The lake. It was a death trap. With only the thin strip of stone across it, our troops would bottleneck and be slaughtered.
But they were already being slaughtered.
We fought and ran and struck and fell back. Ericen killed two Illucian soldiers in a row. Estrel took down a third. Six more took their place.
Somehow, we reached the far end of the town, drained and bleeding and with muscles burning. The city was overrun. A tide of black and blue slid inevitably toward us.
A Rhodairen soldier stumbled back beside me, her dark eyes wide. “It’s gone.”
I seized her shoulder. “What’s gone?”
“The path.”
I spun. Over the heads of the backed-up infantry, I could see through the arch leading out to the lake.
The earth Sella had destroyed the stone pathway.
They’d cut off our retreat.
A sword caught the monk in the stomach, the tip piercing through his back. Another cut across Estrel’s leg, sending her to the ground.
The battle Sella grinned down at us.
Ericen stepped in front of Estrel, downing a Vykryn as he moved. I put an arrow in the one coming for his back. But there were too many. The battle Sella’s makeshift sword caught Ericen along the side of his arm, then he slit the throat of a Rhodairen soldier. She fell, a sickening wheeze cutting through the thunder in my ears.
My fingers sought another arrow—and found only air.
The battle Sella stepped back and threw something wide over our heads. A net fell over Res. He let out a piercing screech and flared his wings, but they only tangled in the ropes. Two Vykryn moved in, tugging him down. A third lifted a sword.
A scream tore through me as I threw myself at the Vykryn. My shoulder rammed into his chest, knocking him back. I swung through with my bow, catching him across the face with its sharpened edge. The other Vykryn closed in on me, and I backed away, panting hard.
Over their shoulder, I met Ericen’s gaze. Saw him fighting viciously to get to me. Saw the tide of soldiers swallow him up and knew that it was over, that we’d lost.
The battle Sella raised his sword over Estrel’s exposed neck.
Then a black gold blade pierced through his chest.
He dropped, the Vykryn turning too slowly. Kiva killed them before they realized what she’d done.
Relief nearly sent me to my knees as Kiva, bloody and scratched and bearing a wild grin, said, “I brought some friends.”
Over her shoulder, a ripple went through the Illucian soldiers. One by one, they turned, forced to face something charging through their ranks from behind.
Our reinforcements had arrived.
* * *
The Jin and Ambriellan forces flooded across the field.
Unlike Rhodaire’s, Jindae’s cavalry had been second only to Illucia. That might showed in the line of horses rushing the exposed infantry’s backs. Soldiers turned too slowly as horses barreled through them, blades flashing.
Ericen broke between two soldiers, shoving his way to Kiva’s side as Estrel and I tore the net away from Res. He let out a low caw, tugging at me along the line. He wanted to fight.
I swung back around and into the saddle. He straightened, his leg finally healed.
“Get those ranks formed back up!” I shouted to Kiva. “And stay out of Res’s way!”
Then we shot into the sky.
