Using my power, I pushed the fear and paranoia into the new crowd of rebels and they fell back.
“My lady, they are breeching the door!” a solider called, pointing further down the wall.
In that moment my brain was fuzzy. I could have sworn I’d just heard Stryker call my name.
I ran, my foot catching on a loose brick and I tumbled forward, cracking my chin on the stone floor. Pain shot across my jaw as blackness danced at the edge of my vision.
I shook my head, standing and walking more slowly to the wall’s edge. I peered out at the mass of rebel soldiers. They had cannons aimed right at us.
I pushed a wave of terror into the men manning the cannons and they ran away screaming.
“My lady!” someone called to my right.
“Help us,” to my left.
Tears lined my eyes as I pushed a mass of my power outward, trying to encompass as many rebels as I could.
A slice of sharp pain ripped through my head then and I inhaled sharply, grasping the side of my face. The dizziness won over in that moment and I staggered backward, but managed to stay conscious.
Captain Greylocke caught me and I looked up at him. “I’m tired,” I said weakly.
He peered down at me with pride. “You did well. You gave Easteria everything you could.”
Why was there resignation in his voice?
“No. We must keep fighting.” I grabbed the sword from my belt and tried to hold it up but my fingers were weak and it clattered to the ground.
“Take a carriage out the south wall and flee with Lord Stryker. I can hold them off to give you time,” Captain Greylocke said.
Tears flowed down my cheeks but I shook my head. “I won’t leave you.”
Stryker’s people had become my people. I was in this battle to the end.
He sighed, helping me up into a sitting position and then put a small dagger into my fingers. “I wish my lord could have seen you battle today. It was a sight to behold.”
He held a fist over his chest and bowed to me as I rested my back against the stone wall.
I peered out over the sea of rebels and sighed. We’d barely made a dent.
And where were Zander’s five hundred men that had been waiting nearby? They’d likely fled. I didn’t blame them.
“I wish I could have seen that too.” Stryker’s husky voice came to my right and I spun, in shock.
He stood shirtless, his messy hair splayed out atop his head as he loosely held a sword and peered at me with concern.
“Are you injured?” He dropped to one knee before me, swiping at the blood on my upper lip.
“She’s been using her magic on the advancing army for hours,” Captain Greylocke said.
It was nothing short of a miracle I’d stayed conscious this entire time.
Stryker pressed his lips to my forehead. “Why didn’t you flee?”
I peered up at him. “Because you wouldn’t have.”
A rebel flew over the wall and I cried out. Stryker spun, lashing out with his sword and shearing off the man’s wing, which caused him to drop.
“My powers are still weak. I cannot fight with shadows,” he told Captain Greylocke and I panicked. He held out his hand and a tiny puff of shadow formed before fading away.
