The sun had climbed higher up in the sky and the thick white clouds were moving, which currently bathed the hill in sunlight that was only broken up by the occasional patches of shade. Behind us, buildings were on fire. Dark red flames licked the wooden structures greedily as the remnants of Sienna’s attack kept spreading through the deserted houses. Sounds of battle rose behind the wall of flame where Levi’s dark mages were fighting the surviving constables, who were also trying their best to put out the fires before they spread to the rest of the city.
I stood at the mouth of the final street separating the hill from the road that ran around its base. Tilting my head back, I stared up at the gleaming parliament building at the top. The constables up there were moving. It was difficult to tell from here, but it looked like they were shifting their forces so that they were clustered around the front of the building.
“Paige says it’s done,” Henry’s voice suddenly rang out.
Turning around, I found him drawing in a deep breath and slowing to a walk as he closed the final distance to us. I swept my gaze over the others. A ripple of anticipation, and excitement, pulsed through the air.
“Alright then,” Levi said, and gave him a nod before shifting his gaze to Audrey. “Let’s see if this ridiculous plan of yours works then.”
I could see her getting ready to say something snarky, so I spoke up before she could. “Henry, keep Sam safe.”
“Yes, boss.”
“The rest of you, you know what to do.”
“And remember what I always say,” Sam began, looking from face to face. “I can heal you…”
“But not if we’re dead,” we all finished with smiles that were half amusement, half exasperation.
“Exactly.” His gray eyes locked on Audrey. “You especially were cutting it a bit too close earlier. Don’t do that again.”
Another stab of panic shot through my chest at the thought of Audrey almost bleeding to death on the street. All I had wanted to do after Sam had healed her was to wrap my arms around her and hold her until I could make sure that she was okay. But I didn’t want her to feel as though she looked weak and frail in front of the other dark mages, so I had used every ounce of my willpower and simply squeezed her hand instead. The look of gratitude she had stealthily shot me afterwards informed me that I had made the right choice.
“I promise,” Audrey said.
“Good.”
“Do you people always stand around and talk this much?” Levi demanded, and shook his head at us. “Let’s get this done already.”
Before anyone could retort, he spun on his heel and took off towards the hill. I resisted the urge to hurl a force wall into his back, and instead turned to Audrey and raised my eyebrows in silent question. She nodded.
We started forwards as well. Behind us, Grant and Malcolm paired up to do the same. As did Sam and Henry. Sienna, to no one’s surprise, sprinted towards the hill on her own. The rest of Levi’s dark mages followed.
My heart thrummed in my chest as Audrey and I leaped onto the grass and ran up the slope. This time, I would make sure that she didn’t get hurt.
Orders rang out from atop the hill.
And then the onslaught started.
Wind and water and lightning barreled down the hill. It crashed into Levi’s metal wall with a deafening boom. I threw up a force shield in front of me and Audrey while Malcolm covered him and Grant with a mass of twisting shadows. Sienna just shot a torrent of flames up the hill to counter the attacks.
Magic whooshed and lights flashed across the grass as we tried to force our way up the main path in a combined assault. But the constables had been ready. They had shifted their troops from around the building so that the bulk of their force was located right in our path.
I yanked up force shield after force shield while Audrey shot her poison attacks between them. Screams rang out on our left as Sienna managed to burn a small section that wasn’t able to shield in time. The rest of them threw up synchronized water walls.
White steam exploded across the grass as her flames met their mass of shields.
My heart pounded in my chest.
There was no way that we would ever make it through all these people. We were more powerful, and much more skilled, but there were simply too many of them. This had to work.
A scream split the air to my left. I snapped my gaze towards it to find Sienna clutching her arm. It hung limply by her side, probably due to a lightning strike. Sam and Henry rushed towards her, but I had to shift my gaze back to the path ahead. Fire roared through the air.
I yanked up a force wall right before it could wash over us. Yellow flames slammed into it before being redirected up into the sky. Next to me, Audrey didn’t even flinch. As if she had never doubted that I would protect us in time.
It really was incredible how our relationship had changed these past few months. Before we went on that first mission to get Lance, she wouldn’t have trusted me with a butter knife. Now, she placed her life in my hands without even batting an eye.
Battle cries echoed across the trampled grass.
I shoved the final waves of yellow flame aside to find the constables charging down the hill in force. Calling up another wall, I hurled it at them. But it was like trying to stop the tide. Boots pounded against the ground as row after row poured down the slope.
“Fall back!” Malcolm yelled across the deafening noise.
As one, we turned and ran down the hill again. To my left, Sam was dragging one of Levi’s wounded dark mages with him while Henry covered their retreat. Sienna shot a massive torrent of fire towards our enemies, but they raised layered water walls to block it.
Steam hissed as the fire struck them.
I drew in a deep breath as I stopped by the stone wall outside the mouth of the street while Audrey and the others ran through the opening between the buildings.
The soldiers stopped their advance halfway down the hill, and cheers of victory rang out. Then they began retreating towards the parliament building again. From my position across the road, I simply watched them. They thought that they had won. But the fight was far from over.
Solid walls of metal shot up from the ground where Audrey and Levi and the others had been standing. They formed a gigantic box that just barely fit between the buildings. I grinned at the constables up ahead as a ripple of confusion went through their ranks.
The massive metal box remained at the mouth of the street for another couple of minutes while the others got everything ready. Far behind us, red flames still consumed the buildings while Levi’s dark mages fought the surviving reinforcements.
Then, the box moved forward.
With that grin still on my lips, I advanced as well, walking slightly to the side of the metal structure.
Let’s see them try to counter this.
Metallic grinding filled the warm air as the box moved across the street and then started up the main stone path leading up the hill. I kept pace with it while staying on the grass to the right of it so that I would be able to shield it with my magic.
The confusion up ahead turned into alarm. Then shouted orders.
Touching my palms together, I called up a force wall.
Fire shot towards the metal box. I hurled my force wall in front of it, stopping the worst of the attacks. Embers sailed into the air as the flames licked the sky instead.
My pulse thrummed in my ears. Fucking hell, Audrey. This had better work.
The soldiers kept bombarding the box, and I tried my best to shield it and myself, while it continued moving up the hill. Sweat ran down my spine. It was taking every ounce of concentration I possessed to raise force walls in time to block both the attacks shot at the box, and the ones directed at me. My chest was heaving, and every nerve felt like it was crackling with pent-up tension.
Lightning zapped right past me.
I barely managed to yank my body out of the way in time.
Before I could call up another shield, the rows of soldiers broke. Screaming battle cries, they charged towards me. I cast a quick glance at the giant metal box next to me. Then I turned and sprinted down the hill.
Fire and wind slammed into the sides of the box as I left it unprotected while hurtling towards the safety of the street below. Ear-splitting booms echoed across the city as the constables swarmed the box and attacked it with everything they had. It ground to a halt halfway up the hill.
Leaping the final bit, I landed hard on the road below and then sprinted over to the mouth of the alley before swinging around to face the battle up on the slope. Except it wasn’t exactly a battle since only one side was attacking.
My heart slammed against my ribs as I watched an entire horde of constables surround the metal box. Magic crashed into it from every direction, making it rock precariously.
I sucked in a deep breath to slow my heaving chest.
An unending hail of attacks bombarded the box.
From my position on the street, I watched as the four walls of the box suddenly snapped and toppled outwards. They landed on the stone path and the grass next to it with crashing booms that reverberated through the air.
Purple and orange light flashed.
And then the world exploded.
Throwing up an arm to shield my eyes, I twisted away as four massive explosions tore through the sea of soldiers.
Bloodcurdling screams ripped through the air, but most of them were abruptly silenced.
Once the flashing lights had faded, I lowered my arm and looked up at the carnage. The vast majority of the soldiers who had swarmed the metal box were gone. Blood painted the grass red, and torn limbs lay scattered up and down the hill. The surviving constables farther up had been blown backwards by the shock wave, and utter terror and dread pulsed on their faces as they staggered upright while staring down the hill.
A few steps behind me, someone threw up. Loudly.
I turned to find Paige bent over, hurling up the contents of her stomach while Sam gently patted her on the back.
“Told you it would work,” Audrey said, and shot a smirk in Levi’s direction as the two of them strode towards me.
Levi let out something between a scoff and a chuckle, but tilted his head in an acknowledging nod.
It really had been a brilliant plan. And an insane one.
First, we’d had Paige forge some messages that told the constables that we had been spotted organizing a combined attack up the main path. And to make sure that they bought it, we had to do just that. The first wave of attack was to make sure that they clustered in the way we wanted them to. Then, we retreated again.
While hidden from view by the buildings, Audrey and Levi and the others pretended to go inside that giant metal box. Then, all Levi had to do was to stand inside one of the buildings and move the metal up the hill while I protected it from the outside to make sure it got close enough to the constables. A couple of Levi’s explosion mages had already rigged the inside with those massive explosions, so when Levi dropped the walls, all they had to do was to detonate them. With the constables all swarming it, thinking that dark mages were hiding inside, they didn’t stand a chance when the explosions went off.
Indeed, a brilliant plan. And ruthless as fuck.
Another door creaked open, and Malcolm, Sienna, and Grant moved out of the building they had been hiding inside as well before approaching us. A couple of Levi’s dark mages did the same, though they stopped and leaned against the wall behind us a respectful distance away.
“So, it’s done?” Malcolm asked, turning to one of Levi’s explosion mages.
The man, with dark hair and ice blue eyes, slid his gaze towards the hill.
I glanced up at the constables. Some of the ones farther up had run down the slope and were now trying to drag any survivors back up with them.
Another couple of seconds passed.
Then two more explosions tore through the air, killing the constables who had been trying to rescue the survivors as well.
Still leaning against the wall, the blue-eyed explosion mage slid his cool gaze back to us and lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Now it’s done.”
Paige threw up again.
“How are you holding up?” Henry asked.
While bracing one hand on the wall, she waved the other in our general direction and croaked, “I’m fine.”
“Great!” Sienna flashed us all a glittering smile that was tinged with a bit of madness. “Then let’s go storm the parliament building.”
