Josef screamed in triumph, raising his arm to Eli, who bowed in return, a huge grin on his face. Karon was grinning too as he reached out to cut another boulder from the cliff.
Nara clutched the railing of her balcony, glaring furiously at the enormous, glowing giant sinking her ships. Even at this distance, there was no mistaking the lava spirit for anything other than what it was, and that raised a new problem. No mere wizard could command the fire that ran through the heart of the world. The Oserans had a star fighting for them.
She clenched her teeth. What star would dare oppose her? She was no longer the favorite, but she close enough that it shouldn’t matter. Even forgetting that, how could there be a star here when Benehime herself had ordered this island burned to the ground?
Nara paused, thinking quickly. Perhaps the Shepherdess didn’t know? For all her power, she wasn’t omnipotent. Maybe she wasn’t aware that one of her stars had turned rogue? It wouldn’t be the first. The Lady had been forced to put down the Great Bear not long before this. If a star was interfering with the invasion, the wise thing to do would be to call the Shepherdess and get her blessing before continuing, but Nara hesitated.
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The Lady loved her as a conqueror, an Empress. An Empress ruled with absolute authority. An Empress rolled over everything in her path. An Empress did not run crying to the Shepherdess whenever trouble appeared. Nara pursed her lips. Until the Lady told her differently, the order to burn Osera stood. Whoever this star was, they would soon learn what it meant to challenge the soon to be recrowned favorite.
Smile returning, Nara opened her spirit again and sank down into the sea. This time, she ignored the great current, grabbing a smaller one instead. The current cried and begged, but it obeyed like all the others in the end. As it fled to do her bidding, Nara sat back on her couch to see what the star would do.
Josef didn’t notice the admiral’s absence until the old man returned, his face grim.
“Sire!” he yelled over the roar of snapping bows. “We’re running out of bolts!”
“Can’t be,” Josef said, launching the last bolt from his quiver. “Finley had six months’ worth laid up. ”
“Six months of normal fire,” the admiral said. “Not for this. ”
Josef turned and looked, his heart falling. He hadn’t had time to notice in the heat of battle, but the crate he and the other men on this part of the cliff had been using was empty. So was the crate it sat on.
“They’re on the last box on the south side as well,” the admiral said. “A runner just came asking for more. I had to turn him away. ”
“So there’s nothing left?”
The admiral shook his head. “We emptied the tower armory as you commanded. Every last bolt was here. ”
Josef cursed and looked down at the bay. He could hear it happening already. The whistling roar of the bolts was shrinking, the light on the bay brightening as the rain of arrows began to dissipate.
“Send runners to the other cliff,” he said, tossing his now-useless crossbow on the ground. “Tell the men to finish the bolts they have and get down to the wall. ”
“What can we do on the wall?” the admiral said. “We’ve a hundred royal guard left, but the rest of these men are sailors, not infantry. ”
“Then it’s time to switch vocations,” Josef said. “We’ve five hundred men here. That many of the enemy are lying facedown in the water already, and we haven’t even made a dent in their numbers. But we’ve still got terrain on our side. If Eli’s message got through, the Council fleet should be on its way right now. All we have to do is hold a little longer. ”
“If we go down there we’ll be slaughtered!” the admiral shouted.
“We’ll be slaughtered anyway!” Josef shouted back. “If you want roll over for it, be my guest, but I mean to die as an Oseran should: fighting. ”
And with that, he left the admiral gaping and stomped down to the storm wall.
Eli was waiting for him at the base of the cliff, though he didn’t look as smug as Josef had expected. He was smiling, but his face was pale and his eyes were dark with exhaustion.
“You all right?” Josef said as the thief fell in beside him.
“Fantastic,” Eli said.
Josef didn’t buy it. “You look like you’ve been running for three days straight. If you can’t keep it up, say something. I’d rather fight without a lava spirit than have it go out on me at a bad time. ”
“I can keep this up as long I have to,” Eli said firmly, glancing up at the lava giant as it stepped aside to make room on the storm wall for the gathering troops. “It’s just that there’s not much for Karon to burn for energy here, so I’m having to feed him some of my own. ” He laughed. “It’s disgustingly Spiritualist-like, actually. My only comfort is that Miranda isn’t here to see it. ”
“Just don’t push yourself,” Josef said. “I can’t have you and Nico down at the same time. ”
“Don’t worry about me,” Eli said, his voice suddenly serious. “Think of this as my chance to pay a little back for all the blood you’ve spilled for me. ”
“I don’t reckon debts in blood,” Josef said, reaching out to grab Eli’s shoulder. “Watch yourself, thief. ”
“You too, king,” Eli said, breaking off from Josef with a salute.
Josef shook his head and jogged over to join the soldiers.
The Oserans crowded the storm wall. The royal guardsmen were already in formation by the stair, but the rest of the men stood in loose knots, some still clutching their empty crossbows. They parted to make a path for Josef as he climbed onto the storm wall’s lip and turned to face his army, such as it was.
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“Listen up!” Josef shouted. “I’m not going to waste time with kingly speeches. All I’ll say is this. We did our best to hold the enemy back, but it was never more than a dyke against the flood. Now we’re up to our necks, and the only chance we have to stop the Empress from crushing this island and our lives under her feet is the stone under ours. ” He stomped hard on the storm wall. “We are not dead yet. Reinforcements are coming from the mainland even as I speak. Our job now is to buy those slow Council bastards time enough to get here. Fortunately, Osera herself is on our side. We’ve got a choke hold. ” He pointed at the narrow stair leading up from the beach. “We’ve got the sun at our backs, and we’re forcing them to fight uphill. These are our weapons, and with them, we are going to hold this wall. ”
But even as he pointed out their terrain advantage, many of the men still looked doubtful. Some even looked like they were about to cry. Josef took a deep breath. The storm wall might be strong, but the men were a brittle barrier, easily broken. He was going to need them to be stronger if this was going to work, and so, with nothing left to lose and Eli too far away to hear him, Josef decided to throw it all in.
“Men of Osera!” he shouted, doing his best to infuse his voice with the deep, proud sincerity he remembered from his mother’s speeches. “I’ve been a horrible prince to you my entire life, but though I might be your king for only another few minutes, I mean to make them count. As a swordsman, I learned that the two most dangerous enemies are the desperate man and the man defending his home. Right now, we are both. We are the worst enemy the Empress has ever met. We will hold this wall and make her remember the cost of fighting Osera!”
The cry that came when he finished made Josef jump. The men screamed with a fury he could feel to his bones, raising their blades as they did. Josef raised his sword in answer and shouted for them to get in position. The men scrambled to obey, the sailors lining up on the storm wall while the guard fell in around Josef at the top of the stair. The royal guard saluted their king as he passed, following Josef as he climbed down the stair until he was halfway between the beach and the top of storm wall. Here Josef stopped, planting his sword as the guard fell into formation behind him
.
Down below, the first boats had made it to the shore. The enemy jumped into the surf with a blood-curdling scream, surging up the beach like a black tide. They hit the storm wall and began crowding into the bottleneck of the narrow stair. When the first enemies came in range, Josef stepped forward, swinging the Heart with a shout. Behind him, the Oserans answered with a scream that shook the stones of the storm wall itself.
“Eli,” Karon rumbled, pressing his hand to the ground. “The rock says there are ships coming across the channel from the mainland. ”
“Please tell me it’s the Council,” Eli moaned.
“Sad showing if it is,” Karon said. “Only two boats. ”
“I’d take a rowboat and a mule at this point,” Eli said. “Meanwhile, you ready to give our swordsman some cover?”
“Sure,” Karon said, grinning as he grabbed another boulder from the cliff. “Where do you want this one?”
“I’m thinking middle of the bay,” Eli said, his voice breathy. Karon was pulling hard on him now. “Make some waves. See if we can’t capsize a few boats. ”
“Easy enough,” Karon said, firing the stone in his fist until it was red hot. But as he reached back to throw, a crash made them both jump.
Eli spun around, eyes wide as a spout of water erupted from the sea. It thrust from the bay like a spear, shooting up the storm wall straight at Karon. Eli threw out his hands, but the water was too fast, and he, exhausted, was too slow. The geyser of water hit his lava spirit full in the chest. Some of it hit Eli as well, and he gasped as the icy-cold shock took his breath away. This was no mere ocean water; it was a deep-sea current flowing full force, thrown up from the sea.
Karon fell as the water drenched him, screaming as his light went out. The ground trembled when he landed, and the impact threw Eli off his feet. He landed on the sandy ground by the road, tumbling hard. But before he was done falling, he was scrambling to his feet. Beside him, Karon’s body was no longer glowing, but a black heap of steaming rubble. Eli rushed forward with a curse, plunging his hands into the hissing stone. It burned as he touched it, but not nearly as much as it should have. Cursing louder, Eli dug down, stabbing his spirit through the cooling rock as he dug toward Karon’s molten core.
He caught it just in time. Eli tugged his hands out of the stone and pressed the lava spirit’s flickering heart to his own chest. His skin burned when Karon touched it, but Eli had never welcomed the pain so much. He clenched his teeth and pushed harder, forcing the lava’s heart into his own. Karon went without a sound, and, for a long moment, Eli knew he’d lost him. Then the lava’s heat flashed as Karon’s pulse merged with Eli’s, and the burning heart began to beat.
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Eli fell to the soaked ground, panting and clutching his burning chest. “Karon,” he whispered. “Say something. ”
The silence stretched on.
“Please,” Eli pleaded. “Please say something. ”
But the lava spirit didn’t answer. Eli could feel Karon’s heat in his chest, but it was so small, so fragile. Before he could panic further, Eli forced himself to stand. He teetered toward the watchtower, desperately searching for somewhere to collapse. If Karon was going to survive, he needed all of Eli’s strength, which meant Eli couldn’t have any of it for a while.
“Hang on,” he whispered, pushing open the watchtower door. “I promised I wouldn’t leave you, but that cuts both ways, you know? Don’t go out on me now. ”
His only answer was silence as he pulled himself up the watchtower stairs.
Meanwhile, halfway down the storm wall, Josef met the first of the Empress’s soldiers with a clash that echoed across the bay.
CHAPTER
23
Hold the line!” Josef screamed, swinging the Heart at the seething wall of soldiers.
The enemy covered the beach in a solid mass, but only a few could go up the stairs at a time. These Josef held off easily, but the enemy, realizing the obvious path was blocked, was now climbing the jagged stone of the storm wall itself.
“Spread out!” Josef shouted to the soldiers behind him. “Half left, half right! Knock them off as they climb. Don’t let them reach the top!”
The orders were swallowed as he gave them, overwhelmed by the war cries of the enemy as they surged forward and the dying screams of his soldiers as they shot the last of their bolts at the climbers only to find that the enemy had bows of their own.
Josef swung again, knocking three enemy soldiers down the stairs with a curse. For every man he knocked down, two more popped up. The crashed palace ships were still vomiting up troops, and the bloody bay was full of boats. The storm wall was alive with the enemy. They swarmed the stairs, swarmed the wall; some were even climbing the cliffs themselves, pulling themselves hand over hand up the vertical stone toward the abandoned archer lines. Meanwhile, the Oseran sailors had spread themselves thin in an attempt to hold the storm wall. They screamed as they fought, their eyes wide with the wildness of men pushed past their limits. The only place the enemy sailors weren’t attacking was the blackened stretch where Karon had stood, but the lava spirit himself was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a great pile of black stone blocked the storm wall, the boulders still and quiet. Josef knew little of wizardry and nothing about the link between Eli and the giant, but even he knew those dark, cold rocks were not a good sign.
Unfortunately, Josef had bigger worries than the lava spirit. As more and more soldiers began to climb the storm wall, the Oserans were starting to fold. The fragile line he’d drawn as their last stand was cracking. Any second now it would break completely and he would fail his mother one last time.
The Heart jerked in his hands, bringing him back to the fight in front of him. He could feel the blade thrumming against his fingers, and Josef blinked as the Heart’s plan became clear in his mind. It was risky, but he trusted the Heart to know its own limits, and they had precious little else to call on. Decision made, Josef swung wide to scatter the enemy and then brought his sword back, holding the blade in front of him with both hands. Down the stairs, the Empress’s soldiers hesitated, watching for the strike. When it didn’t come, they surged into the opening, swords rising to cut him down. When they were a step away, Josef slammed the Heart into the stair. Iron hit stone with a resounding gong, and the weight of a mountain fell on the beach.
As far as he could see, the Empress’s soldiers collapsed, slammed to the ground by the pressure. The Heart’s force spread wider than Josef had ever seen. It filled the bay, sweeping the soldiers off the storm wall and crushing them into the hard sand below. Infantry boats sank into water pressed glassy by the enormous weight, and a sudden, deafening stillness descended. Even the Oserans were silent, staring down the storm wall at the prone bodies of the Empress’s troops in dumb amazement.
Finally, a guardsman behind Josef snapped out of the trance, reaching out to press his shaking hand against the invisible wall of the Heart’s weight. “Are they dead, sire?” he whispered, eyes wide.
Josef raised his head, careful to keep his hands on the Heart’s hilt. “No,” he said. “The ones forced underwater may drown, but no one will die from the pressure. I don’t understand it myself, but my wizard friend says it’s impossible to kill a human with spirit pressure alone. ”
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The sailor blinked. “Spirit pressure?”
“Don’t ask me,” Josef said. “I don’t do that wizard stuff. ” He looked over his shoulder, raising his voice. “Everyone!” he shouted. “Stop gawking! We’re falling back to the watchtower. ”
“But we have no more bolts!” a sailor cried. “What are we going to do in the tower?”
“You want to stay out here?” Josef bellowed back.
The man didn’t answer, and Josef took the chance to push the guards behind him up the stairs. “Get the wounded to the tower. The rest of you, prepare to hold the road. We’l
l fight these bastards for every inch!”
The men sprang into action, grabbing the wounded and dragging them back. They swarmed the watchtower, carrying their fallen comrades on their backs as they climbed the stairs. Those who could still fight gathered at the head of the road to the city and began piling barrels, empty arrow crates, anything they could find into a makeshift barricade.
Of the Oserans, Josef alone did not move. He watched his men climb the stairs, hands clenched around the Heart’s hilt. Down in the bay, nothing stirred, but as the minutes ticked by, the Heart began to quiver against his palm. Josef gripped it harder and stood firm, trying to press his strength into the Heart as the sword had done for him so many times before. He didn’t know if it worked, but the Heart held. Five minutes. Seven minutes. At ten minutes Josef knew as surely as though the blade had shouted that time was up. It was just enough. The sailor’s retreat was finished. He was now alone on the stairs with the flattened invaders.
In one smooth motion, Josef ripped the Heart out of the step and turned to run, charging up the stairs toward the Oseran line. Behind him, the sword’s weight vanished like mist, and the silent air filled with the angry, confused roar of the Empress’s army as it got to its feet and began to give chase. Josef reached the top of the stairs and ran full-out toward the makeshift barricade. Yelling for his men to get out of the way, he jumped the piled barrels. The second his feet hit the dirt, he turned and took stock of their new position.
It was bad. Osera’s primary defense on this side had always been the sea and the cliffs. Here, behind those walls, they had precious little. The tower with its thick stone and reinforced doors was safe, but the road was another matter. The wall of junk the soldiers had cobbled together wouldn’t stop a charge, only delay it. After that…
Josef glanced over his shoulder. The road ran up the mountain behind him, through the shoddy neighborhoods of the eastern slope to the castle and the city beyond. A straight shot. Josef gritted his teeth. He could feel his men watching him, their eyes wide and terrified. Raising his sword, Josef forced himself to look confident. He wasn’t sure if it worked. The men didn’t look reassured, but they didn’t run away either. That would have to be good enough, Josef decided. He wasn’t his mother, after all.