Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 127722 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127722 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
Huntley aimed the cannon over the wall before he lit the string. “Cover your ears.”
“You think I don’t know that?” I’d fought down with our soldiers on the ground before, just like Huntley and Ian, but I never received any credit for it. I covered my ears and stepped back.
The cannon exploded, and the arrows instantly shot over the wall.
“Open the gates,” Ian ordered.
The guys activated the gears and slowly began to pull them apart, leaving a crack just big enough for us to slip through. We crossed the field and approached the line of arrows that had punctured the soft earth with their ends in the air.
I crossed my arms and grinned at my handiwork. “Not bad, huh?”
Ian walked around, counting the ones that were flat on their sides. “Ten didn’t hit their mark.”
“But a hundred did.” I moved down the line of arrows. “And look at this radius. If these were Plunderers, we would have taken out a hundred already.”
“Potentially.”
“Oh, come on. Don’t be jealous.”
“I’m not jealous. I want this to work more than you. I fucking hate Necrosis.”
“Ian, you’ve got nothing to worry about. You’re a great fighter.”
“Doesn’t mean it’s not fucking exhausting. Exhausting watching your men die around you while you continue to lead. Exhausting watching the ones who are too weak to get away lose their souls to those monsters.” With his hands on his hips, he raised his chin to look over the horizon, a breeze moving through his short hair. “Any time we’ve ever faced Necrosis, it’s always been to feed. Nothing personal. But if your intelligence is right…then this will be a very different fight.”
“That’s why we’re going to take down as many as we can from behind the wall. Protect our people as much as possible.”
“We may not have a choice—depending on how many are in their army. Because if there’re tens of thousands…the wall won’t hold them for long. We’ll have to send our soldiers, and they’ll know full well they’re going to die.”
When I prepared for battle, it was always in an idealistic way, imagining how I would claim the lives of our enemies by providing the best weapons, the best arrows, the best strategy to maximize our lethalness and minimize our losses. But I forgot all that other shit nobody wanted to think about. “At the end of the day, we’re going to win. And that’s all that matters.”
He gave me a side glance. “You should never assume an outcome like that. It makes you lazy. Complacent.”
“HeartHolme has my full confidence. I believe in her.”
He looked forward again.
“I believe in our soldiers. I believe in our queen. I believe in you.”
He gave a sigh before he crouched down and pulled the dirty arrows out of the ground. “I think you should sit this one out, Elora.” He pulled a few more and bundled them into his hand.
I squatted down beside him and did the same. “Why?”
“I think this is going to be the great battle of our lives.”
“Then I should be on the front lines with everyone else.”
“Or you should be running that forge constantly.”
“I’ve already prepared HeartHolme for the attack. I would just be making surplus at that point.”
“And depending on how long this battles wages, we may need surplus.”
“Ian, you don’t need to protect me—”
“I can’t focus out there if I’m worried about my little sister, okay?”
“You aren’t worried about your mother.”
“She’s the queen. It’s different.”
“I’m just as strong of a fighter as she is.”
“I don’t know about that…” He shook his head slightly. “You haven’t seen her in action—not close-up. She’s got eyes in the back of her head. She fights better than most men I’ve faced on the battlefield. But that’s not the point. You should stay behind. Your talents would be better spent elsewhere. What if the army falls and Necrosis makes it into HeartHolme? You’ll need to arm the citizens in a final stand—which means you need more weapons.”
“They have no idea how to fight—”
“But they deserve a fighting chance—and you’ll lead them.”
32
IAN
I slept a long time.
Instead of being anxious all night long, I was indifferent to the terrors that lay ahead. Nothing I did could stop it, and nothing I did could increase our chances of success. So, I did the one thing that could prepare me for the long night—and slept.
Plush lips pressed to the back of my shoulder then migrated down my arm. Silky strands of hair brushed over my skin, soft like rose petals. Her warm hands gripped my chest, and she pulled herself closer to me, her lips landing on the shell of my ear.
I was pulled from sleep by a woman’s eagerness, and my eyes opened to the dead fireplace that had been snuffed out sometime in the middle of the night.
Her hand moved down my stomach underneath the sheets, ready to stroke my morning wood and get back to business.