Page 176 of The Dragon and the Dove

The soldier lowered his sword, blinking dumbly. With a hiss of satisfaction, Val watched the colour return to his cheeks, the blue of his eyes deepening as the haze cleared. ‘My head …’ he said. ‘There was such a fog.’

Val was already pushing on, towards the next pair of Rose-bearers, who looked intent on decapitating her. She cried the same words, ripping the veil from their eyes before their longswords struck.

More converts.

Again, she waded, further into the fray, crying out her message of truth. It wasn’t enough to turn the tide of war, but soon there were five soldiers thinking for themselves, then seven, ten…

Paola’s magic battered the city, Lightfire falling from the skies like liquid gold. Soon, the Saint of Storms was all but spent, the last wisps of Lightfire rising slowly from the river. The clouds over Merchant’s Way were misting in the wind. But so too was the fog of war. Andreas’s second regiment had succumbed to the rain. As they returned to their minds, they turned their swords on those who still fought on, defending the good people of the city.

The saints had regained control of the south quarter, but trouble raged up north. Too far from the rain, Andreas and his first regiment were ravaging the city. The skies there belonged to the Strix.

Val had nothing to offer but the voice of truth, yet in the face of Andreas’s silvered lies her magic was a unique weapon. Potent. Vital.

Steeling her courage, she left the Bridge of Tears and went north, into the heart of war.

Chapter 52 Anouk

As the last wisps of Paola’s lightstorm floated to the ground, Anouk watched Val disappear on Merchant’s Way.

Far ahead, a dragon soared over Traveller’s Arch. Anouk’s heart raced at the sight of her brother’s magic, as vast and powerful as it ever was.

It meant he was alive. That he was fighting. Winning.

The Strix shrieked in terror, some falling to their deaths, while others rose to higher clouds.

Nadia swore as they banked, turning south towards the bridge. ‘Thanks a lot, Hale.’

Bastian had succeeded in frightening the Strix away from Traveller’s Arch, but the Stargrazers were no cowards. They were not known to retreat, even in the face of death. The Strix simply redirected their ire towards the Bridge of Tears and the saints who stood there.

They came in their hundreds.

‘Drag as many as you can down to the riverbed,’ Nadia told Tobias. ‘I’ll keep them there.’

As the first Strix crash-landed along the dried-up bank, skidding through soupy mud and vast puddles of fetid water, the river weeds unfurled to trap it. Reeds grew as thick as vines, reaching for its mighty wings and thrashing head until it lay pinned like a fly in a web.

Tobias lured another, and Nadia made quick work of that one too. The riverside bloomed, revealing a mass of snaking vines and climbing ivy.

One by one, she snared the Strix.

It was like something from a nightmare, all these monstrous black birds flailing and hissing in the mud. As bewildered Stargrazers slid from their mounts and began hacking at their leafy binds, Paola turned her magic on the river.

It became a race – the downed aerial legion battling against the rising river. The water reached their knees and then their hips, the current taking hold of them as they tried to slash their way to freedom.

The Strix, once freed, were too sodden to fly, and could only thrash as they were washed away towards the harbour.

The Stargrazers abandoned their mounts and swam for the bridge, climbing the buttresses. The crack of a whip made Paola jump. She screamed as it curled around her wrist, tugging her over the railings. Anouk dived, catching her feet. With Nadia’s help, they sheared the whip in two, and pulled Paola back from the edge.

Tobias yelled, stumbling away from the railings as another whip unfurled.

More came, the foundation crawling with furious Stargrazers. Arrows whistled from the faraway rooftops, picking them off one by one.

But not quick enough.

‘Get off the bridge!’ cried Anouk. ‘Run for Merchant’s Way!’

The others took off, and Anouk followed at a distance. She moved backwards, keeping her eyes on the Bridge of Tears. Its underside teemed with Urnican warriors baying for their blood. They were another threat entirely. An army not enthralled by magic but by greed. Bound by an oath from King Rafael himself. At least a hundred of them were climbing up the bridge, their black armour emblazoned with the crimson star of the west.

A leather whip curled around a nearby railing. A hand extended after it and a Stargrazer hauled himself onto the bridge. He locked eyes with Anouk, the menacing slash of his smile making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. He must have thought her an easy conquest – a lost girl frozen stiff with fear at the edge of the river.