Page 154 of The Cradle of Ice

In the quiet that followed, a horn blared outside. Before it faded, another answered, then another. A strident chorus soon rose all around.

Everyone in the room stared in different directions.

Kanthe glanced at Frell and Pratik, but he found no answer in their confused expressions. Next came shouting and the sharp blasts of bombs. Then screams, both furious and pained.

From the doors to either side of the dais, a score of guardsmen in shining armor—imperial Paladins—swept to encircle the emperor and his family.

Their leader offered a bow to Makar. “Hold fast, Your Illustriousness. A scrabble of baseborn dare to attack. Accompanied by the Shayn’ra. But they dash themselves against our forces. None will breach these walls.”

The emperor was on his feet. He did not look scared or worried, only angry at the interruption. He cast a hard glance at the Augury, as if he had expected the oracle to have anticipated this assault.

“We will prove victorious,” the Paladin promised.

* * *

WE CANNOT WIN this battle.

From the edge of the square, Tazar despaired. Moments ago, their two armies—his and Llyra’s—had crashed against the imperial forces. Even caught off guard, the two centuries of guardsmen formed a silver cliff that looked impregnable. Furious fighting continued along its edge, but little progress was made.

Frustrated and angry, Tazar could no longer stand by and watch.

If this is our end, I will die with my sword bloodied.

Althea grabbed his shoulder. “We cannot lose you, too. You are the foundation on which a new Fist can grow.”

Tazar ground his teeth. He glared over at Llyra, wondering if this were all some ruse, another trap set up by the imperium. True or not, he knew he was ultimately to blame, letting ambition overrule restraint.

I should have heeded Althea’s caution from the start.

Still, his fingers clutched as he stared over at the Guld’guhlian, wanting to strangle her for luring him to this bloody defeat. She ignored him, looking unfazed. Her gaze was not even on the fighting, but toward the sky. He glanced in that same direction.

The imperial barge swept outward from its hover over the gardens, coming to put a resounding end to the battle.

Llyra spoke firmly to Tazar. “Sound a retreat.”

“What?”

“Now!” she yelled.

Before Tazar could fumble for his bone whistle, Althea blew hers, heeding the woman. His second-in-command must have been awaiting such an order, knowing they were doomed. Her blasts pierced the clamor of battle. She blew four more times, making sure all heard her strident command to pull back.

Tazar glowered at Llyra, but the woman’s gaze remained on the skies. The barge reached the battle as their two forces fled from under the ship’s shadows. Out of the corner of Tazar’s eye, he caught Llyra give a small nod.

As if heeding this signal, a barrage of flaming spears shot from rooftops around the square. They twanged from longbows hidden until now, requiring two men to draw them. The spear’s passages left trails of emerald fire and smoke.

Tazar gasped, all too familiar with the eerie cast to those flames.

Naphlaneum.

The spears struck the barge’s balloon in several spots. The ship shuddered as if anticipating what was going to happen next. Then the gasbag ignited in one blinding burst. Tazar shielded his face, feeling the heat on the ground. The barge plummeted, its forges flaming under it, futilely struggling to hold it aloft.

The barge crashed into the centuries of guardsmen below, shattering into them, casting a wall of fire wider. The concussion blasted open the wall’s gates.

Llyra turned to Tazar. “Into the breach we go!”

Tazar stood, stunned, but Althea switched her whistle and blew for their forces to regroup and charge ahead. Llyra set off with her assassin shadow. Tazar got pulled in their wake and sped up alongside the Guld’guhlian.

“This was your plan all along!” he hollered at Llyra. “Why didn’t you tell us?”