She slid her finger across the orb’s surface. “It is finished. Migo and Katsi have been delivered to Jehubal.”
That was all she needed to say. It was her ticket. By delivering them to Hashivir, she’d secured the safety of the castle. Once the Hashivir Tribe finished taking over what remained of the Ring, they would let her remain here, untouched, while Mazanib would fall to them.
There was the chance, of course, that Migo would come after her. That was her true threat. But she knew he wouldn’t abandon Jehubal. He’d fight to the death defending it. And die he would. As well as Katsi, unfortunately. The girl had promise. She hated to see her so committed to a man who was doomed.
Something felt off. She sent a pulse of magic out, feeling through the stone. The balcony… it didn’t feel right. She turned around and spotted Ris sitting cross-legged atop a padded, wooden chair against the wall of the balcony.
“I wondered how long it would take you to notice,” Ris said. “You rely so much on earthmelding that you do not even use your eyes.”
“Ris,” Adrina said, a trickle of fear running down her spine. Ranaz’s mother was still an anomaly of sorts. “What are you doing here?”
“Waiting to spy on you,” she said frankly. “You are not down below helping transport more soldiers to Jehubal.” She pointed at the armlet in her hand. “And you are holding the armlet made of my son’s blood.”
“He’s mine,” Adrina said, stepping toward Ris, the floor rippling with her power.
“Oh Adrina. All these years you loved him, yet he never thought of you as more than a tool.” Ris shook her head.
“You mistake respect for love,” Adrina said. “His power belongs with me. Katsi can make no use of it when she is dead.” With a single thought, tendrils of stone snaked up behind Ris. This conversation was meaningless, and Ris was only a nuisance.
Ris ducked just in time to avoid the stone that would have pierced the back of her head. She rolled across the ground, withdrawing a dagger from within her cloak. But like a snap of her finger, the floor beneath Ris disappeared, exposing her to the massive dropoff down the cliff.
And Ris fell.
Chapter thirty-eight
Forgotten
Shanon stood atop Jehubal’s walls, watching as a massive, black, flying lizard soared over the ranks of the charging waheshi, breathing a shock of red flames over their bodies.
“That’s King Rikaydian?” Captain Falshon asked from beside her.
“Yes, I saw him transform as he was falling through the sky,” Shanon said, “after he fell off of Katsi, that is.”
“I see.” Falshon held his glaive in one hand, and scratched the back of his neck with the other, just below the edge of his bronze helmet. “Well, at least the big monster is on our side, but the little monsters will probably still eat the meat off my bones.”
“Ew,” Shanon said.
Falshon shrugged. The waheshi were almost upon the wall. Katsi and Migo darting about among them would barely stop a fraction of them. At least a small group of soldiers had arrived, all of them equipped with silver weapons to help supplement them.
Shanon only had a silver knife. She’d also brought her crossbow and had a javelin at her feet. Most of the soldiers lining the wall had been equipped with a javelin in addition to their other weapon, but in all, there were probably only four hundred soldiers in this area. They kept soldiers posted along the entire wall in case the waheshi went elsewhere, and some reserve units at the palace, but from what Shanon could tell, they would all die anyway. She wondered what it would be like. Death. What would happen to her soul when it left her body? Perhaps she would see her brother, or perhaps there was nothing.
She hoped there was more than nothing.
Falshon raised a hand as he leaned out toward the wall. Chatter among the soldiers ceased. They were brave—she had to give them that. Her own hands were starting to shake as the anticipation flowed through her. She reached down and grabbed the javelin.
The waheshi pounded closer.
Falshon made a gesture and shouted the position change. Everyone drew back their javelins as the order went down the line.
Katsi passed along the wall, flickering red lightning from the sky in thin, frolicky bolts that left the front line of waheshi as husks, trampled under as the swarm behind carried on. Migo passed by as well, singeing an even smaller portion of them than Katsi had, but the waheshi didn’t falter. They pressed on without caring whether they lived or died.
As the monsters drew closer, their details came into disturbing focus. They varied to some degree, some with faces of animals that seemed suspiciously familiar, and others that seemed to bear no similarities at all. But in short, they looked dangerous.
The first waheshis were close when Falshon dropped his hand and shouted the order. Shanon hurled her javelin over the side, aiming for a monster’s face. The javelin pierced it straight in the nose. The beast made no sound in response, but it kept charging on. She whipped out her crossbow, bolt already in place. She held her breath as she aimed and pulled the trigger, striking the same beast directly in the eye right as it collided with the wall, claws grasping the surface.
This time, with a bolt sticking into its eye, it shook its head and emitted a low growl. The walls wouldn’t stop these beasts. It crawled upward, several others coming up beside it.
Falshon swung down with his glaive, severing one of its arms, then he stabbed the weapon into its neck. It fell off the wall.
Another waheshi breached the wall, batting aside one of their comrades and pouncing on another. Shanon dashed over, silver knife in hand. She’d never felt so wildly unprepared. A soldier jabbed the waheshi from the other side, distracting it enough for Shanon to come sliding in underneath it. She stabbed her knife toward where its heart would maybe be, if these things even had hearts. As it sunk into the beast’s flesh, it grew stiff, like it was surprised to have been penetrated at all.
She drew the knife out and rolled away before the beast fell, but two more crawled up behind it. One slashed at her with elongated claws. She stepped back to dodge, but the edge of the wall was right behind her. Falshon swept his glaive toward the beast in an upward arc, grazing the side of its stomach. Another waheshi peeked up over the edge of the wall, immediately jabbing at Falshon.
“Falshon!” Shanon warned, but the clawed hand whipped across the back of Falshon’s leg, sweeping him down.
Falshon made a precision strike with his glaive as he fell, slicing the top of the waheshi’s head. It fell back down, but the one facing Shanon lunged for her, keeping low. There was nowhere to go but back. She jumped back off the wall, and the waheshi came falling after her. She landed with a roll and popped back up. Armed citizens stood behind her. They threw rocks and bricks, though these all bounced harmlessly off the creature’s thick hide.
Shanon wouldn’t be able to run farther without the waheshi slicing through the line of citizens, so she yelled and ran forward, jumping over a swipe from the waheshi. It snapped at her with its jaws, but she pounded down on its snout with her hand, using the force to push higher, spinning as she did so. With full force, she brought the knife down into the waheshi’s head, right between its eyes, then she collapsed on top of it as it crumpled in a heap.
Screams from atop the wall filled the air. Shanon pushed painfully off the waheshi’s body, its spikes having pricked her side. When she looked up, a shower of spears was falling toward them.
She ducked beneath the waheshi’s body, but the spears splintered before they reached them, turning on a whim to crash harmlessly into the ground.
A shaman stepped out from the crowd, arms wide. It must have been him who redirected the spears that she now noticed were made of stone.
Another volley came over the wall, but it was wide, and the shaman wasn’t able to catch them all. A few slipped through, crashing into the screaming crowd. Three more waheshi came leaping down from the wall. Perhaps the soldiers on top had already died.
Thunder boomed overhead, and the ground shook. Flashes of light indicated that Katsi was helping to defend the wall, but it wouldn’t be enough. More waheshi were already dropping down, facing the citizens.
