Another attack slammed into the barrier.
Drustan gave her a glance over his shoulder and began to shift into the small Dragon they had discussed last night, with webbed skin between his scaly toes. “I have never shifted from land-breathing lungs to gills midflight. This should be interesting.”
“I don’t like interesting.” Kiora scanned the area to ensure everyone was preparing for the battle. The circular shape of the city made the final planning both intricate and tricky. The two entrances closest each other, behind the main house, were each filled with a small group of rebels. These were the two doors that would be opened first.
There were so many moving pieces to this plan, it unnerved Kiora—too many things to go wrong.
To her right, Emane and Alcander ran side by side around the perimeter of the city towards the foxes’ stables, followed by a group of Taveans. Alcander threw open the first door and Emane coaxed a fox who burst out, leaping and bounding from the stables. He passed it to a Tavean, who mounted it and directed the fox down to the center of the city to wait.
The foxes and Tavean riders would be in the air for the battle, raining down magic and acid on the army the Shifters were going to force into the center of the city. Their first job was to keep the army in the center. They could not allow the enemy to come up one of the sets of stairs. That would place them between the rebels and their exits—that could not happen. And two, they had to keep the Shifters from shifting. She couldn’t battle against a room full of Dragons
and
keep everybody alive.
Kiora climbed onto Drustan, watching the barrier anxiously.
And they waited. Time ticked by slowly, with not one attack. The tension in the city was palpable, with all eyes directed above. The minutes ticked by, turning into the half hour, and then the hour.
The rebels shifted from one foot to the other. The only sound in the city was the rustling of wings. The foxes felt the nervous energy as well and pranced back and forth, leaping into the air for a few wing flaps before being forced back down by their riders.
Then, finally, another ball of fire impacted, followed by a second, third, and fourth.
“Now,” Kiora said.
Drustan and Kiora flew toward the first barrier—Lomay’s glittering gold one. She pulled at nature. As the magic entered her, her heart slammed painfully in her chest, immediately jolted out of its normal rhythm. Her nails dug bloody half moons into her palm. Each time she used this magic, it was worse than before.
Working quickly, she took down Lomay’s barrier. It came down easier than she expected. Drustan shot upwards before flipping back around to allow Kiora to replace the barrier. She slung it much lower than it had been, bowing it in the middle so it almost touched the roof of the main house.
“Enough?” she asked. Her vision blurred, and she put her thumb and forefinger in the corners of her eyes. She found blood. Panic rose within her.
“You can’t take it any lower. Let’s go.” Drustan shifted, switching to gills.
Kiora took the air bubble spell she had learned from Lomay and directed it so that the bubble only surrounded her head. This allowed her the freedom of movement she needed.
Kiora looked up at Nestor’s remaining barrier with wide eyes as she prepared to unleash the lake.
“Now would be good,” Drustan gasped. His wings jerked as he struggled to pull oxygen from the dry air around them.
She used everything she had to swipe at Nestor’s barrier. It vanished, and Kiora immediately shoved the nature magic away from her. The water seemed to hesitate as if the barrier was still there, then it dropped, crashing over them. It slammed into Kiora and Drustan like a brick wall, pushing them against the bottom.
Kiora ground her teeth to keep from crying out. Her leg was crushed between Lomay’s barrier and Drustan’s body. He thrashed, fighting against the onslaught of pressure and the current that raked them across the bottom. Finally, he managed to wiggle free, heaving himself forwards.
Kiora pulled at the water around her, using both hands to form a pillar of water within the lake. It swirled, becoming thicker as it spun. Grunting, she shoved it upwards as hard as she could.
***
ARTURO FLEW OVER THE lake—watching, waiting. He was flying low enough that he risked exposing his thread, but he needed to see. The surface of the lake still rippled from the previous attacks that Jasmine’s followers had launched.
The army prepared the next attack. The Shifter-Dragons blew fire at the few who could control it, who then spun it into a glowing ball. It took four or five of the enemy, mostly Taveans, to each Shifter-Dragon in order to keep the power in check—it was simply too much for one to control. Kiora could have handled it herself. He couldn’t help but feel a certain amount of pride in her.
As they were about to wrap the ball of fire in magic to protect it from the water, the lake suddenly dropped, pulling away from the bank. The enemy stilled. He heard their thoughts, wondering if maybe, just maybe, it had worked and the lake was now pouring into the city.
Then Kiora sold it. An explosion of water burst forth from the middle, sputtering and spraying as if the barrier had indeed given way—the water meeting a pocket of air below. Two more geysers burst up in rapid succession, showering the enemy and sending the surface of the lake into a bubbling and rolling soup. A roar went up as the enemy rejoiced in their first victory against the impenetrable city.
***
KIORA PULLED ANOTHER WAVE of water, spinning and rolling it before forcing it upwards, desperately hoping the show up top was more impressive than what she was seeing down below. She was about to reach for more when the water above her began to glow. Another round of attacks tore toward them.
Kiora cursed her lack of forethought. Drustan jerked them to the side. She had hoped that once the geysers went up, the enemy would move toward the entrances. She didn’t know if Lomay’s barrier would hold against the attack—it wasn’t as strong as Nestor’s barrier.
The fireballs roared by. Waves of displaced water pushed Drustan to the side as the attack connected with the barrier. Lomay’s extra protection was always supposed to be just that—extra, not primary. It shimmered and rippled, becoming dangerously thin.
No
, she thought, glancing through the gold film to the rebels below her.
I will not allow this to happen. Not again
!
Another fireball lit her view. Spinning around on Drustan’s back she pushed magic toward it with one hand, and a burst of water right behind it with the other. The ball exploded under her counterattack. Magic and fire rolled outwards before being swallowed up by the wave. She then forced both the fire and water up for one more spectacular show of watery explosions.
Nice job,
Arturo thought.
You have convinced them. They think they’ve broken through.
They almost did,
Kiora thought, still shaken.
She tapped Drustan’s side to let him know it was time for the next phase. He swam toward the golden barrier. It had come down easier than she had expected the first time, and she hoped that Lomay’s barrier would not require the same amount of magic Nestor’s did.
Using her own power, she whispered the first three-quarters of the spell, praying another attack would not come. If it did, it would break through the barrier without question—the spell she had begun had weakened it considerably. As if reaffirming her concerns, the barrier rippled beneath her, becoming clear in several places. She opened a hole for her and Drustan to pass through.
The lake poured out ahead of them, splashing into the city. The sound of water against stone and wood was sickeningly similar to the last time the barrier had been breached, and a bitter sickness rose in her throat.
Drustan tried to wiggle and push his way through, but Kiora had kept the hole small on purpose and they became lodged. The water pushed from behind, desperate for an exit. The pressure built, finally popping them out.
When they shot free of the barrier, Drustan struggled to keep his altitude up, nearly flipping upside down. His gills closed. Immediately, his flying stabilized and he swooped around the enormous waterfall that now poured into the city.
Kiora maintained her hold on the barrier, trying to ensure that the pressure of the water did not tear a larger hole. She struggled against the force as it stretched and pushed against the edges. Worried she might lose hold, she pulled at it, trying to shrink the hole to a manageable size.
“No! Let it go,” Drustan said. “We need to get the water in here quickly. They will launch more attacks, and this barrier will not hold.”
He was right. She opened it back up. The waterfall pounded down, spraying the city with a fine mist.
Kiora’s arms were shaking. The water level rose below her. Where the barrier of Nestor had resisted Jasmine’s attempts, Lomay’s barrier was weak, and seemed to want to give way. “This is going to have to be enough,” she gasped. She shoved the edges of the barrier back together and yelled the incantation to seal it.
Her wet hair clung to her cheeks, and she pushed it back. “Ready?” she yelled. The rebels prepared themselves, foxes and riders taking to the air.
Kiora mentally reached out to the rolling water she had just dumped onto the floor. It obediently divided into nine sections. The tenth hall needed to remain clear—it sheltered the Domats, and all the rebels would escape there. One more mental push, and the water rushed down the halls
She had reached the point of no return. Steeling herself, she called nature’s magic again. Falling forward on Drustan, she gritted her teeth and pulled down all the barriers in the city—with the exception of the flimsy protection of Lomay’s that held back the lake.
***
ALCANDER WAS IN THE first two groups down the hall. The water pulled at their ankles and splashed around their legs.
Using magic, he pulled back the stone guarding the entrance. It was unnerving, looking outside without seeing the colored magic raining down. Alcander pushed toward the exit, calling the others forward. The enemy outside roared with glee, running toward the entrance and the fleeing rebels. Alcander screeched to a halt, holding up his arms to stop those behind him.
A Winged man had been closer to the entrance than his comrades and came around the side, flying through the door. Before he could fire, Alcander threw a bolt of white-hot magic from his staff, breaking the man’s wing. The first line of the army, Taveans with black hair and red eyes, was almost at the door.
“There are too many of them. Retreat!” Alcander yelled. The words were like cotton in his mouth. Knowing it was a farce did not make it entirely easy to look so weak in front of his own. “Another exit!”
His group walked backwards while continuing to face the enemy. Their enthusiasm increased when they heard Alcander’s call of retreat. Magic began flying. Alcander pushed out a white disk of magic that filled the tunnel and rushed toward his enemy.
***
HEARING ALCANDER’S CALL OF retreat, Emane led the next group down the tunnel. They plunged through the water, trying to time it correctly—they needed to give the other group time to pass by the Shifters. But to the outside forces, it needed to look like some of the retreating forces from Alcander’s group had reached the next exit. If the door opened too soon, it wouldn’t be believed, and the incoming forces would realize what was happening and warn the others.
Wiping water from his face, Emane nodded to Einar, the Tavean leader, to open the door. Einar swept out his hand and the stone door slid to the side. Emane had imagined the same reaction from the army outside that Alcander had received, but this was a door the enemy didn’t know existed, and they were not expecting rebels to suddenly appear. With the city protecting their threads, the enemy could not sense them, and they were too preoccupied with the battle against Alcander’s forces to notice the band of rebels pausing hesitantly inside the tunnel.
Emane swore—this was not part of the plan. “Let’s go.”
Einar looked at him quickly. “Are you sure?”
No, he wasn’t sure—but what choice did he have? He gave Einar a curt nod before charging forward, leading his group much farther out into the open area than he would have liked. But stopping just outside the door would have been overly suspicious.
A hand grabbed Emane by his shirt collar. “Look out!” Einar jerked him back, throwing him to the ground as he put up a shield with the other hand.
A blast of green magic impacted Einar’s shield. They had finally been spotted.
“I didn’t see that one coming,” Emane grunted. He rolled to his feet, adjusting his shield.
“Clearly,” Einar said coldly in true Tavean fashion. He threw a crackling burst back at the two Winged men who were swooping toward them. Both rolled to the side to avoid it.
Emane quickly assessed the situation. The rest of his group joined Einar, putting up shields and firing magic at the incoming army. A Shifter morphed into Dragon form and Einar yelled out a warning. Emane stepped around Einar’s shield. Dropping to one knee, he pulled back an arrow and shot the Dragon through the eye.
“Retreat!” Emane yelled over the Shifter’s enraged roar. “We have to use the other exit. Go!” They pounded back down the tunnel, throwing magic over their shoulders with the enemy in full pursuit. Being so far outside the entrances, Emane wasn’t sure if the next group had heard their cue. “Retreat!” he repeated. “Retreat!”
***
KIORA AND DRUSTAN FLEW near the barrier, hiding beneath a bubble, watching the delicate dance they had choreographed unfold beneath them. The first four groups had made it past the Shifters and were moving down to the tenth exit. The Shifters were spread out across the path between tunnels, blowing fire and acid, swinging their stingers at the Taveans who dared attack. The rest of the enemy filtered down into the city’s center. The first bolt of magic rose, followed by more, aimed at the rebels fleeing around the raised perimeter.
The Tavean rebels dropped their bubbles and swooped in on their foxes, spraying acid at the attackers. Screams echoed around them as Taveans, Omelians, and Winged men dropped to their knees, clawing at their faces and arms. The rest of the enemy hunkered down, covering themselves with shields.