Beren sighed. “You were always too stubborn for your own good.”
He raised his hand and waved at someone in the back of the army. Instantly, small metal spheres flew through the sky. They missed the warriors and trolls completely, instead shattering the windows on the first floors of the fortress.
As soon as the shards of glass hit the ground, Beren, Lioran, and Edrin ran away like the entire Blood Brotherhood army was on their heels.
Terror instantly took hold of me.
A deadly hiss spread through the fortress.
In the next breath, sickly green mist began to pour from the windows.
The poison.
“Retreat!” I yelled, backing away as the mist flooded the steps with unnatural speed.
Beyond the trees, more hisses erupted. The Northern soldiers began to scream in agony.
“Go to the civilians! Cover your faces!” I yelled at my warriors.
Inside the fortress, Dax swore loudly.
The healers picked up wounded warriors and raced away. But there were still so many writhing on the ground as the fog approached. Mrs. Thornbrew tried to run away, but she kept tripping on the cobblestones and bodies.
Chaos.
Fatal chaos.
The trolls roared, unnerved. They jumped out of the mist’s way, but tried to clobber it. I raced next to them, swinging my arms to point them after the warriors.
“Run after them!” I yelled. “Get to safety!”
They murmured and grunted at me.
The poison drew closer, covering the bodies of the fallen Northerners, now forever lost. It nipped at my heels, forcing me to back away.
A blue tendril dropped from the roof of the fortress, gentle and light. It captured the creatures’ attention and floated after the warriors.
It was enough to get them mercifully moving.
I looked up at the roof, where Allie had abandoned her hiding spot next to the tower. We’d readied a rope she could shimmy down on in case of an emergency, but the fortress was surrounded with mist.
She had no safe place to scale down to.
My gaze raced over the windows and the closest trees. If I picked enough speed and jumped onto them–
“Don’t even think about it,” she murmured in my mind.
“If you think I’m leaving you alone, you are indeed as crazy as the legends say.”
“Save the wounded warriors,” she said. “We have another plan.”
“We?”
As we argued, Dax appeared in the door of the tower, fighting with all his might to drag a piece of canvas behind him.
My stomach dropped when I realized what he was carrying.
What he wanted to use with my future wife.
