The Children of the White Lions: Volume 02 - Prophecy (104 page)

Kenders cursed herself. She should never have left Tobias.

Reaching the tower, she rushed up the outside stairs to gain a better view of what was happening below. Sabine was right behind her, taking the steps two at a time. Upon cresting the tower stairs, Kenders scurried to the side of the northwestern corner and peered over the wall’s edge. Her heart stopped.

“Blast the Gods…”

A two hundred foot section of wall between the tower she stood upon and the next had disintegrated. Tens of thousands of once-sturdy mud-bricks were now nothing more than a massive pile of sand filling the hole, the western slope, and the streets of Demetus as well. Some of the soldiers who had been positioned on the wall were now stuck in the sand, struggling to get out. Her gaze locked on a single, booted leg jutting from the sand, not moving. She swallowed the lump that had suddenly appeared in her throat.

Reserve soldiers from within Demetus were clambering up the sand pile to help free those submerged in the walls’ remains. A pair of Shadow Mane soldiers was leading a contingent of maroon-clad Shore Guard over the pile to face a group of oligurts attempting to push into the city. Wil Eadding and Cero were at the head of the charge.

Sabine arrived to stand beside her and remained quiet. There was little to say.

“Are you going to do something about those oligurts?” asked a gruff voice. “Or just stand there and gape all day?”

Looking to her right, Kenders eyes grew round when she spotted Tobias standing at the top of the northern stairs. She took a few steps towards the tomble, joyfully exclaiming, “Tobias! How did you—”

He held up his hand. “Not now.” Jabbing his walking stick towards the collapsed wall, he instructed, “We need to stop them.”

She halted in mid-step. He was right.

Turning her attention below, she studied the scene again, this time with a less frenzied eye. The quick twang of a bowstring and arrow’s soft whistle as it whizzed through the air told her Sabine had resumed the assault. She needed to do the same.

Glancing back to the tomble, she asked, “What should I do?”

Tobias was in the midst of pulling together a Weave of pure Air. Without taking his attention away from the bright white Strands, he said, “This is not one of Khin’s lessons! Do what needs to be done!”

Turning her head, she sought the thin frame of the aicenai, hoping Khin might be more help. Her teacher stood on the other side of Sabine, his attention focused below as he worked on a Weave of his own. She was on her own.

She stared below, gauging the number of oligurts rushing up the sand to be close to four hundred. Easily ten times that many were rushing from the north and south, up the slight hill and towards the gap. Her gaze flicked to the western horizon. The bulk of the God of Chaos’ army still waited in the distance. Her eyes narrowed as she stared west. There was something unusual about the distant Sudashians. A soft, flickering ripple of silver radiated from the western horde.

“Kenders!” shouted Tobias, cutting through her thoughts. “They’re breaching the walls!”

Her gaze snapped back to the chaos below, landing squarely on the demon captain leading the assault. At one time, it had been a man, but the grotesque figure below now had a long, piggish snout and curled, brown horns like a ram jutting from the sides of his head. He spun around to bellow something, revealing six giant spurs of jagged white bone running along his spine.

Kenders decided to eliminate the Nine Hells’ spawn, hoping the same thing would happen that did when Baaldòk perished. Whatever thrall the demon had over Okollu’s pack had dissipated the moment he died.

Pulling together Strands of Air, Fire, and Stone, she knit a large Weave and directed it to a lump of fallen stone near the wall’s edge. The chunk of brick and mortar launched through the air, bursting into an unnatural flame as it hurtled toward the demon. The monster saw it coming and, with surprising speed, leapt ten paces backwards just as the burning stone struck the sand, sending a plume of dust and smoke into the air. She had missed.

Smacking the wall, she hissed, “Blast it!”

“You’ll need to do better than that!” shouted Tobias. “They’re quicker than they look!”

Kenders stared at the tomble White Lion, looking for direction.

“Like what!?”

Tobias was too busy to answer as he sent a Weave into the city proper, arched it back to gap, and directed it to slam into an oligurt who had reached the sand pile’s peak. The monster flew backwards to crash into three other gray-skinned beasts.

Kenders considered simply mimicking Tobias’ Weave, doing the same thing she had done to keep the kur-surus off her brothers, but that would be only a momentary fix against the thousands rushing the gap.

Determined to think things through before acting, she cleared her head while ignoring her thudding heart, the roar of the oligurts, and the throbbing, persistent hum of magic all around. Her mind went over the dozens of Weaves she had learned, trying to find one that would help now. She discounted one after another, though. Some might slow the enemy, but none would stop them.

Suddenly, the oddest, most out-of-place thought popped into her head: her sitting with Joshmuel in the enclave’s courtyard, watching Zecus and Jak spar. She remembered the Alsher patriarch’s deep brown eyes looking at her, his words echoing inside her as though he were speaking them to her now.

“You have good instincts. Follow them, trust yourself, and do what comes natural. Things will work out.”

The words were so clear, so crisp, that Kenders glanced to her right, half-expecting to see Joshmuel beside her. Only Tobias awaited her quizzical stare, but his attention was held by the scene below.

Shaking her head, Kenders turned to peer at the sand pile. Pressing her lips together, she chose to take Joshmuel’s advice. Her instincts screamed that she act now, not think. So, she did just that.

Staring at the long line of oligurts rushing into the breach, Kenders willed that any of the Sudashians near the peak of the sand pile be thrown backwards. Immediately, close to a hundred bright, white Weaves of Air popped into existence along the gap and slammed into the foremost oligurts, tossing the lumbering beasts into the next few rows of the enemy. A wave of exhaustion rushed over her, accompanied by a shouted warning by Tobias.

“What are you doing!? That’s not what I meant!”

Ignoring the tomble, she reached out to steady herself against the tower wall. A hand gripped her elbow and helped keep her upright. Glancing over, she found Sabine staring at her, her eyes as cold as old snow.

“Don’t do that again.”

Kenders shook her head, muttering, “I won’t.” She doubted she could, even if she wanted to.

The flight of the oligurts had done two things. First, it gave Wil and Cero the opportunity to set up a defense along the sand pile. Shore Guard soldiers rushed to form a thick line of men shouting at the Sudashians. The other benefit to Kenders Weave was that it had distracted the demon captain.

The spawn stood, his back to the city, staring as his oligurts rolled down the sand. Glaring at the demon, Kenders reached for Gaena’s gift again, wanting nothing more than the loose earth around the demon’s ankles to turn into solid stone. A dark, solid brown Weave appeared, fully complete around the demon-man’s feet and instantly morphed the shifting sand into a heap of hard rock. Another, smaller wave of tiredness swelled inside her. The demon stared down at his feet and began to struggle.

A tired smile crept over Kenders’ face.

Relying on skill alone this time, Kenders pulled together Air, Fire, and Stone again, repeating the earlier Weave she had first used to strike at the spawn. Lifting another, much larger stone from the ground, she hurled the boulder through the air, aiming for the oligurt legion’s leader. As the rock spun toward its target, hot, yellow flames oozed over its surface as though the fire were being squeezed from inside the stone. The demon spotted the flaming boulder and began to struggle harder, bellowing a deep, resounding roar while bashing at the rock around his feet with the massive metal hammer he carried.

With a shuddering, satisfying thud, stone and fire crashed into the demon captain, bending the monster backwards, twisting its body into an impossible pose. Flame, dust, and rock exploded in all directions, ending the spawn’s existence. Just as when Baaldòk had perished, Kenders felt a short, intense burst of silver. Strands of Soul exploded outward, blinding her briefly as if she had glanced at the sun.

Kenders brought a hand to her eyes and tried to rub the remnant flash away, intent on wanting to see what the oligurts were doing. Dropping her hand, she stared below, blinking and waiting for the fuzziness to turn sharp. After a moment, she saw that most of oligurts atop the sand pile had stopped their advance. They stood in place, staring at one another.

“Run, blast it…”

A thick, guttural call coursed through the air. A large oligurt stood near the line of Shore Guard, bellowing something unintelligible as it pointed its spiked club to the west. Nearby oligurts turned and began to retreat down the sand, running away from the city. The long oligurt’s shout echoed repeatedly as more and more of the grayskins began to retreat.

Kenders watched, relieved, as close to two thousand oligurts lumbered west, colliding with another group still compelled by their demon captain to invade the city. The two groups began to fight amongst themselves.

Sabine asked, “Can you stand?”

Kenders glanced at her friend and nodded once.

“I’ll be fine.”

“Good”

Sabine released her arm and rushed to the westernmost point of the wall, drawing another arrow, nocking, and releasing it in less time than it took Kenders to blink. Sabine loosed three arrows in such rapid succession, Kenders wondered if she was even aiming.

A great cheer roared forth from Demetus. Glancing down, she saw the soldiers standing on the wall’s remnants—as well as those within the city proper—throwing their arms into the air as they belted out a victorious cry. Catching a bit of movement at the edge of her vision, she looked north and spotted five of the monstrous thorn creatures a half-mile away, battering oligurts and kur-surus alike. Soldiers were pouring from the northern gate on horse and on foot to engage an already staggered enemy.

From beside her, a soft, airy voice murmured, “That was a reckless choice.”

Turning to her left, she found Khin standing there, his blue eyes locked on her. She wondered how long he had been standing there.

“Pardon?”

“Your strategy to eliminate the demon,” said Khin, his gaze calmly traveling over the battle below. “It was reckless.” Both his tranquil manner and the steady pace of his speech were entirely out of place in the battle’s chaos.

She gaped at him, stunned he would be so dismissive of her effort. She was half a heartbeat away from offering a short retort when Tobias did it for her.

“Blast it, Khin! Give her some credit!”

She glanced over to find the tomble approaching, leaning on his walking stick as he hobbled over to them. He stopped beside her and stood on the tips of his toes, trying to peer over the lip of the tower wall.

“I thought what she did was quite clever.”

“Clever, yes,” acknowledged Khin. “Yet reckless.” He stared hard at Kenders, his eyes alive and bright. “I followed your thoughts. You were diligent at first, you thought through your actions. Yet, you resorted to your gift.”

Kenders blinked.

“I did not know what else to—”

She cut off as Khin’s words sunk in.

“You followed my…” She trailed off, her eyes narrowing sharply. “I knew it!” she muttered. “All this time, you’ve been inside my head, haven’t you?”

“Most of it, yes,” admitted the aicenai, unfazed by her accusatory tone. “It was decided it was the best manner in which to teach you.”

Frowning, Kenders asked, “Was it, now? Decided by whom, exactly?”

Khin held her gaze but remained quiet.

Feeling both disappointed and violated, she shook her head and spoke, her tone firm and unyielding.

“My thoughts should be my own.”

Tobias said, “They can be.” He glanced at the aicenai. “Make him swear to stay out of your head. He will hold true to it.” Khin turned his gaze to Tobias, an expression of slight displeasure on his face.

Glaring at Tobias, Kenders asked, “You knew?!”

“Live alone with an aicenai for a few decades, and you eventually figure it out.”

“Who else knows?”

Tobias answered, “Broedi.”

With a raised eyebrow, she replied, “That’s it? You, Broedi, and myself?”

Khin nodded.

“That is all.”

Staring at her teacher, Kenders asked, “Is that true? If I ask you to stay out, you’ll stay out?”

Nodding once, Khin said, “It is.”

“Swear it, then,” said Kenders. “Swear to keep away from my thoughts.”

“I ask that you keep my ability a secret in return.”

“Why?”

“Because,” said Khin softly. “The fewer who know the truth, the greater an advantage it is. Both against our enemies and amongst our allies. Would you not like to know if and when Lady Vivienne is lying?” He paused. “Or the duchess?”

Kenders was quiet a moment, wondering at the implication of his question. Now was not the time to press him, though. Not in the middle of a battle.

“Fine,” answered Kenders. “Stay out of my thoughts, and your secret is safe with me.”

“You can tell no one,” clarified Khin. “Your brothers—” he shifted his gaze to Sabine at the western wall “—or your friends.”

Kenders considered the condition briefly before giving a short, decisive nod.

“I accept.”

“Agreed, then,” said Khin. “You have my promise. Although this means we must—”

A great howling filled the air, cutting off Khin while startling Kenders and Tobias. All three turned to stare westward.

“More?” muttered the tomble. “Already?”

Listening to the cry a moment, Kenders noticed a low thudding accompanying it. Shaking her head, she said, “I don’t think so.” She began to sprint to the tower’s western wall. Looking over her shoulder, she urged, “Come on!”