Worry twisted inside my chest like strangling vines. Leaning forward, I glanced around the edge of the pale stone building and shot a quick look up and down the street. There was no sign of the others. I hadn’t expected there to be, they were far too professional for that, but it would’ve calmed me a little to see their faces right now.
Pulling back, I pressed my body against the warm stone wall and blew out a long breath to steady myself. I tried to remind myself of what Audrey had told me back at Malcolm’s mansion. She was worried too, but she handled it by remembering that I was lethal. So was she. And Henry. Both of them had survived this long because they were incredibly skilled, and they would survive this too.
I cast another glance around the corner.
The wide street just beyond the building was empty. After that flat stretch, the ground began sloping upwards, forming the massive hill in the middle of the city that housed the parliament building. White clouds drifted lazily over the sky, casting parts of the hill in shadow as they temporarily blocked out the sun. Only a few constables were moving about at the top of the hill, which meant that our ruse must have worked.
Chancellor Quill believed that we were still planning on attacking the academy in order to take the Blade of Equilibrium, and we had made sure to keep up that ruse. We had sent all of those disgruntled former mages that we recruited from the underworld to stage a fake attack on the academy. And to truly seal the deal, Paige had forged some official sightings of us so that the constables would have time to get into position on the other side of the city. That fake attack should have started half an hour ago, so the majority of Chancellor Quill’s constables should be caught up in that fight by now. Leaving the parliament building practically unprotected.
I flicked yet another glance up towards the grand structure atop the hill. Flexing my fingers, I tried to dispel the impatience inside me. In order to increase our chances, all of us were going to charge up the hill from all sides at the exact same time. So now, we just had to wait for that damn clock tower to ring in the hour.
Forcing out another long breath, I tried to rip out the worry in my chest like the weed it was. But it stubbornly dug its thorns in.
Audrey and Henry would be fine. They had to be fine.
I’d spent so many years not caring about anyone. So many years convincing myself that having friends was beneath me. But then I met Henry. And then Audrey. I carefully edged that door open again. And they, like the merciless villains that they are, kicked the whole damn door in so that I wouldn’t be able to deny that they had become my family. My people. So if I lost either of them now, I didn’t think I would be able to survive it.
The ominous booming of giant bells split the air.
Alarm shot through me.
It was time.
After ripping out the last shreds of doubt by sheer force of will, I pushed off from the wall and sprinted across the street. All along the same road that circled the hill, dark mages darted out of the shadows and ran towards the grassy slopes. I knew that Audrey and Henry were somewhere on the other side. And so were Levi and his people, and Malcolm, and all the other dark mages of Eldar. Everyone except Sam and Paige, who remained at our rendezvous spot.
My heart pounded in my chest as I cleared the final bit of the street and leaped onto the grass. My boots sank into the soil, sending a spray of dirt shooting out behind me when I pushed off and hurtled up the slope.
Shouts rang out from atop the hill.
The constables had spotted us.
It didn’t matter. Even though they had the high ground, they would never be able to fight off one hundred dark mages. Not when their own numbers were so few.
I slapped my palms together and called up a force wall while I continued sprinting towards them. Lightning crackled through the air.
The white bolts smacked into my force shield with a boom that echoed into the city. I immediately summoned another one when yellow flames roared down the hillside. They washed down the slope as I shoved them aside with my wall. Heat filled the air, making it vibrate from the power of the magic.
As soon as the flames had been pushed aside, I snapped my gaze back to the constables up on the hill, getting ready for their next futile attack.
Shock pulsed through my body like ice water.
Screeching to a halt halfway up the slope, I stared in utter disbelief at the scene playing out on the flat surface at the top of the hill.
Constables welled across the edge, sweeping down the sides of the hill like a tidal wave. Row upon row poured over the ridge, and not just on my side. Around the whole hill, men and women charged down towards us while screaming battle cries into the warm summer air.
For a few insane moments, all I could do was stare at them.
They outnumbered us many times over, which meant that this had to be the bulk of Quill’s army. But why the hell were they here? We had set up the perfect distraction at the academy, and the news of that attack had made it to Quill’s ears from several different sources. Sources he should have trusted. So why hadn’t he used his army to ambush us, or rather the people we sent to the academy instead of us, and take us all out once and for all? Why the hell had he hidden his army up here?
Based on how quickly all of the constables mobilized, they must have known that we were coming. But how? Not even those disgruntled people we recruited knew that we were coming here. They all thought that we would be joining them at the academy. The only people who had known that we were actually going to attack the hill were the dark mages of Eldar, along with Henry, Paige, and Levi and his people. And all of us were here, launching the attack. So how the hell had Quill known that we were coming?
Water and lightning magic shot towards me.
Snapping out of my stupidity, I yanked up a force shield to block the combined attack while I whipped my head from side to side. All around the hill, dark mages had come to abrupt halts as we all were forced to go on the defensive. I shoved aside another roaring wave of fire while trying to figure out my options.
Our plan had been to take the hill in a swift simultaneous attack and then work our way into the parliament building from there. That would never work now. Our momentum was halted. They had the high ground. And they outnumbered us.
Fuck.
A crack split the air as three lightning bolts slammed into my force shield. I summoned a massive spinning arc and hurled it at the sea of constables while I backed down the hill. Blood sprayed into the air as it cut the heads off the closest people, but the ones behind them just kept coming. I barely managed to throw up consecutive shields in order to block the mass of attacks they shot at me all at the same time.
Sweat ran down my spine.
Touching my hands together, I threw arc after arc and yanked up shield after shield to stem the tide of enemies while also trying to run backwards down the hill again. They knew that they would never be able to win against a dark mage in a ranged battle, so they did what they always did. They tried to rush us and force us into close combat instead.
Alarm blared inside my skull as I tried to buy myself enough time to launch a proper attack. But just blocking the shots coming from dozens of people at the same time was taking all of my concentration. Widening my force wall, I shoved it forward at the same time as they threw a combined attack of wind and fire.
Embers and yellow flames shot straight up into the air as the attacks hit my shield. It stopped the momentum of it on that side, but the other half of it went through. The constables let out a scream as my attack crashed into them, sending them flying backwards and slamming into their comrades behind.
But the ones who had thrown the torrent of fire escaped the hit.
I called up another wall to shove them back too, but it was already too late.
Air exploded from my lungs as three men launched themselves at me, tackling me to the ground. I landed on the thick grass with them on top of me.
Yanking up my elbow, I rammed it into the first guy’s side while I drove my knee into someone else’s stomach. Grunts tore from their throats, but it was almost drowned out by the pounding of boots coming down the hill.
I needed to get out before they could swarm me.
Hands wrapped around my forearm, trying to pin it to the ground. I shoved my other one upwards, slamming the heel of my hand into a chin. Blood burst from his mouth as he no doubt bit off part of his tongue.
He screamed and jerked back, removing some of the weight on my other arm. I immediately slammed my palms together, but before I could throw my magic, a knife glinted in the air right above me.
Jerking my head to the side at the last second, I barely managed to avoid the blade that would have taken my eye out. It sank into the grass a hair’s breadth from my temple. I drew my palms apart and shoved a force scythe straight upwards.
Panicked screams were quickly silenced as it severed the two men’s heads from their shoulders. I snapped my mouth shut as blood rained down on me.
Shoving the bodies aside, I struggled to my feet while the horde of constables welled down the hillside. While sucking in a desperate breath, I hurled a massive force wall towards them. Water and wind shot out to block it, but a few sections went flying backwards as it hit before they could shield.
I just needed to get—
A body slammed into me from the side.
Shock pulsed through me as I crashed down on the grass with a man on top of me. The hit sent the two of us rolling down the hill while both of us tried to gain the upper hand. Through the rapid rolling motion, I managed to catch sight of a man’s pissed-off face where blood painted his chin.
Oh, of course. The guy who I’d gotten to bite off his own tongue. He was still alive.
Dirt and grass whirled around us as we tumbled towards the street below.
I tried to get him off me long enough to touch my hands together, but he was grappling me like a madman.
Dull pain pulsed through my shoulder as we at last hit the stone street at the bottom. I yanked my knee up and drove it into the man’s side when he tried to climb up on top of me. It made him wince but didn’t throw him off me. His hands scrabbled for purchase around my throat. I rammed my closed fists into his elbows, making his arms buckle. The move made him lose his balance slightly, and I slapped my palms together.
A force blade extended from my hand.
The man’s brown eyes went wide as it punched straight through his chest.
More blood rained down on my already blood-splattered body.
Dragging the force blade downwards, I carved a hole straight through his chest and down his stomach for good measure before I released the blade. He slumped forward. I yanked up my hands and placed them against his shoulders before his whole weight could land on me. Gritting my teeth, I heaved his bleeding corpse off me.
Blood and dirt and grass covered my face. I dragged the back of my hand across my eyes to wipe off the worst while I climbed to my feet again. Snapping my gaze back towards the hill, I checked to make sure that the constables were still out of range. Luckily, they were.
But that was where our luck ended.
All along the hill, our forces were fighting the tide of constables while retreating down the slope. This was never going to work. We needed to regroup and figure out—
Fire and water and lightning shot up into the air from atop the hill in three separate torrents.
I stared up at them as they tore towards the sky.
Dread curled around my spine.
A signal. That was a signal.
Which meant that back-up was coming.
