feet braced and bows steady. Once Safiya was sure Aisha could stand without support, she loaded her longbow.
‘Loose!’
Arrows whistled through the air. Shouts erupted from below as the holy warriors lifted their shields. One boat began to spin, its oarsmen thrown into the foamy waves. Safiya’s arrow struck clean into him. Her hands shook as she lowered the bow, the reality of taking a life setting in.
‘I need to see what’s next,’ Aisha said. But when she touched Tariq this time, nothing happened.
‘What’s wrong?’ he asked.
‘I don’t know.’ She looked around at the archers. ‘Can you take me to the archers?’
He really didn’t want her to move from that spot, but he also didn’t want his men to die. ‘Stay behind me.’ Nocking an arrow, he moved out.
As they moved between the men, Aisha’s fingertips brushed over the soldiers until she found one who gave her what she needed. Tariq watched down his arrow as boats lodged themselves in the sand below.
‘Draw! Loose!’ he shouted, joining in the shooting this time.
The second volley fell, but it didn’t slow the warriors splashing up the beach under the cover of smoke.
‘You all right back there?’ Tariq asked Aisha.
When she didn’t reply, he glanced over his shoulder and saw that she had moved to another archer. Her breaths were short, and her legs wavered. ‘Gods damn it,’ he muttered as he moved to cover her. ‘That’s enough,’ he told her.
‘I’m fine,’ she insisted, reaching for the next soldier.
‘Aisha, fall back,’ he said.
But she was mid-vision now, head jerking.
‘Safiya!’ he called.
She looked over in their direction, then came at a run. She got to Aisha just as her knees gave out.
‘Cover us,’ Tariq instructed a nearby soldier. He flung his bow over his shoulder and turned to Aisha, horrified to discover blood dripping from one ear. Scooping her into his arms, he carried her away from the edge to a large rock that offered partial cover.
Safiya followed. ‘Why is her ear bleeding?’
‘She’s overdone it.’ He lowered Aisha to the ground as gently as he could and placed a hand on her chest. ‘She’s not breathing.’ He couldn’t keep the panic out of his voice.
Safiya dropped to her knees beside her sister. ‘Damn it, Aisha. You need to breathe.’ She gave her sister a shake. ‘Breathe!’
Finally, Aisha’s chest rose sharply, and her eyes fluttered for a moment before clearing. She grabbed hold of Tariq’s arm as she caught her breath, but the contact pulled her back under again.
Tariq tore his arm free, and Aisha returned with a gasp, this time rolling onto her side and retching.
‘For the love of all the gods,’ Safiya said.
