“For peace we sacrifice!”
“The tide does not break!”
Thorne and Navyrian voices roared together across the sand. Not separate Houses now. Just Vallennan. Her shield groaned, dark veins crawling across it, and vanished as Fatàn’s had. It had been enough though. They’d got their people to shore. Sebastian hauled the last sailorfrom the water, then swung back into the saddle, drenched, and rode back to her side, his father just ahead of him.
“Well done, Kara,” Sebastian shouted over the chaos. Then he turned on his men: “Hold your positions! Back to the lines – now! Let Sorrel and Lyra do their work!” he bellowed.
The order rippled outward. Thorne soldiers dragged the remaining sailors back to the line, and Jax stumbled into place beside them, blade in hand. He looked up at Kara, recognition flashing across his face as the shimmer of golden magic faded from her skin.
“Nice one, Hale!” he bellowed, grinning. She grinned back in spite of herself.
“Stay alive, Jax!” she called down as she unsheathed her sword.
“Plan on it!”
Sorrel bows were already bending along the ridges above them, and standing firmly with them Kara glimpsed violet light gathering at Lyran hands and the glint of Durent axes manning the walls behind them. But when she gazed back out to the sea, figures were descending from the Draken decks. Thousands wading towards them. Kara saw them clearly for the first time. A wave of revulsion hit her. They looked human... but not. Their skin was deathly pale, veins as black as ink snaked beneath the surface, and their eyes were dark fire, sunken deep into shadowed hollows. Their shouts sounded more like hisses and snarls than actual voices.
That’s what the Dracanth did to them?
They ran in hordes towards Fatàn’s barrier, and Sorrel let their arrows fall, the shield magic allowing their strikes through. Some arrows thudded into pale chests, dropping them where they stood – but too many hardly faltered, snarling as they tore the arrows free. More still forced themselves forward, trampling over the bodies of the fallen. The bond flared sharply in her chest. Not just dread, but something raw and cold, like ice water in her veins. Lyran violet magic showered down, waves of fear and dread rippling over the Draken ranks. Some of the Draken stumbled, wild-eyed, their minds breaking beneath the terror. But others answered with ebony power, shadows bursting from their veins, and they kept coming, teeth bared. The dome shook when they hit it at the shoreline. Black tendrils spread across the shield where their palms pressed, dark magic gnawing at the ruby barrier until that one shattered like glass too. Fatàn’s shieldweavers fell back, conserving their strength – covering the archers and healers instead. The Drakens hit the beach in a rush – terrifyingly fast – a wave of coldness coming to shorewith them. Durent men answered, amber light blazing as they heaved boulders down from the barricades, soaring over Thorne’s ranks, crushing scores of Drakens. But for every one broken, three more rushed across the sand. It was endless.
“Hold! Hold!” Sebastian’s voice cut across the chaos.
A wall of Thorne steel shifted forward, shields locking, blades raised. Kara raised her own, her heart hammering against her ribs.
Please let us survive this.
There was no time to think before the clash came – steel on steel, the roar of two armies colliding. Kara fought from the saddle – her blade meeting a Draken’s with a jarring shock that rattled her arms. Too strong. Too fast. She gritted her teeth, flared crimson, and shoved him back. Her valmare stamped angrily, and she struck again. He fell to the ground hard. Beside her, Sebastian was a storm of skill and power, his sword flashing, his mount driving forward into the tide. He forced them back with shock waves of Fatàn magic, stronger by far than hers had been, protecting them and as many of the closest soldiers as he could. The bond burned with his fury, every strike precise, ruthless, and deadly. No sooner had his blade found one Draken’s throat than he was spinning to slice through the torso of the next. Bodies falling at his feet. He didn’t slow. Didn’t hesitate. She could see, finally, exactly how he’d earned his reputation. But even he couldn’t guard her from all sides. Though he was trying. Fighting three on his left whilst his gaze kept snapping to her right.
“Focus on yourself!” she shouted at him as another Draken lunged for her stirrup. She kicked out, drove her sword down, the tip slicing through pale flesh. Dark, black-tinged blood spurted across the sand. Her hands shook – revulsion and adrenaline both – but she didn’t stop.
“Healer! HEALER!” A soldier’s voice cried out behind her. She turned just in time to see him dragging his blood-soaked comrade across the beach. She moved towards them on instinct, but at that moment three Drakens slammed into her valmare, forcing her away. She yanked her reins and threw her free hand out; golden-yellow magic sparked instantly and roots tore from the ground, coiling around the ankles of the Drakens swarming their mounts. They yelled, thrashing, buying her mere seconds to swing again from the saddle. She whipped around, searching desperately for the soldier that had called for help, but the line was chaos already. She couldn’t find them.
Sebastian ran another Draken through and twisted towards her, eyes blazing. She felt it – his urge to shield her, to fight for her, but he wasleaving himself open to do it. He was going to get himself killed. She glared at him and raised her blade high as she shot a shield over him that a would-be attacker slammed into.
“Watch your back,” she cried. “Fight with me, not for me!”
And together they did. For a time, the line held. But then the next wave came, rushing towards them like floodwater, pushing them further back towards the barricades. Kara’s arms ached, her lungs burned with exertion, but still they kept coming. A Draken broke through her guard, his blade coming down at her before she could defend and then–
A Thorne soldier crashed into him, smashing his shield into the man’s skull. “I’ve got you, Healer!” the soldier roared, never once looking back at her.
Kara gasped. Not just because of how close it had been, but from the fierce loyalty shown to her by a man she’d never even met. All she saw was a glimpse of a scarred cheek before he was gone from view in the chaos. She couldn’t dwell on it.
Keep fighting.
She wheeled around, and saw Drakens hurling blackened torches over the barricades, and the dry grass caught immediately. Flames raced across the field, smoke rising in choking waves. Kara’s breath left her, the memories of the pyre flashing white-hot.
But she fought on.
She wouldn’t let fear win. Not now. Through the smoke, she glimpsed Jax still fighting, his blade swinging side by side with Thorne soldiers, casting bursts of water with his left hand in an attempt to douse the flames. But further down the line, other Vallennans, Thorne and Navyrian alike were beginning to falter, fear clawing at them as Drakens pressed harder, their black magic gnawing at their will to fight, making them want to run. They were battling through, but their resolve was crumbling. Kara didn’t think, she pulled her valmare up short, sheathed her sword, and raised both hands. Golden light flared through her veins, exploding outward in a pulse so bright it lit the whole battlefield. The wave of magic rolled across the sand, suffocating the Draken ranks. One after another, they crumpled where they stood, blackened eyes fluttering shut as golden sleep claimed them. Dozens – no, hundreds – fell in an instant, their bodies hitting the sand almost in unison. Stronger than anything she’d practised.
Sebastian’s fierce relief and awe crashed through her. He turned on the enemy. “FORWARD! Push them back!”
Thorne and Navyrians roared, throwing themselves forward to cut down those still standing. Sorrel arrows rained. Kara’s head spun, her whole body trembling with the effort it had taken. But when the dizziness passed, she saw the soldiers alive who would not have been. The Draken advance had stilled, the black tide momentarily halted thanks to her spell, but the moment was fragile, fleeting. Sebastian must have felt it too, because suddenly he spurred his valmare forward, sword raised high.
“Navyrians!” he roared. “With me!”
The water answered before the men did. Sapphire and gold magic spilled from Sebastian, the tide surging at his call. Waves rose from the bay, unnatural, towering, curling into walls of foam and spray. Navyrians watched in awe at the sight of a Thorne commanding the sea as if born to it, and lifted their hands in unison, latching onto his power. Together, they pulled. The ocean itself crashed forward, smashing into the Draken ships nearest the shore. Their hulls splintered. Black-veined bodies were torn screaming from the wood, dragged beneath the fury of the tide. Kara watched as he made the sea obey, the sheer force of him, the awe-striking truth of the Arcanth in his blood. He looked unstoppable. The Vallennan line roared at the sight, sailors and soldiers alike pounding blades against shields, hope flaring as dark ships buckled and broke apart. Sebastian sagged slightly, gripping his saddle for balance. Kara raced to his side, brushing his arm with emerald, chasing away the fatigue before the next wave of battle hit.
