An alarm began to blare, drawing my attention to the city. I couldn’t yet see it, but I would bet my life that the torches this side of the battlement were being lit.
My heart lodged itself in my throat. “Run,” I bit out.
We tore across the meadow in the direction of the city. We were far too outnumbered to survive a battle against an entire army, so it would be senseless to make a stand. As Keyes had told us, there was no shame in running if it meantliving.
A long, melodious howl filled the air. Then another. And another.
“Fucking hounds are back,” panted Lear, running alongside me.
More animalistic sounds soon rang out—sounds I recognized as belonging to the creatures of Deimos, who had clearly sensed the presence of the trespassers. I had no doubt that the beasts would swarm them, but some slippery hounds would manage to evade them. And they’d eventually stumble upon us in their bid to storm the city.
With that thought in mind, I picked up my pace. The others of my group were hot on my heels, their breaths as labored as my own.
We all skidded to a halt as we reached a river.Shit.I ducked under a hanging tree and strode to the water’s edge. Narrowing my eyes, I made out wispy shapes at the other side of the ravine. Shapes that I recognized as weathered trees of the dark forest. “We’re going to have to swim.”
Sable cursed. “We’re not going to make it back to the city before they catch up to us,” she said, a note of fear in her voice.
I stared down at the frothing, blood-red flowing current. “No, but we could maybe take some cover in the trees—or climb them.”
Reeve swallowed. “I don’t think the hounds are alone. I can hear hooves now.Andwar shouts.”
Very distinctive tribal war shouts. “The lapithae,” I rasped, picturing half-human, half-horse beings that resided in the Dark Lands.
A sound of distress escaped Sable.
Lear sidled up to me. “The hounds—”
“Can cross it, yes,” I finished, pulling my sheathed scythe from my back. “But it’s well-known that centaurs hate water.They’ll find another path to the forest, but it will at least slow them down.”
I tossed my weapon across the river, relieved when it landed safely on the gravelly bank. The other candidates did the same with their own weapons.
I took a deep preparatory breath, clamped my lips shut, and then jumped into the cold water. The shock of its icy temperature made me freeze for a few seconds. Then I was on the move, swimming against the current; skirting around boulders and reeds.
Reaching the other side, I dragged myself out of the river. The feel of the cool air made me break out in a shiver. On a different occasion, I might have grumbled at how my hair stuck to my head and my sopping wet clothes clung to my body like a second skin. Right now, my priority wasgetting gone.
Like the rest of my group, I slung my weapon over my shoulder and then raced into the forest. That quickly, it was dark as night. Beams of light only slashed through the canopy here and there, so it wasn’t always easy to evade any obstacles in our path. We all felt the impact of it …
Lear almost tripped over a tree root.
Reeve ran face-first into a thick branch.
Sable stumbled into a bush that tugged at her breeches, slowing her down.
Me? I fell over a log like an idiot, landing hard on and my palms and knees.
Cursing through my teeth, I quickly jumped to my feet and forged on. My wet clothes were like a heavy weight that tried impeding my pace. I didn’t allow it. Didn’t let myself care how they chafed my skin. Didn’t allow myself to sweat over how the snarls and thunder of paws were louder now, telling me that the dogs were closing in on us.
A loud familiarsnapof power made me screech to a halt. I pivoted on my heel, my stomach sinking. “Talon.” If I was judging correctly, he had to be somewhere beyond the river we’d just crossed, so perhaps he’d been one of the officiates pursuing our group. “He can’t take the hounds on with only a couple of officiates for backup.” Not unless he shifted into his dragon form, which wouldn’t necessarily be a good thing.
“Neither can we,” Sable retorted, anxiety rolling off her in waves.
“We won’t have to.” Lear pointed at the sky. “Look.”
I tracked her gaze. Through the fog, I could make out Phoenixians flying through the air at top speed. Said Phoenixians were also carrying people in their arms who they then dropped at various spots; people who shifted into either wolves or lions in midair. Other Phoenixians lowered Delphiae to the ground, who then armored themselves in wood.
Before we knew it, we had officiates in our midst. The sheer relief of that was tremendous. It wasn’t common for the Order to bring the fight to any enemies. I suspected they had come only so that any officiates out here weren’t outnumbered, meaning Talon wouldn’t be forced to shift.
I also suspected that many had hung back to remain on the battlements so they could deal with any enemies who might get past the line of defense we created out here.
