Page 154 of A Crown of Lies

Rowan stared at the fire, raw to the bone, feeling nothing at first.

And then the anger settled in.

He set his eyes on the Trintan commanders riding away, slipping safely behind their double line of archers to hide in the rear. They thought they’d get away with this. With killing Ambra and Ewan, with everything!

“Rowan, no!” Ieduin shouted from somewhere distant, but it was like his voice was under water. All Rowan could hear was silence, emptiness. The sound of death.

He drew his sword, let out a battle cry, and charged the Trintan line.

Forty-Six

WhatthefuckwasRowan thinking? He had to know they had designed this whole display to make them abandon a carefully crafted plan. If they charged Trinta, they wouldlose.

But it was too late. Rowan was riding for the army at full speed. All Ieduin could do was cover his advance and pray. He drew back his bow and fired a long shot, striking one archer on the other side. “Prepare to charge! Rixxis, command the line! Tofi, woods, now! We need anyone who’s not in a perch! We need mages! Now!”

They nodded and hurried off to carry out their orders. Ieduin spurred his horse into a full gallop, riding past the burning corpses and through the waving stalks of wheat, firing arrows as fast as he could.

Fucking hell, he cursed inwardly as the sky darkened with a hail of arrows. “Rowan!” He didn’t even know if Rowan heard him.

The arrows came down, a black rain of destruction. Rowan’s horse screamed and went down. They struck the field all around Ieduin, who somehow narrowly avoided them, still firing his own. One came close enough to burn a stinging line along his cheek, but didn’t do anything but leave a shallow cut.

The call came down the Trintan line to prepare for a charge. Ieduin pulled his horse to a stop, holding his breath.

Rowan and his horse were still on the ground, unmoving.

Ieduin gritted his teeth. “Come on, dammit. Getup! Get the fuck up!”

He didn’t breathe again until he saw Rowan kick his way free of the fallen horse and rise, sword drawn. He stumbled forward, as if he meant to face the whole charge by himself.

Stupid, stubborn ass!Ieduin urged his horse back to full speed, knowing he’d never make it in time.

“Charge!” The Trintan cavalry horn sounded.

Hooves thundered over the open ground, the sound of a thousand men charging one lone, angry king.

A rider broke away from the pack, riding straight for Rowan. Ieduin pulled back an arrow and let it loose. It struck the closing knight straight through the eye and he went down. He nocked another, fired. Another. Fire.

There were too many, and they were closing too fast. No way he’d be able to take them all.

He closed on Rowan’s position. A heartbeat, and the charge would be upon him.

A scream rose behind Ieduin… and rose. Androse. Not the scream of one person joining the charge, but the sound of hundreds. He turned around just as two dozen horses charged past him. Greymark’s men had answered the call to charge.

The two forces slammed into each other, steel clashing, blood spraying, dirt flying as men and horses went down. It was chaos, a cacophony of sound and death. Ieduin lost track of Rowan, sending arrow after arrow until he reached for his quiver and found it empty. With a curse, he rode into the fray and swung his bow like a club. He pushed his horse through the army, trampling the fallen and breaking up lines, searching for the king.

His horse let out a loud screech, and he was suddenly face-down in the dirt, Simeon closing on him with a dirty grin. Simeon lifted his sword over his head. Ieduin smashed the back of his boot against the ground, pushing out the hidden climbing spike there before he threw a kick to Simeon’s groin. Simeon’s eyes widened and stumbled back. The spike had hit armor.Figures he’d be wearing freaking dick armor.

Ieduin scrambled to his feet, sliding the bow into the holster on his back and drawing his back up daggers.

Simeon snarled and charged, but Ieduin danced out of the way. He might’ve been fast, and he was proficient with those daggers, but he wasn’t as good as Aryn. Ieduin was thankful, though, for all the times they’d sparred. He’d never once won, but he was pretty sure he could take an asshole like Simeon.

He brought the daggers back up in front of him. “Come on, you ugly fucker. Let’s dance!”

Simeon swung the sword in a messy arc. He had reach and power, but he wasn’t half the swordsman Ruith was, and Ieduin had beaten Ruith…once. He dodged Simeon’s next swing and bumped into someone else. Ieduin twisted, narrowly avoided being stabbed by the Brotherhood knight he’d bumped. He brought his dagger up to redirect the knight’s sword, but there was no need.

Simeon thrust his greatsword into the knight’s side, right under the armpit, killing his own ally. He spat on the knight as he fell, bleeding out, and snarled, “The elf ismine.”

Simeon stalked forward. Ieduin tried for a slice to the inside of his arm as he reached forward, but found it armored. Was there anywhere this guywasn’twearing armor?

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