He was right. The rebels splintered off and created a V formation as they moved to our north wall.
No. This was what I feared. Fighting on all sides.
The bow men rained another set of arrows and that’s when I saw something blurry in the sky coming for us.
“Take cover!” I shouted and ducked behind the stone barricade.
An iron ball that had been shot from a catapult soared over our heads and crashed into the center of town, taking out a thatched home.
When I popped back up, dizziness washed over me. They were on us. Already crawling on the shoulders of the men in front of them and climbing the wall.
No way. We were not going out like that. Not this quickly. We’d barely just begun the fighting.
“Pour the fire!” I commanded.
Buckets of oil, alcohol and anything flammable we had were poured on the men and then they were ignited with a fiery arrow. It was a horrible way to die but I told myself it was just what happened in war.
Two flying unseelie tried to breech the wall but our archers took them down quickly.
I breathed a sigh of relief. We were holding our own. I heard shouts of command from the two walls to my left and right and prayed they were holding up as well.
“Low on arrows!” one archer said. “Low on arrows!” another called back, until one by one I was informed that we were running out of supplies to keep up the fight.
We’d been at this maybe thirty minutes. Was that all the history books would say about Stryker’s kingdom? Easteria fought in the great battle of the rebels for a whole half-hour before they succumbed.
No. Not on my watch.
“I’m out!” an archer yelled after loosing his last arrow. “Out, out, out,” rang across the northern wall.
“We should surrender!” someone screamed.
“Hold your positions!” I shouted to the men. “I’m going to use my power.”
I wanted to warn them because if I pulled this off, what they were about to see would be very disturbing with no context.
Taking in a deep breath, I felt for my magic. It was like a river, a current that ran right through me and I changed the shape and contents of the water depending on the emotion or thoughts I wanted to use to influence the person or people. The fae coming at me had every intention of killing me and Stryker so I broke my own rule …
I needed the rebels to come unhinged, to drive them to insanity so that they would be easy to defeat. Gathering my magic, I pushed paranoia and extreme anxiety out into the throngs of people rushing up the wall and you could see the moment it hit them. Their faces contorted and they began to peer over their shoulders with wide eyes. Then a few of them dropped to the ground, grabbing their faces. They screamed, scratching at their own skin and running off away from the castle.
I flicked my gaze to Captain Thierry who now stood beside me. He appeared a mixture of horrified and proud. I was slightly alarmed myself, but this was war and I wasn’t about to allow the innocent people of Easteria to die.
I ran to the north wall where Captain Greylocke slashed out at a rebel fae attempting to climb up over the top, and I did the same thing. I pushed pure paranoia laced with anxiety and fear into the first few rows of soldiers. It was like a ball of the worst emotions a person could experience, and even though I was doing this to help our people,my heart ached with regret.
A strong hand came over my shoulder. “You’re saving countless lives, don’t feel shame about that,” Captain Greylocke said. He must have read my expression.
“East wall needs help!” one of the soldiers near me called.
I ran that way, stumbling over the legs of the men crouched and reached the wall just as the first line of men came over.
My chest heaved with all the running, but I shoved my own discomfort aside.
I pushed my power into the rebels, this time focusing just on fear, which I hoped would cause them to flee.
It worked.
The men screamed, running away and scrambling down the wall as if they’d seen a ghost.
“Lady Aribella!” someone screamed from beside me. “The north wall needs you again!”
