Heart of Defiance (The Royal Spares)

Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

Signy

L aughter bounces across the water along the shore of the vast lake at the foot of the mountains. My comrades slosh around, thigh- to chest-deep in the cool water, rinsing the remains of the stinking algae from our skin and clothes.

I wobble on the rocky lake floor, and Iko grasps my arm to steady me. He aims a grin at me, looking twice as roguish with his blond hair slicked back and darkened with the water. “Need a little help washing up?”

I pat my face. “Did I miss a spot?”

“There’s a little in your hair…”

He guides me to lean backward and swishes my hair in the water with unexpected gentleness. But of course he takes a moment to stroke his fingers right over my scalp in a provocative caress.

As he pulls me upright, my cheeks warm. “Aiming to be thorough? ”

He chuckles, his hand on my waist. “Nothing wrong with having a little fun at the same time.”

At my teasingly disgruntled sound, he leans closer, lowering his voice. “We hit the Darium army with quite a blow. It’ll take at least a couple of days for them to recover. I think tonight we should look forward to a lot more fun.”

I arch my eyebrows at him, though a flush has spread all across my skin despite the cool water. “Oh, do you?”

He hums meaningfully. “And I’d imagine Jostein would agree.”

With another flash of a grin, he dips his head to claim a quick kiss. Apparently he doesn’t care who knows how our relationship has developed.

And maybe there’s no reason to worry. Most of our companions are too busy reveling in relief to pay attention, and the few who’ve glanced our way simply smile with fond amusement.

No more sneering comments. No more disdainful glowers.

No one here seems to care anymore about the fact that my godlen didn’t reward my dedication sacrifice. I’ve created something so much bigger, so much better than anything the gift I prayed for would have allowed.

I take in the broader sprawl of our camp in a semi-circle around the lake. My gaze seems to skip across the fields to the south, as if given an inexplicable nudge.

I frown, but Iko grasps my hand to tug me over to the shore, and my momentary uneasiness fades. There’s nothing over there. I’m just worn out from the intense day—the intense week —we’ve managed to survive.

As Iko and I wade to shore, I peer through the rippling water at the rocky terrain. I have to lift my foot higher to clamber over a dark gap between the stones.

My attention rises to the mountain looming right at the far side of the lake. I can pick out several dark crevices along its base too.

“There are caves broken into the rocks,” I comment. “I wonder how far and how deep they run. Back at Feldan, there were passages all under the hills and the town. Some people used them for storerooms.”

Now those openings will be buried under ash and charred wood. I hope no one tried to hide in one of the natural cellars and found themselves unable to shift the door to climb back out.

A shudder passes through me at the thought, but Iko scans the landscape with a curious air. “We should do some exploring once we’ve dried off. It’s always good to know what we have to work with.”

We rub ourselves down with blankets and spread them out to dry. The summer air turns cool across my still-damp clothes, but it’s more refreshing than chilly with the sun beaming down on us.

Memories of those narrow crevices around the town nibble at my mind. I knit my brow. I can almost see… “I think if we had enough time to prepare, maybe there’s a way to use?—"

My gaze slides over the landscape around us, and that unnerving sensation hits me again, harder. As if my eyes have been propelled away through a will not my own.

My body tenses, my voice dying in my mouth. Iko catches my reaction immediately. “What’s wrong?”

I swallow thickly, my stomach twisting with a sudden nausea. “I’m not sure. Something just feels… strange. You don’t see anything around here, do you?”

Iko considers the mountain range and then the fields nearby. Watching his expression, I catch a slight tick. His shoulders stiffen too .

“I think—there’s some kind of magic at work.” He raises his voice. “Major Arlo! Captain Amalia! We need to?—”

He never gets to finish his suggestion. At his first shouts, dozens of heads swivel around all across our campsite—and the illusion breaks.

Stampeding figures waver into view all across the fields around us. There must be hundreds of them coming from the north, more from the east and west, every direction except the towering mountains.

As they charge toward us, they shed the drapings of greenish fabric that helped the illusionary magic conceal them. The skeletal uniforms of the Darium soldiers stand out starkly against the grassy terrain.

Their blades flash. Bows draw back with arrows launched into the air.

I cry out and scramble backward, but I don’t really know where to run. The camp turns into a teeming mass of panic, officers shouting for us to grab our weapons, curses and gasps of terror mingling with the orders.

I manage to snatch up my short sword, as much good as it might do me. Arrows hurtle into our midst, toppling a man just a few paces from where I’m standing, a woman I shared breakfast with this morning.

How did the Darium forces regroup and find us so quickly? How much magic must it have taken to hide so many of them?

Even in my horror, I spot the dark green uniforms amid the Darium standard. Duke Berengar’s livery. He’s had a hand in this assault—he’s helped them plot their counterattack.

It doesn’t make any sense that most of them have come from nearly the opposite direction from where we last encountered the Darium forces. We only arrived at the lake a couple of hours ago .

Unless these are other soldiers. Has the duke been rallying the squadrons already stationed here in Velduny, gathering them to launch an offensive at our flanks?

It could have been even worse if they’d caught us on totally open ground.

And is that a woman in an orange robe, vividly bright at the back of the swarm? As soon as I’ve noticed her, I pick out a few more people in similar attire at the rear of the charge.

As I scramble away, a chill consumes my gut. They’re devouts of Inganne, no doubt from the temple that glitters beneath the sunlight to the west. With the godlen’s affinity with imagination and play, dedicats seeking gifts of illusion often turn to her.

Did the Darium soldiers force them to contribute their magic, or did they ally themselves freely with our enemy?

It hardly matters now. The soldiers close in around us, plowing into the rebels at the edges of the camp. Blood sprays and bodies slump—mostly on our side.

Captain Amalia’s voice splits through the bellows and shrieks of the fray. “Up the mountain! Take the higher ground!”

I whirl around, and Iko is there, gripping my elbow. As we dash around the shoreline toward the rocky slope, Jostein barrels past us on his horse, his sword swinging. A protest snags in my throat with the urge to call him back, to beg him to flee with us.

But the loyal squad leader would never put his own safety first. He’ll stay to the bitter end, helping all of us who can escape make it to safety, just like he did for me that first night in Feldan.

Iko tugs me onward. “If anyone can make it through this mess, it’s Jostein. He’ll focus better if he knows I’ve gotten you out of the line of fire.”

How far do we need to run for that? As we clamber up the steepening slope, more arrows pelt the frantic crowd around us. Another comrade falls, and another.

I have to dodge a body that tumbles down the incline right in front of me, blood blooming from the shaft piercing her chest.

My groping hands clutch at wizened trees and spears of stone to speed my climb. The rough surfaces scrape at my palms, but I barely notice the sting. My lungs burn with the exertion alongside the growing ache in my calves.

Finally, no more arrows whistle into our midst. Iko urges me a little higher, up to a narrow plateau where we can stand somewhat steadily.

A few dozen of our allies have already arrived there, more gathering above and below to stare down the slope at the camp we were forced to abandon.

Corpses in the plain clothes of rebels scatter the field around the edge of the lake and the lower reaches of the mountain. More bloody red meets my eyes than the green of the grass or the gray of the rocks.

The Darium soldiers and their helpers pick their way between the bodies, peering up at the remainder of our resistance. I can’t help looking around me, taking in our dwindled battalion too.

I’m not sure even half of us survived the onslaught. Where’s Jostein? What happened to Landric?

My pulse races for several panicked seconds before I spot Jostein walking beside his horse along the slope, down by the lowest of our surviving allies. Blood darkens his sleeve and chest, but I can’t tell how much of it if any is his. He’s striding along steadily enough to reassure me.

Landric’s hair gleams beneath the late afternoon sun where he’s poised off to the side of our little plateau. I can’t make out much more of him, but he is at least standing .

There’s no sign of High Commander Livius with his multiply-plumed helm. This isn’t his army at all.

A Darium soldier with a single-plumed helmet marking him as a lesser officer marches to the bottom of the slope. As he studies our huddled forms, his lips curl into a sneer.

“You enjoy your mountainside,” he calls up to us in an equally mocking tone. “Our colleagues are already on their way to join us. I’m sure the high commander will want to have a part in executing the rest of you.”

Their colleagues—what’s left of the army we’ve tricked to many of their deaths twice now. Yes, they will be angry. My legs wobble under me.

It seems the Darium force isn’t foolhardy enough to clamber after us and continue the battle with us very literally on higher ground. They draw back beyond the scene of the slaughter, some of the soldiers setting up tents of their own while others remain on guard.

My fellow rebels stir uneasily around me. Muffled sobs reach my ears from somewhere beyond my view. Every face my gaze catches on has fallen, shadowed with grief and fear.

I think we lost one of our captains in the attack. Only four of them have stepped off to the side with Major Arlo to confer, although I’m relieved to see Captain Amalia is among them.

I look down at the mass of fallen bodies again, and my stomach clenches up. So many dead.

So many who were only here because I called for this uprising. Because I claimed we could win.

After those two victories, I really believed we had a chance. That we could keep winning, over and over, until the Darium empire was beaten.

Who’s beaten now?

I sink down to the ground, drawing my legs up in front of me. Iko follows, his expression tensing with concern. “Are you all right? If you’re injured?—”

I shake my head, too choked up to speak. No, I’m perfectly fine, at least in body. Unlike hundreds of the soldiers and civilians I rallied around me.

I led them to their deaths. And the Darium soldiers intend to slaughter all the rest of us—and who knows how many total innocents as well—in punishment.

Who in the realms did I think I was? I knew it could end like this, I knew I might be reaching too far, and I dragged so many people down with me anyway.

Someone pushes through the crowd toward us. I can’t quite bring myself to raise my head, but I know Jostein’s voice as soon as he speaks, breathless with relief. “You both made it.”

He kneels down, touching my hair. “We can recover from this, Signy. We won’t let them catch us unprepared again.”

But even as his last word fades in the air, the major and the captains march over to address the rest of us survivors. I’ve never seen Major Arlo’s face so grim.

“Good people of Velduny,” he says in a low but resonant tone that carries over all of us. “We’ve put up a good fight. We’ve done more damage to the Darium forces than most would have imagined possible. But in light of the losses we just suffered and the challenges ahead… I feel it’s time to discuss surrender.”