All she’d needed was Varius. Now he was with her, mind, body, and spirit.
Andno onewould take him from her.
Unless he himself decided to leave, but that was a different battle.
Now, they talked strategy for today.
Theira could animate the golems to march on her own, but Varius was still inside his. That way he was already armored, if they met resistance sooner than anticipated. And, frankly, given the noise a traveling group of giant clay soldiers made, they could hear each other more easily through her sorcerous array.
She missed the chance to touch him, but they both needed to focus.
With the vision he could access through the golems, Varius went grimly quiet as they approached the border of the Aurelian Empire.
The smoke was visible first. The fires, the shouting—closer now.
But since they were coming from Korossia, even amidst local unrest—perhaps especially amidst it—soldiers were still watching their direction.
The booming sound of the army’s footsteps alerted the soldiers before they were in sight.
Sentries scurried, scouts ran ahead. Ran back even faster, sending up signal flares in case they didn’t make it.
Show time.
A legion of Aurelian soldiers formed up on the border to meet them, a shield wall at their front even as smoke billowed behind.
“Theira,” Varius said, “would you mind flying from here?”
Theira stood up on the golem’s shoulder, playing with the light just a touch to make sure the soldiers saw her in her signature amethyst battle garb.
The Sorceress Transcendent, leading a sorcerous army straight at them.
The front held steady, because they knew it was their doom otherwise.
But at the back of the legion, the lines faltered.
At that, Theira launched into the sky.
And Varius took over controlling the golems.
Their gait shifted.
One step, two, three, and then with great booming crashes, the giants were running at a full sprint toward the Aurelian line.
When the golems reached the human legion, they blew through the front lines, and the rest collapsed behind in a stampede to get out of the way.
They had the advantage, but from there Varius’ job grew more complicated. The more the soldiers spread, the more tasks he had to manage separately for the golems.
But mostly, he let them run.
He’d told her he’d focus on breaking the legion’s resistance first, and only now did Theira understand that wasn’t going to look like the kind of strategy she was used to from him. Breaking their resistance to the golems wasn’t the same as breakingthem.
Theira’s role was different.
She surveyed the ground and chose her spot deliberately, letting her opponents come to her.
Because asshehad expected, taking advantage of the chaos in the Aurelian Empire, a contingent of sorceresses had arrived.
Tenfirst-tier adepts. Tychon wasn’t leaving this opportunity to chance.
