Page 167 of Ash and Feather

My own arrows shot from my hand with little conscious thought—arrows made of fire that embedded deep in the bottomof several balconies and rapidly ignited the wood, consuming it and sending the archers crashing to the ground.

There were countless more attackers already spilling out of houses, thundering down the street, leaping from the balconies before Dravyn or I could set those balconies on fire. They all wore the same dark attire and masks, and they carried more than just bows—weapons of all shapes and sizes flashed, clinked, clattered.

A group of sword-wielding assailants was swiftly approaching us. My sister drew her sword as well, the metallic shriek of it echoing off the high walls of the houses rising on either side of us.

I backed deeper into the corridor, positioning myself more squarely in front of my sister and starting to summon a shield of flame for us both.

Dravyn cut a path through the group of approaching swords to reach us—a raging storm of wind and fire that killed several and sent countless others scattering in all directions. As he reached me, he guided my attention toward the bridge in the distance; another heavily armed group was crossing it, heading our way—Galithian soldiers.

“We should let them take it from here,” he said.

I nodded. We could have killed all of these elven assailants easily enough. But we’d likely send half this city—and its innocent population—up in flames in the process.

“You can carry your sister away?”

I nodded without hesitation, even though I’d never actually managed to transport someone else alongside myself. But Savna wouldn’t relax enough to let Dravyn carry her, I was certain—so I was her best option for escape.

I would manage, somehow.

I turned to relay this plan to Savna just as an attacker appeared on the other end of the narrow passage we’d takenshelter in. He’d been trying to sneak up on us. Failing this, he broke into a crazed sprint, his curved blade drawn and ready at his side.

My sister turned to face him, ducking at precisely the right angle to avoid the strike and then countering with one of her own. In a single, fluid motion she swooped down and then rose back up, plunging her sword into his gut.

As she twisted her weapon free and kicked the attacker to the ground with a grunt, I was briefly transported—as I’d so often been over these past weeks—back to our younger years, to all the times I’d admired the way she fought. The way she protected me.

She was still the sister I had always admired and looked up to, in so many ways.

But now we were facing a bigger battle than ever before.

And it was my turn to protect her.

While Dravyn held off the rest of our attackers, I grabbed Savna’s arm and pulled her out of the fray. I needed more open space, away from the houses and everything else, where I could focus and fully unleash my magic and let it wrap itself properly around us and carry us away.

As I hurried her along, I began to focus my power. The surge of it must have felt overwhelming to someone not used to it; Savna stumbled and dug in her heels, yanking her arm from my grasp.

“Karys, what are you—”

I spun wildly toward her, sending bits of flame peeling off my body—which did nothing to settle the panic in her eyes. A few of the embers caught on the trees surrounding us. The sound of crackling leaves and the scent of wood smoke filled the air.

“I can get us both away from here, but you have totrust me,” I said, as calmly as I could. “You have to relax into my power, to wantto go with me, or it could end very poorly for you.”

Her eyes widened further as I reined in the embers drifting around us and extinguished the smoking trees with a clench of my fist.

The symbols on my skin burned brighter. I redirected the flames I’d collected, fusing them together and turning them into ribbons that I started to wrap around us.

In the same moment, I spotted a trio of our attackers weaving through the trees, trying to hunt us down.

“We have to go!” I shoved my hand out.

My sister hesitated only a moment before she reached back.

An arrow struck her outstretched arm.

A shallow scrape, nothing more, but the scent of her blood undid something in me.

A furious cry rising in my throat, I turned my power on the ones approaching us. While I focused on the one who had fired the arrow—ending him with a spear of flame shot straight through his neck—the other two swung wide and closed in on us from opposite directions.

Savna fell into step beside me, sword in hand.

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