“There are over five hundred men and women who need to be outfitted tonight,” Talamh said with a shrug. His twin nodded in resolute agreement. “Save the knives and steel for the unAwakened cadets. We have crystals. And an all-powerful queen.” He added the last part with a savage grin.
I rolled my eyes to disguise the nerves that fluttered to life in my belly at the faith and trust they placed in me.
I don’t even knowhowto be a queen. I can barely control my own power.
Hopefully my rage would cover up any shortcomings I had throughout the night and, even more so, keep the three Mages I’d selected for this disastrous mission alive.
Leal, Tine, and Talamh checked that their crystals were positioned against their skin as we left the armory and headed down the stairs and toward the tunnel that led to the manor, passing a handful of other groups as we walked, each of us painfully focused on our own task. My plan was to escape through the connecting tunnel, exit the manor through the back gate that led into the garden, and assess the situation through the cover of trees that dotted the front yard. Hopefully we’d be able to surprise the rebels enough that a few of our Academy task forces would escape unharmed and be able to take the fight to the gods’ army on the outside of the protection wards that surrounded the square.
Hopefully.
My three companions said nothing as we descended quickly to the fake wall that guarded the entrance to the manor tunnel.
“Each of you touch a point on my body. You will only make it through via contact with me,” I commanded, and felt as three hands rested on my shoulders. We progressed forward together as one, the wards sensing my magical signature and allowing us to pass uninhibited. Their hands dropped just as quickly as I led them through the tunnel. Down here, the sounds of battle were completely muffled—the near silence almost eerie after the constant booming from the magical barrage.
As we ascended, new sounds swept over us—the screams and shouts of the servants from inside the manor mixed with the booms of the attack on the protective barrier. The fear here wasa tangible thing, and I watched as they scampered from room to room on the lowest floor, some grasping their things as if thinking to flee.
I grabbed one particularly fearful woman—a maid who had attended me before—and halted her steps.
“Don’t leave the manor,” I said as the woman turned glassy blue eyes to me. Her chin trembled, but she nodded her head. “Tell the others. If you leave the protection of the wards in here, you will die. We don’t have enough people to protect you from both the gods and the rebels.”
“Yes, My Queen,” she whispered before scampering away, hastily scolding any others who were attempting to leave the manor.
“Kind of you, that,” Leal remarked while twirling one of the daggers between her fingers.
“They’d just get themselves killed. Or distract one of us soweget killed. There’s already going to be enough bloodshed tonight. Better to reduce whatever unnecessary death we can,” I said without emotion as we finally pushed open the doors that led to the lawn out front of the house. The sounds that greeted us were like nothing I’d ever heard before, and as we climbed a tall oak in the center of the garden to gain a better vantage point, my breath caught in my throat.
Holy gods.
Rebels swarmed like ants across the grey cobblestones of the courtyard, nearly obscuring it from view. And, just beyond the courtyard, I could see a line of dirty and bedraggled people simply waiting for the barrier to fall. The whole scene made the attack on Hestin look like child’s play.
A warm-up.
The rebels below us shouted and called as they cast against the Academy, desperately trying to bring the glittering obsidian stone down around their feet. Fireballs arced through the air,illuminating the night in swaths of red as Earth Mages used some of the fallen stone to hammer against the exterior of the Academy. The whole building seemed to shudder with the last impact, and I involuntarily winced.
That won’t be standing for much longer.
Shouts rang out, stealing my attention as I saw the first of our task force groups exiting the Academy to engage with the rebels.
Tine whistled through his teeth. “How’d they get in here?”
I clenched my hands in anger, Torin’s words ringing through my head.
“You’ll see me soon, I promise.”
“They’ve been here,” I ground out, and all three turned to look at me with matching expressions of incredulity. “Their leader is Torin d’Eshu, also known as Cael, the Matriarch’s lead general.”
“Wait, Torin? The guy we’ve been training with? Weren’t you engaged to—” Tine’s question was cut off with an audible “oof” as his brother elbowed his ribs.
I ignored his question, my attention still drawn to the burgeoning fight outside the Academy. I winced as one of the unAwakened cadets charged a Fire Mage, sword raised high and a wary cry on his lips, before he was incinerated by the same Mage he attempted to attack.
We have to get down there.
My time at the Academy and in Lex’s strategy classes was woefully short and incomplete. I had no idea how to lead a task force.
What was I thinking?
“We should scale the wall there.” Talamh pointed to a section of the wall surrounding the manor farthest from the battle. “It’ll provide us enough room to draw them away from the Academy entrances.”
