Siege (The Warrior Chronicles, 5) (24 page)

Sanders looked around wildly, trying to find those Inkna. His men were standing now, though. Shanti’s kin must’ve been taking care of it, though he couldn’t tell to look at them. Unlike the Inkna, who hid away, the Shumas worked through the crowd, their movements slick and precise, and their sword strokes lethal.

Sanders ran around the melee, slashing at enemy on the edges of the battle. He reached the drawbridge and saw the line of men anxious to get to the fight.

“Damn it!” A black shirt ran at him. He ducked, stuck upward with his blade, and propelled himself to the right, ripping his sword out as he did so.

“Clear this area of our men and I’ll blow the Graygual out!”

Sanders followed the voice and saw Maggie with a round metal canister. Next to her, on the ground in a stone bowl, glowed a small fire. The flames barely reached out of their confinement. Out of the canister hung a white string.

“Move!” Maggie yelled, waving her arm to the side.

“Clear out,” Sanders yelled, grabbing the back of one of his men’s shirts and yanking him back. “Clear out!”

Men dressed in blue ran where they could. A scream rose the hairs on Sanders’ arms away to the left, then the Graygual in the square shrank down in agony. The Inkna must’ve been taken care of.

“Hurry!” Sanders yelled, shoving and pushing to take advantage of the mental workers. “Go!”

Maggie lowered her contraption to the fire, and then quickly threw. The hollow metal sound when it bounced was quickly lost to the screaming of the Graygual. It rolled amongst them, bumping off someone’s boot as he crouched down, clutching his head in agony. For a moment, nothing happened.

A loud explosion shook the ground. A spray of metal stuck in bodies like a deadly pincushion. Bodies flew up and out. A limb spiraled through the air.

“Grisly.” Sanders grimaced. He wasted no time. “Get everyone in, hurry!”

With a roar of fervor, Sanders’ men ran over the drawbridge. Their feet thumped as the surviving enemy scraped themselves up off the bloody street. One by one they finished the Graygual off, finally joining the battle after only watching.

“More come!” Sayas ran past Sanders with his sword in his hand. He looked up at the roof and made sweeping signaling gestures with his arms.

“I’m with you.” Sanders took off after the Shumas, noticing a few more running to catch up. “With me, men. With me!” he yelled, moving the battle forward.

Around the corner spilled a sea of black. Like a tide during a storm, they crashed into the Westwood Lands men and Shumas rushing to meet them.

“Fire!” Lucius yelled, his arm swinging downward.

Arrows shot into the fray, downing Graygual by the dozens. It wasn’t enough. This city had far too many.

The feathered pressure slid over his head. Damn Inkna again. The city was infested.

Sanders turned back to check behind and noticed an opening off to the side. Within it, standing straight and stiff, stood one of the buggers.

“Now I’ve got you.” Sanders stuck his sword through someone, nearly missed someone else, but luckily was able to slice off a limb instead, and elbowed a man fighting with a grim-faced Marc.

“Thanks, sir,” Marc called as Sanders continued on.

His eye on the prize, he ran at that Inkna with everything he had. A black shape zipped in from the side. Another came from the left. “No!”

A cat lunged, its mouth fitting perfectly around the throat of the Inkna and chomping down. The other cat waited for the now-struggling man to fall before dodging in to finish the kill.

“You filthy little— I need revenge!” Sanders shouted.

A huge
boom
shook Sanders to the core. The air crackled around them, making some of their hair stand up as if lightning was about to strike.

Sanders looked up at the sky, clear and blue, promising a chilly but beautiful day. The ground and surroundings rumbled, speaking of thunder. A flash of lightning.

The cats ran around him and then slunk into the shadows of the buildings, still hunting for outliers.

The rumble sounded again before the air within the battle fizzed. Piercing screams frayed Sanders’ nerves for a second, the sound of agony so great a mortal man shouldn’t live through it. The screams ended in a horrible gurgle of death, amplified in a chorus of pain.

“Help them!” Sanders called, running back into the fray. He raked his sword across a stomach and kicked someone in the nuts, before ramming the heel of his hand into someone’s nose. The man staggered backward as blood gushed down his face. Sanders ran him through.

The air crackled again before a deep roll slammed into the enemy. More agonized screams echoed against the walls.

“Take cover!” came a woman’s voice.

Something dropped from the roof behind the enemy lines. Down the wall, something else fell right before someone took off in the other direction.

“Get down!” Sanders screamed, running to the side.

Two huge blasts in quick succession tore at the buildings and sent debris flying through the crowd. A head bounced on the roof off to the left. Someone threw up, unable to handle the carnage. Everyone and everything paused, including the mental power, as the dust settled.

Sanders turned toward Lucius, hopefully still in earshot on the rooftops behind him. “Close that drawbridge. Don’t let anyone out. We need to keep this information in here.”

Lucius cupped his mouth and yelled, “But what if we need to retreat?”

“We won’t!” Not with the Captain in this kind of a mood, anyway. When the thunder started rolling on a clear day, he was not one to mess with.

As if to punctuate Sanders’ thoughts, another rolling
boom
rocked the city, followed quickly by strikes of pain and torture that turned quickly to death. The Captain knocked them down, and Shanti killed them. Effective.

“Okay, spread out. Let’s push deeper into the city and take them down. Do not kill any innocents!” Sanders yelled.

S
hanti ran along the building
, sensing someone ahead on the right. Their
Gift
flared and sparked, revealing a high-powered Inkna hiding from the battle. She bet there were a lot of those who would hide and try to sneak away.

“We’ve got to prevent them from leaving,” Shanti yelled at Cayan as he rocked out another huge burst of power.

As she slipped into the space between buildings she heard a disembodied “Mine!” The word fell away as she found the Inkna pressed against the wall. “Your sort should do yourselves a favor and learn to at least defend yourselves.” She grabbed his shirt front and jammed her blade into his throat.

Stepping back, she cleaned her knife as he fell to the ground.

Sanders jogged to a stop in the mouth of the alley with an incredulous expression on his face. “Did you not hear me say
mine
?”

“Oh. I didn’t realize that was you. And that you meant this one.” No time to lose, she jogged around Sanders and met up with Cayan again, working toward the enemy. “If they take information about the explosives, and about the root, we lose two huge advantages.”

“Xandre will already know about the explosions.” Cayan’s surge of power smashed into a line of Graygual. Shanti rained down shots of white-hot pain, piercing their brains before quickly moving on. Somewhere in the distance, another blast concussed the air.

“What about the innocents?” Cayan yelled above the din, referring to the explosions.

“They are only using those in primarily Inkna and Graygual areas. Except for here, which are not homes.” Shanti threw a knife, hitting a running Inkna in the middle of his back.

“Damn it, Shanti!” Sanders growled, keeping pace with her. “You are making it impossible for me to finally get some vengeance on these vermin.”

Shanti grimaced. “Sorry.”

“Sanders, take some men to the front and tell the Shadow Lord to close the front drawbridge. We end this now. Kill them all.” Cayan slowed.

Shanti felt it then. Ahead of them, filling an entire few blocks of the city, both Inkna and Graygual poured out. Shanti turned back toward Sanders, to yell at him to stop, but he was already on his way to trap them.

“He made us think this would be easy. He lured us into the heart of the city, and then he unleashed the majority of his army.” Cayan shook his head as something close to wonder colored his thoughts. “Genius.”

“That’s not a good thing, Cayan.”

“Yes it is. We can learn from this. He is challenging us. When we rise to these challenges, we will grow. He has nothing to challenge him. He will stagnate.”

“Not true.” The fighting around them died down. Shumas stepped up beside her before spreading out to the sides. The Shadow in their force followed suit a moment later, forming a thick blockade of power. Those who had taken the root fell to the back, and those who had not stayed in the middle, shielded on all sides by people who could fight the Inkna. “I keep beating him. He is the one that is growing.”

“You keep beating his officers. A leader is only as good as the people under him.”

Through her
Gift,
Shanti could feel the mass of people filling the streets. It had to be enemy—citizens wouldn’t be leaving their houses. Easily double their number, perhaps triple, and Shanti bet these men could fight. They would be excellent.

A thick wall of power saturated the air like fog. It billowed out and surrounded them, pressing in on all sides.

“Get your mother over here, Sonson,” Shanti said in a low voice, feeling the two dozen pokes and prods to her shields from extremely high-caliber Inkna. “Quickly.”

Cayan ran his thumb along his blade as his brow lowered over unfocused eyes. Emotions flitted through him so fast that Shanti couldn’t pick up on them. His tongue came out and slowly licked along his bottom lip, something he did unconsciously when he was working out a particularly hard puzzle. He moved to the middle of the street, where his men parted around him. Shanti followed to stand by his side. The mental workers changed their position, covering the sides, and the army shifted accordingly.

“They are mightier than our army,” Cayan said in a wispy voice. “They have more power, and they have more swords. They also know this city.” Cayan looked to the right, then left, pausing on a brick wall blocking off the entrance to an alleyway not far in front of them. “They have trapped us in like mice.”

“This is not a good speech for your men, Cayan,” Shanti said as adrenaline spiked in her body. “We can’t quit now. We can’t run. We won’t make it.”

“Xandre only thinks with his army. He thinks with might. He collects large cities, money, men…he collects all the things that would maintain his power. But he does not keep the faith of the people. He rules by fear; he does not rule by love. All he has is his army.”

Shanti shook her head slowly, not understanding his point, as a shockingly large number of Graygual marched their way. And this was the host of Graygual that had been narrowed down by Alena’s efforts. By the weed slipped into the Inkna breakfast. They’d already slimmed the herd, yet still it was all encompassing…

“The Wanderer will unite the people with her suffering, and lead them with her love.” Cayan’s clear blue eyes focused on her. “Only when you allow yourself freedom of thought can you obtain the freedom of mind.”

“What are you talking about, Cayan?” Shanti asked, panic starting to increase the speed of her heart. “You sound like Burson. We don’t have time for this.”

“Burson said those things. The Chosen will lead the people. But the Wanderer must unite them. We need you right now.”

“You’re not making any sense,” Shanti said through clenched teeth.

His power pulled back in and wrapped around her. Like hands caressing her body, she felt his touch on the most intimate of places. Unexpectedly, the simmer within her rose and blossomed, filling her up and overflowing. It felt like a thousand kisses pressed on her bare skin before his lips slid across hers. He grabbed her power, something that felt like a physical thing, and brought it into him to that deep place where only she was allowed to go. He forced himself deep into her, their bodies only a shell of their united beings. “Call to the people,
mesasha.
Unite them.”

Any doubt that flitted through her was immediately wrapped up in Cayan’s confidence and carried away. She
felt
the rightness of this, because he did. She
felt
the path before her, because he was showing it to her. He had the deep well of power that she had to finesse and direct, and he had the vision that she had to realize. They were two halves melded into one. Her decisions and ideas had taken them to this point, and now he was directing them beyond it. That was truly what the
Joining
was.

She closed her eyes, not having to block out the encroaching enemy or the thought of losing everything yet again—Cayan was already doing that. He was shielding her from reality while she tapped into that place deep inside. She thought of her family, who had given their lives for their people. Her grandfather, who had stayed behind in that first battle so that he might guide the next generation. The ghosts of her people drifted around her, clenching her heart and bringing tears to her eyes. She thought of her people, reunited at last. Of Rohnan, prepared to give his life for her, and traveling the land to find her again and give it all over again if need be. Then the boys and girls who trusted her with everything they had. Who allowed themselves to be beaten and battered, to be tricked and fooled, to be shoved into battle and then marched to unknowing places, all because of their love for her. And their belief in her cause.

Tears came to her eyes as emotion rode everything. She felt the power rising up around her, carrying both her pain and hope, and then blasting out in all directions. It blanketed the city, sifted down into locked homes and wrapping around scared or angry citizens. She felt the people latch on, picking one emotion or more, and gripping with all they had.

“Now it is my turn,” Cayan said softly. The blast of power sparkled. The hope turned into a tangible thing, injected with Cayan’s confidence. Urgency fueled the power, not pleading for aid, but appealing for people to fulfill their own destiny, to grab their freedom with both hands.

He was giving them a silent call to action.

One by one, she felt people moving. They left their homes and walked outside. Some climbed the roofs. Some swirled in heat and vengeance. Some drifted with aid and healing in mind. She called the people; he would lead them. They were the Chosen.

“What the fuck is going on?” Sanders stalked up with a surly expression. “We’ve got a mass of Graygual headed this way, sir. You need to put that woman down.”

Cayan stepped away from Shanti with the fizzle between them strong. In a voice that carried to the whole of the army, he said, “Today we unite the people against all odds. Today we claim our freedom. Together!”

A cheer went up, bolstered by the power that still blanketed the city. Locals on roofs pumped their fists as the army shouted. Across the city, Shanti felt the Shadow Lord and Portolmous organizing their people.

“Today, we fight!” Cayan started walking. Another cheer went up as the army started walking with him. People moved across the rooftops. Ladders were thrown over the sides and boards dropped between buildings, letting them travel where they would, unimpeded by brick walls.

A roar and the sound of running boots echoed all around them. Shifting leather and clinking metal announced someone coming. A blast of mental
Gift
slapped her shields.

An answering roar of pure, raw power erupted from Cayan in thick, heavy waves. As the Graygual came into sight, filling the streets and running at them with swords in their hands, the torrent of pain rammed them, dropping them to their knees. Another deep, earth-shaking blast battered them, shaking them to the ground with the awesome might. Shanti
whipped
and
slashed
with her
Gift,
using the power to splinter the Inkna shields.

Like an avalanche, the third force joined the mental fray. Power rolled and heaved before crashing onto the Inkna. Their brains, exposed by Shanti, suffered from a dexterity of power that could only come with a lifetime of use. The Shadow people held apart those shields, preventing them from being reconstructed, while the Shadow Lord brutally
beat
and
scraped
at their fragile minds.

Arrows rained down from above as Shanti ran forward. Sword in action, she hacked down at a Graygual, cutting off his hand at the wrist. Whirling, she slashed through a ribcage and then kicked out, catching someone in the chin. She slashed down, chopping halfway through his neck before she ripped her sword out and shouldered into a Graygual.

Cayan slashed the Graygual’s back, making him scream and convulse, allowing Shanti to knock him away. More arrows rained down behind enemy lines. Rocks flew from rooftops, along with anything else they could find.

“Push them toward the Shadow Lord,” Cayan yelled, movements so fast they were hard to see. He slashed and cut, a perfect specimen. His muscle bunched and elongated, power and speed like none of these Graygual would ever have seen.

Shanti threw another shot of power at the Inkna, winding around the Shadow Lord’s efforts and ripping away someone’s sanity. She battered away a return thrust even as she blocked with her sword, flicked, sent the enemy blade flying, and stabbed through. She moved on to the next, then the next.

A blast shook the ground up the way. A part of a building broke free. A huge chunk of stone fell on a cluster of Graygual. Another explosion sent a spray of bodies into the street. A brick wall crumbled, creating a thoroughfare.

A few moments later, a roar issued forth from that broken wall. Two beasts ran through, one after the other. They smashed into the crowd like rabid animals. A few locals scrambled back onto the roof, now thinking better of joining the fight at ground level.

A clatter came up behind them. Hooves falling in a strange, haphazard sort of way ran on the hard street. Shanti cut down a Graygual in front of her before shaking her head. How that bloody horse always managed to turn up in the middle of the action, she had no idea.

“I’ll take out the Inkna,” Shanti shouted as she ran to the side, hoping it was actual hooves and not their echo she was hearing. Her horse, the Bloody Bastard, nearly pranced out of the line of Westwood men, shaking his head and rearing up, throwing off everyone’s attempts to capture him and ride him to the battle.

She whistled, a high, shrill sound. It was met with a neigh as the horse stomped toward her.

“Be careful!” Cayan yelled after her.

Sheathing her sword, she took a running leap before climbing onto his back. He hadn’t been saddled, so she grabbed a fistful of his mane and held on for dear life.

Cheers went up as the Bastard ran headlong into a crowd of Graygual.

“Go around, you stupid animal!” Shanti yelled, ripping out her sword again and slashing down. It bucked and kicked out, catching someone’s head with its hooves. Despite their desire to take Shanti down, the Graygual backed away from the crazed animal.

One of the cats ran next to it for a moment before turning into a dark alley and lunging. A beast roared behind them before a scream cut off abruptly.

“There goes the neighborhood,” Shanti muttered as she hacked down at a Graygual that had veered too close.

They reached empty space amid the chaos, the line that always existed between the Graygual and the Inkna. Another clatter of hooves had Shanti turning. Rohnan came right behind her, riding a horse that had also been stolen from the Graygual.

“Don’t like being alone anymore, huh?” Shanti asked her horse, who was sounding his strange equine growl.

“The Inkna are occupied by the Shadow Lord, but there are still a lot of them,” Rohnan said as he came alongside her, running through the almost empty street.

Shanti held on while the Bastard jumped over a washbasin that had crushed a Graygual skull. “Go
around,
you bloody animal.”