Page 13 of Echoes of War

They both turned to scowl at me but said nothing.

“Pleasure, ladies. Now, there’s enough snow on the ground that we may be able to form a natural barrier. That way, we can put snipers around to funnel them into a more manageable formation. They won’t be able to surround the wall. Make an alleyway and they’re target practice. How much longer do we have before they get here?”

Sloan scoffed, “This is ridiculous. I’m not risking the safety of my people by putting them out there to be protected by frozen fucking water.”

“You lose a few or you lose a hundred. Those are your options today, Sloan, grow up and make a choice. Stop teetering back and forth over having a conscience or being a good leader. You don’t see Amaia stuttering over her choices.”

Hurt crossed Amaia’s eyes as she gazed past my head, face hardened. I tilted my head, wondering what I said wrong.

“How you went from Xavier tothis, I will never understand.” Sloan burst into a choked laugh.

I glanced between both of them. Sloan’s pale, freckled face set in a sneer. Amaia refused to meet my eye directly. She turned to Sloan, nodding her head absent-mindedly.

“Whatever, Sloan. He’s right, it may work. I may not have a conscience,” she said, looking at me pointedly. “But I wouldn’t risk the lives of the majority if there was a way to prevent that from happening. The lives of a few are a calculated risk; these are soldiers.Thisis their job,thisis what they signed up for. For the freedom of those they love. They don’t take that lightly and neither should you. You need to let them do what they’re meant to do. Protect.”

Amaia

“Only high-power bullets can get through more than three feet of solid ice,” Alexiares explained to Sloan. “As long as the temperature stays below freezing, then what we have here will be much stronger than that.”

Sloan stared past his head dismissively, meeting my gaze as though I’d have anything to add. This wasn’t my kind of thing. We didn’t have snow, ice, or even freezing temperatures to work with out in Monterey Compound. Understanding the basic science behind this was fine and dandy, but that wasn’t why I believed it would work. I didn’t need to understand the intricacies of science to have faith in our plan. All I had to do was understand weapons and their functionality in relation to our environment.

“Given the little information we have on them, I think it’s safe to say that they do, in fact, have high power bullets among other fancy shit.” Sloan grumbled, doubt showcasing on her face.

I nodded my head in understanding. “The cold will slow their bullets down. Factor in the increase in wind deflection and bullet drop … we’re set. You’re fine. It’ll give us the advantage of reduced energy on impact. Their accuracy would have to be impeccable.Umbra Mortiswill probably stack their front lines, but that won’t be an issue for long.” Not with our own snipers in place, snipers local to the area. They were used to the weather. This may be the one advantage they’d be able to keep.

BeingUmbra Mortishad its perks—we were walking weapons. But a weapon cannot fight against what it cannot see.

She met my stare blankly, still not comprehending how it would work. Alexiares moved off to the side, helping a soldier finish constructing the last of our improvised shields.

“High power bullets can get through three feet of snow, right?” I attempted to try another way of getting her to follow where our minds were at, “We have six feet. Adding in the calculations of the temperature, wind, and the bullet’s response to gravity, ain’t shit getting through here. Not unless they use their magic, a lot of it. Which makes them weak, vulnerable, easy to pick off. They don’t want that, not if there’s only a hundred of them as you say. Strength is needed for the journey back, and if they can’t subdue us here, then we’ll be able to fight back. Chase them, meaning they can’t stop for rest. We lower their morale by picking them off. Once they see their bullets don’t mean shit here, they’ll retreat.”

The purpose of our plan was to simply slow their approach to Duluth’s walls and pick them off. If they had any sense of self-preservation, after the first few down, they would turn back to regroup, giving us more time to get things under control. I wouldn’t hold my breath on that one. It may buy us a day or two, but notanything longer. If Dictator Moore was anything like Seth, brute force would be their first objective in pacifying us.

Alexiares returned to my side, his body too close for comfort. I rubbed my temples with irritation. There wasn’t time for me to lose focus, lives depended on it. I circled around, moving next to Sloan. His honey brown eyes caught mine, narrowing in question.

Having a conscience or being a good leader. The words echoed in my mind, tormenting me. Had I been wrong about him? Jax had seen me as being good, and though I knew I wasn’t quite that, it had still been nice having someone see me that way. Now I was the villain in everyone’s eyes, including a villain himself.

So much for seeing the darkness with me, for embracing the beast.You’ll have to have to feed this beast alone.Sighing, I decided to turn my attention back to the soldiers setting up our little death valley.

Elliot hovered behind Sloan. “We going to test this out or what?” he asked.

Alexiares’ heavy stare weighed on me. “I’m not the one running this show,” I retorted, refusing to meet Alexiares’ eye. He was bundled in layers to fend off the freezing temperatures, his eyes and the bridge of his nose were about all that was visible.

Alexiares squared his shoulders, his head the last to turn away from me. “You’re always the one running the show.”

“Clear the area,” I commanded the soldiers in the immediate blast zone scattered toward what we had determined to be the edges of this battlefield. Alexiares waited, eyes eager for my instruction. “Fire.”

A small, but mighty ember of flame encased Alexiares’ palm. I’d been working with him on mastering control over his magic. He was right, a weapon of mass destruction without structure is dangerous. And not dangerous in the way I needed him to be. We’d only been able to step away a few times, but each time he madeprogress, what little progress may it be. I would take what I could get at this point, though admittedly I’d grown slightly frustrated.

It was like he got it, was on the verge of mastering it, and then he would lose focus. As luck would have it, no one had been harmed. Yet. I was determined to not let it get that far ever again, not unless he wanted it to.

He released his power; the blast let out a sizzle in the seconds after it met the packed snow. Some of it had melted, but not more than a few inches. Alexiares followed up with a spray of bullets, tossing the AK-47 back over his shoulder when he was finished. It would take several clips and some magic to get through, and by that time, they’d already be down a quarter of their soldiers.

“Awesome, it works.” I growled, bowing before Sloan. “Can we go now? I’m cold and I haven’t had the pleasure of my morning coffee.”

“What? We just leave them out here?” Sloan asked, jogging to catch up with me and Alexiares, who now walked at my side. I picked up the pace, wanting to be clear of both their presence if only by a few steps.

“Yes, Sloan, that’s what soldiers do. They stay and fight.” I halted in my steps, Alexiares ramming into my back at my abrupt stop. Fire simmered at my fingertips. My eyes squinted as I watched a figure in all black running straight for us. “Who’s that?”

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