Astride a small gray dragon, her father at her wing’s end, Valenna smelled smoke and singed scale and heard the thunder of artillery, the crackle of scattershot, dragons bellowing, and soldiers screaming.
As she descended below the clouds, Valenna gasped. Rank upon rank of infantry lined the beach. Club dragons punched onto the Sennalaithic soldiers, swinging their heavy clubbed tails, pulverizing bone, and flinging shattered bodies. Canons fired from artillery beyond the dunes. The manor house and bunkers strobed orange.
Somehow, Marwenna had learned of the invasion.
A captain to her left fell soundlessly, and an instant later, the rattle of shotfire reached the landing boats in the shallows. It tore across the metal hulls, skittering. Hera, bobbing in the water aboard a landing boat, shook her three heads and moaned.
The amphibious dragons crawled toward shore. They were huge, fleshy creatures resembling giant newts. Sennalaithic soldiers jumped onto their backs from the transport barges, but the dragons twisted, throwing off their riders.
Wings whistled, and Valenna looked around, recognizing the sound of sparksparrows. The little birds spiraled toward the helpless troops struggling onto the beach.
Terror gripped Valenna.
What was she thinking, giving up her magic before this battle? She needed her darkness to protect Evander, to protect her people, and her mother’s heritage.
Spreading her fingers, Valenna sent a sparkling zephyr into the cloud of sparksparrows. It burned them to ash, and they fell as scorched skeletons onto the beach. But the zephyr didn’t stop; it expanded and sliced over the heads of a battalion of mounted Sennalaiths. They dove, narrowly avoiding the caustic magic.
Her power was corrupting again; touched by her anger and fear, too wayward to wield.
Below, less than three-quarters of the men who made it off the boats touched land, and only half of those made it far enough to clash with the enemy.
Her breath tight in her chest, her fingers numb and tingling, Valenna searched the sky for Dread Five. The manor house stood untouched. Had they been shot down already? Why hadn’t they destroyed the manor? What if Evander was lying on the battlefield somewhere, bleeding and alone?
Cadmus began to swear. The muscle at the hinge of his jaw pulsed; his crown sat askew on his head.
“I knew this would happen!” he cried. “We have a traitor among us!”
Valenna had no patience for her father. “We need to send in more dreadnoughts quickly! The first wave is overwhelmed!”
“It’s that man Trevelyan!” Cadmus shouted. “I knew he was Ashkendoric! I knew he would betray us!”
“That’s ridiculous!” Valenna cried, her frustration mounting. “Why fly into his own ambush? And it doesn’t matter now because we will lose the day if we don’t move swiftly.”
“I will ride the hydra onto the beach,” he said, turning his dragon. “That will strike fear into these Ashkendoric animals.”
“You can’t!” Valenna cried. “Evander said not to.”
Cadmus’s eyes settled on her, and hatred marred his face.“Evander? Evander? Do you imagine me a fool, Valeria?”
“You are if you ride the hydra!”
“I know who Trevelyan is. I have known all along. What I did not imagine was that he would turn on you like this when he was so clearly besotted with you.”
Valenna’s breath caught. “What?”
“I knew. The instant I saw you together in the council room, I knew. But he has betrayed you, and he has betrayed us all.”
Cadmus turned away, his mouth twisted with disgust, and dove toward Hera.
“Father, no!”
But he flew away, deaf to her cries.
Panic rose like battle-smoke. Her father’s jealousy blinded him, and even if they survived this day, he would have Evander executed on suspicion of treason. The plan was unraveling, her hope wearing thin.
Valenna watched helplessly as her father reached Hera’s transport boat and ordered the landing ramp dropped. He climbed onto Hera and guided her into the sea. Hera leapt in and gulped mouthfuls of water to simmer in her belly until it was time to send her boiling spouts into the enemy. Twice, she tried to turn and plunge into the depths, but Cadmus jerked her back toward the shore. Blood ran down her shoulders, and Valenna realized that her father had fitted a spiked harness on Hera’s neck so shecould not resist him without being pricked. Valenna clenched her teeth. This cruelty was going to make Evander livid.
Hera swam, snake-like, and splashed into the shallows in a flurry of panic and rage, heads thrashing, teeth glinting.At first, Cadmus managed to direct her toward the Ashkendoric infantry, but she swept her tail indiscriminately, spearing Sennalaithic soldiers as she charged. She plunged into the center of the fray, reckless in her terror.
