Page 102 of Of Scale and Blood

And still the Mareritt climbed.

The wind battered the ladders, sending some toppling while ripping multiple other Mareritt free, smashing them into the steep sides of the mountains on either side of us.

It didn’t stop them.

The stone under our feet pulsed harder, the power so strong it burned through the soles of my boots. Our witches, fighting the acid that ate into the base of the wall.

Lightning cracked down, hitting a tower to my right. It exploded, spearing deadly shards of stone into the air. Men and women went down screaming, some dead, others crawling away; soldiers stepped into their positions and kept on firing.

Oil pots were levered onto the wall, the boiling liquid poured over the edge. Screams rose as Mareritt flesh was burned and melted.

And still they came, uncaring and determined.

Another shudder ran through the stone, this time more violent. The earth mages were not winning the war against the acid....

“Zara, get your teams up to the water—” The rest of Falconie’s order was lost to the chaos that surrounded us.

Dead, I thought, though I never saw him fall.

More fiery orbs erupted from the distant blanket still covering much of the wasteland. Not one, not two, but at least a dozen, burning through the weeping, turbulent air so fast they were little more than streaks of ruddy light. Their speed wasn’t natural—it was mage enhanced. Had to be. Even the most powerful ballista or catapult ever built wasn’t capable of casting items through the air that fast.

The wind rose to meet them; it stopped some, but at least five were pushed through by the magic that surrounded them. They tumbled over our heads and continued with unnatural speed past the military and tiered living sections.

I spun, grabbed an arrow and lit it, then drew back and released. It cut through the air, hit an orb, and exploded on contact. The orb wobbled briefly, then the magic propelling it surged, and it flew on.

Air chased after them, three thick fingers that caught one orb and tossed it back into the valley and the Mareritt. The rest flew on, sweeping upward, their target clearly the second wall. Which made no sense. Why destroy that when they had to first get through this first one—and it was far from falling, even if the shudders running through it were growing.... A stream of heat sizzled past my cheek and splashed onto the stone several feet away. Acidic shit—or at least, the Mareritten version of it.

The rain was slowing but not stopping it eating into the stone.

I swore, doused another arrow, then leaned over the wall and fired down. And saw, in the few seconds before it disappeared into the storm-clad darkness, the tube the Mareritt on the ladder was holding.

They weren’t using the ladders to breach us. They were simply a means of getting the deadliest of their weapons closer.

I shouted a warning to everyone and ordered more oil to be poured over the wall. Pots were tipped over along its length and arrows fired into its flow, igniting the liquid and everything in its path. The stench of burning flesh filled the air despite the wind and the rain, and burning humanoid figures lit the ground far below, some moving, some not.

Then the alarm sounded again, this time one long wail of noise that echoed through my brain and had my heart racing. Evacuation. They were ordering an evacuation....

Not of this wall. Of the other.

I swung around and watched, helpless, as the four remaining fiery orbs smashed into the war room and the attached administration building.

For several heartbeats, nothing happened.

Then the entire building exploded, jettisoning deadly shards of black stone into the air.

For too many seconds, I could only stare in horror as destruction rained around us.

Then I screamed. Screamed like I never had before. Screamed in horror and pain and loss.

Something within me broke, and fire erupted from every pore, turning me from a being of flesh into something far more dangerous and incorporeal, if only for the briefest of moments. Deep inside me, another roar echoed, and the heat that burned my mind said Kaia had found her flame.

We come,she said.We burn.

Hit the ones on ladders first.My mind voice was calm, controlled—everything my heart and soul wasn’t.They have acid tubes, so be fast.

Flames explode tubes.

And explode they fucking would. Fire erupted from every pore, and curses echoed either side of me. I paid them no heed, trying to concentrate on control, on rememberinghowto control, as I leaned far over the wall and directed all the fury burning through directly down its side. It was a blanket of fire that lit the rain-soaked air and shone brightly off the multiple tubes carried by the Mareritt on ladders below. I hit them, hit the tubes, furiously, gleefully, cindering flesh and exploding the cylinders.

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