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It was in that same golden light that we gathered at the heart of the camp, grim and subdued, surrounded by the ominous silence that hung like morning mist over the endless numbers of warriors readying themselves. Lyn was there, in loose red tunic and trousers, a curved dagger strapped to her hip. Tared and Edored, blades on their backs, alf light flickering restlessly around them. Agenor, dressed in all-black as well, carrying the broad sword I’d only ever seen him wield during our first battle at the Golden Court, and Rosalind, looking human and delicate and ready to stab anyone who dared to suggest she’d better hide in the Underground and wait for the battle to pass.
If they were at all surprised to see Creon, they hid it well.
‘Get something to eat,’ Agenor told me in between muttered conversations with vampire and nymph commanders. He’d gone absent-minded the way I recalled from my previous battle by his side, mind already on the grain fields of the city, working out the pieces on the board. ‘We’re moving soon.’
Moving.
My last breakfast.
There was no banishing that thought, no matter how unwanted.
I barely tasted my bread. Messengers flew and faded back and forth around us as I ate, passing on the last questions and orders; in the distance, the otherworldly silence was broken bythe occasional yelled command. Thousands upon thousands of warriors moving into position – all that was left of the magical world, preparing for their last desperate march …
Counting on me to finish the job.
The sword on my shoulder had never felt so heavy before.
The sun had only just risen above the horizon, still shrouding the world in a buttery yellow light, when we began our four-mile march towards the city, our final battlefield.
Only as we scaled the first hill did I realise how much larger our army had grown overnight. More units of magical beings must have continued to arrive even after Creon and I had finally stumbled into our tent, hours past midnight. Around the small elevation on which we stood, a sea of heads stretched out on all sides. On the far left flank, the red hair and golden armour of the phoenixes shone almost as bright as the rising sun, the longbows slung over many of their shoulders proof that fire would not be their only weapon. Next to them, the perfectly straight ranks of vampires marched on with ruthless discipline and efficiency, spears in their gloved hands, hooded cloaks billowing behind them.
The alves walking out ahead of us were a horde of writhing chaos in comparison – a swarm of fur and leather and wolfskin cloaks, and plenty of individuals who were not wearing shirts or coats at all, tattooed torsos gleaming in the morning light.
‘That way clothes can’t get in the way while they’re fighting,’ Edored told me when I enquired after their safety, looking like it was the most self-explanatory thing in the world to run into a battle without a shred of protection on one’s body.
I didn’t even try to argue.
To our right walked the nymphs, with their strange, organic-looking armour and their brightly coloured hair and clothes; behind them, the small group of Agenor’s fae was a fleck of stark black against the green-grey hills. The human army, finally,came last, ranks expertly held together by Delwin and his men. They would not be joining the fray until we’d punched through to the city itself, where at least they had the advantage of knowing their surroundings.
And I …
I would wait, too.
Until we were convinced Creon and I could safely reach that little door Rosalind had told us about, leading us to the heart of the Mother’s new territory. No sense in risking our lives before that time, Agenor had sternly informed me; no one would be better off if a stray arrow hit me before I could do the one thing only a godsworn mage could manage.
I understood. I agreed with the theory – I really did.
It was infuriating all the same.
On we marched, eastward. The briny, home-like smell of the sea grew ever more pungent. Twice, a large gull came shrieking past; both birds were chased away by Alyra, who appeared to be of the opinion that any unknown passing creature might just as well be spying on behalf of the Mother. When the sea itself finally came into view, an eternity later, I had to bite down the urge to falter – if we were that close to the coast, it would be mere minutes until the city became visible, too.
They knew it as well as I did, the marching humans behind us. For the first time, they were snapping at the heels of the nymphs and vampires before them – that twisted impatience to see just how bad the bad news would be, just how little hope would be left for the loved ones they’d left behind.
Going home would never be the same, I’d wanted to tell them as we marched out of the city two mornings ago … but none of us had ever expectedhometo change.
The sun stood a hand’s breadth above the horizon when we caught the first glimpse of the outer walls, appearing jarringly unchanged, the same pristine white looping throughthe landscape. It wasn’t until we climbed the next flat-topped hill that we finally got our first look at the city itself, nestled at the heart of that once-safe territory.
It had been such a light, lively place, the first time I’d lain eyes on it.
Now there were no farmers in the fields, no city guards on the roads. Instead, the winged silhouettes of fae swarmed between the roofs in the distance, gods knew how many more of them hiding between the buildings. Most of the houses still seemed to be standing, although plumes of black smoke rose from a few spots in the city; there hadn’t been much of a fight, then, when the Mother’s forces had arrived.
Her war ships – I counted fifteen of them, each bigger than the ships of the Sun fleet at Tolya – had dropped their anchors just outside the entrance to the city’s harbour, bobbing on the peaceful waves. More fae might be hiding there, too.
‘She’s pinned a row of human bodies to the inner city wall,’ Tared quietly said next to me, watching the distant city without even squinting against the sunlight. ‘Might be a few hundred of them, if she continued around the full perimeter.’
That low earthen wall, covered in white lilies … I was overcome by a sudden urge to gag. Next to me, Rosalind looked about to be violently sick.
Creon, on the other hand, gave the impression he hadn’t expected anything else and was, if anything, relieved she hadn’t lined the outer walls with corpses, too. ‘Any sign of traps between us and the city?’
