Page 46 of Heart of Defiance

No one here seems to care anymore about the fact that my godlen didn’t reward my dedication sacrifice. I’ve created something so much bigger, so much better than anything the gift I prayed for would have allowed.

I take in the broader sprawl of our camp in a semi-circle around the lake. My gaze seems to skip across the fields to the south, as if given an inexplicable nudge.

I frown, but Iko grasps my hand to tug me over to the shore, and my momentary uneasiness fades. There’s nothing over there. I’m just worn out from the intense day—the intenseweek—we’ve managed to survive.

As Iko and I wade to shore, I peer through the rippling water at the rocky terrain. I have to lift my foot higher to clamber over a dark gap between the stones.

My attention rises to the mountain looming right at thefar side of the lake. I can pick out several dark crevices along its base too.

“There are caves broken into the rocks,” I comment. “I wonder how far and how deep they run. Back at Feldan, there were passages all under the hills and the town. Some people used them for storerooms.”

Now those openings will be buried under ash and charred wood. I hope no one tried to hide in one of the natural cellars and found themselves unable to shift the door to climb back out.

A shudder passes through me at the thought, but Iko scans the landscape with a curious air. “We should do some exploring once we’ve dried off. It’s always good to know what we have to work with.”

We rub ourselves down with blankets and spread them out to dry. The summer air turns cool across my still-damp clothes, but it’s more refreshing than chilly with the sun beaming down on us.

Memories of those narrow crevices around the town nibble at my mind. I knit my brow. I can almost see… “I think if we had enough time to prepare, maybe there’s a way to use?—"

My gaze slides over the landscape around us, and that unnerving sensation hits me again, harder. As if my eyes have been propelled away through a will not my own.

My body tenses, my voice dying in my mouth. Iko catches my reaction immediately. “What’s wrong?”

I swallow thickly, my stomach twisting with a sudden nausea. “I’m not sure. Something just feels… strange. You don’t see anything around here, do you?”

Iko considers the mountain range and then the fields nearby. Watching his expression, I catch a slight tick. His shoulders stiffen too.

“I think—there’s some kind of magic at work.” He raises his voice. “Major Arlo! Captain Amalia! We need to?—”

He never gets to finish his suggestion. At his first shouts, dozens of heads swivel around all across our campsite—and the illusion breaks.

Stampeding figures waver into view all across the fields around us. There must be hundreds of them coming from the north, more from the east and west, every direction except the towering mountains.

As they charge toward us, they shed the drapings of greenish fabric that helped the illusionary magic conceal them. The skeletal uniforms of the Darium soldiers stand out starkly against the grassy terrain.

Their blades flash. Bows draw back with arrows launched into the air.

I cry out and scramble backward, but I don’t really know where to run. The camp turns into a teeming mass of panic, officers shouting for us to grab our weapons, curses and gasps of terror mingling with the orders.

I manage to snatch up my short sword, as much good as it might do me. Arrows hurtle into our midst, toppling a man just a few paces from where I’m standing, a woman I shared breakfast with this morning.

How did the Darium forces regroup and find us so quickly? How much magic must it have taken to hide so many of them?

Even in my horror, I spot the dark green uniforms amid the Darium standard. Duke Berengar’s livery. He’s had a hand in this assault—he’s helped them plot their counterattack.

It doesn’t make any sense that most of them have come from nearly the opposite direction from where we last encountered the Darium forces. We only arrived at the lake a couple of hours ago.

Unless these are other soldiers. Has the duke been rallying the squadrons already stationed here in Velduny, gathering them to launch an offensive at our flanks?

It could have been even worse if they’d caught us on totally open ground.

And is that a woman in an orange robe, vividly bright at the back of the swarm? As soon as I’ve noticed her, I pick out a few more people in similar attire at the rear of the charge.

As I scramble away, a chill consumes my gut. They’re devouts of Inganne, no doubt from the temple that glitters beneath the sunlight to the west. With the godlen’s affinity with imagination and play, dedicats seeking gifts of illusion often turn to her.

Did the Darium soldiers force them to contribute their magic, or did they ally themselves freely with our enemy?

It hardly matters now. The soldiers close in around us, plowing into the rebels at the edges of the camp. Blood sprays and bodies slump—mostly on our side.

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