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I feel sick.
Sick to be killing.
Sick to know this is all because of Ravis’s greed.
Sick to think no one at all has to die.
The city folk are all in the castle now, at least, if not through the portal yet. Guards bring regular updates to Skiro.
And then some of Ravis’s men make it atop the wall.
At the farthest left end, where wall meets rock, a grappling hook caught on the wall, with no one to burn the rope or slice it off.
Five men rush this way, with more trying to climb the wall behind them.
“Kellyn!” I shout because he’s closer.
He sees them, takes one look at Kymora, and makes his decision.
What I see next is only snatches out of the corner of my eye. Kellyn raising his hand, unclenching his fist. Lady Killer sliding from his back sheath of its own volition, whipping into his hand faster than the eye can follow. The mercenary leaping over our men bent over the wall, where they pour more vats of hot water over the enemy below.
A sword point thrusts for my face from below; I get Echo between me and it just in time. The magical rebound sends the soldier sailing down the ladder, knocking each man on the rungs below him off along the way.
With the ladder free of the extra weight, I shove it away from the wall and watch it crash to the ground below.
When I look back up, Kellyn has dispatched the men on the wall. He attempts to saw through the rope with his sword, but I see that a new man will soon reach the top. The enemy pauses to draw his sword and takes a swipe at Kellyn, narrowly missing his neck. I don’t think before rushing forward to help.
With me bashing in heads and him sawing, the rope snaps in no time.
I spin back around as soon as I remember we left Kymora unguarded, but she’s still shouting out orders from atop the wall. I watch as she dodges an arrow without skipping a word.
She really is extraordinary. I just wish she wereactuallyon our side.
Petrik casts his staff at the men below, trying to interrupt the flow of soldiers as best he can. One tries to grab ahold of the staff, but it slips through her fingers as if coated in oil and returns to Petrik without delay.
I feel a rush of pride to see my weapons doing just as I bade them.
At a noise farther down the right side of the wall, we all look up. An enemy soldier made it to the top. A large woman in light armor charges toward us. Men try to stop her, but she thrusts out a hammer and—
That’smyhammer!
Men go flying to the ground as she charges forward with the hammer Ravis stole from me. She tramples them underfoot as she comes bolting for the prince.
There is a small voice in my head, one that begs me to flee. To be safe and live. But in this one instance, the brave Ziva is overpowering. Because that ismyhammer thatImade, and she has it, and she’s hurting people, and I have to make it right.
I bypass Prince Skiro, veer around Kymora and Petrik, until no one and nothing is between me and the approaching soldier. She eyes me, eyes my own hammers, and grins. It makes my stomach turn over, but I hold my ground, thrusting out Echo, while the woman charges forward holding out my old hammer.
The two invisible shields connect in a loudtwang, and I’m thrown backward, losing my feet entirely as my back smacks into the solid brick flooring of the wall. The breath leaves me, and Ican’t sit up for some time. When I do, I find the other woman in a similar state opposite me. Shakily, we both find our feet before advancing again.
This time, instead of plummeting toward me with the shield hammer extended, the soldier holds it at her waist, preparing to swing with the magicless right hammer.
But what she doesn’t know is that Agony absorbed the power of our collision, and she sings with the extra force. I dodge the soldier’s blow before making contact with my right hammer.
The soldier goesflying. Well over the wall, over the heads of many of the enemy soldiers below, before finally falling.
I turn away so I don’t have to see the impact. Then I pick up my old magicked hammer from where she dropped it and slide it through my belt.
I catch Kymora pursing her lips in thought when I turn around. I know for certain that I don’t want to know what she’s thinking. I can just see the wheels turning, feel her mind calculating all the ways she would use me at the first chance.
