A ragged cheer erupts from the people around us. Those who’ve reached the cliff fortresses can see it too.
“Keep going!” People who moments ago had given up hope now shout themselves hoarse. “Push through!”
The sixth ship suddenly lists. The water swallows it whole.
“No!” Rhianelle gasps in horror beside me. One moment it’s there and the next it’s gone. Hundreds of lives lost in an instant.
Not every vessel succeeds. Ships that couldn’t get far enough from shore in time meet the wave unprepared. They disappear in an instant, swallowed whole and shattered under the impact. Most make it through against all odds. They climb that wall and crest the peak, surviving the impossible. For a moment, the people of Völundr remember what hope feels like.
But the wave is still coming for us. It moves faster than the first surge, growing monstrous as it devours the distance to shore.
“Run!” Rhianelle shouts to her people, but there’s nowhere left to run.
I reach for her, ready to move us both to safety.
She slips from my grasp.
“Rhianelle!”
20
Chapter 19 Rhianelle
“Move inland! Away from the water!” My voice is already hoarse from shouting, but I keep going. “Get to the cliff fortresses! The second wave is coming!”
The bells of Völundr ring in a frenzy, their urgent clamor echoing off shattered walls and collapsed buildings.
“Rhianelle!” Svenn’s voice cuts through the chaos. He grabs my arm. “We need to go. Now.”
“No.” I pull away from him. “I can’t just leave. I have to help them.”
His jaw clenches, but he doesn’t argue further. He simply stays at my side.
People stumble through the ruins, many still in shock from the first surge. A mother sits in the mud beside two small bodies.
“Please,” I beg her, grabbing her arms. “You have to move. There’s another wave coming. Bigger than the first.”
I keep trying to pull her away but she won’t leave them.
“Your Highness,” Garrett says gently, appearing beside me. Blood runs from a gash on his temple. “We have to keep moving.”
He’s right. I force myself to turn away, hating myself for it. I keep pulling people to their feet. Some listen. Most don’t. They’re broken.
The temple bells continue ringing, but the temple itself lists dangerously to one side. Cracks run through its foundation. I turn around to look for the rest of my knights. Darstan is standing next to a child as she cries over a body half-buried in debris.
“I need you to get to higher ground now,” Aelfric whispers softly to an elderly shopkeeper. I can see the despair in his face.
Aelfric knows the cliffs might not be high enough. None of us know how big Tayum’s Wrath will be.
My heart cracks with every step through the destruction.
The white coral buildings that glow at twilight are rubble now. Elegant bridges over canals have collapsed into seawater. Markets where I walked happy and whole just days ago are gone, their stalls reduced to splinters.
This is my kingdom. My beloved Völundr.
And I couldn’t save it. Now the second wave is coming to finish what the first began.
I’ve never felt this helpless.
