Page 30 of Heart of Defiance

Captain Amalia’s mouth tightens, but the gleam in her eyes only gets flintier. “They’ve had their way with our country for too long. If the four of you can manage to get the better of them, who am I to back down? We might never get a better chance.”

Iko grins. “I knew I was glad when I got assigned to your squadron—and not just because I’d get to have a friend bossing me around.” He elbows Jostein teasingly.

The captain gives him a wry look. “Come get something to eat and take a little rest. I can’t imagine you’ve had much chance to do either with all the running around you’ve been doing. I need to reach out to my colleagues.”

She must have prepped the squadron for our arrival, because as she steps away, a few other soldiers come forward to usher us over to a small campfire. Bowls of porridge are shoved into our hands. I gulp mine down so fast I scald my tongue.

One of the female soldiers directs me to a tent that it’s clear someone else is also using, but they’ve already gotten up for the day. Now that I have the chance to relax, I’m too exhausted to do anything except crash on the sleeping bag and close my eyes.

I’m not sure how long I’m dead to the world, but raised voices and pounding feet jolt me out of sleep. With a lurch of my heart, I sit up and swipe at my bleary eyes.

Landric is pushing back the flap of my tent before I’ve made it that far. His voice comes out in a frantic hush. “A company of Darium soldiers is marching on another town south of here. The squadron and another that’s just joined us are hurrying over to defend them.”

He moves to the side so I can scramble out.

The camp has turned into a flurry of activity, soldiers andsome of my neighbors grabbing weapons and hustling away. Jostein is in their midst, calling out orders to arm themselves and picking who’ll take the horses to reach the town first. He catches my gaze, and I dip my head to tell him I’m coming too.

Iko appears next to me, his blond hair tussled from his own interrupted sleep. “Let’s get going before they can do even more damage.”

Seeing Jostein ride ahead with a small group of soldiers sends an ache through my chest, but I can’t pretend I’m battle-ready enough to be on the very front line. I strap my hunting knife in its sheath around my waist and rush to join the mass of us on foot.

We set off beyond the forest in the direction of the mountains. Captain Amalia stays with us, riding around the outskirts of our mismatched infantry and calling out orders and encouragement.

I notice a few people from Feldan sending curious glances my way. My aunt and uncle and Landric’s mother are nowhere to be seen, but Bertha the butcher has stuck around, as has Norbert the cobbler—the latter to my surprise.

Do they all know that I’ve done more to conquer our enemies in the past few days than they have in their entire lives? What do they think of me now?

An echo of past humiliations prickles over my skin. I’m not sure I actually want to know.

Landric stays by my side, apparently committed to showing all of them that he’s throwing his full support behind me. Iko marches nearby amid a group of his colleagues.

In the middle of the crowd, I can’t see much other than the people marching ahead of me. I only know when the Darium forces have come into view from the angry cry that goes up from the soldiers at the front.

We pick up the pace instinctively. Captain Amalia pitches her voice to carry to all of us. “They’re just reaching the town now. It looks like only a few dozen soldiers—we have them far outnumbered. Get in there and push them back however you can, but stick close to each other. Our strength is in working together.”

It’s a matter of minutes before shrieks and thumps reach my ears. I draw my hunting knife, my jaw clenching.

We pour into the outer streets of the town in a furious mass. The Darium soldiers who got there ahead of us bellow at us to back off, but no one listens.

They can’t withstand the deluge.

The Veldunian soldiers at the front of the surge catch the boldest of the attackers, weapons clanging and bodies in skeleton uniforms crumpling. The pricks thought this place would be easy pickings, punishing innocent civilians for what their countryfolk have done elsewhere.

They’re so very wrong.

Once the first several of their comrades have fallen, the Darium company must realize they’re screwed. The bodies clad in black and white dash back the way they came, and we storm after them in determined pursuit.

One of them smashes a lantern and lights a ramshackle house near the edge of town on fire. A yelp goes up from inside.

I grab a bucket of water leftover from washing and douse the flames before they can do more than blacken the lower wall.

A soldier lunges at us from the side, but Iko is there, slashing the woman’s neck open. We hurtle onward, out of the town, pressing the pillagers farther back.

Captain Amalia’s voice rings through the ruckus, bringing us to a stop. She points toward the plain ahead of us.

The remaining Darium soldiers are fleeing toward a larger contingent in the skeletal uniforms. The front line is on horseback, with maybe a hundred foot-soldiers behind them.

The man riding a little ahead of the others sports a helm with a single red plume like a spurt of blood from its skull-like visage. I know that indicates he’s someone higher up in the Darium army’s ranks—tribune? Admiral?

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