Page 132 of Echoes of War

He shook his head. “No. I know. It’s still good, they’re holding fine. West Gate too.” The soldier stopped, staring at me with the rest of the words stuck in his mouth.

“You gonna keep me waiting all afternoon? Spit it out.” I urged. What did he expect me to do? Hold his hand?

“They’re headed here, sir—Alexiares. Covert’s making their way around the wall. We’re outnumbered three to one, and they’ll be here soon.”

“Fuck,” I cursed. If they surrounded us, there’d be no way for our soldiers out there to get back in. That meant no retreat, no medical runs, nothing.

We had to keep one gate clear to enter through and the North Gate had the power to do so.

“Gonzalez,” I said, calling to one of the soldiers in the hideaway between the wall.

Gonzalez came to my side, waiting for the order that could damn us all. It was a finicky piece of junk. They hadn’t even had the chance to test it in full capacity, given the chunk out of the earth it would take out unnecessarily. But with the shields that hugged the wall gone, our faith in its capabilities had to be enough.

“Yes, Alexiares.”

“Give the order for the aqua-cannons to line the walls. Put the Soulfire in positionC.” I kept my gaze steady. This was some serious shit. No room for any fuckups.

“Copy that,” he said, ready to take off.

I grabbed his arm, needing to have verbal confirmation for both my own reassurance and his. “Repeat your orders back to me, slowly, so we’re on the same page.”

“Aqua-cannons go live, Soulfire position B.”

“Position C,” the messenger corrected.

I nodded my head at the messenger. “Position C,” I confirmed. “Go with him, then spread the word on the rest of the cannons.”

They took off, spreading the word to the portion of the wall I could see. I checked behind me to where Elie and Emma had been hiding nearby, the weeping willow and bushes they’d huddled under were now empty. The sky must be on the verge of falling if Elie had listened to a simple request. This was no place for her and Emma to be, not anymore.

Something was wrong. The explosives lining the wall on the other side of the shield weren’t firing off. They were supposed to trigger by tripping the thin wires hidden within the grass. Our soldiers knew where they were, where to step, and what would happen if they fucked up on their way back over the wall.

They’d had to be quick, their training coming in handy as they climbed up the ropes tossed over for them. I whistled, impressed at the endurance Amaia had trained into her troops. They’d been prepared for it all, even when things hadn’t gone according to plan. But as Covert’s soldiers moved in on us, not a single trip wire blew one of those fuckers to chunks.

I backed up, my eyes trailing along the wires strung throughout the cutaway in the wall. They appeared taut here, leaving the only explanation for where they connected near the gate. The Tinkerers had decided it was the best place to anchor them, given that they would detonate at once if the gate opened and they were still connected.

We were running out of time. Hundreds of Covert’s soldiers were now flocking toward the gate, the shield falling at last. There were over two thousand of them. Seth and his father had left no room for failure on their end.

“Light the fuse for Soulfire in forty-five seconds, then take cover,” I ordered, my hand slapping against the wall as I took my leave.

Following the line of wires, I spotted the problem, seconds before light brown curls and blonde hair sprinted toward them. Cursing, I strode toward them, pausing at the horror that was about to unfold. Stupid fucking soldiers. I mentally took back my initial compliments. How many soldiers did it take to follow one simple command?

The Soulfire cannon had been lit, placed in position B … right at North Gate. Although it sat at the top of the wall, it had a kickback of flames that would take down that portion of the gate, and anyone who passed beneath it.

“Elie!” I screamed, rage filling me in my desperation to stop her in her tracks.

She waved me off, pointing to her ear and pretending she couldn’t hear me. Emma ran to her side, a toolkit strapped to her shoulders. Cute of them to form a suicide pact under my watch, really fucking mature.

“Elie! Emma!” I called after them, “Stop! It’s gonna blow. Soulfire is gonna blow!”

Elie’s gaze sauntered up, her eyes wide with fear. Defiance crossed her features, “I can make it,” she yelled back. “We have to tighten the lines or the rest of the gates will fall too.”

She was right. The lines connected to each of the explosives down the entirety of the wall. They were set to trigger one after the other. If the first one didn’t go off, none of them would. Soulfire was meant to keep this portion of the gate clear for our people to make their way back home. But the explosives would help lighten the load of enemies we’d be forced to fight off until our troops could do so.

Suddenly, I was left with a decision that could risk three lives and save thousands or screw us all. Racing over, I snatched Emma back by her bag. She yelped, swatting me off and reaching for it from my hands.

“You don’t know how to fix it,” Elie pointed out over the noise of the commotion around us. “Give it back. We helped build it, we know what we’re doing.”

And this, Riley, is why kids have no business learning the art of war. Motherfucker.

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