The Daylight War (90 page)

There was a hush as the sun finally dipped beneath the horizon, sending a sweeping blanket of darkness over the land. The streets of Newhaven began to glow softly as the greatward began to Draw upon the power venting from the Core. It was easy enough to see in town, but the gloom crept right up to the border.

‘The corespawn could be rising right in front of us and we’d never know,’ Gamon said.

Gared shook his head. ‘They ent. Leesha warded up my helmet special to see in the dark. Can’t make heads or hinds of most of what I see, but demons glow like torches. They were there, I’d see ’em.’ Rojer nodded, his new mask telling him much the same.

‘Takes getting used to,’ Renna said, ‘but you’re right. Ent no demons close by.’

‘Maybe they ent comin’ this month,’ Evin ventured, but just then Shadow let out a low growl, and Arlen could see the fear creep into the auras of his companions. All save Renna, whose aura became eager – hungry.

‘They’re out there,’ she said, ‘but not close. Can smell ’em.’

‘They are weakest during the rising,’ Captain Gamon said. ‘It makes sense for them to rise out of range of our bows.’

Arlen nodded, though it gave him no comfort. He took a deep breath, Drawing a touch of magic from beyond his field of vision, tasting it. There were indeed demons massing in the distance. More than he had ever sensed in one place, but still less than expected.

A moment later the sounds of splintered trees and torn soil began to sound for all to hear. ‘They’re coming!’ someone shouted. The Haveners grew fearful, gripping their weapons and peering vainly into the darkness. Some lost their nerve entirely, fleeing for their homes and locking the doors … for all the good it would do.

‘Deserting traitors!’ Gamon growled. ‘I should …’

‘You should close your mouth and keep your eyes in front,’ Arlen said. ‘Fighting’s your job. These are just scared folk. Won’t help anyone to turn on our own with demons at the wards.’

The captain managed to keep his outward composure, but his aura showed outrage at being scolded by a commoner he – and many of the count’s most trusted advisors – believed was a threat to his master’s rule. Arlen had no desire to stoke that fire, but needed to make sure Gamon – and his men – knew their place. The captain’s aura said he would do his duty and obey. For now, that was enough.

‘Should we send out the signal?’ the captain asked.

Arlen shook his head. ‘Not yet. Could be a trick.’

The cacophony grew louder, becoming an ever-present background roar, much like the inside of a noisy tavern. It went on for some time, but still no demons approached. Rojer, Gared, and Renna leaned forward, straining their wardsight, but even Arlen could see no sign of their glow.

Are
they
using
magic
to
mask
their
approach?

‘Wish they’d just attack and have done.’ The sound had grown so loud Rojer had to shout to be heard.

‘Just trying to rattle us,’ Gared said.

‘It’s working,’ Rojer said.

‘Keep calm.’ Arlen drew a ward so the words were clear without being shouted. The others relaxed slightly at his tone. He wished it was as simple to ease the writhing in his own gut.

His nostrils flared, catching an acrid scent. Moments later, smoke began to drift from the woods, choking the defenders and fogging their vision as it reflected a growing orange light from within the trees. Even Arlen’s wardsight became muddled and blurry.

‘Tryin’ to smoke us out?’ Gared coughed.

‘More likely cover for an attack,’ Gamon said.

Arlen said nothing as he Drew again, sensing a small number of flame demons approaching through the smoke, gleefully setting everything in their path alight.

Normally, wood demons would keep the flame demons in check, killing any that entered the forest. Under the influence of a mind, though, wood drones would instantly yield their territory, leaving the flame demons to create a blaze that could kill half the Hollow without the demons having to lift a talon.

Firespit could not penetrate the greatward, and there were firebreaks along the border against the non-magical fires it kindled in the heavily wooded area, but no warding could protect the Haveners from choking to death on the smoke.

‘Gared’s right.’ Arlen searched the sky, but there were no other signs of smoke. ‘They’re doing it here, because the wind’s right.

‘Ready bows!’ Arlen cried. The Haveners quickly complied. After living off the land for so long, most of the Hollowers could shoot, and many were skilled hunters. So many, in fact, that there hadn’t been enough warded arrows to go around. The smiths used moulds now, but could still only make them so quickly. In the end, each archer had been given a mere three warded arrowheads. Some had copied the symbols onto the heads of the rest of the arrows in their quivers, but the Hollowers’ warding skills varied widely. Arlen expected less than half of them would even work, and those that did at less than half strength.

Every shot had to count.

Yon, Evin, and the Wooden Soldiers dismounted, stringing their bows as well. They carried full warded quivers, with more arrows on their mounts. All were expert shots, but even their skill was useless in the smoke and darkness.

Arlen sketched wards of sound, making his voice carry all along the border. ‘Asking folk to trust me. Need to kill the flame demons out there before they choke us to death.’

He paused. ‘And that means stepping off the greatward and into the smoke. Everyone make sure your mind wards are in place, and your best arrows nocked.’

‘No ripping way!’ one man cried. Most of the Haveners echoed his sentiment. Their collective aura flared with fear.

Surprisingly, it was Gared who stepped in. ‘Din’t have no greatward in the Battle of Cutter’s Hollow!’ the giant Cutter boomed. ‘We start hidin’ behind them now, Hollow’s already lost. You want to fight for your homes, it means steppin’ out into the naked night! Otherwise, go hide in yur beds and wait to get et!’

Arlen smiled as the fear in the crowd’s aura began a shift to determination. He looked to Gared, filled with fanatical trust in Arlen. ‘Thank you, General. Couldn’t have said it better myself.’ Gared’s aura … blushed.

‘Need you to lead them out, Gar,’ he said. ‘I’ve a card up my sleeve, but ironically, I need to be standing on the greatward to play it.’

‘I-what-ically?’ Gared asked. Then he shook his head, the confusion in his aura vanishing. ‘Dun’t matter. You say march into the Core, I’ll do it double-time.’

He clapped a hand on Gared’s shoulder. ‘The flame demons are still a ways off in the woods. Need to get in close and take them by surprise. Ent got time nor arrows to waste.’

Gared coughed. ‘Bows ent gonna be much good in all that smoke. How are we supposed to see what we’re shootin’?’

Arlen slipped down from his own saddle, feeling the thrum of the greatward beneath his bare feet. ‘When you’re in place I’ll show you your targets. Make sure no one fires till I give the word.’

Gared nodded, leading the rest of the scouts and the best archers of Newhaven out into the gloom. They hadn’t gone far before, one by one, they vanished into the smoke.

Arlen breathed deeply and Drew more power than he had ever dared, pulling on the Hollow’s entire wardnet. He felt his insides burning with the power, and knew he could not contain it long without being consumed.

‘Brace yourselves,’ he told the Hollowers, his voice carrying to every ear. Then he lifted two fingers and wrote wards of heat and air, giving shape to the energy as he released it. A huge blast of wind sprang forth, sweeping the smoke away and huffing out the flames like born-day candles.

He felt dizzy as the magic swept through his body and left, but there was no time to waste. He Drew on the greatward again, this time drawing wards to cast brilliant white light into the air, momentarily turning night into day. There, revealed in the light, were the flame demons, eyes and mouths glowing as they stood frozen, frightened by the sudden glare.

This time when the magic left him, Arlen staggered. Renna was there in an instant, grabbing one of his arms. A moment later Rojer caught the other.

Arlen let them steady him, Drawing a touch more power to send his voice carrying to the archers.

‘Fire.’

R
ojer heard the collective hum of bowstrings and the cries of the flame demons as the Hollowers exterminated them.

Rojer was still getting used to the wardsight his mask imparted, but a moment earlier he had seen Arlen glowing as bright as the sun. Now he was dim. Dimmer even than normal folk.

‘Back to the greatward,’ Arlen commanded after a moment. ‘Now.’ The light he conjured began to fail, and he slumped further, suddenly putting his full weight on Renna and Rojer. Rojer stumbled, but Renna tugged them both back upright as effortlessly as she might a small child. Quick as a cat, Rojer had his feet back under him.

He glanced up and saw the first of the Haveners returning, a triumphant look on their faces.

‘Pull yourself together,’ he said through his teeth. ‘I don’t know what that did to you, but these people need to see you on your feet.’

‘Don’t you tell him …!’ Renna began, but Arlen cut her off.

‘No, he’s right,’ Arlen said. ‘I just need a moment to …’ The luminescent mist at his feet began to rush into him, restoring his glow. He stood again, pulling free of their support. ‘There.’

The Haveners took their positions around the border once more, and Gared and the rest of the scouting party returned to where Arlen, Renna, and Rojer stood, oblivious to his moment of weakness. In the distance, the crashing sound of falling trees and ground-shaking rumble of torn stone continued unabated.

‘What in the Core are they doing?’ Gared shouted above the din.

‘It’s a trap,’ Rojer said. ‘Trying to lure us out farther.’

Arlen shook his head. ‘Why make so much noise if it’s a trap? They’re doing something. Bet my stones on it.’

‘What do we do?’ Gared asked.

‘
We
aren’t going to do anything,’ Arlen said. ‘
I
am going out to have a look.’

Renna shook her head. ‘
We
are going for a look.’

Arlen looked at her, and she shot him a hard glare in return. ‘Arlen Bales, don’t you think for one second I’m letting you go out there alone.’

‘Sure as spit ent asking anyone else to,’ Arlen said. ‘Drones can’t hurt me, Ren. I’ll be fine.’

‘That mimic demon hurt you,’ Renna said. ‘And the mind did worse.’

‘Ay, but now I know how to hurt ’em right back,’ Arlen said.

‘You hurt
one
of them,’ Renna reminded him, ‘and only after I snuck up in your warded cloak and stabbed it in the back. Who knows how many are out there tonight?’

‘Maybe it’s not a trap for us,’ Rojer said. ‘I think maybe it’s a trap for you.’

Arlen looked at him blankly.

‘He’s right,’ Renna said. ‘Second you step off the greatward, you’ll stand out like a lantern in the dark. They’ll be on you in an instant.’

Rojer bit his lip.
Don’t say it, don’t say it, don’t say it.

‘I’ll go,’ he said, and cursed himself. Everyone looked at him in surprise, and Rojer couldn’t blame them. He was not known for his bravery, but there was no other way. He was proud of the power he had brought back to the world with the
Song
of
Waning
, but after seeing what Arlen had just done, there was no doubt which of them was more expendable.

Arlen shook his head. ‘Don’t know your power will even work on a mind demon. Can get a cat to chase a bit of reflected light all afternoon, and drones ent much smarter, but you don’t try that trick on people.’

Rojer shrugged. ‘Even people can be blinded when you shine a light in their eyes. And didn’t I just hear Renna say Leesha’s cloak fooled it?’ He grabbed the hem of his warded motley cloak, turning a spin to let it spread out.

‘Rojer, I can’t let you—’ Arlen began.

‘No, I can’t let
you
,
’ Rojer said. ‘I may not be able to put out forest fires with a wave of my hand, but I can do this.’

‘
We
can do this,’ Gared said, coming over to stand beside him. ‘Goin’ with you. Cloak Darsy made me ent as fine as yurs, but it ent ever failed me.’

‘That’s because you rarely ever use it.’ Rojer shook his head. ‘Your place is with your troops,
General
.’

Gared spat at his feet. ‘You may be a right little prick sometimes, Rojer, but I’ll be corespawned before I let you go out there alone.’

Rojer felt his throat tighten, but swallowed the feeling behind his Jongleur’s mask. He wanted to argue further, but in truth he felt safer with Gared than he’d ever admit.

‘Coming too,’ Renna said, pulling her own Cloak of Unsight from the bag slung over Promise’s harness and throwing it around her shoulders.

‘Ren.’ Arlen’s voice was pleading as he caught her arm.