Vhalla assessed her work. She hoped it looked like a wing. But even more, she hoped Grahm was still alive to see her signal.
They proceeded with their march, and Vhalla maintained their signal in the sky. They began to hear a clamor rising from the capital. The horrid cry of a crystal beast tore through the sky, and far ahead, the drawbridge of the capital of the Solaris Empire began to open.
It had worked, and they had their war.
As soon as the bridge was down, as soon as they were within distance, the charge was called. There was no turning back now, and Vhalla’s head seared from temple to temple. Victor was already trying to worm his way into her consciousness, to dissuade her from her attack.
Vhalla clenched her fists multiple times. This was it, the precipice of her destiny. She would lay it all down here. Her eyes swept to her left, meeting Aldrik’s. They both looked terrible. Waterlogged, haggard, filthy, and exhausted. But flames were already lighting the air around his face. The wind was in her hair. They would burn and howl together.
Victor’s tricks started just on the other side of the gate. A wall of crystals had been erected, cutting off all paths from the gate. Vhalla held out her hands, unleashing his power, the power of the crystals. She would let him in, but only to use his strength against him. The crystals darkened and fractured, collapsing under their own weight the second she rendered them useless.
Fritz, Elecia, and Sehra led a portion of the army down the main road. Vhalla, Aldrik, and Jax headed right. The majors wanted to see Vhalla and Aldrik split, to double the odds of one of their sovereigns making it through alive, but the couple had refused. Splitting them now would only hurt their chances.
Vhalla waved her arm through the air. Aldrik’s magic rode the back of hers to create a curtain of flame suspended over them, blocking the ice and fire attacks from the sorcerers on the roofs above. Vhalla pulled on Lightning’s reins.
“Archers, rooftops!” she cried.
Fighting had already broken out in the streets before they’d arrived. Vhalla saw blood staining the ground ahead. Spread lifelessly before sorcerers were men and women with silver wings painted on their breasts and backs.
Vhalla drew her sword and threw it. Directing it with her pointer finger, it sliced across sorcerers’ throats, felling two before she summoned it back. Aldrik’s fire burst forth at her left, and Vhalla brought her attention to where it burned, helping it with her winds.
The Imperial army made steady progress into the city, until the first monster descended upon them. The beast had a clear path, all talons and gaping jowls. Vhalla tried to suck the wind out from under it, but a searing pain from the back of her mind caused her magic to falter at the last moment.
She narrowly dodged, tumbling off Lightning. Gripping her head, she rolled to her feet and tried to find her sword. The monster had taken out Lightning, and half the army with him.
The horse had taken her to the end of the earth and back. Its death hit her in the chest, as hard as the death of any dear friend. Rage built in her throat. She didn’t care if it was Victor’s emotion or hers. She hoped it was both. She hoped she could feel his anger at knowing that her army was upon him. That they were not backing down, not now, not after they’d come so far.
Wincing, Vhalla drew herself to her feet as the monster banked high through the clouds. Sorcerers around her sent tongues of fire and spears of ice, but the magic failed to penetrate its leathery skin.
“Stay your magic!” Vhalla ordered. The soldiers faithfully turned their attention elsewhere. “Jax, guard me!”
Vhalla didn’t even check to ensure he was. She trusted her guard and friend to be where she needed him. There was no room for fear or doubt in this battle. Her friends would do what they needed to do to survive, just as she would. The worry was etched in her heart, the closest to prayer she could afford.
She invited Victor’s magic within her, and she felt it build. If he could make crystal monsters, she could destroy them. Vhalla unleashed his magic with a cry, and the monster exploded with a burst of light, shards of blackened crystal falling to earth like dark starlight.
She gasped for air, slumping. An arm was across her chest—strong, holding her up, supporting her. The magic had taken more out of her, using it more quickly than the last time. The army rushed around her, the battle raging on. A shield of fire sprung up, blocking an attack on the prone Empress.
“Thanks, Jax,” she panted.
“Not quite.” Vhalla looked up. She hadn’t been expecting Aldrik there. His armor was scorched, scuffed, and bloody. “Are you all right?”
“I will be.” She put on a brave front—there wasn’t another choice.
Aldrik’s arm lingered for one more brief moment. It couldn’t have been more than a second, but it felt like an eternity. He spoke silent volumes. His heart sung to hers, and Vhalla’s replied in kind. She knew he was there; they fought as one. No matter what happened, they stood here together.
Stable on her feet, Vhalla turned back, reentering the fray.
Victor had clearly prepared his soldiers for this attack. While the road they walked on was mostly un-trapped—Vhalla suspected Fritz, Elecia, and Sehra weren’t having nearly as easy of a time—there was more than one large-scale assault from the false king.
Attack after attack, they pushed on. Vhalla had waved on more men and women from back lines to front than she could count. She was sending them to their deaths. They knew it, as they sprinted over the corpses of their comrades, but they pushed forward anyway. The whole army persisted with one goal in exact precision—get to Victor, kill Victor.
Victor’s men were clever. Every crystal soldier could count for two of the Empire’s army, taking advantage of magic and terrain. They jumped in and out of buildings. Stalled with walls of ice and fire. Groundbreakers ran from alleyways, slicing throats and continuing on without engaging, swords ringing clumsily against their hardened flesh.
Another monster soared overhead, so Vhalla repeated the process from earlier. She focused all her magic to strike the beast down from where it flew. As the crystal beast’s corpse fell harmlessly to the ground, so did she.
Aldrik hoisted her up with both arms, wrapping her arm around his shoulders and carried her.
“Aldrik, we must—”
“You cannot stay on the front line.” He pushed backward.
Vhalla hated the taste of retreat. “But you can.”
“Vhalla—”
“Jax!” she called. Vhalla had no idea where the Westerner was, but he couldn’t be far. Her assumption proved correct as she retreated into the center of the host. “Jax, I’m turning useless. But Aldrik isn’t.”
“I’ll look after you.” He knew what she was asking before she voiced her request.
They held up the rear guard as the fighting pushed into the night. When the moon was a third through the sky, Victor’s men seemed to stop coming. Vhalla had destroyed one more crystal beast, but it took nearly everything she had to do so.
It was a stalemate, frustratingly quiet for both sides. The Imperial army held their line, Aldrik mindful not to give up their advance. Victor stopped sending men and monsters—or had no more to send.
Crystals littered the streets like dark shards of glass. Vhalla watched how they pulsed softly in the moonlight. Everyone had told her she could use crystal magic without it tainting her. Maybe that much was true. But it felt like it was tearing her apart every time she summoned it. Such unassuming stones, already fading and turning to dust, held so much weight.
“How do you feel?” Jax asked quietly, sitting her down. They’d found a tavern, long abandoned, to regroup with the majors.