Page 27 of The Broken Prince

Her people faced an enemy they couldn’t defeat, and she didn’t have the strategic experience to be victorious over such fearsome foes. She was alone, without her father for guidance, without her mother for courage.

All she had was me. “I’ll help you.”

“So will we,” Kingsnake said.

Harlow turned away to look at Kingsnake, a foot taller than her, powerful in the armor that was similar to mine. She looked at the three of them in silence, and she probably realized exactly what they were without asking questions. “Thank you.” She turned back to me. “I need to get to General Henry and assess the status of the battle.” She stepped away, starting at a walk but moving to a run.

My brothers and Clara—my sister-in-law, apparently—watched her go before they turned back to me. Cobra smirked. Kingsnake stared with accusation. It was a long stare, packed with a lot of unspoken words.

Finally, Cobra addressed the tension. “So that’s why you’re fighting for humans.”

EIGHT

HARLOW

Cannons fired. Arrows rained down below. Our army fought the monsters one-on-one in the field. So many people had already died on the battlefield, soldiers who weren’t prepared for these kinds of deadly creatures. My brother was down there, and I feared he was one of those bodies.

Blade flew up above, blowing fire down on the monsters in the center of their ranks, but once he flew away, it was obvious the monsters weren’t affected by the flames…because they were fire themselves.

I climbed to the top of the barracks and waved my arms frantically, trying to get Blade’s attention. “Blade!” I jumped as high as possible, doing whatever I could to get him to look at me.

I finally got his attention, and he pivoted his body to stare.

I waved him to land nearby so I could climb up on his back. He flew into the village, away from the attackers, and I rushed over to climb up his armor and onto his saddle. “They’re immune to fire, so your flames won’t work. We need to do something else.”

Blade launched into the sky, his wings so powerful that we were at the clouds instantly. Nothing is immune to my fire.

“Well, these guys are. We need another plan.”

I could face them on the battlefield.

“No. We can’t risk anything happening to you.” I tried to come up with a solution, but the stress of battle and my mother’s condition made it impossible to think, when I just wanted to panic. But my mother didn’t panic when she faced her opponents. And my father never panicked, even when he thought he’d lost me. “Come on, Harlow…” We continued to fly over the battlefield, and I tried to think of how I could help. “Boulders!”

What?

“Pick up big rocks and drop them on them. To the east.”

Hold on. Blade flapped his wings hard, crossing leagues in seconds, and then swooped down to pick up a rock that had to be nearly as heavy as he was. He had to flap his wings hard to get off the ground, and the return journey wasn’t nearly as fast.

“Don’t just drop it. Roll it. Get as many of them as you can, but be careful not to hit our guys.”

Blade swooped down and sped up, lining up his shot before his talons released the heavy rock.

It landed with a loud thud and rolled, crushing all the monsters in its path, knocking them back and breaking their limbs. A single boulder took out fifty of them at once. “Perfect! Again.”

* * *

All the enemies were slain, their bodies smoking on the field like they’d been thrown on pyres. Our fallen were stacked to be burned later during the memorial. Once Blade landed, I was back on my feet, but I’d never felt so weak despite the victory.

Everyone else looked hopeless too. “Has Pyre said anything about my mother?”

He said he got her to a healer. Hasn’t received news of her condition.

I nodded before I walked across the battlefield, seeing good men slain on the ground, next to the monsters that bled fire. Now that the threat had passed, I felt the fatigue in my body, felt my muscles scream from the exertion. My mind was broken too…and my heart was irreparable.

I found General Henry, who had survived the ordeal but was covered in blood from head to toe. “Have you seen Atticus?” I was afraid to ask the question, because I hadn’t seen him anywhere, and knowing him, he would stop at nothing until he found me.

General Henry shook his head. “The last time I saw him was in battle, but I lost track of him.”

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