Rian rose behind me, but rather than join his brothers, he turned to face eastward with a menacing expression in his eyes. I had never seen such cold fury before.
“This is—” I began to tell him this wasnotthe Fuath, but a third fireball appeared much faster than the others right above us. I already knew there was nothing I could do against such ruthless magic, so there didn’t seem to be any point in trying to defend myself. The numbness of acceptance was a feeling I was deeply familiar with.
But Rian stepped in front of me, bracing his legs and raising his hands as if he couldcatchit, and magic pulsed through the air above him like water parting for a rock. Whatever force he was using was so strong it made my ear drums vibrate uncomfortably, but the fireball slowed down until it was hovering in the air above us. It was near enough that I could feel the heat on my face as I stared up at the roiling depths of flame in equal parts fear and awe. Then Rian shifted his feet, as if he were lifting something impossibly heavy, before he heaved his arms up and sent the blast back at whoever had launched it at us.
At first it looked like it would hit the dark and serene field beyond, but the ball exploded unexpectedly against a red dome with veins of green. It disappeared again even as the burning pieces of the fireball slid harmlessly off its curved shape into the grassland around it.
I felt a familiar burn around my throat, which made it suddenly difficult to breathe while I stared at where that shield had appeared.
There was another army out there. One that had been waitingand watching the battle for an unknown time.
“Rian…” I breathed as a dreadful sense of knowing began seeping in. “We need to find the mage.Now!”
Rian
I tore my eyes from where the red-and-green shield had vanished again as Nuala stumbled to her feet behind me. It was a good thing I had been using my magic so deeply because I could feel it threatening to revolt as the fear for my people steadily rose. It was all I could do to distract myself from what Sage and Ciaran might find when they reached Ornella and our people on the battlefield.
“What are you doing?” I asked as the witch began to wander around looking at enemy carcasses.
“I need a living Fuath. Maybe I can use it to figure out where the mage is,” she explained. She tried to roll over a dead Fuath with her heel, but I knew from experience that the foul beasts were heavier than they looked.
“Are you—” I began, but my head whipped west at the sound of several smaller explosions far in the distance. And I saw those familiar green flames bursting into the air near the bridge. The same ones the mage had used on Ciaran and Sage when they returned to Aes Suri.
“That is him! She is using him to draw your attention away from the ward. Bring him to me!” Nuala pleaded.
I tore my eyes from the green fire and shook my head. Letting her fight with me was hard enough, but I could at least prevent anything from getting too close to her then. There was no way I was leaving her alone.
“We do not have time for your emotional whiplash,” Nualasnapped at me and threw her arm out behind her as another green explosion hit our army.
I ground my teeth at her denunciation, but I nodded in agreement. I reinforced the wards I’d woven around her to ensure she would be safe, and then I portalled south to where the fighting was still raging thickest.
My shadows flared, eviscerating enemies as I stepped into the midst of the Fuath just ahead of where our front lines were fighting. I was relieved to see that our army was still dominating in spite of how the explosions must have shaken their confidence. I knew from Darragh that the battle was going in our favour, although the effects of that exploding shield still remained to be seen. Our army had been well trained, and we were well coordinated thanks to the bonds between my riders. The heaps of dead Fuath around me was enough proof of our effectiveness.
But I could also see piles of dead leaves trampled into the grass and mud. Precious fey lives had been lost too.
And I could have prevented it. I could have gone onto the battlefield alone and obliterated the threat without any loss of life if I hadn’t needed to find the Fuath mage.
I felt a hateful fury settling upon me at the thought of Queen Aoibheal as my attention settled on the green burst nearer to the bridge. She orchestrated this attack against her own people in the name of her own self-preservation. The queen who was meant to be our protector had not only abandoned our court to the Rot, but now actively destroyed it just to hold onto a decrepit throne.
And for that, I was going to destroy her.
My emotions were already running so high that I had to keep a light block on Sage and Ciaran to prevent their thoughts from triggering me. But I could feel the threat of an imminent implosion rising with every moment. I knew that the only reason it had not yet gotten ahold of me was because I was giving it an outlet. Ineededan outlet.
I normally would never use such deadly force so close to my own troops, especially not when I was emotional. But with my people likely decimated, Ornella dead or severely injured, and the Fuath mage within my sights…
I was done restraining myself.
Éadrom flew overhead to be my eyes so I did not hit my own warriors. Then my arms thrust out away from my chest as I heaved a giant maelstrom of flame and shadow through the Fuath before me. Everything was incinerated, clearing a wide path for me to the front where the mage was casting green fire at the bridge towers. We had very talented fire wielders on the battlements to deflect direct attacks on the bridge. But they would not hold the towers for long if the Fuath overran the front lines.
I ignored the screams of the Fuath as I stalked forward with shadows writhing around me in a wrathful tempest. They eviscerated anyone who came too close and turned arrows and spears into ash instantly. I had made enough of a commotion that the Fuath stopped fighting and were looking torn about whether to attack me or flee.
But my attention had finally fixed on the Fuath mage. Despite never seeing him with my own eyes, I could still recognize his tattered cloak and the green bowl from what Ciaran had imparted to me. The mage had also turned in my direction and was grinning with serrated black teeth. He had been about to point that green bowl in his hands at the tower again but decided to turn it toward me instead. Several shouts of warning rang out from my own soldiers ahead of him, and several arrows hit his shield as soon as he turned his back on them.
But I did not slow my gait as he sprinkled a powder into the bowl and then raised it over his head with his eyes squeezed closed. Whatever chemical magic he was using began foaming over the rim of the stone bowl just before it erupted in a blaze of green fire toward me.
My shadows converged before me, allowing his strike to passthrough them, but the green flames did not reach me before they were consumed. They grew ever dimmer until they winked out like an ember deprived of oxygen.
My lip curled in disgust at the acidic taste of such an unnatural magic, and I ignored the stares of fey and Fuath alike as I resumed my way toward the mage. He was so shocked that he dropped his stone bowl, spilling the green liquid harmlessly on the ground before I seized him.
