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I shook my arm free as Riven appeared at my side. “I’ll go with her.”
“No.” I looked up at him, resolute. “You need to protect the ship. And the Shades.”
Riven’s brow knotted together and his shadows lashed out behind him. But he didn’t fight my command. He knew I wouldn’t be able to concentrate unless I trusted the Shades would be protected. I had only just got them back.
“I’ll wait along the grounds so I can protect all of you.” His neck twitched. “But we don’t have much longer.”
“That settles it. I’ll go with you,” Vrail said with a smug tilt of her head.
Riven squeezed my hand once. “Live so you can bring your people home,diizra,” he whispered in my ear before pressing a kiss to my temple and running out the door.
CHAPTERTWENTY
VRAIL AND I LEFT THE OTHERSto ferry as many of the Shades as they could to the ship. Now that Damien’s beacon had been lit, the beaches along Koratha were swarming with sellswords. Vrail and I ran until our lungs burned. I tried to ignore the torches carried by the charging soldiers, but my heart pounded in my chest. Hundreds of them were rushing to the water’s edge with large bows and full quivers while others ran toward catapults Damien had dug into the sand.
“Do you see it?” Vrail shouted, her voice breaking in desperation.
I hurriedly scanned the training field in front of the Order. In the dim light of the moon, I almost missed the seal. This one was not marked by ash but with water. A wide circle with the same webbed pattern inside it was painted onto the ground with turquoise dew caught along the grass. The water hung to each blade in thick drops, glimmering in the pale silver light from the stars above.
I grabbed my bone hilt and pointed to a spot at the edge of the circle. “You stand watch there. Tell me when they get close.”
Vrail nodded absentmindedly, her gaze locked on one of the largest dewdrops. Gold lettering floated in and out of view, like words written on glass and then plunged into the sea. Vrail leaned closer trying to decipher the script. I groaned and reached for a pebble on the ground, chucking it at her head.
She reared back in shock, rubbing the back of her skull.
“There.” I pointed to the edge of the seal. “Now.” Thankfully, she did not need to be told a second time. I glanced at the beach and saw a thick line of flame marking the shoreline and the rowboats waiting along it.
We only had minutes until the sailing archers would be close enough to strike us with their arrows. And they would be nothing compared to the cascade of stone that was about to rain down on us or the ships docked along the port.
I plunged my bloodstone dagger into the edge of the seal and felt the same strong pull I’d felt at the Cliffs of Elandorr. I couldn’t have let go of the hilt even if I wanted to. My entire body leaned toward the seal and my arm ached from the pressure of the magic pressing down on my blade as it cut through the earth. As I dragged the dagger through the seal, the dew formed a thin river behind my blade, not of water but a silvery liquid that glowed all on its own.
I finished the perimeter of the seal just as the first catapult launched its load into the air. I kept going as the stones plummeted to the sea, crashing loudly against the large rock wall that protected the island.
A minute later, I still had half the pattern to cut through. A loud crash of water boomed through the night. Vrail lifted her hand in victory at something along the beach. “The last two catapults are too far. Both their loads have landed short!”
“Have they loaded the first one again?” I shouted, not letting my gaze drift from the end of my blade.
Vrail danced on the tips of her toes. “The bucket’s half full.”
“Let’s hope they fill it then,” I mumbled as I traced the first of eight intersecting lines across the circle.
“They’re cranking it farther back, Keera!”
I cut the second and third lines.
Vrail froze and my breath stopped. “They’re about to cut the rope.”
“Tell me when you see rocks in the air!” I shouted back, cutting the fourth line into the ground.
Vrail crouched at the knees, as if preparing to run, but she stood her ground. Her fingers fluttered at her sides as she watched the men surrounding the front of the first catapult, waiting for the arm to release and send a shower of death our way.
“Anything?” I started the sixth line. Only two more to go.
Vrail’s answer was exasperated. “Not yet.”
I finished the line. “Anything?”
“Wait for my signal, Keera!”
