Page 248 of Scorched Earth

“You may be right, my friend. Either way, I question how long they’ll be able to sustain this.”

“As long as it takes reinforcements to arrive,” the centurion answered. “Then we’ll make you bleed.”

Killian locked eyes with Xadrian, who shrugged. “I enjoy a challenge.”

The ship was on fire now, the giants diving off the sides and swimming toward shore to join the fight. Smoke rose in a great plume, and beyond, he caught a flash of white on the water.

The other ship was approaching fast.

His eyes flicked back to the wall of steel and spears. He and Xadrian, with the giants’ aid, could bring the Cel down, but it would be a bloody toll that Killian couldn’t afford to pay. These men would fight to the last, and it occurred to Killian that he’d underestimated them as much as Xadrian had. “Give me the girl, and I will consider letting you go.”

The centurion barked out a harsh laugh. “I’m afraid I can’t dothat. I’ll slit her throat right before you cut me down, Calorian, so stay your hand. The only way you get her back is as a corpse. If you want the girl to live, you’ll back off and let us take her to the boats. She’ll make a fine wife for the Dictator.”

“No,” Lydia said from within the dome of steel. “I will not.”

Killian’s breath quickened, then from behind the shields, the centurion screamed, “Corrupted!”

The shields burst outwards, men stumbling and whirling, half to face the threat from within and half without, and the result was chaos.

Killian attacked at the same time as Xadrian did, the Anuk surging. With their lines lost, the Cel turned to hand-to-hand.

They were no less deadly.

Screams split the air, the white beach turned red with blood as the forces collided, but though Killian cut through the legionnaires, he could not find Lydia. “Lydia!”

Then he saw her. Moving like a ghost, faster than anyone had right to be. Lydia’s hands found bare flesh, and the men she touched screamed as they aged, lashing out at her. But she only skipped out of reach and moved on to the next, weakening them. Terrifying them.

And Killian took advantage.

Every death was hard won, but one by one, he cut the legionnaires down. Following in Lydia’s wake like death’s shadow, maiming any that dared to strike at her. It was gory and brutal, but it ended almost as soon as it began.

“Victory!” Xadrian shouted, lifting his hands. The Anuk roared and the giants added their voices, but Killian only walked from dying legionnaire to dying legionnaire, cutting throats while Lydia moved among their own force’s injured, saving lives.

They met in the middle and locked hands as they looked out over the sea at the other Cel ship. It had been moving closer, but had shifted course, and as they watched, it headed back across the strait. Bringing word of what had happened here.

“These were Marcus’s men we killed.” Lydia’s voice was quiet. “Teriana told me they are like family to him. As soon as he finds out what we have done, he will come for blood.”

Killian didn’t answer, only tightened his grip on Lydia’s hand.

“Do you think we bought her enough time?” she asked.

He sent out a silent prayer to Madoria to aid Teriana, wherever she was. “We’ll find out soon enough, but for now, we need to turn our eyes to the blight.”

Keeping her hand in his, Killian led Lydia up the beach. The Anuk and the giants fell into step with them, and they stopped before the overturned table, behind which Helene and High Lord Pitolt cowered. The latter spat, “You planned this behind our backs!”

“Correct.” Killian reached down to pick up the crown that had fallen off Helene’s head. “Because unlike you, we refuse to concede Mudamora toanyonewithout a fight.”

He handed the crown to Lydia, then walked toward the two hundred Mudamorian soldiers who’d stood there and done nothing while Anukastre and Eoten Isle had bled and died to defeat the Thirty-Seventh. “It’s time you start considering where you should place your allegiance!” he shouted, his voice carrying over them. “These two”—he gestured to Helene and Pitolt—“as well as some of their peers, have spent these past days not trying to save Mudamora but to save themselves. They were willing to hand over control of our kingdom to an Empire that rules with violence and oppression. An Empire that crushes the cultures and beliefs of all they take into their fold. An Empire that tears down the monuments of the Six everywhere they go but leaves the tower of the Seventh lording over all.” He picked up the agreement from the sand and held it up. “That was what they were trying to do here, and you stood idly and watched without complaint.”

The soldiers shifted restlessly, staring at their feet.

“Stood by idly while the warriors of Anukastre and Eoten Isle bled and died for your continued liberty. While they bled and died for the liberty of the woman who is our greatest weapon against the Corrupter.” Catching hold of Lydia’s hand, he lifted it high in the air. “Many of you know her as Kitaryia Falorn, but she is known to those who love her as Lydia, for she was raised in secret across the seas in the very Empire that Helene sought to surrender to. She is marked by Hegeria, and while these fools have spent recent days fighting to give her and all of our resources to the Empire, Lydia has been curing blighters by the dozens.”

A gasp tore from the mass of soldiers before him, and behind him, he heard Xadrian crow with delight.

“Dozens upon dozens of men, women, and children who succumbed to the blight and were masquerading as civilians while spying for the enemy have been restored to themselves by her hand!” Killian shouted. “Yet despite knowing Lydia is one of our greatest weapons against the blight, Helene and her supporters wished to willfully hand her over to the enemy. And you stood by and watched it happen.”

Silence stretched.