Page 139 of Forged in Fading

“You too, Kat. That’s what you’ve made me now, Alvara. An afterthought.” Kat hugged Alvara tight enough to squeeze every drop of moonlight out of her.

Alvara tried not to watch as Boden walked away, but the human phrase he had uttered the night before still scratched at her mind. She could ask Oda or Kat, though with her pathetic grasp of the human language she could hardly remember the right words or pronunciation, but something about what he had said had felt…personal.

“Boden,” she called out, ignoring how her chest tightened when he turned to look at her. “What you said last night, what does it mean?”

“Survive this, and maybe I’ll consider telling you.” One last grin lit his face and stole all the air from her lungs. “Oh, and there’s one more thing I’d like to tell you in case…I thought the selkie was you, Alvara. I thought you should know.”

With that, he disappeared into the throngs of soldiers, leaving Alvara gaping like a fish. If Boden had thought she was the selkie, that meant the kiss, what she felt, what he felt…

Kat whipped her head toward Alvara. “Selkie? Wait, did you two…?”

“No. Well, yes.” Kat’s eyes widened, and Alvara rushed her next words. “Oh gods, not like that. And it wasn’t even a real kiss. Just forget I said anything.”

Her friend puckered her lips. “Sounds like a real kiss to me.”

“I would rather cut my own tongue out than continue this conversation. Ready?”

The humor drained from Kat’s eyes. “Not at all. You?”

“No. But that doesn’t really matter, does it?” She looked at her friend one last time, and stones piled in her gut. “Thank you, for everything. For believing in me, being there for me. I can see why Eloisa liked you.”

The edges of Kat’s hazel eyes crinkled. Somehow, their lavender rings seemed brighter today. “You know, you’re more like her than you think. Unfortunately, now I have to go drop this stinking powder on some soldiers. I’ll see you after the battle.”

“See you after this is all over,” Alvara said.

And she hoped it wasn’t a lie.

Alvara stood behind the water-filled moat that lined the inner part of the town wall, giving it a generous berth, though Aurilena and the rest of the Valonian wielders had illusioned it and left small marks in the dirt to let her and the others know where not to step.

Her clammy fingers trembled where they grasped her spear and shield. The fear, it was good—it meant she still had things left to lose. It kept her alert and would fuel her when all else gave out. Being afraid meant she was still alive and hadn’t yet faced the blood and fading that waited on the other side of the wall.

The structure looked just as it had on the day they had arrived at the human lands, seemingly useless in the face of the wielders that advanced. But she knew, and those on her side all knew or at least hoped, that the changes they had made would take the enemy by surprise.

The cry of a falcon—the signal that it was all about to begin.

Each beat of Alvara’s heart drummed louder and louder in her ears, and her vision shrank until she could only see the narrow path from her feet to the wall.

Arrows twanged from the archers stationed on top of the wall and in the watchtowers, those that had been willing to sacrifice their lives to help deplete the enemy forces before they breached the town’s defenses. The screams started, and stone and fire answered the attack with cracked skulls and burned bodies.

The stench of scorched skin and the copper tang of blood flooded the air, and soon the heaving of her lungs was the only sound she could hear. She gripped her spear tighter with each second, her knuckles draining of their color just like the faces of the allies around her. Flames licked past the top of the wall, wood cracking and groaning under the assault, and the wall gave way.

But not in the way the enemy had expected.

Over the past two weeks, they had rebuilt the wall, piling debris, animal bones, shells, anything other than earth or wood on the inside, so no wielder could manipulate it. The result was an avalanche that flowed into King Einar’s soldiers, one they would have to climb over to reach the town.

The frustrated grunts and yells of his elves wading through the wreckage disintegrated into howls and wails of agony as the first line of Alvara’s people, the only elves not disguised as humans, met them with every type of magic available, except ice.

That would have to wait.

A few stragglers clawed their way through, slicing open stomachs and setting flesh aflame. Alvara’s breaths came faster, and she bounced on her toes to keep from locking her knees and passing out. Wait. She had to wait.

As soon as their feet splashed in the water of the moats, Alvara welcomed her power and froze patches of ice where enemies stood, rendering them sitting targets for the other wielders to demolish.

Bodies flowed into the town, and the human and demi-elf warriors behind her became restless. But soon enough, Kat flew above the enemies on the other side of what remained of the wall and released the neutralizing powder in a cloud of crimson. They didn’t have enough to extinguish the magic of all of King Einar’s forces, but it would render a sizable number of his soldiers useless, a substantial advantage. His elves’ powers would slip from their grasp for at least a few hours, though it didn’t matter. None of them would live that long.

Coughs and cries morphed into panicked shouts as the powder took effect, and the humans and demi-elves charged. The enemy could do nothing as metal severed their limbs and tore open their insides, bathing the ground beneath them in rivers of sticky blood. Alvara met any who had escaped with her spear and shield when she was able, and when she wasn’t, she let every memory of her family she had locked away for so long flood her veins and feed her magic.

Power surged through her as she cleaved her enemies’ souls from their bodies with surprising strength, and the demi-elves around her fought with similar ease. Their deeper connection with their emotions heightened their magic as they smashed elves with earth and throttled them with vines.