Of Whispers and Daggers ✓ [TLRQ #2]

Chapter 53.1 - Aster

Banging on the suite door startles me out of sleep. "Kadranians at the wall!" Reyan yells. I stumble out of bed, disoriented. What time is it? Rain pounds the roof.

I fumble to the bedroom door in the dark, unfamiliar room and open it. The living room fire gives me enough light to tug my cloak off its stand, and I stutter through the front room. Fabric settling onto my shoulders, I step into the hall. Behind me, Riszev's door opens.

"Come on," Reyan says, turning.

My usually silent footsteps chase me as I dash through the halls, down the sets of stairs, and out into the cloudy gloom. Every pace jars my head, but it's been hours since my last dose, and that seems to have done some good. Thunder cracks as I burst onto the wall, and havoc surrounds me.

Our soldiers stand between each parapet, swords at the ready for the savages scaling their ladders. Bowmen stand behind the tall sections of wall, firing at the men below, and a low-tier wizard crouches beneath each of the bowmen, ready with extra arrows. Behind the first line, a few wizards stand at regular intervals, incanting, but most are up in the towers, throwing daggers and targeting the ladders. The rain pummels everything.

I step forward, and a man three spots down falls. Darting across the slick stones, I take his place as the Kadranian scum swings one leg onto the wall.

I reach for my rapier but meet nothing at my hip. Stars! I left it on the stand by the door. Lightning flashes. The Kadranian is still off-balance, but he grabs the front of my shirt, yanks me toward him, and shoves me away. I fall, landing on something soft and uneven, and warm blood seeps into my back. The savage gets his other leg onto the wall, raising his axe. Laying on this other man's body, there is no leverage for me to roll, and the axe is arcing down, my hand shoving into my pocket—

I spray powder. "Et væ!" My words are nearly lost under a boom of thunder. I push magic at his chest as hard as I can, and he trips backward, flipping over the wall. I let go of the spell just before he hits the ladder. As I scramble to my feet, a medic darts behind me to drag the man's body into the guard tower. With no weapons but my spells, I step into the slot, heart hammering. Beasts clamber up the ladder as water streams down. The sword of the soldier that fell lies at my feet, but I've never practiced with a weapon that heavy. It would be nearly useless in my hands.

Two savages are already halfway up. Once a third starts, I telekinese the top one's feet off the ladder and immediately end the spell. His chin catches the rungs as he falls, and he slides down into his comrades.

A Kadranian tops a ladder to my left, and a flash of lightning gleams on his raised axe. Too late, a soldier raises his sword to block. "No!" I spray powder at the axehead, but it falls with the weight of a warhorse, and my spell backlashes. The soldier crumples under the blade.

Men call out as more beasts fill the breach. My head swims, but I cast again, pulling a Kadranian's feet out from under him. One soldier in blue stabs him through, and we turn to face the rest. My hand flicks over and over, pushing, pulling, tripping, shoving, always, always ending before they crack their skull, fall onto the blade, crash into the gaping ground below. On and off, on and off, quick as wet, frozen fingers can move. Blood streams from my nose. Metal flashes in the dark night, and we press on. My muscles scream with every dodge, bones ache with every new spell, but as hours pass, we stand side by side. Soldiers fall, men replace them, and we fight.

The Kadranians keep coming as if from some never-ending crack in Antium.

I destroy the footing of one savage about to axe one of our soldiers, and as he falls, my vision blackens. I stumble against the back wall, forcing my eyes open. Men fall and fight and die, blood and water pooling on the stones. Dizzy, I glance around, but I can't find Reyan. New forces push onto the wall, reinforcing our breaches, sending tired soldiers back to rest. My vision swims again, and I steady myself against the stone. I turn toward the tower on shaking legs.

Near me, someone loses their footing and falls. A Kadranian sword follows, about to drive into his gut. He's dead, I lament, hand and mouth slow to cast.

The man rolls, and the sword glances off the stone. But the savage is drawing the blade toward the man, and there's nothing left for him to do, and my lips finally muster the words. My hand sharply gestures, and the Kadranian trips. Black spots push in on my vision, and I grab the safe part of the wall to hold myself up. The man rolls to his feet, dispatches the prone Kadranian, and hurries to me.

"Aster. Are you hurt?" He looks me up and down, chest heaving.

I blink at him in confusion. Blood spatter covers his armor, dots his face, but my fuzzy mind processes that the man I saved is Reyan, and somehow I missed him when I looked a moment ago.

"No," I muster. "Haven't breaked yet."

His expression is as dark as the thunderclouds, and he takes my arm, dragging me past our ranks. "At all?" We start down the tower stairs.

"No."

He pushes me toward a dormitory. "Rest." A soldier hurries out the door, finishing adjusting his chain shirt.

The world wobbles, and I stumble. "Where I was headed. Then you were dying."

He turns to me again, face tight. He must be scowling. Angry.

"Sorry." Not sure what for, though.

He shakes his head and gently pushes me toward the dorm again. "Sleep."

I nod and roll onto a bed.