“Vortax says that some of the Amassa wish to fight with us. Their numbers are not great, but they will try. What are their orders?”
“Keep them busy. Keep them busy, and keep eyes off of these ramparts, aside from me. Can they do that?”
“They will try,” Lyrna nodded, and Vortax gave a shriek that cut through Alianna’s bones, making her want to cover her ears as theyvibrated with the sheer force of it. The Amassa flapped his great wings, taking to the skies, and sailing above where he and Lyrna would rejoin their aerial allies.
Ulreah nodded to Alianna. “Come on, we need to keep going. If we follow this rampart, we will get to the turret. Just stay low and keep moving. You’re not far.”
The chaos of the night flashed around them as Alianna ran. She wasn’t sure how long ‘not far’ was, or how big this damn palace was, but this rampart seemed to go on for longer than she’d have hoped. Shrieks and cries came from overhead, and she tried not to look as the occasional Amassa fell through the darkness, their bodies hitting the ground with a hideous splintering crack.
More bolts of light flashed back and forth through the night sky. Some came from the Western soldiers, who were now engaging in hand-to-hand combat with their foes. Others speared towards Rionan’s shield, which was now beginning to weaken, covered in fractures. Alianna did not want to think about where he was. What would happen if his shield fell. What those spears of red would do to whoever they hit.
“Stop here,” Ulreah hissed. The air around them crackled with energy, and he looked along the rampart ahead of them. Alianna could see shadows moving, slowly. The sound of what sounded like nails on stone. “Get down.” He instructed Alianna, who pressed her body flat to the nearest wall, keeping low.
Alianna saw them then. The silhouettes of at least a dozen Eastern warriors moving towards them, flanked by two Amassa.
Two Amassa that were fighting for their enemy.
Ulreah’s fingers twitched beside him as the wind started whipping over the ramparts, the gusts becoming more powerful with every second that went by. The Two Amassa, sensing an impending torrent of strikes from Ulreah, took to the skies. They turned, soaring from the direction that they had come from, and one of the warriors laughed.
“Thought you’d died off in the last little scrap we had over this sorry excuse for a palace,” came a gruff voice from the approaching group. “But your little storm clouds told us that you were slinking around here somewhere. Can’t have that again, can we? You get in the way.”
Alianna bristled at the voices, but stayed still, understanding that there was a reason Ulreah was biding his time.
“See, Stormbringer,” another voice continued. The dark figures were looming nearer now, about fifty feet away. They walked at an uncomfortably slow pace, like they were taunting Ulreah. “We came up with a new plan for you, this time. Lord Rannirr thought of it himself. This time, you aren’t going to get away so easily.”
Alianna realised what they were doing, then. They weren’t taunting him. They were stalling.
“Ulreah,” she whispered, and Ulreah froze.
“Who’ve you got there with you, Stormbringer?” came one of the voices. The group had stopped walking. “Smells like a female to me. Smells like somebody else we know, too, actually. Why are you hiding her? Bring her out to say – ”
The male did not get to finish his sentence. The rest of the group did not get to speak. A bolt of lightning speared down from the sky, so hard and with such ferocity that Alianna had to shield her eyes. The stone beneath her body shuddered as the force of the lightning hit the rampart, splitting the stone beneath them like an earthquake.
Two more smaller strikes followed.
Another.
Ulreah panted, whirling around to Alianna, his face panicked.
“Alianna. You cannot speak if there are enemies. You cannot let them work out who you are. If they – ”
A familiar shriek sounded from overhead, in the direction that the two Amassa had disappeared to. Slowly, dark shapes began appearing in the sky.
A small group.
That grew.
And grew.
And grew.
Amassa.
Dozens, dozens, and dozens of Amassa flew towards them.
Those men were stalling, not because they wanted to kill Ulreah.
Because they wanted to send a signal to their own aerial legion, as to where he could find them.
