“Shit.” Kreya selected a few more choice words as well.
As horrible as it was, though, there was the tiny whisper of satisfaction at the fact that her first instinct had been right. Eklorhadassembled an army, hehadbrought his soldiers to Cerre, and hewasn’tseeking redemption any more than a croco-raptor was seeking to apologize to his dinner. If she were lucky, if they were all very lucky, she’d be able to say “I told you so” to Grand Master Lorn.
She wished, however, she’d been right about Eklor’s target. “Okay, change in plans. We split up. Half of us protect the innocent. Other half rouse the bone workers.” She paused for a second. “Everyone agree?”
Zera flapped her arms at her. “Yes! For all that’s holy, yes!” The others chimed in. Yes, they had to protect the people. Yes, do it now. There was no need, or time, for debate.
They still trust me,she thought.And I trust them. We can do this.
Or at least we can die trying.
Spinning away from them, Kreya shouted orders to her statue army: Fight. Protect. Defend. Destroy. And then to Stran: “Lead them to the lower tiers.”
To Jentt: “Evacuate everyone you can.”
To Zera: “Supply them with the talismans you think they’ll need.”
To Amurra, Guine, and Zera’s followers: “Warn as many as you can on the upper tiers. Keep civilians away from the lower city.”
“And you?” Zera asked.
Grimly, Kreya eyed the third tier. Unharmed so far. “I’ll tell the bone workers I was wrong—they don’t need to save themselves.
“They need to save everyone else.”
Zera distributed talismans to each of them, Stran first. “Carved from a bull femur, this one will give you fifteen minutes of four times your strength. You should be able to get three uses out of it before it fails. Watch for cracks. This one, half an hour but twice your strength.” She waved another in the air before passing it to him. “And this beauty, ten times your strength but you only get a single thirty-second burst. Don’t waste it.” She gave him several more, then loaded Jentt with strength and speed talismans as well, describing each of them. “This one doesn’t look like much, but it’s carved from a peregrine falcon. Fastest bird there is. Crap durability, but you’ll love the rush.” She also handed talismans to Amurra, Marso, Guine, and her other followers, for emergency use.
As soon as Stran finished pocketing his talismans, he saluted. “Don’t worry, Kreya. We’ll get your army where it needs to be.” He embraced his wife. “Stay safe.”
“I won’t die again,” she promised. “You don’t die on me either.”
Stran, Kreya noticed, didn’t promise what he couldn’t guarantee. “I love you. Stick with Kreya. Unless she does something dangerous, then you hide. Understand? You stay alive.”
He jogged to the front of the statues.
Jentt took Kreya’s hands in hers. She felt the calluses and the softness. His hands were as familiar as her own. “We’ll save everyone we can,” he promised. Pressing her hands to his heart, he looked as if he wanted to say more, but she already knew everything he could say. That was the lovely thing about loving someone for who they were, not who you wanted them to be.
“Go,” she told him.
But he didn’t go. Instead, he kissed her, and she kissed him back, memorizing every second of how it felt. She’d kissed him thousands of times, so often worrying that it would be the last.She told herself that if this was the last, she’d be grateful for all the extra stolen moments that they’d had—but she knew that was a lie. She wanted more. There would never be enough moments, and they’d already had too many goodbyes.
“Come back alive,” she ordered him.
“You too.”
He jogged after Stran, joining him at the front of the army of skeletal statues. Together, they strode through the gate, and the statues marched with them, crashing through the arch. The carved marble tumbled from the gateway as the massive pillars from Lorn’s palace shoved their way through. The smaller statues skittered up and over the wall, spilling down into the fourth tier, and then scurried quickly to the third. Below, the sounds of Eklor’s army, the crash of falling stone, and the screams of the people rose to meet them.
“My turn,” Zera said. “What are my orders? You had me give them their talismans. So I take it that means you aren’t sending me to fight the army?”
Kreya reached out and took her hand. “Last time I was stupid. This time, how about we defeat Eklor together? Stopping Eklor won’t stop his army, but it will free the bone workers to join the fight. Come with me to the third tier and help me knock sense into the guild?”
Grinning, Zera squeezed her hand back. “I’m in. Flight?”
“Let’s do it.”
Amurra stepped in front of her. “I’m coming with you. Stran said to stick with you unless you went into danger.”
“I am literally going into danger,” Kreya said.
