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  Mars gave his queen time to make her way to where she needed to be.

  Then he jerked up his chin.

  The stallion turned and galloped away.

  Mars bent over Hephaestus’s neck and dug his heels in his mount’s sides.

  They burst forward and followed the unicorn, and he heard the thunder of horses’ hooves behind him as they did the same.

  They could not have gone half a mile before the stallion curled his front legs and pushed off his back ones, leaping in the air in order to clear nothing.

  Hephaestus followed suit.

  There were noises of alarm behind him that Mars ignored, for all about them turned purple.

  And then the purple was gone as they landed in wet turf in the middle of a blinding rain.

  121

  The Battle of the Heights

  Prince Cassius

  Valley at the Base of the Night Heights Mountain Range

  AIREN

  They had several advantages.

  The first was the element of surprise.

  It was not a complete surprise. A thousand horses galloping down the side of the mountain made noise.

  But when they arrived, the enemy had not had nearly the time they would need to prepare to face what they were about to face.

  Not to mention, a thousand horses galloping down the side of a mountain, the sight that was, the noise it made, when you knew the men and women on those horses were riding in with the intent to do you harm, it was intimidating.

  As Cassius planned.

  The second advantage was a different kind of surprise, one for Cassius.

  They had not fortified their position. They’d dug no trenches nor erected any barricades.

  The way was clear, when he and Elena’s troops arrived, for them to ride right into, and through, their encampment.

  This was a boon he had not expected.

  And they needed every boon they could get.

  The third advantage was the Nadirii archers.

  Nadirii archers did not let fly an arrow unless they’d taken aim. Their target might move in the interim, and thus be missed. But they did not waste ammunition on a barrage intent to daunt, not do damage.

  Thus, when the front line, including Cassius, Elena, Macrinus, Jasmine, Serena, Hera, Rosehana, and their following line, including Antonius, Nero, and Cass and Elena’s best cavalrymen got close, they bent low over the necks of their mounts.

  And the Nadirii archers behind them took aim and let fly.

  Thus, as the first line of the allied militia that had scrambled to meet them were on foot, and they had not had time to fully don any armor, they therefore collapsed as a whole before Cassius and Elena were within fifty feet of them.

  It was the forward cavalry’s job, as they rode over and through the fallen, to deliver damage with their swords and their horses’ hooves that would make certain they did not get up.

  This, they did.

  The next advantage circled back to the first three. It was one Cassius had hoped to gain with this strategy and was pleased he did.

  For it was impossible to miss the fact that a great number of the militia decided on the spot—with a surprise, full-frontal attack and legendary Nadirii archers in play—maybe they’d made the wrong decision on whose side they wished to take.

  Deserters were racing into the forest beyond in droves.

  In the thick of it, Cassius could not begin to deduce how many had fled.

  He just knew it wasn’t enough.

  But at least it was something.

  A further advantage was that they were all on horseback.

  Cassius could cut through three men before they got close enough to do damage to him or Caelus.

  Thus, this was how Cassius proceeded, with Elena doing the same at his side, cutting a swath of wounded or dead militia alongside their comrades who were doing the same.

  And the last advantage to their preliminary attack was that, when Gallienus was king, the landed gentry were given the option of whether or not to send their militias if the king called them to service.

  Some did.

  Most did not.

  Those who did not used their militias to keep the peace in their fiefdoms, this mostly taking the form of intimidating and bullying recalcitrant vassals, mutinous peasants or upstart merchants and freemen.

  As such, the soldiers they were fighting were not well trained and had little to no experience.

  Very different from the Airenzian and Nadirii warriors who they now faced.

  But this was not all there was to that particular advantage, for some of these men weren’t militia at all.

  Just dissenters to Cassius’s vision of the future of Airen.

  So, they had no experience and very little training, if any.

  And they realized, quickly, and for some it was the last thing on this earth they learned, how important it was to be trained to face battle.

  The disadvantages, Cass noted immediately, started with the fact that the militias had trolls.

  Trolls had skin tough as leather, bones strong as steel, and the worst, they felt very little pain.

  They were not impossible to kill.

  They were just difficult to kill and even more difficult to maim, for if a troll sustained an injury, even a mortal one, he would just keep fighting until he dropped.

  The other disadvantage to Cass and Elena’s troops was that there were just so fucking bloody many of them.

  The trolls had been activated, and he knew some of his people were being pulled from their horses, when Cassius’s next planned advantage was put to use.

  As previously decided, when Nadirii and Airenzian began to get unhorsed, the Zees appeared as they were very good at doing—from what seemed to be thin air.

  They attacked at the left flank.

  And by “the Zees,” it was not only the Patras.

  Silvanus had talked six tribes into joining him and Fern’s army with the intent to cause havoc in Airen. More land for them to roam, if it was made safe for them to do so.

  In other words, more people for them to divest of their belongings in a charming way that was still thievery.

  The tribes didn’t need much talking to agree, Silvanus had shared.

  They enjoyed causing havoc.

  And thievery.

  Which meant a good two hundred and fifty men were entering the fray to the left.

  And it had long since been agreed by all realms that magic could not be used in battle.

  This meant there had been much discussion the previous eve if this agreement amongst realms held true in a civil unrest.

  In other words, would he and Elena allow the Nadirii to use battle magic.

  In the end, Cassius and Elena had agreed to uphold the accord that banned magic in battle.

  It was banned for a reason, as it offered such an unfair advantage, those that wielded it could easily use that power in a way that would get out of hand.

  Silvanus had explained, for his part, it didn’t matter.

  He’d do what he wished for the Zees felt bound to no realm.

  They were sovereign to themselves, each tribe.

  Cassius did not give him permission, for Silvanus would not care. He did not attempt to talk him out of it, for Silvanus would not care about that either.

  And thus, bright bursts of red or blue could be seen exploding to the left as the Zees’ witches used their magic to freeze militia soldiers so their men could do to them as they wished.

  This practice was distasteful to the point of repugnant to Cassius.

  But the alternative in the now was him, Elena, and nearly everyone he loved ending that day dead.

  Therefore, he’d find a way to live with it.

  Eventually the onslaught became too intense and Elena tossed her leg over Diana’s neck, sending her mount careening out of the melee, Cassius knew, so the steed would get to safety.

  When she did, Cassius followed suit.

  They fought back to
back, and he determined, if a miracle happened and they survived that day, he’d encourage her to take up using a shield, for she fought with sword and dagger, whereas he fought with sword and shield.

  He did not like her not having a shield when he was not in the position to act as such for her.

  He did not like her in battle at all.

  But, gods damn, if she wasn’t good at it.

  Indeed, they were an exceptional team, as he’d found when they’d beat back the siege.

  She had his back and weaker left flank.

  He had hers.

  In the siege, they’d been unbeatable. Unstoppable.

  But they’d had superior numbers in the siege.

  That was not the same in the now.

  However, in the now, it helped that Serena had set herself up as Elena’s personal guard, and by default, his.

  The enemy was coming at them from every quarter, he and Elena easily a focal point, making it clear they were the primary targets.

  But Serena refused to be unhorsed, refused to lose her advantage. She brought down trolls with a speed and ease that was astonishing, and between the three of them, the fallen were piling up to the point Cass was slipping on their blood, tripping over their bodies or simply skidding on the mud caused by the rain.

  It was when they were eventually overcome, Serena was dragged from her horse, and Elena let out an enraged, agonized shriek, that Cassius knew three things.

  The first, he had to engage their final advantage, their last resort.

  And second, he should have called in the dragons. He should have made the decision to extinguish the lives of twelve thousand of his countrymen to save his love, to save his friends, to save his life and to save his realm.

  And last, he and the woman he loved were going to die on that field.

  He could not have stopped her being there.

  No, he never could have stopped her from raising her sword to protect his reign and free the women of Airen.

  He also could not stop their daughters from facing more loss.

  But if he had to die, he would choose doing it fighting for right with his woman at his back.

  The rage, however, still consumed him as he thrust up his sword, roaring his wrath.

  At this signal, he heard the feminine shouts as Fern’s army invaded at the right flank just as a barrage of arrows screamed into the fray from Fern’s archers that had positioned themselves high in the trees to their right.

  They, too, were untrained, if not, Silvanus had shared, entirely unskilled.

  As best they could, they’d been preparing for just this day.

  Regardless, they only had such weapons as they could steal from the homes they’d left or their raid on Kilcree Break.

  They had utterly no armor.

  Their only advantage was determination and the burning rage of centuries of oppression.

  Cassius feared they’d be cut down in little time, and those who survived, if the battle was lost, would wish they’d died on the field with what would befall them after.

  This being why he held them to the last.

  But in the now, they caused havoc, alarm and redirected attention.

  And all of this was sorely needed.

  He thrust and deflected, with sword and shield, the blood of his enemy and the rain from the skies dripping down his face and his leathers, as he bellowed to Elena, “Use your magic!”

  Serena slipped and fell while he was shouting.

  Elena dashed toward her sister, screaming through a backhand swipe she delivered that tore open an enemy soldier’s shoulder and half his chest before the man could lower his sword onto her fallen sister.

  Serena caught another blade aimed at Elena on her way up.

  Gods, the enemy was so close, there were so many of them, he could feel their fucking breath.

  “Gods dammit, Ellie!” he thundered, without Elena at his back, nearly taking a slice to the stomach before he got his shield in front of it. “Use your bloody magic!”

  He did not know if she did or she didn’t when, over the din of shouts, grunts, steel striking steel, cries of pain, moans of agony, he heard the rumble of hooves.

  Many, many hooves.

  And then suddenly Serena was joined by Chu, who immediately and clearly cast himself as her personal guard, and his cold, methodical, exceptionally skilled technique guided them out of a pit of bodies and into a freer battlefield which afforded better footing.

  They were there naught but seconds before he heard the whoosh of an explosion of fire to the south, this accompanied by screams of agony and shouts of surprise as flames soared and men caught fire.

  By the gods, that was…

  Another hissing explosion.

  Flaming arrows with attached bags of fuel was a tactic of the…

  There was another.

  Firenz.

  Then came a heavy bombardment of arrows coming from the west but dropping from the sky over the south, an area covered entirely by the enemy waiting to take their turns.

  Out of the side of his eye, Cassius noted these arrows had green fletchings.

  Dellish.

  Then another explosion.

  And more arrows.

  The din of clashing steel seemed to rise in a sound that could only mean more men entering the fray.

  The field started to thin as the enemy started to bolt.

  And then thin more.

  Nero rode by them, striking out with his sword and circling.

  “They’re fleeing!” he shouted.

  “Give chase! I want prisoners!” Cassius shouted back.

  Nero wheeled his horse around and tore away.

  Suddenly, a flash of white raced by them, around, and then Cassius saw Sky, his bonded male unicorn rise up to his hind hooves and strike the air with his front, purple sparks flying from his hooves when he did.

  “Nadirii!” Elena shrieked, raising her sword straight into the air.

  “Nadirii!” Serena screeched, doing the same with her weapon.

  “Nadirii!” he heard all around.

  Sky’s front hooves fell to the ground and a purple ring shot out from where Cassius and Elena stood, this felling all of the enemy for ten feet about them.

  The rest beyond who witnessed this turned instantly and bolted.

  Cassius remained in position, knees loose, shield and sword up, his back to his woman, breaths coming short and fast, the rain he had not felt since it started making its presence known.

  Death and blood and carnage littered the landscape.

  And then Mars was there on Hephaestus, pulling his reins to the left, Hephaestus’s rump going to the right as he stopped. After he arrived, not a second later, True’s Majesty had to lift both front hooves half a foot from the earth when he stopped.

  Their swords were bloody as were their horses’ legs up to their chests.

  “Take your knees!” Macrinus roared, orbiting his mount around the soldiers that had been felled, but were now pushing up. “Drop your blades and take your fucking knees!” Mac thundered, swinging his sword and severing the head from the body of one who did not comply quickly enough.

  At that, Cassius felt his heart jolt, for that kind of viciousness was not in Mac.

  The others instantly did as Mac had ordered.

  Cass looked up to Mars, who was regarding Mac, before he felt Cassius’s eyes and turned his gaze Cass’s way.

  He then looked to True, who was recovering from a wince aimed in Mac’s direction, before he turned to Cass.

  “It seems Ophelia gave you a parting gift, no?” Mars asked, tipping his head to the unicorn Sky.

  “Sky and Star have been Ellie’s and mine for some time,” Cassius told him, focusing on this inane conversation rather than what lay all around, how the hell his friends had made it to them in time, what losses they’d suffered and what was next.

  “Unicorns have great magic, beyond anything on this earth, including the Mer, but they can’t do that,” Serena
declared.

  All looked to her.

  “If they could fell all about, they would not be threatened by man’s greed for their magic and thus, they would be able to roam free,” she said, “That was their magic, as instilled by a Nadirii yell, as given by a powerful witch. Our mother.”

  Cassius finally lowered his sword.

  Elena did the same at his side.

  Another Nadirii yell started about them, growing stronger and stronger.

  This one not calling magic.

  This one calling victory.

  Gods.

  They’d made it.

  They’d survived.

  She’d survived.

  Cass sheathed his weapon and searched for Ellie’s hand.

  He found it.

  And he held tight.

  122

  The Losses

  King Mars

  Base of the Night Heights Mountain Range

  AIREN

  Mars walked with Silence held close to his side, Kyril and Basil at their backs, through the winding encampment that had struck up after the battle.

  Silence was as her name and had been much the same since he’d come to her, drenched from the rain and bloodied from the battle.

  Since, he had kept her from the slaughter of the battlefield that, for the last hours, his, True’s and Cassius’s men had been directing militia prisoners to clear.

  It was time to report.

  But Mars needed no report.

  He had seen that battlefield. The moment he and his men had ridden up to it, his gut had dropped thinking that there was no possibility Cass and Elena could be surviving that bloodbath.

  In other words, he already knew the losses were grave.

  And until they had thorough assessments of the lay of the land about them, he had his sword at his back, his Trusted close, and his wife at his bloody side.

  “Mars,” he barked at the flaps of True and Farah’s tent.

  Then, without invitation, he pushed through them, drawing Silence in beside him.

  “Mars,” Farah said softly, rushing to him.

  “Silence,” True greeted, striding to her.

  He let his queen go long enough for True to embrace her, Farah to embrace him, and then Farah to embrace Silence.

  Then he pulled her close again.