Page 120 of Swords of Soul and Shadow
She had to find Kase. He had to be here. She needed him to be here. That thought alone was enough to blot out her injuries and her exhaustion and her horror. She needed his arms around her, holding her tight, because only then would she know if she was all right.
Would he even have made it to the capital yet? How long had she been in Myrrai? Had it really only been five days since she’d said goodbye? Had the Gate shifted things somehow?
She needed him. But with another look at those decimated hovers, her heart dropped from her chest, stopping her breath.
She prayed hehadn’tbeen here when that had happened. That none of those hovers hid…
She couldn’t even think it.
“Fates and glory,” Fely breathed.
Hallie’s eyes stung with new tears.
What had once been a glittering capital made of whitewashed stone buildings with a mix of slate and thatched roofs was now a grotesque pit of despair. The longer she looked, the more ravaged it appeared, evident even from her distance.
It was as if a vengeful god had cast fire and brimstone from the heavens for forgotten sins.
She’d known that the city was under attack per the conversation with Correa and Filip in Achilles, but seeing it here in person was an entirely new horror. What were they dealing with? What weapons did the Cerls have at their disposal? Was there another Essence wielder that had caused this? Surely the destruction wasn’t simply from hovers or those cannons. If so, Jayde didn’t stand a chance. Nothing Hallie could do would fix the lives lost and nightmares written here.
“I didn’t know,” Fely said, her voice small. “I swear I didn’t…I’m so sorry. I didn’t know about the attack until that horrid display at Achilles.”
Niels made his way slowly over and swore under his breath.
Hallie swallowed her emotion best she could, but it leaked into her words despite her effort. “Why?”
It was war. The Cerls had declared that when they’d attacked Stoneset and taken over Achilles. Only a small child at the time of the Great War, the only recollections she had were fleeting feelings of terror, dark corners of the basement, and the stories older villagers told her. Thankfully, the bulk of the fighting had been elsewhere, but Stoneset was no stranger to rogue Cerl bands.
Fely’s only answer was silence. She’d lived through a civil war in her own country, and she knew the reality. But that didn’t give Hallie any comfort.
The rumbling she’d been hearing grew louder. Hovers. Her heart pounded.
Maybe…maybe it was the Crews’ pilots. Maybe it was a rescue team come to collect survivors, though almost a week had passed since the attack if King Filip’s words at Achilles were to be believed.
She looked at her hands. She had power over time—could she do something to reset the city to the time before it was attacked? It would kill her, surely. But if it spared so many others—
“You shouldn’t play with time,” Fely said, as if reading her mind. “It’s tempting, but the repercussions could be catastrophic.”
Hallie opened her mouth to reply when something roared overhead, and the trio ducked, peeking up at the sky. Through the branches in the trees, a hover whizzed above their heads. Its passing whipped the branches and budding leaves into a whirlwind. Hallie’s hair lashed her face.
Niels swore again.
The hover was flying so low it barely cleared the tree canopy, and it was going entirely too fast—inhumanly fast.
Holy blasting stars.
Three more hovers zoomed behind it. Hallie dropped to the ground, barely avoiding a large tree root, the sooty scent of grass filling her senses once more. The trees’ protests were lost in the firefight as the hovers passed. Loud explosions echoed off the city walls, making it almost impossible to hear her own scream.
She untangled herself from her satchel and crawled to the edge of the trees. As terrifying as it sounded, the morbidfascination of it all took over. She needed to see what was happening.
The first hover she’d seen swooped in and out around the others, firing its blasters whenever another was in range. One hover screeched as it was hit square-on and crashed miles in the distance, an echoing boom and fiery cloud following.
That explained the other fires she’d seen earlier.
Hallie bit her lip to keep her terror from spilling out. She didn’t understand. Those weren’t Jaydian hovers. They were blue-tinged for one, but the one firing on them looked identical. Infighting? A traitor?
Fear froze her limbs as she watched the rogue hover take out the last two, rolling and weaving like a master of the air. Hallie couldn’t help but gasp even as the rogue took out the final one after looping above and shooting it from behind. The whole maneuver happened so quickly Hallie was dizzy just watching.
“Nowthat’sa pilot.” Niels’ voice shook with awe.
