“So we hit the river below the falls,” Eva said. “And swim past the line of fire.”
“Not a good option,” Miguel said. “Some fuckers on the other side of the river are shooting at the swimmers, and we don’t have time to send someone to take them out.”
Linwe sobbed softly and covered her face with both hands, and James started swearing, a low vicious litany.
Pia said, “That leaves only one way to go, unless it’s blocked off too. The crossover passageway.”
She knew just exactly how Dragos would spell ballistic. It began with a capital I’m going to kill somebody so fucking dead for this, and well, after that point, it didn’t matter if you spelled the rest of the word right.
Eva snapped out several swear words as she drew her sword. “This smells like a setup, but it doesn’t sound like we have any choice and the fire can’t last forever. We make for the passageway, and we keep Pia surrounded. Johnny, take point, and James and Andrea, take either side. Miguel and I will bring up the rear.”
Pia took Linwe by the arm. The Elf looked at her blankly. She had gone into shock. Pia told her firmly, “You’re coming with us.”
“I should do something to help,” Linwe said.
“Right now, staying alive is what helps,” Pia told her.
“Enough,” Eva snapped. “Move, everybody. And don’t engage with anyone if you don’t have to.”
The smell of smoke grew more intense as soon as Johnny opened the door. They slipped out of the apartment and worked their way through the building. Pia kept her grip on Linwe’s arm, carrying her crossbow one handed.
Elves ran down the halls, shouting to each other. James pressed against Pia’s shoulder, forcing her and Linwe against the wall, but nobody paid any attention to their group. They worked their way down a flight of stairs and the sound of fighting grew louder. When they pushed outside, it was like stepping into a scene from hell.
Towering golden red flames crackled and roared in the Wood, throwing great swirling spires of glowing sparks into the sky, and acrid smoke blanketed the scene in swathes of hazy white that blurred details and gave the scene a nightmarish quality. Heat throbbed against Pia’s skin. The fire would reach the building soon.
She could see a patch of the river, which looked blacker than ever, its surface covered with dancing red light. The heads of a couple of swimmers speared the surface until crossbow bolts took them. More Elves ran past them, and clusters of people dotted the clearing, fighting savagely.
Just as Linwe and Johnny said, they were fighting each other. Pia couldn’t make sense of it, and she saw the same incomprehension on the faces of the others.
With a sharp gesture, Johnny led them to the path that would take them to the crossover passageway. Pia’s grip on Linwe’s arm slipped away as they jogged, but she saw that the Elf had come out of her shock somewhat and stayed with the group.
The path twisted and suddenly they came upon a large group of Elves engaged in an intense battle. A clash of Power swirled dizzyingly in her mind like fierce lights and glistening black. Pia glimpsed Calondir in the thickest part of the fight, wielding a bright silver sword, his expression stern and deadly. Blood streamed down one side of his face.
Johnny spun and pushed at her. “Turn around,” he said. “Go!”
“There’s nowhere else to go,” Pia told him, even as Eva and Miguel pressed up behind her, urging her forward.
The fire advanced behind them all, driving them to the clearing. The forest on either side of the path was dense with shadow and hellish light, and for a moment the group was all in a tangle. Somebody struck her ribs with an elbow, knocking her crossbow out of her hand. She had no idea where Linwe had gone.
Because Johnny was facing her, Pia saw the battle spill toward them before he could. She called out a sharp warning, and Johnny pivoted, and then he engaged in a sudden sharp flurry of movement. James lunged forward too, and the world turned into a grunting, churning mess of a melee that she couldn’t track . . . goddammit, she was no good at any of this war shit. . . .
Eva grabbed her from behind and bodily yanked her back from the fighting. Beside them, Miguel flung out a hand, fingers splayed, and he said, “Lux.”
Power flew out with the word, and the area filled with brilliant light. For a few moments everything was clearly illuminated. They were much closer to the passageway than Pia had thought. Not only did she see Calondir, but she saw Ferion too. And Beluviel stood in the group that faced them, her eyes great hollows of darkness in her perfect face, her hair bound back and a sword in one hand.
Wait. Was Beluviel fighting with Calondir and Ferion, or against them?
With the flare of light, the battle paused. It resumed with redoubled fury, and chaos spun around them like a hurricane.
Johnny said, “Shit.”
Through some trick of timing Pia heard him distinctly over the sounds of battle, even though he didn’t shout or even speak loudly. He went to his knees, and James roared and fought even harder, and Andrea and Miguel lunged forward too.
Eva shoved Pia roughly behind her and said, “Stay back, goddammit.”
Pia stared at the other woman incredulously; like she was so crazy that she would leap into that battle. Then the captain did just that as she leaped forward, and the Wyr clicked into a seamless fighting unit. They were a hell of a sight to see, she supposed, as they formed a protective barrier around her and Johnny, but she didn’t bother to pause and admire their prowess. Instead she fell on her knees beside Johnny who had sagged forward.
“Hey,” she said stupidly to him.
His head turned slightly toward her. She blocked out all the chaos and noise and put an arm around him, and he fell against her. Trusting the others to do their job, she eased Johnny to the ground, and in the fading light of the spell Miguel cast, she saw the profuse cascade of blood down his front. Oh shit.
She tore his clothing open, and it was bad, very bad. As a Wyr, Johnny had a strong aptitude for self-healing, but this, oh shit, he wasn’t going to get over this.
And there wasn’t time for any fucking thing, let alone time to stew over a decision when she couldn’t think straight anyway, not with that horrible, unending scream in her head, so she took her knife, slit her palm and let a trickle of her blood flow over poor Johnny’s torn-up chest. Power flowed out along with her blood, but probably no one would notice because the entire world had gone insane, and everybody else was busy making too much noise to pay any attention to anything she did anyway.
Right?
Eva knelt on the other side of Johnny and grabbed her wrist. What the fuck are you doing? she hissed in Pia’s head.
Pia yanked her wrist out of the other woman’s grasp. I will HURT YOU SO BAD before I kill you if you say anything about this.
Eva didn’t bother to answer, but instead tore off some of Johnny’s shirt to put pressure on wounds that Pia knew were already closing under all that blood. I have healing potions in my pack. Dig in the left pocket—
Johnny coughed, sat up and said, “Oh man, that sucked.”
Eva’s eyes rounded. She yanked Johnny’s shirt open wider and ran a hand down his lean torso, searching for a wound that was no longer there. “Princess, you got some kind of bitch-goddess mojo I ain’t never seen before.”
“It wasn’t that bad,” Pia said desperately to Johnny. “Quit whining and get up.” She stuck a finger under Eva’s nose. “And you shut the fuck up.”
The rest of the world snapped back into focus. She jumped up and Eva helped Johnny to his feet just as the last of Miguel’s spell faded, leaving the clearing washed in a hot hellish red again.
At the same time the screaming in her head reached a crescendo. For a moment it was so loud she couldn’t see straight. Then with a snap it broke off into silence.