Caris winced at that, not relishing the thought of tithes learning to fight against revenants, but she supposed that sort of training was better than being cut down on the shore by the enemy.
Ksenia leaned back out of the alcove to see if it was safe to move. “Let’s go.”
They moved back onto the dirt-choked street, a building at the corner nothing more than rubble now. Caris hoped no one had been inside it when the bomb hit, aching with the thought of how many senseless deaths were most likely happening right now.
They were perhaps a quarter mile from the section of the wall, having missed two more bomb drops flung from the enemy’s position on the shoreline, when the passing of an airship overhead had Caris looking up. She hunched her shoulders out of instinct before recognizing theCelestial Sprite, its hull bristling with weapons.
“Honovi’s in the air,” she gasped out, throat dry from their frantic run across the fort.
“Do you wardens have any airships?” Nathaniel asked, sounding just as out of breath.
“Nothing meant for a fight like this. We use them to haul our alchemy machines for deep cleansings of the land,” Ksenia said.
They turned another corner, the narrow street they found themselves on leading directly to the fort’s walls. At the end of the street, Caris could see a sentinel-class automaton walking up the stone steps to the ramparts, Zip guns raised and ready to fire. Other wardens were in position on the ramparts as well, crouched down and returning fire when they could.
“Has anyone breached the walls yet?” Nathaniel asked.
“Sirens would’ve changed pitch if that happened. Let’s get up there.”
They sprinted toward the stone stairs as another bomb whistled overhead, arcing through the sky to land well beyond their position. The explosion still made Caris’ shoulders rise to her ears in the wake of the noise. Nathaniel grabbed her hand, giving it a squeeze as they both nearly rebounded off the fort’s wall in their haste to make it to the ramparts.
They reached the top, after the sentinel-class automaton did, skirting past its massive bulk while its Zip guns that doubled as arms clicked into place and started firing. The warden in the cage at its center aimed at where the enemy was massed at the shore below.
Nathaniel pulled Caris into the sentry tower, Ksenia already inside and conversing with a pair of wardens manning a large grenade launcher. The bulk of the tripod-mounted contraption sat below the top of the tower wall, but the barrel pointed at the sky. Caris eyed the weapon and the crate of grenades that sat near its base.
One of the wardens ducked away from Ksenia to position himself behind the grenade launcher to load it. He yanked at a couple of levers to load the grenade, waiting on his partner to sight the target through a spyglass.
“The shore is lined with submersibles still offloading soldiers,” Ksenia said, raising her voice to be heard over the sound of Zip gun fire down the wall. “We need to target their escape vehicles. Cover your ears!”
Caris slapped her hands over her ears, but it wasn’t enough to block out the sound of the grenade launcher releasing with a deafeningcrack. The sound made her whimper, her gas mask trapping the noise inside metal and leather so no one else could hear it. The wardens handling the weapon both had earmuffs to help shield them from the noise.
“Since when do you need war machines?” Nathaniel shouted. Caris could barely hear him over the ringing in her ears.
“Ranged weapons work better when there’s a horde to eradicate,” Ksenia said.
Caris wasn’t sure blowing revenants into pieces was safe, considering the spores that would aerate, but she supposed wardens weren’t worried about that threat as much as everyone else.
“That took out a few submersibles, but there might be more in the water we can’t see,” the warden handling the grenade launcher said. “They have us surrounded.”
Ksenia grimaced. “The wall is holding.”
“For now.”
Caris stayed low as she moved closer to Ksenia. “Do you need the shore cleared?”
Ksenia stared at her through dusty goggles. “Do you understand what you’re offering to do? Are you still willing to do it?”
To fight in defense of a people who had only ever spent their lives guarding Maricol’s children against poison and revenants. To strike back against an unprovoked attack.
Tokill, when she was no soldier.
“Caris,” Nathaniel said, his hand settling on her shoulder as more explosions filled the air. When she looked at him, her eyes were drawn to the way the collar of his linen shirt gaped open, giving her a glimpse of the scars he carried. “You don’t have to do this.”
She covered his hand with hers, taking in a steadying breath. “I have to.”
If Eimarille was willing to go to war to conquer, Caris had to be willing to go to war to fight back. She didn’t think she could live with herself if she stood by and did nothing.
“Let’s have you take out this section of the shore first,” Ksenia said.
