Ulreah’s face paled in a way that Alianna didn’t know it could – and he whispered one quiet, hushed word.
“Run.”
39
Outnumbered
Alianna ran forwards, keeping her body low, her shoulder scraping along the rampart wall. She jumped over the narrow fractures through the stonework, caused by Ulreah’s lightning, and fought the urge to wait for him as lightning began booming from the sky. An unfathomable amount of strikes rained down, some towards the grounds beneath them. Some aimed at the Amassa that flew towards them. She could hear the sound of huge wings overhead. The strangled cries of some of the beasts as they were blasted from the skies. The smell of burning filled her nostrils as Ulreah’s strikes met their target.
A familiar voice rang out from overhead, and in the shadows created by Ulreah’s lightning storm, she saw more Amassa flying towards them in the opposite direction. Alianna cast her eyes upwards, seeing the sky above them filling with Amassa going head to head in a battle of the skies.
A battle for Xanthia – with the creatures of Xanthia.
Riding the largest of the allied Amassa was Lyrna, holding a spear of dark energy that seemed to frazzle in her hands. She hurled it at one of the oncoming enemy Amassa, who span through the air to avoid it.
She hurled another, the spears appearing in her hand from thin air, as she muttered quiet words and conjured them.
It missed.
As the enemy Amassa closed in, talons extended, a bolt of lightning shot from the sky, electricity filling the winged beast as it let out a scream so loud that Alianna thought her eardrums might split. The body of the charred Amassa fell to the ground beneath them. Lyrna gave Ulreah a swift nod as the creatures continued to battle in the skies.
“Keep going, Alianna. Just around this corner. You will see a turret. Move to it, and the Well will be below. There will besoldiers in thearea surrounding it – try to block them all out. Focus on what you are here to do.”
Alianna nodded, running alongside Ulreah, a wind of his making propelling them along together. She considered reaching out for his hand in silent thanks, but didn’t want to distract him any more than she had already.
As they rounded the corner, Alianna saw the turret that Ulreah was talking about. Just there, in the distance.
And flying towards them was a second wave of Amassa.
***************
Rionan panted, the force of maintaining his shield taking everything he had. He ducked and dived amongst the infantry warriors, scanning the ramparts, watching for lightning strikes, watching where Amassa were swooping, careening, diving.
Where was Alianna?
As he continued running through the grounds, trying to focus on what was going on around him whilst remaining aware of what happened on the rooftops of Savangrad, he searched the surrounding area for the source of those red flashes that continued to spear for him.
Rannirr was here. Waiting. Biding his time. Chipping away at Rionan’s shield.
It would take one - maybe two, if he was lucky – direct hits from those spears once his shield was down. That was it.
Rionan ducked underneath an arc of purple that swept through the air, cutting through the bodies of two of his warriors, and he let out a cry as he stamped his foot to the ground. The air trembled around him as vines shot from the earth, wrapping themselves around the arms and legs of several Eastern warriors, slowly making their way to their necks. They tried – and failed – to reach up to their necks as the air slowly left their lungs, and they were unable to drawfurther breath. Their bodies stilled, eyes glazing over, and Rionan’s vines retreated to the ground.
Running closer to the source of those red flashes, he pushed his arms out in front of him, sending pulses of yellow light shooting ahead ofhim, pushing some of the enemy forces to the ground as his own soldiers rained upon them.
Another red flash struck his shield, and he gritted his teeth at the pain that shot through him as he tried to maintain it.
Come on, Ali.He willed, praying to the gods of Xanthia, to help her reach the Well and get through this chaos.
Swarms of Eastern Warriors ran towards them. He knew that Ulreah had cleared a path so that his own forces could get to the courtyard earlier, but they were vastly outnumbered. He sent out a silent command to Ulreah, wherever he may be, telling him to open the flood gates and rain hell upon those waiting below.
40
Still
Ulreah felt a wave of warmth shoot through him, and drew a slow breath.
“Alianna,” he said, his voice flat and calm. “You wait for an opening, and when you get one, you run. Understand?”
