The lead centaur cocked his head, long dark hair sweeping his muscled shoulders. “Interesting trick, Firebringer. But magic like that doesn’t last.”
“I’ve got more than enough in me. Back off or burn,” Bellanca threatened, visibly stoking her fire.
He signaled to his herd, and they fired again. The volley arced over her head this time, ready to fall on the retreating soldiers. She turned with the arrows, trying to snare the bolts in her sun flare before they started down. She got what she could, but the centaurs were close, and the arrows too fast, forcing her to cut off her magic before she hit any of her people.
At least a dozen deadly bolts thudded to the ground. Two stragglers toppled, and anger roared inside her as she whipped back around.
The creatures had spread out, surrounding her. She would sun flare the life out of them right now if she wasn’t convinced it would require a blast of magic so strong it would catch and kill Carver and the soldiers, too. Immortal creatures were tough, feared little, and healed quickly. She’d have to destroy them so thoroughly they couldn’t come back from it, and that would require all her magic plus the Shard of Olympus.
“This is fair warning.” She lifted her hard-burning hands to keep the centaurs away from her. “I will kill you—every single one of you—unless you turn around now and disappear into the woods. We’ll cross the river. We won’t come back. This is my only offer.”
The centaur Alpha laughed, a dark sound full of malice. “Trespassers are fair game. There’s no ignoring so many tainted feet on our gods-given land. You started this. We’ll finish it.”
Her mouth pinched. It was killing, then. Their choice.
An odd feeling swept through her. Fatigue—though not physical. For the first time in her life, she was sick of fighting.
She dared a quick glance over her shoulder to see how the soldiers were progressing. Many were crossing the river, with several scrambling up the opposite bank now. Those who’d stopped to help their comrades were far behind the others. Some still bent over the fallen, searching for survivors. Pav was trying to get an injured man off the ground. Carver and Dex were doing the same, all while struggling with Silas.
Taking in the scene took mere seconds, but she’d see it in her mind forever. Moaning men. Reaching hands. Blood in the grass. Heroes trying to help. Cowards fleeing. Lives snuffed out for no reason at all except for plain violence and cruelty.
Rage beyond anything she’d felt since the day she burned her gods-awful brother to a crisp erupted inside her. Her fire was hot, but her fury was stone-cold and determined. She wasn’t like other people. Remorse rarely filled her when she killed. Remorse filled her when shedidn’tkill, and then other people suffered or died because of her inaction. That would never be her again, and she wouldnotlose another soldier.
“Then start with me, boys,” she taunted, spreading her burning hands. She knew enough about centaurs to know they couldn’t resist a direct challenge. “If you can get past me, then you can have at whoever’s left on this side of the river.”
Interest gleamed in the leader’s eyes. “I accept your challenge, fire worm.” His smile turned vicious. “You die first, but I don’t guarantee not crossing the river this time to finish my sport with your soldiers. Atlantapol is still a long way from the border.”
His threat only made her magic blaze hotter. “Do that, and the gods will punish you.”
He scoffed. “The only god who roams here isn’t interested in what happens to humans anymore.”
She huffed, disgusted. That was a ringing endorsement for Hera. “Then come and get me,” she dared.
Despite her challenge, she struck first, throwing a sizzling fireball at the centaur Alpha as she charged up the incline. Taken off guard, he only half avoided her attack and bellowed in pain and fury, his shoulder smoldering and sparks cascading down his torso and withers. Still running, she whipped fire at the two creatures closest to him, adding a hint of sun flare to see how much damage it caused. Melted skin. Hints of bone. The creatures recoiled, and satisfaction burned through her.
Their hesitation didn’t last. They swiftly penned her in, and she ended up fighting the centaursandthe amulet. The Shard of Olympus wanted to turn her magic into a colossal wave of power, but she couldn’t let that happen until she was sure Carver and the soldiers were at least across the river and sheltered by the trees beyond it.
Glowing sun-flare hot and throwing constant fire, she resisted the shard’s heavy pull as the herd leader darted in and kicked out. She leaped away, and his back hooves thumped the air in front of her. Another centaur charged. She twisted sideways and slipped between two others, burning brighter to force them away from her. She spun again, on the defensive now, the double fight distracting her when she didn’t have concentration to spare. Her magic didn’t understand holding back. Neither did the Shard of Olympus. They both railed at her to destroy, to end this, and she wished to the gods she could.
“Is that all you’ve got, fire worm?” The Alpha circled her, his tail twitching and his burn already healed. “We’re going to trample you to a pulp and then chase down your little soldiers.”
Bellanca stared back at him, keeping part of her awareness on the centaurs around her. She worked hard to control the shard. It was supposed to help her, but right now, all it was doing was forcing her to hold back—something she never did in battle. “We’re not done yet. You haven’t even touched me.”
His smile chilled her. “I’m toying with you. It amuses me.”
She smiled back, just as chilling. “I’mtoying with you.” She darted a look over her shoulder, but she was too deep in centaurs to see through them. “You’re dead the second I want you to be.”
Hate rolled off the Alpha like thunder. “Kill her. I want her bones ground to dust so that I can roll in them.”
At least his threats were original. She didn’t waste time or breath on responding. She ignited. The hottest flames of her life snapped and snarled around her arms and hands, their color closer to the glacial glow of the Shard of Olympus than to her usual fire. She accepted a portion of power from the amulet and launched her magic at the centaur next to the herd leader. He fell to the ground, squealing in agony.
The herd leader’s face darkened in fury, and he looked at her with such malice it probably should’ve scraped her skin like knives and sent her running. Instead, she let out a simple sound of disappointment. “Hmm.” She hadn’t punched a hole straight through the centaur, but the big burn went so deep that his melting insides oozed out of him. “I’ll have to add a little more oomph next time.” Learning to combine the shard with her innate magic onherterms would be a literal trial by fire. At least she had plenty of practice targets.
Gathering blazing-hot fire in her hand, she shaped it into a spear. Seeing the centaurs pause made her smile, and she lengthened her weapon toward the Alpha, growing it flame by flame and watching her fire glint in his eyes like fear.
Carver’s voice reached her from down the big meadow, faint but clear. “Get wet as you cross! Soak yourselves in the river!”
“Attack!” the leader shouted.
