Bolstered by a powerful wind, Res spiraled high into the sky, then dove fast for the ground on the far side of the wall.
I tore from the battlement to meet him. He pulled up from his dive, wings flaring wide, but a flash of pain blazed from him. He cringed inward, feathers flickering silver a second before he hit the ground like a falling star.
Then I was at his side, my hands searching his body, unable to do anything but strangle my panic into silence as I sought his mind. “You’re okay, you’re okay. Tell me you’re okay.” The words poured out of me even as I struggled to send reassurances along the cord, to grant the peace and comfort he needed to heal.
Res cawed weakly, slowly shifting his wings out from under him, trying to pull back onto his feet.
I forced a hard breath out, then in again, willing myself into a calm that felt so impossibly remote. I pictured my fear and anxiety as a snake, imagining it slithering off my shoulders and far, far away from me. Then I projected that serenity to Res.
He seized hold of it. A moment later, a soft golden light rose from his feathers. It flickered, fading out, then back in, and with every spurt of it, his exhaustion echoed, but slowly, his body healed.
Then the Illucian cavalry flooded the city.
Thirty-One
Ericen appeared before me, his face sprayed with red—someone else’s blood. “Can he move?”
“I don’t know.” The words were half sob as he pulled me to my feet.
“Come on, you bloody chicken!” he snapped. “You don’t see me lying around.”
Res cawed, his power surging alongside a flash of indignation. The golden light flared, and he wrenched himself to his feet.
“There you go,” the prince said with a smirk. “How injured is he? We need him to close that opening.”
“He doesn’t even have enough strength to heal,” I said. “I don’t think he can close it.” Even if Res had been at full strength, forming something that large out of the earth alone would have been a true test of his earth crow powers.
The Rhodairen and Trendellan cavalry had lined up at the opening and now engaged the incoming flood of Illucian soldiers. Horses slammed together. Soldiers fell screaming. Thunder beat the sky alongside their cries.
Eventually, our cavalry would be overrun, and our infantry wouldn’t be able to stop the tide of warhorses.
Someone broke free of the fighting, heading toward us. I had an arrow nocked before I recognized Estrel.
Her left arm was stained red, and she cradled it close to her body. She readjusted her grip on her blade. “I lost track of the Sella I was fighting. How many of the damn things are left?”
“That’s the last one,” I said with a small flicker of relief. “If the other two are here, I haven’t seen them. We just have to last until the reinforcements arrive or Res has enough energy to re-form that wall.”
Estrel grunted. “Easier said than done.”
As if in recognition of her words, our line broke.
* * *
Illucian infantry flooded through the wall gap on the heels of the cavalry line. Rhodairen and Trendellan soldiers rushed to meet them, but their organization had failed, and we could only last so long against the sheer Illucian numbers.
A contingent of soldiers broke off, rushing for our group. Ericen and Estrel turned to meet them. I nocked an arrow, laying down cover for them as they fought, and we formed a protective arch around Res.
Time slowed. My muscles burned. I thought only of the next arrow, the next swing. Of the forward and backward momentum of Estrel’s and Ericen’s strikes. Attack, step back, arrow. Attack, step back, arrow. Breathe.
Soldiers fell.
My thundering heart filled my ears. I became aware of every breath, every movement. The world fell away as blood splattered my pants, my hands, my bow.
A Trendellan monk and two Rhodairen soldiers had joined Ericen and Estrel, but Res was too noticeable of a target. More and more Illucians broke off, making straight for us. Our line was wearing down, and my open shots were few and far between. Every time we fell back deeper into the city, they pursued us, Res limping just ahead of us.
We couldn’t hold out much longer.
“Fall back!” Lady Kerova’s voice sounded above the tumult. “To the lake!”
