Page 8 of An Honored Vow

A small weed grew in a crack along the tower, its flagrant fight for life almost undetectable. I brushed my finger along the white petal and let that newfound earth magic surge inside me.

The weed grew larger, wrapping around my wrist as its roots scurried down the weather-beaten stone in search of soil. They buried themselves into the earth and I felt it.

I felt everything.

The mountain top had been overwhelming, but this was all-consuming. Like most Fae, I could feel the connection the flower had with the earth, the network of roots and blooms that spanned out across the entire city. But my powers had grown. The land pulsed with life. I could feel every creature walking along the earth and burrowing in the soil; somehow I could feel the cold plunge of every swimmer in every lake and river, the strained muscles of the flyers, big and small, commanding the sky. Everything was connected in a way I could never fathom before. What had once been a useful gift was overwhelming now. It took all my concentration to focus in and glean what I needed from the connection.

It was too much for me to discern any specific being. I didn’t have enough control of my gift for such nuance, but I could feel the Halflings and soldiers moving as two giant entities across the city without needing to look.

Gerarda was leading the group toward the eastern side of the river.

I let out two low owl calls. She would know it was a signal for “not that way.”

I felt the group shift farther east, taking the alley back to Gwyn and Fyrel, but it would not be enough. The soldiers were crossing the main bridge, and there was no way to disguise a group as large as theirs.

I ducked, hiding the flash of light, but I did not soar into the skies. Instead I let out one long piercing eagle cry.

Run.

I transformed back, the weed wrapping around my ankle as I saw the soldiers searching the sky for a bird. The entire city was expecting me in eagle form.

I tightened my weapons belt. It was time for a show.

I raised my arm and let thin tendrils of water form along the surface of the river. One by one they coiled, readying for an attack. I released the building tension in my stomach, and the tendrils pounced, wrapping around the limbs of the soldiers on the bridge and dragging them into the depths of the canal.

The remaining soldiers shouted and unsheathed their swords as I dragged them over the bridge to join their comrades. By the time they surfaced, the current would be too strong to make it to the riverbank, and they would plummet to their deaths over the falls.

A horn sounded, and one by one the oiled beacons over the sentry towers were engulfed in flames.

I closed my eyes, focusing my gift as best as I could. The Halflings had moved farther south, but a group of soldiers was coming up the hillside pass and another approached the Halflings from the north.

They would be trapped with nowhere to go.

I raised the water from the canal into a towering wave, but I didn’t let it fall upon the armored men. Instead I reached my icy hand out and shaped it into a wall of ice that divided the city in two. Mypowers were draining, but it would slow them down. I needed to get to the Halflings and help them to the portal.

I assessed the situation from the skies. Gwyn and Fyrel were shooting arrows at the men climbing the hillside path while Gerarda and Elaran prepared for a fight in the north.

My heart lurched at the thought of leaving Gwyn, but I had to trust that she could handle herself.

I landed and pushed the soldiers back with one monstrous gust. They fell to the ground in a fit of coughs, Gerarda’s throwing knives taking out a dozen before they managed to stand.

The nearest soldiers flinched at the flash of light as I shifted out of my eagle form. I painted bloody streaks across the cobblestone with my boots as my blade carved the last breath from their lungs. The last of them fell and I inspected the stones along the ground. Some were unmarred by time, but others had thick cracks down the middle filled with dirt.

I knelt and placed a palm flat to the ground.

“Now is not the time for prayers, Keera,” Gerarda scoffed as she loaded her bow with four arrows and shot.

Elaran charged at a mountain of a man. She flipped through the air with feline grace, twisting to catch the man’s neck between her legs. The momentum brought him to the ground with her, and she stuck her hair pin through the back of his neck. “You can pray to me if it helps, Keera.” She smirked up at me as she flung a dagger into another man’s chest. “I like to see people on their knees.” She shot a wink to Gerarda.

Gerarda fired four more arrows, each one landing with deadly accuracy.

“El, I’m the only one who gets to worship you.”

Elaran smiled. “Duck!”

Gerarda hit the ground beside me as Elaran lofted a blade over her head. A soldier stumbled back several feet before crumpling tothe ground with Gerarda’s arrow in his chest. Elaran somersaulted over her kills and landed in a crouch. She pressed a quick kiss to Gerarda’s cheek. “Maybe I’ll say a prayer to you later.”

I cocked my jaw. “I’m trying to concentrate!”

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