“So we hold the wall,” I said. “No matter what.”
* * *
The waiting was torture.
We had no choice but to watch as a solitary top tower trundled toward us at an agonizingly slow pace, pushed by soldiers from behind. Our goal had gone from initiating this battle ourselves to prolonging its start for as long as possible, leaving us all but immobile until Razel’s forces made their first move. But every second we waited was a second closer our reinforcements came to reaching us.
I searched the command tent line, looking for a flash of gold, but if Razel was here, she was safely sequestered inside.
The top tower paused at the edge of the strip of overturned earth outside our archer’s range. One of the hooded figures lifted a hand. With a wave of their fingers, a wide swath of dirt flattened into solid earth. Immediately, the Illucian cavalry began lining up behind the swath, the loose ground no longer an impediment to their massive horses.
“He’s going to start tearing down pieces of the wall,” I said. My fingers curled anxiously around the string of my bow. At our backs, our soldiers readjusted into ranks accordingly, trying to position for where the Illucians would enter. “Res and I can re-form them, but only for so long. His magic isn’t endless.”
“All right. So then we need to take that earth creep down first,” Kiva said. Then a smile curled across her lips. “I have an idea.”
No one disagreed as she laid out her plan, though I wanted to more than anything. Everyone here had come to fight for Rhodaire, for their family and friends and people. It wasn’t my place to ask Kiva not to do this. But that didn’t stop me from wrapping her in a stranglehold of a hug before rushing off to my position.
As I swung onto Res’s back, the ground shook.
Stone cracked, a piece of the wall shifting. Smaller pieces started to crumble from it, sending soldiers scrambling left and right to escape the deteriorating section.
Power surged along the bond, and Res’s eyes glowed silver. The shaking stopped, the wall’s cracks sealing, leaving it slightly sunken but still whole. A moment of heavy silence fell with the settling dust. Then another crack rent the air, and another, and another. The wall splintered, and Res struggled to keep pace, sealing piece after piece.
We wouldn’t be able to keep this up for long. Eventually, part of the wall would crumble. Sealing the cracks was one thing, but re-forming a wall out of stone might be beyond Res’s earth crow skills, and it would drain his power.
We darted left and right along the flight path that lined the base of the wall, enabling crows to travel at the speed of flight while still benefiting from the protection of the wall.
I hated this. Battling an unseen enemy, being put in a reactive position. We’d just begun, and yet already this fight was out of our control.
A shout went up, then a hail of arrows rained down from above.
Res’s magic flared, deflecting the wooden bolts with ease and sending them careening into the stone wall.
“Saints, pull back!” I yelled. Res circled around just as another wave of arrows fell where he’d been flying.
They’d been tracking his movements based on where the wall resealed. Had the Sella even beentryingto take down the wall, or had that all just been a trap for Res?
The Sella’s attack changed directions, striking along the wall back the way we’d come. Res and I held back, taking signals from the wall guards. They laid down cover fire, pinning the Illucian archers while Res and I fixed the wall, but our timing wasn’t perfect. We could only begin to seal a crack before another one opened, forcing us to leave imperfect fixes behind.
We reached the central courtyard just as Kiva bounded down the stairs.
“Caylus’s horns are in place,” she said. “I’m ready.”
The urge to argue rose, but I swallowed it down. We couldn’t spend the rest of Res’s strength playing tug-of-war over the wall. Still, my stomach turned as I gave Res the order.
A perfect replica of him formed from the shadows of a nearby building. Kiva threw up her hood and leapt onto the shadow crow’s back.
“Send me toward where the forest meets the lake!” she called.
The fake crow lifted into the air and shot out along the wall under Res’s control. Immediately, Rhodairen soldiers started cranking the horns, emitting a high-pitched keening sound, and just in time too. A wave of glass arrows shattered midflight, the Illucian archers having switched ammunition upon confirmation of a crow.
“Now, Thia!” Ericen’s call came from the battlement above.
Res took flight.
As we soared high into the air, I quickly assessed the result of our ploy. Ericen had been right. The Illucian troops were trained to prioritize the crows. The moment Kiva appeared on the fake crow, all the archers’ attention had followed her.
Leaving the earth Sella undefended.
