Page 26

For the first time in what felt like hours, hope bloomed in his chest. Kato and Eula were reforming the shadow mages, covering the casters’ retreat behind the line of flash cannons, and Skye finally felt comfortable turning his attention to the north.

“Harin?” Skye turned a dial on his comm, trying to tease out the right frequency. “Harin? Report.”

The comm crackled—nothing but static.

Skye looked to the north. Refugees were huddled around the entrance to the bridge, and the ramp was stuffed from end to end, not a scant patch of pavement visible between the press of bodies. The suspension web blocked his view of the other side.

“Harin?” he tried again. “Come on, answer me, Kane.”

But there was no answer. Just static.

Skye’s heart lurched. Throwing one last glance to the crowded ramp, he took a running jump off the platform, reaching for the tangled net that encircled the bridge and hauling himself up. He moved through the dense web, over the crowd and across the canyon. The people below murmured and cried, and Gate Watchers linedboth sides of the bridge, pushing back against the swell of people and trying to keep the jabbing and jostling to a minimum, lest some poor soul get shoved right off the side. Several carts had been caught halfway across the ramp, and from this distance, they looked like islands of wood and steel set adrift at sea.

Skye was halfway across the bridge when his comm began to squawk. “Help!” a young woman pleaded. Maka—Skye had met her just yesterday when she had been tending to the horses. She was one of the shadow mages that had been sent to the north side. “They’re in the trees! They’re coming from the forest! We’re surrounded!”

“Harin!” Skye barked. “Report!”

“Emrys?!” Harin’s voice was gruff and laced with pain. “Where the hell have you been? We’ve been trying to hail you for the last twenty minutes.”

What?

Eyes wide, Skye turned the dial on his comm, sending a hail to the other side, to Kato or Eula or anyone who might have been listening.

But there was no answer. Just more static followed by hollow silence. The signal was being blocked. Something on the bridge was interfering with their comms, which meant—

Skye shook off that train of thought. There would be time for questions later—time to figure out just how their enemy had managed to conceal themselves. How they had known the day and time the caravan would be crossing the bridge.

Reaching for a piece of steel trussing, Skye pulled himself up, climbing higher and higher and higher—high enough that he could see past the walls of black dirt that jutted from the groundaround the northern bank. The earth mages looked ashen and pale as they tried to fortify the hastily constructed blockade. Some were on their knees, and others were being propped up by Lowborn and mortals who could do little more than offer small sips of water and whispered words of encouragement.

Just beyond, in the small ribbon of highway that cut a path through the forest—more shades. A never-ending ocean of rotting limbs and gnashing teeth.

Climbing through the net, Skye made his way south, just far enough that Eula’s voice began filtering through the comm. “We have shades to the north,” he said, letting his weight rest on a nearby vine. “Hundreds of them. The earth mages are holding them back, but they’re going to be overrun if they don’t get backup.”

“What?” The whine of the flash cannons mixed with the hiss of static nearly drowned out the single-word response. Kato’s voice sounded in the background as Eula gave a shout. An explosionboomedto the south, so fierce it made the bridge begin to sway.

“Skylen,” Eula panted as the low growl of the blast began to taper and fade, “We can’t—”

“I know,” Skye said, checking the handful of shadow crystals that clacked together in his pocket. “Stay where you are and continue to push. I’ll go north and reinforce Harin—see what I can do. There’s something blocking the comms, so as soon as you have the south side secured, send up a flare and start moving the civilians off the bridge. We’re trapped right now with nowhere to run. Use those guns and give us somewhere to go. Understood?”

There was a brief pause, then a mumbled, “Sire.” Skye could perfectly envision the way the noblewoman bowed her head. Not in deference, just… resignation. Because even if they could cut a hole to the south, the odds that they would be able to clear the roadways enough for a retreat…

No. He couldn’t think like that. Not as another explosion cracked the air, this time to the north as one of those already-crumbling walls of earth collapsed. The shades immediately swarmed the hole in the barricade, breaking through and ripping into the line of shadow mages that threw themselves in front of the civilians.

Skye took a shaky breath. He had been trained to fight. He had been taught to lead. And he would. Even if he didn’t feel ready—he would. His stomach lurched as he loosened his grip and let his body drop. Catching himself at the last moment, he began propelling himself forward, barking orders on the comm, watching as the shadow mages on the north side shakily fell into formation.

Metal clanged, and boots shuffled. As the shadow mages began to push, Harin took a step back and started pulling civilians from the huddled crowd. Anyone that looked like they might have a whisper of magic got shoved into line.

Skye dropped to the ground, pulling his staff from his coat as he moved to the front. Another block in the barricade began to fall, and a great keening wail went up as more shades flowed through the opening.

Skye ran, infusing aether into his legs and barely feeling the crack of bone as he slammed into the enemy wave. The ground trembled underfoot as the fallen earth mage tried to summon anotherbarrier, but the shades were already clawing their way forward, barely stumbling as rippling streams of water flew past. Skye spared a glance back at Harin and the Lowborn rank, his stomach sinking as the realization set in. They didn’t have enough magic to form ice.

The comm squealed, and then, “Shadow mages dropping in 30 seconds. Clear the forward bridge.”

Skye jolted at the familiar voice, and that slight blip in his attention cost him. A blade embedded in his shoulder, and he snarled, slamming his fist into the shade’s cheek. Blood spurted as he yanked the dagger from his arm, the pain so hot it made the rest of him feel cold.

“Ten seconds. Air mages—be ready to provide aerial support.”

Skye looked to the sky, still searching for the source of that voice and nearly stumbling from the shock of relief that shot through him. It was subtle, barely more than a glimmer, a slight bend in the light that didn’t quite seem natural. But he saw it—saw the glamour just seconds before the veil of water magic dissolved, revealing the monster of wood and metal swimming through the clouds.