Page 144 of Scorched Earth (Dark Shores #4)
They tensed but held their position as the centurion dragged Lydia across the sand, surrounded by the rest of his men.
Killian felt the shift. A change in air and breath, and then the water around the ship began to churn. Hooks burst out of the depths to catch hold of the Cel ship’s rails, and then giants were climbing the ropes.
Just as Xadrian and his warriors exploded from the sand beneath the legionnaire’s feet.
Helene screamed and Killian flung himself sideways, feeling one of the spears score his cheek. He barely felt the pain as he rolled across the sand to rip his sword from its depths.
Killian lifted it in time to slash away a downward strike, the spear sinking into the sand next to his face. Grabbing a handful, he rolled to his feet and threw it.
The sand struck two of the legionnaires in the eyes, and they stumbled into the others.
But Killian knew he’d only bought himself seconds, and he bolted toward the battle.
A spear shot past him and another sliced deep along his shoulder, but he only gritted his teeth and snatched up one of the spears from the sand, his eyes all for Lydia.
Agrippa had not exaggerated about the Thirty-Seventh’s skill.
For all they were outnumbered five to one, their route of retreat being rapidly destroyed by giants, and many of their number dying in the sand, the legionnaires held their ground with grim determination.
They’d moved into a circular formation around the centurion and Lydia, shields tight together and spears bristling outward as they moved toward the longboats.
Xadrian circled them, face splattered with blood and sword slicked with gore, searching for a weakness in their ranks and finding none. To attack would cost them.
The centurion shouted something, and Killian heard the men behind him break off their chase. Heard them run in the other direction, likely to signal reinforcements.
Whirling, Killian flung one of the spears. It soared through the air and punched through the neck of one of the legionnaires. Snatching up another fallen spear, he launched it at the sprinting men. It sank into the lower leg of one of them. He went down, ripped it out, then staggered on.
“Hunt them down!” Killian roared at Pitolt’s men, who flung themselves onto horseback and galloped in pursuit. Then fixed his eyes on the centurion who now held a blade to Lydia’s throat.
“You’re a fool for this,” the centurion spat. “What do you think that killing us gains you? We’re a drop in the ocean of men camped in Revat. All this will do is anger the legatus.”
“Did you really think I was going to let you take my queen?” Killian asked, circling one direction while Xadrian circled the other, the Prince murmuring orders to his warriors as he walked.
Yet as the Anuk archers lifted their weapons, the centurion uttered a single word and the masses of men shifted, their shields no longer forming a wall but a dome.
“Impressive!” Xadrian shouted. “Hiding behind your wall of steel like an armadillo.”
“More like a porcupine,” Killian said as they crossed paths, circling, and Xadrian shrugged.
“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 do that.
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 to anyone without 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.
“We face extermination!” Killian shouted.
“It is past time that we cease following those chosen by the most privileged among us. By those who have not gone hungry once during this ordeal. Instead, we should follow those who fight for our lives. Who fight for our freedom. Who are willing to lay down their own lives to save Reath from falling under the dominion of the Empire and the Seventh, for they are one and the same!”
Taking the crown from Lydia’s hand, he placed it on her head.
“We ride north with our allies to bring the fight to Rufina and destroy the blight. We ride north to destroy that which threatens everything we hold dear. Will you ride with us, or will you remain here to protect the likes of these two,” he pointed at Helene and Pitolt, “while they host parties and laugh as your children starve outside their gates?”
“To war!” someone shouted. “We march to war!”
The Mudamorian soldiers erupted in shouts for war.
Shouts declaring in Lydia’s name. Shouts for Mudamora and all of Reath.
The Anuk and the giants all added roars of favor, lifting their weapons in the air, but as he and Lydia led the mass of them northward, Killian’s skin began to crawl and he cast his eyes back to the glittering strait and the fleeing ship.
A battle won.
But the war was far from over.