Page 47 of Heart of Defiance

Captain Amalia’s voice splits through the bellows and shrieks of the fray. “Up the mountain! Take the higher ground!”

I whirl around, and Iko is there, gripping my elbow. As we dash around the shoreline toward the rocky slope, Jostein barrels past us on his horse, his sword swinging. A protest snags in my throat with the urge to call him back, to beg him to flee with us.

But the loyal squad leader would never put his own safety first. He’ll stay to the bitter end, helping all of us who can escape make it to safety, just like he did for me that first night in Feldan.

Iko tugs me onward. “If anyone can make it through this mess, it’s Jostein. He’ll focus better if he knows I’ve gotten you out of the line of fire.”

How far do we need to run for that? As we clamber upthe steepening slope, more arrows pelt the frantic crowd around us. Another comrade falls, and another.

I have to dodge a body that tumbles down the incline right in front of me, blood blooming from the shaft piercing her chest.

My groping hands clutch at wizened trees and spears of stone to speed my climb. The rough surfaces scrape at my palms, but I barely notice the sting. My lungs burn with the exertion alongside the growing ache in my calves.

Finally, no more arrows whistle into our midst. Iko urges me a little higher, up to a narrow plateau where we can stand somewhat steadily.

A few dozen of our allies have already arrived there, more gathering above and below to stare down the slope at the camp we were forced to abandon.

Corpses in the plain clothes of rebels scatter the field around the edge of the lake and the lower reaches of the mountain. More bloody red meets my eyes than the green of the grass or the gray of the rocks.

The Darium soldiers and their helpers pick their way between the bodies, peering up at the remainder of our resistance. I can’t help looking around me, taking in our dwindled battalion too.

I’m not sure even half of us survived the onslaught. Where’s Jostein? What happened to Landric?

My pulse races for several panicked seconds before I spot Jostein walking beside his horse along the slope, down by the lowest of our surviving allies. Blood darkens his sleeve and chest, but I can’t tell how much of it if any is his. He’s striding along steadily enough to reassure me.

Landric’s hair gleams beneath the late afternoon sun where he’s poised off to the side of our little plateau. I can’t make out much more of him, but he is at least standing.

There’s no sign of High Commander Livius with his multiply-plumed helm. This isn’t his army at all.

A Darium soldier with a single-plumed helmet marking him as a lesser officer marches to the bottom of the slope. As he studies our huddled forms, his lips curl into a sneer.

“You enjoy your mountainside,” he calls up to us in an equally mocking tone. “Our colleagues are already on their way to join us. I’m sure the high commander will want to have a part in executing the rest of you.”

Their colleagues—what’s left of the army we’ve tricked to many of their deaths twice now. Yes, they will be angry. My legs wobble under me.

It seems the Darium force isn’t foolhardy enough to clamber after us and continue the battle with us very literally on higher ground. They draw back beyond the scene of the slaughter, some of the soldiers setting up tents of their own while others remain on guard.

My fellow rebels stir uneasily around me. Muffled sobs reach my ears from somewhere beyond my view. Every face my gaze catches on has fallen, shadowed with grief and fear.

I think we lost one of our captains in the attack. Only four of them have stepped off to the side with Major Arlo to confer, although I’m relieved to see Captain Amalia is among them.

I look down at the mass of fallen bodies again, and my stomach clenches up. So many dead.

So many who were only here because I called for this uprising. Because I claimed we could win.

After those two victories, I really believed we had a chance. That we could keep winning, over and over, until the Darium empire was beaten.

Who’s beaten now?

I sink down to the ground, drawing my legs up in frontof me. Iko follows, his expression tensing with concern. “Are you all right? If you’re injured?—”

I shake my head, too choked up to speak. No,I’mperfectly fine, at least in body. Unlike hundreds of the soldiers and civilians I rallied around me.

I led them to their deaths. And the Darium soldiers intend to slaughter all the rest of us—and who knows how many total innocents as well—in punishment.

Who in the realms did I think I was? Iknewit could end like this, I knew I might be reaching too far, and I dragged so many people down with me anyway.

Someone pushes through the crowd toward us. I can’t quite bring myself to raise my head, but I know Jostein’s voice as soon as he speaks, breathless with relief. “You both made it.”

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