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“They’ll sing songs of this day. Your sacrifice and your glory will live on long after you’re buried in the dirt.Youare the force that protects the weak from the opportunistic.Youare the force that protects the realm from a darkness that is more sinister than anything imaginable. When the time comes for your life to end, whether it be today or decades from now, you can die knowing that you fought for what was right.”

I stared out at the thousands of people, every one of them armed to the teeth and ready to die should that be their fate. Kauvras was out there somewhere. Ludovicus was out there somewhere. Farmers and shopkeepers, cobblers and stonemasons, tailors and peddlers. Mothers and fathers. The oppressed, the beaten down, and the abused. They were all here because they believed in me.

From the deepest pits of my soul, I let out a cry that echoed off the Onyxian Mountains that loomed above us. “For the good of the realm!”

“For the good of the realm!” my army answered.

I turned to my court, my Penumbra, myfriendsas they waited patiently for me. Miles’ face was stoic, but there was palpable fear behind it. Nell and Whit sat side by side, swords in hand, their horses pawing at the dirt. Summercut looked ready as I’d ever seen anyone. And Cal’s eyes were alight, his mouth set in a smile. And although it was small, it beamed with admiration. I took a deep breath, and nodded to him.

He kicked his horse’s sides, cantering down the frontlines, addressing the army. My heart skipped at the sight of him commanding my army, the strong, formidable Invisible King. My king. “Trebuchets! At the ready!”

Those who manned the trebuchets screamed. “Aye!”

This was it.

“Archers! At the ready!”

“Aye!”

It was happening.

“Cavalry! At the ready!”

“Aye!”

Everything to lose, and everything to gain.

“Infantry! At the ready!”

“Aye!”

“Soldiers of good, believers, and all those who fight on behalf of what is good and what is right!” Cal’s voice boomed, commanding the attention of every single soldier. “At the ready!”

“Aye!”

“Trebuchets! Ready…aim…SHIELDS!”

Flaming arrows rained down from above, spearing soldiers throughout the lines who hadn’t raised their shields in time. Heads poked over the top of the wall, almost as if the Vacants were tallying up their kills.

My voice bellowed out of me. “FIRE!”

A dozen trebuchets creaked as their arms slung forward, hurling flaming rocks at the Eserenian wall. They landed with a deafening crack, the wall rumbling with the impact.

The trebuchets launched again, stones tumbling to the ground as the wall began to weaken where it’d been hit. Another round of flaming arrows fell like hail, and it seemed like almost everyone raised their shields this time. But those who were hit, their dying screams rattled through me.

This was just the beginning.

Again and again the trebuchets launched, the wall crumbling little by little, the cavalry and infantry holding nervously in dreaded anticipation.

“Shields!”

Arrows.

Launch.

Crash.

“Petra!” Cal called, stationing his horse next to mine. “This next launch is going to be it. Are you ready?”