Page 169 of Commanding Flame and Shield
Agamemnon was larger than me, already out of breath from the battle, his conflict with Freya, and the deep wounds in his chest and shoulder. It was now or never. I clicked my tongue, a sound I’d used to encourage my mounts in past lives, and Freya’s courage grew palpable. She dove forward, somersaulting, and I dove the opposite direction. Split his attention. It was our best bet.
Freya threw her knife with expert precision, thudding into the giant’s thigh. He roared and made to kick her. I slid forward on my knees, swiping for his Achilles. But he anticipated the attack, and whirled, so my knife met his ankle instead.
He bellowed. But it didn’t have the impact I needed. I found my feet and wheeled back to face him. Teeth still bared, the monster narrowed his eyes, darting between Freya and me before surveying above our heads. Looking for backup.
There was no one coming to help. It was down to the three of us.
Agamemnon flashed a vicious smile, and then dove for Freya. She spun to avoid his advance and slammed her fists against the back of him. His steps barely faltered, but she danced away, unfazed. I dove forward, sword raised, and slashed. Dodging his counterattack, I retreated towards our line. Again, and again, he struck his blows. I focused on keeping him mobile, committed to the plan of using my endurance to wear him out. Whirling sideways, I made way for Freya to take her swings. She dodged his blow by dropping low again, creating a window for me to barrel forward.
A guttural cry somewhere to my right tore through the air. And it was just enough. Eyes wide in terror, Agamemnon turned his attention to the sound, and a shudder of energy rippled through us. Agamemnon roared in agony at what he saw, and that second cost him.
I plunged my sword through his soulless heart.
As he staggered backwards, sliding off my blade into a heap at my feet, an animal scream split the battlefield. Ears ringing, I whirled as Freya crouched, readying herself, terror soaking her scent. An enormous sleek black jaguar was bounding towards us. She raised a sword from the muddy earth, hands bloodied. But the great cat looked to me, and I threw myself forward to stop Freya’s sword. Because against that sleek black fur, sat two sharp, cerulean blue eyes. Beyond it, two more identical cats were shredding enemy lines.
“Fuck, it's good to see you, brother.” I grinned, and it seemed for an instant that the great beast did the same, before it dove for the heap that was Agamemnon, and tore him to pieces.
Energy shifted violently, a tremble coming from the ground through my bones. Tangible hope flared in my soul, and I snapped my head up.
Alvara. She was braced against Adrastos’ full weight, and with an agile spin away from him, I saw her slide the blade from his ribs. The same attack that I had used to claim his brother. He fell to his knees, clutching the wound in his chest. She snarled as she spun to face a rush of combatants. Power flooded back into my veins, blood roaring as it reunited.
The shield was broken.
With a crackle, I turned and threw electric energy into the wall of Renown advancing on Aren. His booming laugh filled the clearing as the wall crumpled to the ground. The field filled with a torrent of wind, and I heard as fire erupted from multiple sides. The sound of rushing water roared in my ears as the elements returned to their weavers.
Earth began trembling below my feet, energy quivering within it. The quake grew more violent, and I looked up. A boulder of horror settled in my stomach when I realized Alvara was no longer standing over Adrastos’ body. The rumble grew to a roar, the ground becoming waves of liquid below my feet. I stumbled forward, eyes scouring the chaos.
“Alvara!” I yelled, eyes scraping over mutilated corpses and moaning bodies that didn’t look far behind them. Familiar faces with eyes glossed over tore at my chest, but I kept hunting for her as the world became deafening. The trembling earth broke, an enormous wall jutting up in front of me.
Up, up, up it soared. A colossal divider sliced through the field.
I pulled the magic from my soul and hurled a ball of fire towards the towering wall, but the burst of flame only sent shards of muck showering down on us.
“Alvara!”
Desperately clawing for more strength, I pulled an electric burst forth, and plummeted the power directly into the wall of clay. It trembled and great bricks of earth fell to the ground in deafening crashes, but it stopped stretching skyward. I scampered up the wall, vaguely aware that a silent Freya was tight on my heels. I climbed with every ounce of strength left in my body. Nails filled with dirt, muscles screaming, fingers threatening to break with every violent claw into the muck, we scaled the side of it.
Freya was only feet below me, a knife clenched between her teeth. Laying across the narrow, rocky top on my stomach, I threw a hand out for her. She clasped it and hoisted herself the last few feet. She threw her hair back into a quick, tight bun at the nape of her neck, tucking drenched red strands of hair behind her ears. I stared at her for a moment. Reconciling. Reconciling the girl who had cried when I’d accidentally run over a toad with the lawn mower, with the cutthroat assassin I’d seen tear Renown flesh from bone with her magnificent teeth.
Reading my mind, Freya shook her head.
Later. Her desperate voice rang in my head.
In myhead.
Alvara!
Thunder boomed above us, the sound of the sky splitting open reverberating through my muscles. Within a matter of breaths, my clothes were soaked through with torrential rain.
“Alvara!” My voice was twisted with grief, most likely inaudible over the roar of shaking earth, pelting rain and battle. My muscles compliantly threw me to my feet. The abrupt hilltop offered an unexpected vantage point, and I used it to search the remaining skirmishes below. It took only seconds from that perspective to spot the rapid flash of bright orange fire bursts on the farthest side of the field. Orange, not white.
A rapid-fire flash of her power lit the horizon just beside the looming canyon. Alvara was engaged withfiveRenown, and surrounded in crawlers, nothing but a blur of flame and shining steel against the black backdrop of charred wood, smoke, and the looming canyon just beyond it.
“Go!” Freya spat through the ceaseless water. "I’ll be right behind you.”
And somehow, I knew she would be. I grabbed the back of her neck, and brought our foreheads together for a heartbeat, before kissing the crown of her head.
With one last breath, I leapt off the wall.
