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Emilie
If Cyrus would’ve had his way, I would’ve been in the back of the infantry, kept out of the main altercation. Ladon managed to convince him I’d be better suited in one of the trenches, protected from projectiles while still able to use my magic.
In the end, Cyrus agreed, and I found myself under Lucia’s command, waiting for war cries to signal the battle had begun.
The longer we waited, the more my anxiety rose. I began to doubt my abilities, thinking I’d made a mistake insisting on fighting.
“You hanging in there?” Lucia asked.
“Sorry?”
“You look like you’re about to pass out.”
I forced a laugh. “I’m alright. Is this normal? The waiting I mean?”
She shrugged. “Sometimes yes. Sometimes no. Honestly, this is the first large battle of its kind that I’ve been in. Usually our skirmishes at the border are just that—skirmishes.”
“You don’t seem nervous at all.”
“I’m not. A battle is a battle. The size of the battle—we’ll be fighting a lot longer than usual. That’s all.”
That was one way of looking at it.
“Can I offer you a bit of advice?” she asked.
I nodded. “Yes, please.”
“Just focus on one thing at a time. Back here in the trenches, you’ll have the advantage of not having to multitask. Keep an eye out for aerial attacks, but otherwise, focus on striking individuals or small groups. You’re an air wielder, right?”
I nodded again.
She stood and looked out over the top of the trench, and motioned for me to follow suit. We were halfway up a hillside, the Osavian troops visible in the valley below and in the distance, I could see Murvort’s armies.
My mouth fell open. “I didn’t realize there were so many.”
She frowned. “Neither did we. I’m fairly certain Xavier expected the battle to be finished days ago.”
I shook my head. During the initial meeting upon our return to camp, we’d learned that war had been raging for almost a week. Hordes poured out of the mountains and they’d kept coming. After suffering so many losses, Xavier and Cyrus agreed to begin siege on the mountain itself, hoping to cut off any others from joining the fight.
They were ready to risk Ladon’s and my life, hoping they’d rescue us before the mountain crumbled.
Now it looked as though our forces were nearly even in numbers.
Lucia pointed to the center of the enemy armies. “Focus your magic on the far side. You don’t want to accidentally cause any casualties on our side. And Emilie?”
I gave her my full attention. “Yes?”
“Aim to kill.”
It took another thirty minutes before we heard the roars signaling the fighting had begun. I watched as the front lines clashed, searching for Ladon and Cyrus. Once I spotted them, I turned my attention to my own task.
I did as Lucia instructed and searched for the farthest soldiers, focusing my attention on a cluster in the back. Inhaling deeply, I let magic fill my body, swirling and blossoming with each breath. When I felt it reach its peak, I expelled it toward those small dots in the distance and grinned as a cyclone of wind began to sweep through.
It blasted through dozens of confused soldiers. They couldn’t figure out where the mysterious power was coming from. Until a band of archers spotted our trench and began to rain down on us with arrows.
“Down!” Lucia cried, and our squad ducked below ground level. One of my fellow soldiers conjured a thick wall of ice and the arrows bounced off it without even cracking the barrier. “Well done, Bianca.”
A second wave of arrows hit, but they were no more effective than the first. Once Lucia was sure we were in the clear, she signaled for us to rise again, throwing our magic at the Murvort legions.
