Page 59 of Memory of Ashes

Her father had omitted information from the archives of the mine. The thought that he would have lied was too painful to consider.

If Emin truly didn’t know… then did the guild master? This conspiracy ran deeper than the guild.

“You need to get some rest,” he said gently. “I doubt they are going to strike until morning. You’ll be safe until then.”

How wrong he’d been.

They’d waited until the dead of night, when most had given up and gone to sleep to catch some rest before the battle. Their archers sneaked through the darkness to shoot guards from the city walls.

Once the element of surprise had been lost, they loosed flaming arrows over the walls.

Amelia awoke to footsteps and the yells of soldiers running with buckets of water to put out the fires.

Water would be one of their most important defences, especially considering the enemy army had a fire mage.

A guard appeared at the door to the room she’d occupied. “The emperor wants you.”

She followed the guard back to the boardroom where a council of war was taking place. They all looked up at her approach.

“Ah, there’s our fae expert,” the emperor said mockingly. “We need to know everything that you know about them. What abilities they have, what weapons they have, how they fight. Anything that could help us win this battle.”

They had doubted her word, and now they were depending on it. They might have received more useful information if they hadn’t handed Ruven over. She kept thinking about him, wondering what Casyl had done to him.

“I know little about their tactics,” she said. “They have a fire mage. She can manipulate fire if she’s close enough.” Danae could easily burn down their city given the chance. It was hard to talk about her as if she were the enemy, but that’s what she was. She’d torched an entire town of Amelia’s people.

“What about their leader, the one who killed our good friend, the councillor?”

“Casyl. He leads the army, but it’s the king that’s in control. Casyl can inflict pain.” He’d inflicted enough pain on her. “Tharos is the most dangerous. He can control what others see.” She stopped talking and turned to the men in the room. They were looking at her as if she’d lost her mind.

“I know it sounds as though it came straight out of a story, but you’ll see for yourselves.”

“They don’t seem to be doing much at the moment, just firing arrows,” one of them said.

“They are playing with us.”

*

The enemy launched its attack later that day. Hordes of fae ran at the city armed with ladders as they tried to scale the walls. Guards fought them back, trying to dislodge them, pushing them away, but they kept coming.

Amelia watched from the safety of the palace walls with Emin, the emperor, and his advisers. It went on for hours. Siege warfare could last for months, and this was the first actual battle.

The human army spent more time fighting fires started by the burning arrows than repelling the attackers. Danae’s arrows.

With each wave of warriors, the nausea built inside her, layer upon layer. She could not stand there and watch this any longer. She had to do something.

From her vantage point on the stone ramparts, she saw the mage. Her swirling tempest of white-hot flames surrounded her.

Amelia stepped forward, shaking off Emin’s hand.

Danae stood near the wall to control the flames within the city. It was close enough for Amelia to feel the vibrations of her power. She reached out with her mind, followed the tendrils of energy and latched onto them.

She seized Danae’s magic with a scream.

She could see Danae’s shock from there. Amelia’s power smothered Danae’s flames like a blanket. They vanished in a billow of grey smoke, leaving the fire mage stumbling backwards.

Their eyes met, and Amelia could have sworn she saw sadness in Danae’s expression.

They wheeled the cage into view.