The soldiers fell out of formation as Oak glided towards the ground. They drew their swords and pulled back arrows, but Ash called for them to stand down.

  I was only there to let them know what was happening. I needed to head straight back to the castle. Oak didn’t land. He beat his wings, hovering above the ground, and Ash jogged over.

  Her face was dark with anger from her conversation with Atthis and Goblin, and turning up on dragonback didn’t improve her mood.

  “Where’s the fire?” she asked dryly.

  I pointed at the castle on the hill. I’d forgotten how far it was, having flown there in less than a minute. It was nothing but a spec on the horizon, but with enough squinting, Ash could make out wisps of smoke coiling into the air.

  “Rylan’s attacking the castle,” I yelled at her. “He’s attacked the castle. His army’s on its way to free the prisoners inside of the barracks. You need to make sure they’re secure and get as many people to the castle as you—”

  There was no finishing the thought. If someone had told me the whole world was crumbling to nothing, I would’ve believed them. A thundering unlike anything that had rippled through the castle claimed the barracks, explosion spreading from the middle floors and obliterating the entire building. It sent out a wave of sound sickly enough to knock Oak clean out of the air.

  I skidded off his back and slammed into the hard ground with enough force to make ribbons of my shirt. I rolled back, alternating between healing and being torn against the rough stone.

  Again, my ears were ringing. Everyone else had gone down in the blast but Ash was already on her feet, sprinting over to me. Glass and smouldering rubble littered the ground between us and I gripped her arm, letting her pull me back to my feet.

  The world was spinning, ground slanting, and no amount of shouting would get through to me. I leant against Ash, staring at the scene in front of us: nothing remained of the barracks but the jagged foundations. Those inside hadn’t stood a chance. Chunks of debris pinned soldiers to the ground and plenty of those outside of the building hadn’t survived. Fires spread, burning down the last of our hope.

  Rylan didn’t need his dragons anymore.

  “I need to help them!” I shouted, inches from Ash’s face.

  She shook her head, unable to hear me. I pulled her along as Oak found his way to his feet and ridded the soldiers of their burns, tore smoke from lungs and pulled people back to their feet. They were already working on lifting the parts of the walls that had gone flying and I crushed bones back into shape, exhausting myself as the ringing slowly faded.

  “I need to get back to the castle,” I told Ash. She kept pushing her fingers into her ears and wincing, and her eyes went wide once she could actually hear. “Can you handle things here?”

  “Someone’s gonna have to,” she shouted. She went to shove me between the shoulder blades, but her fingers twisted in the back of my shirt, hesitating. I had no time to spare but forced a handful of seconds too slow down for her. “Keep them safe, alright? The Queen, Sen, Laus… Everyone. Keep them alive.”

  How cruel the years had been to her. Tricked by a Knight into a fumbled assassination attempt against her Princess; stabbed through the heart by the same woman and abandoned in a foreign land; she had survived the annihilation of Kastelir and spent long years defending a city of survivors, only to live with the knowledge that it had all been lost to her. And now her home was burning around her.

  I wrapped my arms tightly around her.

  “I promise,” I said, but faltered. If there was another explosion in the barracks, in Thule, and Ash was not lucky enough to be on its outskirts for a second time, not even necromancy could help her. Her armoured fingers dug into my shoulder because she knew it too. And in spite of that, she did not ask to come with me. “Keep yourself safe, Ash.”

  Oak nudged the small of my back. I let go of her and she said, “Let them know that we’ll be marching to the castle, once we’ve dealt with this.”

  I ran my hands over Oak but couldn’t tell whether any of the wounds he’d suffered were new, or the remnants of weapons and rot alike. He shook his head, dizzy, and when I climbed on his back, he took to the air unsteadily, drifting like a leaf caught on the breeze. I dug my fingers between his rough scales and pulled myself up, wrapping my arms around his neck so he could hear me when I told him he was going to be okay. We just had to push on, back to the castle, back to Claire.

  He almost flew clean into a tower, but with a snarl, he got us back to the castle.

  Rylan’s soldiers were ready for a dragon’s return. A dozen were armed with dragon-bone spears. Attempting to land would put him within their reach; he didn’t stand a chance, and he wouldn’t be able to hang in the air for long with his head still ringing.

  “You’ve got to get out of here. Head to the mountains! Find Kouris and Sen,” I said. He shook his head. “Go! They’re going to kill you, Oak.”

  One of the soldiers launched a dragon-bone arrow into the air and missed Oak by a matter of inches. He growled, knowing he couldn’t contend with them all, and smashed clean through a high window with his tail. I took my chance and leapt, ribs colliding with the outside of the window ledge as I clung on, desperate to find purchase on the castle wall with flailing feet.

  Oak nudged me with his snout, flinging me through the window and into the chamber beyond. With a final roar, he took unsteadily into the sky, safe from their arrows and spears.

  I didn’t have time to watch him go. I pulled glass shards from my arms and made for the door. I wrenched it open, rushed blindly into the corridor and for the first time that day, luck was on my side.

  There weren’t any soldiers. There wasn’t anyone there. Those who occupied this part of the castle had been chased out and the only sign of a scuffle came in the form of knocked over candle holders.

  I supposed it was easier to invade a castle when all its inhabitants were shepherded into one place.

  I stopped to get my bearings. I’d ended up in the eastern part of the castle, where personal chambers were in abundance, though none had been occupied by anyone I knew. I ran to the end of the corridor and leant over the bannister to get a view of the castle below.

  Our guards hadn’t given in. Swords and spears clashed together on the lower levels. The dead and dying reached out to me en masse, and amongst all the clamour, Akela shouted, “Reis! I am starting to think that using a pistol, it is cheating!”

  Her wonderful, booming voice was enough to get me moving.

  I ran down the winding staircases, skipping the last few steps on each level, and landed heavily on my feet as I charged on.

  Akela and Reis had done an admirable job of defending the castle. Rylan’s soldiers were standing shoulder to shoulder, catching them in a vice grip halfway down the corridor, but the bodies piled around them made the soldiers rightly wary of getting too close to Akela and her axes. Her energy was endless. She swung with such speed and precision that it was as though a cage of blades protected her at all times. She only stopped to throw her axes from one hand to another, needlessly showing off.

  “It’d only be cheating,” Reis belatedly answered, cane discarded in favour of a bloodied sword in their off-hand. They crushed the trigger of their pistol and hit someone clean between the eyes. “If it weren’t so slow, and I weren’t such a good shot.”

  “If you are firing at the speed of my axes, then that is something to be seeing!” Akela said.

  When she caught sight of me creeping up behind one group of soldiers, she stopped wasting time.

  Lunging out, she attacked with one axe and defended with the other. Rylan’s soldiers were either dead, disarmed or both in a matter of seconds. Reis followed her lead, drawing their blade across someone’s throat, and when Akela turned on her heels, all those behind her decided to pick their battles elsewhere.

  “Phew!” Akela said, cheerfully breathless. “Being in my element, it is exciting, but I am thinking I am needing a moment, yes? I am not as young as I am once being, because that is how time is working.”

  “From the look on your face, kid, you ain’t got good news for us,” Reis said, cautiously holstering their pistol.

  I’d revive the dead the moment Rylan was in irons and the castle was ours again. For the time being, I bit the inside of my mouth and stepped over the bodies, staring at Reis and Akela as though what had happened at the barracks had been my fault. If only I’d been there a minute sooner, then perhaps…

  “Rylan’s soldiers got there first. The barracks are gone. One moment we were talking and the next, everything was rubble,” I said, nails digging into my palms. “He didn’t care that some of his soldiers were in there, too. Hurting us was more important than protecting them.”

  Akela and Reis both set their jaws but didn’t give the impression that their plans had been completely ruined. They’d both been in situations far more dire and they wouldn’t give up at the first sign of a setback.

  “No wonder he was so willing to sell his country out if the Agadians were eager to give him that much gunpowder. Guess it works for them: he does all the dirty work, gets everything out of the way, and they swoop in with favour after favour once he’s King,” Reis said, using their boot to turn one of the bodies on the floor onto its back. “What do you reckon? This one Agadian?”

  Akela grunted and turned the corpse back over with a swift kick.

  “There are an unusual number of men in this army, yes?”

  Reis hummed in agreement. They were about to add something more when a stray soldier rounded the corridor, not yet knowing better than to flee from the pair of them. They lifted their pistol, readied another shot, and took the soldier down before he could call for help.

  “Way to interrupt my thoughts,” Reis sighed. “What was I—oh, aye. Plan ain’t changed. We deal with this from the inside. Round up who we can, protect Claire, put a blade down Rylan’s throat, then call it a day.”

  We couldn’t move quickly through the castle, but it worked for Reis. We stopped at each corner and cautiously peered around to assess the situation. Much of the fighting had come to a bloody conclusion. I guided them down the corridors death had the least interest in and wound my way towards Claire.

  “What’s going on here, then?” someone called from behind. “I suppose this is what happens when you send soldiers to do our job.”

  I was already gritting my teeth together as I ground to a halt. There was that voice again, joined by a laugh. I kept my eyes fixed ahead as though refusing to set eyes on the Mansels would stop them from being there.

  “This’ll be the last of them,” Amy said. “Shame. I was starting to enjoy myself.”

  I turned when Reis and Akela did. The Knights had found time to reclaim their dragon-bone armour, and confident though they were, they hadn’t made the same mistake as Luxon. They hadn’t left their helmets behind.

  Akela crossed her arms over her waist and drew her axes. Her eyes scanned over the Mansels and their weapons, searching for a single seam to drive a blade through.

  She grinned in the face of the challenge before her.

  “Ah! The disgraced Knights. It is an honour to be seeing you again,” she said, taking a few steps closer. “I am only getting to face a Knight once before, you are knowing this. Hah! Face, honestly that is being the right word! When I am dealing with him, he is already dead, and all I am getting to do is put an axe in his face. It is a shame, no?”

  Neither of them rose to the bait.

  “Before, the two of you are coming to me and you are telling me that I am smart. I am grateful for the compliment, but I am not thinking it is very original. You are telling me that I am joining you, and that it is the right decision. Today, I am returning the same compliment,” Akela continued. “You are only loyal to the winning side, yes? And you are looking at the winning side with your own eyes! Under your visors, I am assuming. You are stopping wasting our time and we are working together. Surely you are knowing something about Rylan that is helping us, and everyone is forgetting all of these terrible things you are thinking you are getting away with.”

  Emma tilted her head to the side, but Amy wasted no time in drawing her sword.

  “Taking down Commander Ayad will be a tale worth telling,” Amy said, stepping forward. “We can toss her body back to the Agadians.”

  Akela charged forward, not giving them the chance to change their minds.

  The first strike was hers. The Knights were forced to defend. Dragon-bone weapons or not, Akela still managed to push the two of them back. They responded in kind and Akela leapt backwards, dodging their blows, startled by their speed.

  Akela might’ve been one of the greatest fighters Bosma had ever known, but no one became a Knight through luck alone.

  “Time to scram, kid,” Reis said. They gripped their pistol, knowing it’d be useless against their armour. “You go to Claire. Me and Akela will handle these two and be right behind ya.”

  “But—”

  “Go,” they snapped, shoving me away.

  I stumbled but didn’t move with the momentum. Akela was holding her own but the Mansels were brimming with a dark glee that shone through dragon-bone. They let Akela land her blows clean against their armour, barely stumbling back more than an inch each time.

  I had to trust that she’d be alright. I had to get to Claire, else there’d be no hope for any of us.

  Reis fired their pistol between the Mansels. The unexpected burst of sound and smoke was enough to distract them for half a second. Akela took her chance and drove the hilts of her axes against the side of their helmets, knowing that if she could not cut them, she could at least knock them unconscious.

  They stumbled. Emma dropped her sword.

  It was enough for me.

  I set off down the corridor, fingers wrapping around the corner I skidded around. I glanced back one final time and saw Emma slip under Akela’s arm to reach for her sword. She kicked Reis’ wooden leg out from under them on the way down, knocking them to the ground as she reclaimed her blade.

  Akela took the chance to slam her foot against Emma’s back, forcing her flat on her front, but when she spun around, Amy was waiting for her.

  With both hands gripping the hilt of her sword, she drove it clean through Akela’s chest. It wasn’t enough to stop her. Lunging forward, she slammed both axes against Amy’s shoulders and forced her to kneel.

  Akela lurched forward, blood pouring from her chest and splattering across Amy’s perfect white armour as Emma rose her to feet and swung her sword across Akela’s back. Pulling back, she sunk the blade in deep, pushing it out between Akela’s ribs.

  I wasn’t close enough to drive death out of her. I screamed her name, eyes burning, blazing, and pushed myself off the wall. I charged towards her but steel met the back of my skull. Daylight was driven out of me, and my every sense was flooded with darkness.

  CHAPTER XXX

  The darkness ate at me, gnawing away grief and fear alike.

  I wasn’t aware of the depths I’d drifted to until I came around, head throbbing, surroundings shifting into focus around me. I’d no idea where I was, other than a chamber belonging to someone of high standing. For a moment, for one blissful moment, I forgot how the Mansels’ blades had skewered Akela.

  Moving caused metal to jangle behind me. My wrists were pinned together with tight chains and I found myself sitting, head bowed. Slumping to the side told me that my wrists weren’t chained to anything, and I was only bound to the armchair behind me so long as I wished to keep sitting up.

  My fingers fanned out but my dragon-bone knife was nowhere to be found. I couldn’t cut myself free.

  “Ugh,” Varn protested from the other side of the room. “Not again.”

  Breathe, I told myself. I had to keep my head above the surface, else nothing would ever pull me from those depths again.

  I screwed my eyes shut and knocked my forehead against my knees. Akela. Akela, Akela, Akela. Blood rushing from her chest, filling her throat. Of all the people I knew, I was so certain her heart would never fail. But I hadn’t been close enough. Hadn’t been able to claw death from her with my teeth and nails, hadn’t been able to do anything. And there I was, chains around my wrists, chains around my wrists.

  Katja was in the castle, Katja was in the castle, Katja was—

  “It ain’t time for a nap, Rowan,” Varn snapped.

  I looked up at her, nails digging into my hands, catching on the chains.

  Focus on Varn. Focus, focus.

  Reis had been right. The first gunpowder keg had been set off around Queen Nasrin’s chambers. I couldn’t imagine anyone besting Varn in a fight and she gave the impression of having been knocked clean out by the blast. Her skin and shirt were smeared with soot, and a bruise claimed the right side of her face, along with what I could see of her ribs through the torn fabric.

  “Gods,” she grumbled, leaning back to gather enough momentum to spring to her feet. Her arms were bound as mine were and she rolled her shoulders back, cracking her jaw. “Let’s see what they’ve left us with.”

  Turning on the spot, Varn glanced over the armchairs, the bed in the far corner, and scowled at the useless books piled up on the shelves. The desk in the corner yielded better results, providing her with a paperweight she tossed backwards, blindly soaring above my head and landing against the cushions.

  “Oi. This is more like it,” she said, bolting over to the fireplace. A poker was almost lost between the charred remains of firewood and Varn crouched in front of the hearth, gaze flickering to the ceiling as her fingers fanned out, searching for metal to cling to. “Right, that’s our way out sorted. Next time someone comes in here, we’ll get them to turn their back and wham. It’s all over.”

  I couldn’t have asked to be locked away with anyone better. Varn took it in her stride, instantly resourceful. She dropped the poker onto the carpet and used her foot to roll it under the armchair, safely out of sight. She’d narrowly avoided being blown to pieces and was acting as though this was nothing but a regular day.

 

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