Page 26 of Of Blood and Fire
“We need to retreat,” I said.
Kele nodded and, when we were sure no one was either approaching or looking our way, we scrambled back up the hill and snaked under the barrier. Once we were several yards clear, she said, “I take it you have a plan?”
I nodded. “We need to find the anchoring points for the magic and destroy them.”
She raised her eyebrows but didn’t say anything, following me as I turned and headed right. The barrier continued to rise gently from the other side of our tree, skimming around several more trunks before slowly arching back to the ground again.
“Stay here and keep watch,” I said, and continued on until the gentle arch was once again high enough for me to wriggle under. I dropped to the ground, checked there was no immediate sign of a guard on the other side, then cautiously scrambled under the barrier again... and saw, not five feet to my left, the back of a Mareritten warrior. I froze, my breath caught in my throat as I waited for what seemed like forever for the distance between me and him to grow large enough that he wouldn’t hear my movements. Then I wriggled a bit farther in and looked at the point where the barrier met the ground.
And swore softly.
They were using a humanskullas the anchoring point.
Bastards. They were all fucking bastards.
The urge to immediately cinder the thing rose, but I resisted. Not only did I not have any clue as to whether firecouldcinder the skull when it was bound by so much mage magic—the faint greenish glow that swirled around the skull told me it was rider rather than Mareritten magic—it would have alerted the Mareritt to my presence. I wriggled back, pushed to my feet, then made my way back.
What we do?came Kaia’s comment.
You and Yara get ready to land on the hill so we can mount once the anchors are destroyed. We’ll fly in from the east,firebomb what we can, then pick up those cages and fly them out.
Like this plan.
I’m not surprised.
They kill Ebrus. I kill them.
I stopped a yard from Kele and motioned to the fog. “There’s an anchor that holds the magic creating this muck on the other side of the barrier, at the point where it meets the ground.” I drew my sword and handed it to her. “Sweeping this through the fog should destroy said anchor. I’ll run down to the next one and use my knife on it. Destroying two points should be enough to bring down at least a good part of the barrier, if not the whole thing.”
At least I hoped it was. It wasn’t as if Damon was here to check the magic and confirm my suspicions. I did my best to ignore the twist in my heart; truth was, even if hehadbeen in Esan, the drakkons would never have carried him here. They still wholly blamed Arleeon’s men for taking them to the brink of extinction, even though there had been plenty of women involved in the hunts over the centuries, and while they were now willing to work with the men inmylife, none of them would ever allow a male control over them inanyform—even when it came to something as simple as riding on their backs.
“Why can’t I use my own sword?” Kele asked.
“Because steel won’t work on magic. Only Ithican glass does.”
“Ah.” She hunkered down on one knee. “Ready when you are.”
I drew my knife. “Two minutes from now.”
She nodded. I spun and started the mental countdown as I raced along the barrier. I found the next anchor with ten seconds to spare, dropped to my knees, and drew my knife. The minute my inner countdown hit zero, I stabbed the blade through the magic, felt the slightest edge of resistance as the point hit theskull and the magic swirling around it, then the blade slid through it. I swept it left and right to sever the top part of the skull from the bottom, then flicked the tip upward in an effort to flip it away. Again, there was the slightest bit of resistance, followed by an odd sort of splintering sound. Threads of magic holding the fog to the ground began snapping free, revealing the base of the skull as they rolled upwards. A barely audible whine accompanied the movement, the sound grating, unpleasant, and very definitely forbidding.
I thrust upright and ran, as hard as I could, for the hill and our waiting drakkons.
I was halfway up when the barrier behind me exploded, sending a thick wave of power through the air. It hit my back and sent me tumbling, then rolled over me, feeling like an army of tiny stinging critters against exposed skin. I twisted around to check what was happening behind me; heavy fragments of fog were falling into the encampment, shrouding the various buildings and briefly dimming the fires. But its outer edges were already beginning to dissipate, meaning we had minutes, if that, to mount up and use the confusion to our advantage. I scrambled upright and ran on, following the wave of foggy power toward the hill. I half expected it to slide on up, but it didn’t. Instead, it hit the hill’s base and just sort of sat there, slowly imploding. I sucked in a breath as I neared the remnants and didn’t release it until I was on the other side of it. It still felt foul, even through my clothes.
I met Kele near the top. She tossed me my sword, and I sheathed it as I ducked under Kaia’s wings and scrambled up her leg. I was barely seated when she rose, the force of her wing sweeps sending a cloud of dirt racing down the hill but not affecting the position of the fog still withering at its base.
We rose fast, then arced around to ensure there was less chance of the encampment seeing us before they were ready. Theminute Yara dropped in behind Kaia, they began their descent. There was no angry roar of warning this time. With those mages present, the drakkons were well aware that doing so might give them time to craft a retaliatory spell.
We hit what had been the outskirts of the barrier, and the rumbling began deep in Kaia’s stomach. Then she opened her mouth and unleashed, spraying fire left and right as she swept low and fast over the encampment. Mareritten warriors scattered, some of them burning, but plenty reached for weapons. We flew over the boxes, setting them alight, then continued on to the kilns; one was still covered in unravelling fog, the other was not. I speared a blue-white arc of fire at the latter; it exploded, sending sharp shards of greenish glowing stone spraying through the air. Kaia banked sharply to avoid the cloud, and that’s when I spotted a row of metal tents. In front of them were leashed gilded birds.
Kaia, tell Yara to sweep around and burn those tents and any riders who come out.
Not birds?
She can include them, but the birds aren’t a danger if their riders aren’t there to give directions.
Which was a guess on my part, but one based on the behavior of those who’d lost their riders in battle.
