A black-cloaked assailant comes at us, a spear in hand. Alys shoves a ball of light at him, sending him staggering backward right into the path of Chiyo’s dagger. But the blade never hits as he disappears and reappears in front of Chiyo. My heart skips a beat, but she’s quick and dodges each jab of his spear. She pulls another dagger free from her belt and slams it into the man’s forearm. His spear rolls a short distance away down a small swell of land behind Chiyo as she ducks and dances out of the man’s reach.
He yanks the blade from his arm, blood spraying, and slashes at her. She dodges and sinks her fist into his stomach. When he doubles over, she grabs his hair and shoves his head down, driving her knee into his face. Blood spurts from his nose, and he grabs at it, falling to the ground. Chiyo retrieves the spear, twirling it in her hands. Her foot lands on his chest as she lifts the weapon. I turn away to avoid what happens next.
Four remain. Kilkenny takes it down to three—two in black and one in white.
Wrestling to find some semblance of focus, I turn to Alys. “We can’t breach the wards with them here, right?” I sign quickly. We wouldn’t want them to follow us in somehow.
Sweat beads on her forehead, making her mahogany skin shine. “Even if they follow us, they wouldn’t make it past the stronghold. But we need an uninterrupted moment. Can you summon your powers?”
My stomach dips. “I can’t.” I’ve only done so in times of anger—and it wasn’t even intentional.
I chance a peek over my shoulder to where Kilkenny is locked in combat with the white-haired figure. The man disappears from in front of Kilkenny, only to appear behind him. As Kilkenny spins, ready to deal a blow, the lone survivor in white turns her attentionhis way. She’s lithe, with dark hair spilling out from her white hood. Even though she’s still some distance from him, her focus on him is singular—determined. Oh gods…
My lungs seize, but I shake the fear long enough to scream. “Tiernan!Look out!”
He whirls, panning to me before he turns toward the woman who lets two daggers loose. Tiernan deflects one of the daggers with his sword, but the other sinks deep into his stomach. He cries out, his face contorting with shock and agony as he grasps the hilt and drops to his knees.
Icy panic ripples through me.
The man behind Tiernan falls to the ground with an arrow lodged in his throat. I don’t register that my legs are moving until I’m beside Tiernan. I fall onto my knees and place a hand on his shoulder. His chest heaves with effortful breaths, his hand shaking violently as he grapples for a dagger from his vest.
The woman appears before us, drawing a sword from beneath her robes. I throw out my hand to block her.
A wall of translucent black shadows shoots up and arches over Tiernan and me like a dome, plunging us into semi-darkness. The woman’s sword bounces off the shield as though clashing against solid stone.
Tiernan’s jaw drops as he stares up at the dome. His voice touches my mind: “Solace of dusk…” He’s still clutching the hilt of the dagger protruding from his stomach. My heart somersaults as my mind grapples for the relevance of his words. He’s bleeding profusely from a gash across his upper thigh, and I’m not sure what’s worse—the amount of blood leaking from his leg or the dagger currently keeping more blood at bay. “Can you hold that shield?” he says, nodding toward the shadow dome.
“Not for long.” My arms are already trembling, and I don’t even know how I summoned it.
Beyond the force field, the white-clad woman drops listlessly to the ground, two daggers in her back. Chiyo has one more figure in a headlock, and I stare through the wavering wall of shadows as she twists the man’s head with one swift motion. His body crumples to the ground as my arms turn to gelatin, falling to my side. The wall of shadows dissipates.
Tiernan peers up at me, his knuckles white on the hilt of the dagger that he still grips, his face even whiter. But he offers me a pained smile. “You amaze me.”
A despairing laugh escapes me, tears slipping down my cheeks. My joints are too loose, my muscles worn—but Tiernan is worse. “Just don’t die on me, alright?”
He salutes, his smile more brilliant than it should be at a time like this. I turn away from him and discover Alys beginning to draw invisible symbols on the face of the mountain with renewed focus.
When I turn back to Tiernan, he has the crimson coated dagger from his abdomen in his hand. He chucks it aside into the grass, and my heart stops as blood pools through his fingers pressed against the opened wound.
“Have you lost your mind? You’re going to bleed out!”
He shakily shrugs a shoulder. “I’m a Mimic, remember? Thank Ehlach for Alys’s healing powers.” His hand glows with a gentle blue healing light as he presses it to his abdomen then his thigh.
Mimic, Mind Whisperer, Empath… And yet, I still fear for his life. There are bodies around us now. The dark-haired woman whose dagger bested Tiernan is uncomfortably close, her unseeing eyes staring at us.
Tiernan’s breathing is still ragged as he struggles to his feet. “We need to get to the mountain.”
I nod, shifting to stand as well, though it proves to be harder than I imagined. My legs nearly give out, my body so worn I could lie inthe grass and fall right asleep. With one arm around Tiernan’s back, and his draped over my shoulders, we hurry as best we can toward the mountain… as it begins to fade.
I blink forcefully as my vision wavers and pray that another episode isn’t on the horizon. There’s no time for my body to rebel right now, for the gods’ sake. Tiernan slips his hand into mine, his fingers slick with blood. I push back the nausea that threatens to evacuate my stomach. “Alys says hold hands,” he tells me. “Sorry about the blood.”
I nod, trying not to think about it.
“Step forward,” Tiernan mind-speaks. My brows knit in confusion. There’s still a mountain before us, though it ripples as if it’s made of water. The hair stands on the back of my neck and the world seems to tilt. I am weightless for a moment. My skin prickles almost painfully, my vision wavering.
When my sight clears, a defensive wall of wooden planks stretches in front of us, and archers aim their weapons scaffolds just beyond the barrier. We all drop to a knee simultaneously. My head is bent while my heart thunders, and my whole body begins to shake—the aftereffects of the attack. I dare to glance at Tiernan beside me. Pain ghosts across his too-pale face with every strained breath.
I’m afraid he’ll soon pass out or worse, but to my right Alys collapses in the dirt.
