Kae’ko releases her neck but stays close, his own body trembling.
“I’m so sorry,” Rhianelle says, reaching out to touch Kiiska’s snout. “I’m so, so sorry.”
The young dragon nuzzles against her palm.
You should run,she manages to say through her grief.Get as far inland as you can. Don’t let Mother’s sacrifice be wasted.
Kiiska looks at Kae’ko.Can you amplify my voice so everyone can hear?
The young male dragon nods.
Kiiska and Kae’ko open their mouths together.Everyone away from the shore! Run for high ground now!
The command thunders across the harbor, magnified a hundredfold. It rolls through the streets of Völundr, rattling windows and making buildings shake.
Chaos erupts as the citizens of Völundr scramble to flee. Parents grab children, dragging them away by force. The elderly are lifted by younger neighbors, hoisted onto backs and shoulders. People stream inland in an upward river flowingaway from the shore. Rhianelle wades through the shallow water, pulling people toward safety, her voice hoarse from shouting directions.
Horns sound across the fleet, signals relaying to shore. Warnings echo and re-echo until the whole city rings with alarm.
“They won’t make it,” Garrett says flatly, standing beside us on the exposed harbor floor. “Not all of them.”
He’s right. The mud sucks at our boots as we move toward shore. Thousands of people are running now but they’re so far from safety.
On the horizon, I see it. A white line that’s growing, approaching with impossible speed.
“How big?” Eyepatch asks quietly.
I stare at that approaching wall of water. “Bigger than the city walls.”
I watch the blood drain from his face.
Shadow explodes from me, forming portals across the pier. Dark gateways that lead to higher ground, to the upper districts, to anywhere that isn’t here.
“Guide them,” I mutter to Red and Eyepatch. “I’ll move as many as I can.”
The knights work without hesitation, understanding what needs to be done. They grab people by the arms and shove them toward the nearest portals.
“Through here! Keep moving!” Eyepatch calls out, guiding people toward the nearest gateway.
My teeth clench as I pour everything into holding the shadow paths open. People stumble through the portals, pulled by knights and sailors who understand what I’m offering.
Through one portal, through another, through a dozen at once. It takes all my concentration and my power. Coinneach and I work as one, our minds merged to handle the impossible task of holding so many doorways open.
Thirty people. Fifty. A hundred. More.
Rhianelle moves through the chaos with Rainer and Shade at her side. She lifts a small child who’s been separated from his mother, passing him to Darstan who carries him toward a portal. A woman clutches two children, frozen with fear.
“This way. Hurry.” Rhianelle guides the mother forward. They disappear through the gateway. I keep one eye on her always, tracking her silver braid through the crowd even as I hold the portals open.
But there are thousands still running.
“Get to the ships!” A sailor shouts from the pier. “All vessels, make for open water! Now!”
Panic erupts at the docks. People claw their way up rope ladders, stumbling over each other in their desperation. The crew haul people over the sides as fast as they can. A mother throws her child up to waiting arms before scrambling after.
The ships that can move leave immediately. Sails unfurl, oars bite into the shallow water. The ones too damaged from battle are abandoned, their crews leaping to sister vessels that might have a chance.
I keep creating portals. My head is splitting from the effort but I don’t stop. People are still running. Some are climbing stairs and ladders on Völundr’s tall structures in desperate rushes. Red and Eyepatch keep directing whoever they can into the dark doorways.
