Then an earsplitting crack rent the air.
Res wheeled about in midair. A huge section of the wall had crumbled. Two Sellas stood before the opening, the water they’d slammed into the weakened wall like a battering ram pooling around their ankles.
The city was exposed.
* * *
The Illucian cavalry charged, led by a hooded Sella.
Ericen and the others retreated behind the closing gate as arrows flew at the charging force. The Sella deflected them all with a flick of his hand.
“He’s a battle Sella,” I breathed.
The cavalry splashed past the water Sellas and through the opening in a rush of hooves and yells.
“Strike the water!” I yelled to Res.
Lightning snapped, hitting the shallow pool as a wave of soldiers shot through it. Horses and people screamed as they were electrocuted, arrows striking the stunned soldiers the shock didn’t kill. The current caught one of the water Sellas, stunning her, then an arrow took her in the heart. Bodies dropped in a natural barrier against a second charge, but several of the soldiers made it through, including the battle Sella.
He deflected the sword of the first soldier who came for him with a sweep of his hand. With another, he turned it against its wielder, sending it through the soldier’s neck and through the necks of several soldiers behind them. His strength was incredible.
The Sella advanced on a fallen soldier. A column of silver torcs lining his upper arm turned liquid, melding into each other and sloughing down his arm into a sharpened blade. He pulled it back.
Then Estrel was there, a black gold blade in hand. It didn’t respond to the Sella’s attempts to control it, and she landed a strike across his bicep before he realized.
It took everything inside me to turn away from that fight. In the aftermath of the lightning strike, the first pang of fatigue had slid down the bond from Res. Constantly resealing the wall had drained his magic, which was probably exactly what they’d wanted. In fact, this whole battle seemed an exercise in drawing out Res’s magic.
Why not attack with the earth and water Sellas at once? Where was Valis to burn through stone? Instead, they took turns, letting Res waste his magic against one before turning out another, all with the steady, controlled pace that indicated they knew they had the upper hand.
Something was wrong, but without an idea of what, I had to play their game.
It would take time and a lot of energy to fix that large an area of the wall, and with one water Sella still alive, they’d only tear it down again, so in the end, I left the infantry to hold the opening, choosing instead to deal with the Sella first.
Ripping my bow free, I nocked an arrow and directed Res down to the battlement. Leaping from his back, I raced along the wall as he caught an updraft, soaring high into the air and disappearing into the cloud cover.
The water Sella had erected a shield of ice to protect itself from arrows, and though Res had tried to take control of it, the Sella’s power was stronger than his, and he couldn’t budge its control.
Which meant we had to break it another way.
At the edge of my vision, the remainder of the Illucian army prepared to rush the opening once it was free of bodies, black warhorses rearing and frothing at the bit.
I felt a flash of exaltation from Res before he dove.
The clouds tore free of the sky, swirling around him in a dark tornado ablaze with lightning. It glinted off the gleaming metal of Res’s armored feathers as he barreled through the water Sella’s ice wall, shattering it.
I loosed my arrow a split second later.
It pierced the Sella through the eye.
Res tried to pull up, but he misjudged the speed with his armored body and slammed into the front line of cavalry. I screamed for him, flinging myself at the wall, but hands pulled me back. Panic resounded along the cord between us as I clawed at the people restraining me.
Swords flashed, striking the spot where Res had been consumed by the warhorses. It was as if a dark sea had swallowed him. I could feel his fear, his pain. He struggled to right himself, to find which way was up and escape.
Hold the armor!I screamed down the cord, praying he could maintain control. Only fear echoed back. Swords flashed, and more soldiers joined the fray.
Then a spray of silver exploded upward. Horses reared back, sending riders tumbling to the ground, where their fellows trampled them. The earth surged beneath Res. It rolled up like a wave to toss him into the air, his metal armor fading as his wings spread wide.
A sword caught the side of his leg. Res’s pain hit me like a blow to the chest. I stumbled back, the hands going from holding me back to holding me up. Another sharp wave coursed through me as something nicked his wing, and then my bow was in my hands and I was firing arrow after arrow after arrow into the crowd of soldiers, the other archers stepping up alongside me.
