Aster Wood and the Blackburn Son (27 page)

I stayed flat on my belly, working my way over to where Kiron had hit the stone. He was on his back, and a large cut was gushing blood along his forehead. I shook his shoulder when I got close enough.

“Kiron!” I shouted through the confusion. “Are you alright?” His face was blank for a moment, but then he blinked several times and seemed to regain himself.
 

“Uhh,” he moaned, his hands moving up to grip his forehead. He rolled to his side, but not before another blast of power hit the wall again, sending everyone who had managed to stand up right back down again.
 

“What do we do?” I yelled.
 

Above, two jets of power met in the air above our heads. Power from
our
side.

“Look!” I gripped Kiron’s shoulder and turned him towards the sight.
 

He still seemed dazed, but held out his disk automatically. A stream of silvery energy burst from it, meeting the others in the sky. I held up the staff and did the same. Another jet joined our fireball from the far side of the wall. Five. We had five men sending their magic up into the sky.
 

Where were all the others?

But we couldn’t wait for more to join. As if the magic, itself, somehow knew that we had sent all we had, the ball of power exploded. I quickly peered over the edge of the wall, and the same scene unfolded again, though this blast was somewhat less powerful than our first. As before, most of the soldiers were down. But the skeletons remained standing.
 

This time, it was only seconds before their attack hit us again, and as my back hit the wall, cold realization seeped into my heart.
 

We were going to lose.
 

None of us had planned for this. Though we all must have known.

Kiron was still on the ground, painfully pushing himself up on all fours, blood dripping into a small pool on top of the stone.
 

Another blast hit, and this time the wall started to crumble in earnest. Our section of the stone seemed to drop by several feet. The wall wouldn’t last long. I got to my feet and began shouting.

“We have to get out of here!” I yelled. Shocked, frightened faces turned in my direction. I pointed to the other side of the city, where no army lay waiting. Only that enormous mountain range that grew from the base of the city. Our escape.
 

People started standing up, and those who couldn’t crawled. I bent down, grabbing Kiron by both his shoulders.

“Time to get up, old man,” I said, trying to hoist him.
 

“Get off me,” he grumbled, one hand clapped over his forehead.
 

As he stood, I realized something was wrong. No, not wrong, but different. I looked around at the people, all starting to get to their feet, occasional cries of fear or anguish escaping their lips. But aside from that, all noise from the battle had ceased.
 

I ran for the edge of the wall. Maybe our attack had done some good after all. The hope that I would see those skeletons down in the dirt alongside their warriors drove me forward.
 

They weren’t down in the dirt. They stood as tall as they ever had. But their scepters weren’t raised as they had been before. Instead, they and every man down on the field seemed to be watching something behind them, their focus on our destruction temporarily broken.
 

My gaze followed theirs, and I looked past them, across the fields to the hilltop beyond.
 

And my heart burst with sudden joy.
 

Standing proudly at the crest of the hill, as though no man or spell could ever touch him, stood Pahana.
 

Wave after wave of silver-blue radiated out from his glowing white form. He stood only for a moment, then broke into a sprint, headed right for the center of the army. As he descended the hillside, I saw he had a rider, though through the confusion I couldn’t tell who it was.
 

I didn’t care who it was. All I wanted was for that great beast to get to us as quickly as possible.
 

He bounded down the hill, his transparent shield pushing soldiers violently out of his path. His fur glowed brighter than the sunlight as he came for us, knocking the soldiers to the side like bowling pins.
 

Without pause, he gathered up his hind end and leapt straight up to the top of the wall, fifty feet above the ground. Immediately, he planted all four feet firmly onto the stone, and his protection enveloped not only those of us on the wall, but the entire city. From his back, a small woman hopped down, and it was only when she pushed the hair out of her eyes that I saw who it was who had brought our savior to us.

Larissa.

Crane materialized from nowhere, bounding up towards her and practically knocking her down. Despite her seriousness, a small smile escaped her lips.

“Get off, you stupid dog,” she grumbled, but I noticed she allowed Crane several sloppy licks of her face before finally pushing him off her chest.
 

“You made it,” I said, near tears with relief. Then, unable to help myself, I threw my arms around her. I think she was more surprised by this than Crane’s assault, and after a moment she gingerly patted my back.
 

“Course I made it,” she said. “And just in time, too, from the looks of things.”

I looked around at the battered crowd of dresses and Sunday suits. We were a sight.

“But we ain’t got time to waste,” she went on. “Gotta get you outta here.”

“Lissa?” Kiron’s voice came from behind me, and I turned to find him staring, shocked, at his older sister. His looked back and forth disbelievingly between the white panther and Larissa’s withered, drawn face, long thought by him to be unworthy.

“Surprised, dear brother?” she asked, grimacing.
 

He didn’t speak. Instead, he walked to her and embraced her with all the relief I had had, myself. Through his curtain of silver hair I saw fat tears streaking down his face.
 

“Thank you,” he whispered. “Thank you for coming.”

Larissa’s face was surprised, unsure of how to handle the closeness of the brother who had cast her aside for so long. But then she smiled, and her eyes looked distinctly watery. She returned the hug.

“Ain’t no problem,” she said into his suspenders. “It was this one here who told me where to meet ya.”
 

She pointed in my direction. Kiron looked up, a questioning look on his face. I just shrugged.

“The place was on fire when I got here,” I said. “I didn’t have time to explain.” Then I turned back to Larissa. “How did you even get here? I thought your gold was gone.”

“It is,” she said. “It was Pahana who found me, saved me just as those Solitary brutes were closin’ in. They were mighty angry they’d lost you, I’ll tell ya. Anyways, Pahana plucked me outta there like I was a baby kitten in trouble, made the jump from Aria to here with me clingin’ to his back for dear life. Think I mighta plucked out a few of those magic hairs by accident, too.” She looked down at her hands, her face hopeful as she searched for bits of lost fur.
 

“What about Jade?” I asked hopefully. “Did you find out why she stopped?”

“Nah,” she said, abandoning her search. “But I found someone who
does
know. But we ain’t got time for tellin’ our stories now.”
 

The men below were testing the borders of the panther’s spell, looking for a way in. Or around.
 

Kiron turned to the crowd.
 

“We must move!” he boomed. “Follow me!” Then, silver disk in hand, he made for the staircase that led down into the city.
 

I took a step towards Pahana, caught his eye.
 

“Thank you,” I said. He blinked his enormous, heavy lids.

When our feet hit the ground inside the city, everyone ran towards the opposite end of town. I wasn’t sure how we would get out, but if we had to jump off the wall, so be it. I wasn’t interested in meeting any of the three of those skeletons up close. I would take my chances on a leap down from the wall if I had to.

It wasn’t until we reached the center square that the people who hadn’t been able to fight in the battle joined our flight, among them several young children. The moment I saw them I stopped dead in my tracks. In the heat of the conflict I had completely forgotten.

Cait.

“What are you doin’, boy?” asked Kiron as he passed by me. He tried to grab my arm to follow him, but got too distracted by keeping up with the horde and moved on.
 

I turned around, unsure of what to do next. I couldn’t lead the entire city up into those hills for Cait. But without me, without the power from the staff, how would they defend themselves if the army kept advancing?
 

“What’s wrong with ya?” came another voice from behind me. I turned to find Larissa, panting hard, her cheeks a ruddy red.

“I forgot someone,” I said, feeling like a lost kid in a crowd of strangers.
 

“What do ya mean?” she asked, looking around at the people running by. “What do they look like?”

“She’s not here,” I said. “I took her to hide. She’s up in the hills.” I pointed in the direction of the foothills where I had hidden Cait. On one side of those hills were the mountains we were headed for. On the other, the army.
 

“Who is it? Your girlfriend?” she asked.

What?

“No,” I said. “It’s a little girl. I have to go back for her.” I started pushing my way through the crowd, only vaguely wondering how I would escape the city on this side.
 

“You can’t go back.” She had grabbed my arm. “Without that staff these people are dead if those monsters come after ‘em.”

I looked down at the staff, torn by my obligations. But I had promised Rhainn. I had promised him that I would come back for him, too, and I had already failed at that.
 

“But I have to go,” I said, wrenching my arm out of her grip. “There’s no one else.”

“Don’t be an idiot,” she said. I felt heat on the back sides of my legs as I started to walk away, and I turned to find her hovering three feet in the air over a pocket of boiling, white-hot air. “I’ll get her.”
 

Then she floated by me, headed in the direction of the hills.
 

Larissa didn’t move hastily. Instead, she floated, almost dreamily, over the cobblestone streets. Slowly, she began to rise up above the city, each time clenching her body before boosting it higher. Then, when she was just far enough up to clear the wall, she vanished over it.
 

I stood for several long moments, waiting with my breath held to see her again. When she finally appeared, higher than she had been a moment before, I finally exhaled.
 

It was our best chance.

Around me, the crowd was thinning, and when someone jostled me I was brought back to my senses. I turned and, seeing Kiron’s bobbing silver head in the distance, took off running after him.
 

On the other side of the city, people were pouring through a small doorway in the wall. I reached Kiron’s arm and fell into step next to him. We couldn’t run in the long passageway that led us through the stone defense, so we shuffled like cattle on our way through.
 

“I know a place,” was all he said.
 

He looked terrible, even in the dim light of the tunnel. Blood had cascaded down his face and was now drying and cracked against his cheeks and lips. The wound had mainly stopped bleeding, though. His eyes were tired and fearful, but his brows were furrowed with determination as we pushed our way through to the other side of the wall.
 

When we made it out, we found that people had stopped moving. Those in front had reached the edge of Pahana’s protective dome, and they seemed afraid to go any further. I walked up to it with Kiron, and we both paused, inspecting it.
 

“It’s meant to protect us,” I said, more to myself than anyone, sucking in my breath. I felt sure that any defenses of the White Guard wouldn’t hurt us to touch. But I was still nervous about what would happen when we broke through the glassy, shining surface of the shield.
 

There was nothing else to be done. I backed up a few feet and took it at a run.

As I passed through the barrier, everything turned a watery blue, as though I were looking at the people around me from beneath the ocean waves. Then, a faint zapping sound popped in my ears, and my vision cleared.
 

The dome had been broken.
 

I turned back towards Kiron. Did the army on the other side know? Would they now pursue us until we were all dead? We couldn’t wait to find out what choices they would make.
 

“Run!” I yelled at the top of my voice, and I took off towards the rocky mountain range.
 

I ran on ahead, hoping to reach higher ground so I could see what the other side was doing now. In a few moments I had reached the first hilltop. The Stonemorians fled towards me like ants on the hillside. I could see the army in the distance on the other side of the city, but they were too far away for me to tell what was going on. The glowing form of Pahana has vanished. As I turned to run on, I hoped he would come along on our escape with us, to continue to protect us.
 

I ran down the first hill and up the next, turning again. I could see now that the army was invading Stonemore.
 

“Too slow,” I said, gritting my teeth, watching the Stonemorians. If the army came after us we were lost. I might be able to outrun the horde, but those I had convinced to follow me couldn’t run like me.
 

One more hill.

I crested the top of the third hill, clutching my chest not from exhaustion, but with the hope that all of their lives would be spared, somehow.