Shit, they could climb.
And I was out of arrows.
Cursing, I placed the bow and empty quiver behind me. Reaching forward, I grabbed the long wooden-handle tight of my scythe and held it just right.
Which was when Talon, a large two-handed sword in his grip, fucking jumped.
Jumpedover the wall, dragging a climbing lamiae down with him as he did so; landing as easily as if he’d scaled a mere fence.
He wasn’t the only one. Ajax and several officiates did the same, using the lamiae they’d yanked down from the wall to break their fall and lessen its impact. Wings of silk shot out of the backs of the Phoenixians on the battlement, who all took to the air.
I watched as Talon brutally hacked into a lamiae, all but cleaving her in half with a single blow of his sword. Many of the Delphiae changed—their bodies developing armor made of moss-covered wood—and started swinging similar swords at the invaders. Meanwhile, the Nemeans and Lykaons attacked in their animal forms, barreling into their foes with brute force like battering rams.
Still, more of the lamiae kept coming.
Phoenixians, including Khalida, snatched them away from the wall and tossed them pitilessly through the air; all landed hard, bones breaking, spines snapping, skulls cracking.
The shape-shifting officiates fought as savagely as Deimos’ beasts. Both lions and wolves took down enemies, broke up formations, and trampled on those who fell.
The combined force of the officiates and Deimos’ resident beasts was too much for the army. Especially now that the horned panthers had left the sea to battle the enemies on land, lashing their exceptionally long tails; their roars remanent of the sounds of rushing rapids. But none of that stopped invaders from attempting to breach the walls.
Soon, more lamiae were climbing toward the rise, bloodthirst whirling in their red eyes. Taking a shaky breath, I dropped the bow to the floor and angled the curved brutal-looking blade I held just right.
Hearing a frustrated curse, I spared a sideways glance at Bevan. He was holding a sword, having dropped his bow and quiver. I realized then that the other candidates also now held some form of blade.
A gold spark of light immediately drew my attention back to Talon, who was decapacitating one enemy after enemy with both sword and strikes of pure power. A lamiae charged him from behind, but Ajax was there—expertly wielding a mace with metal studs and spikes protruded from its head. He lashed out with the club, viciously caving-in her skull. Damn, the force of his swings were tremendous and—
A female head popped up in front of me, a snarl on her face, red-eyes glittering with thirst.
Fuck that.
I struck with the scythe, cutting right through the skull.
Her eyes going vacant, she fell back without a sound.
Others soon appeared, trying to breach the rise. I wasted no time in attacking, determined to hold them back. I swung the scythe over and over, cutting through flesh and bone as easily as if they were crops.
Eagles and Phoenixians repeatedly appeared to drag the screeching females away, ensuring those of us on the battlements weren’t outnumbered. It meant that we could tackle the enemies in teams of two or three. So Bevan and I occasionally teamed up, both of us using our weapons to slash, stab, crush bones, and leave brutal injuries.
One lamiae leapt onto the battlement and grabbed at me. She sank her teeth into the side of my face and,fuck, it felt like dozens of knives had embedded themselves in my skin.
I buried the scythe into the biting bitch’s skull again and again. As she slid to her knees, I planted a boot into her chest and shoved her off the wall.
“Fuck,” cursed Bevan.
I looked to see that a lamiae had somehow managed to overpower him. He was flat on his back with her hovering over him, his sword inches from his bloodied and bitten hand.
Wicked fast, I swiped out with the scythe, beheading her.
Bevan scrambled backwards as the corpse collapsed to the stone floor of the battlement. Breathing hard, he looked up at me. His throat bobbing, he gave a curt nod of thanks and pushed to his feet.
Right then, I noticed that there were only two other lamiae on the battlements—both were being hacked into by officiates. Others from the Order were tossing ropes over the wall. Struggling to regulate my breathing, I flexed my hand around the handle of the scythe as I gazed down at the scene below. The battle was indeed over, thank the gods.
Bodies, burned and bloody and broken, littered the terrain. The majority were invaders, but some were sadly officiates—none of whom I knew personally, which made my chest flutter with relief. The latter were being healed by Delphiae officiates such as Layna and Jelani, so they might be injured as opposed to dead.
While many from the Tapestry were climbing up the ropes, others were walking around the battlefield, finishing off fallen foes by lopping off heads with axes or swords. The beasts that inhabited Deimos were hauling off some corpses either into the woods or under the water—probably to snack on later.
“So,” began Bevan, swiping his arm over his forehead, “is it only me wondering why the Sovereigns didn’t come out here to help?”
