A wall of light and heat surged from Mage, white-hot in intensity, horrible in its weight. It went through the Bloodstone, through the rocks, through his seared soul. Blisters pocked on Exeres’ face, chest, legs, and arms. Justin screamed as the same happened to him. He felt his inner parts ravage loose and split. His eyes swelled with blood. He couldn’t see.
Except he could. Through his blind eye.
Something Mage had told him whispered back from the past—in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
From his blind eye, he could see Mage, struggling to keep his feet, to continue the attack that would destroy them as well as anyone else who visited the tunnels for years to come. It would cause a wasting sickness and death to anyone nearby.
If he could hold the Firekin for a few more seconds.
Exeres reached through Mage’s mind and forced him to drop it.
Chapter XXXI
Thealos dodged to the left and struck the soldier in the jawbone with the heel of his palm. Bringing his knee up into the man’s stomach, he dropped the scar-faced man and then glanced to the other side as a second soldier on the battlement wall rushed him with an axe. He ducked the blow and maneuvered his sword into the opening of the man’s hauberk and drove the point through until it emerged, gleaming with white-hot Silvan magic and blood, from the other side. The soldier stiffened with shock, his eyes and lips quivering with pain and fear, and he slumped over and bled.
“Rope’s secure! Down!” Xenon shouted.
Thealos motioned for Stasy to hurry up the inner wall steps. A Wolfsman had fallen, caught in the back by a crossbow, and his Life magic still throbbed in the air, linking all the warriors together with a bond of Silvan magic. The other quaere members lashed out in response, cutting and hacking through the battlement guard despite the rush of reinforcements coming from both sides.
Sweat streaked down Ticastasy’s face, her lips strained as she took the steps two at a time. He met her partway down, hearing the whir of bolts clatter and clack as the crossbowmen from the tower aimed down at them. Thealos grasped her hand and pulled her up the rest of the way and helped her to the first of three ropes. Two Wolfsmen shimmied down, hand over hand.
“This is madness!” Xenon said, his face contorted into an angry snarl. He ducked a blow and spun around, slashing through the hauberk and sending another Bandit soldier to his death. “Down! Get down!”
Ticastasy swung over the battlement wall and started down the length.
“Down, Quickfellow! You next!”
Thealos swiped another soldier as he slipped through the brunt of the quaere’s defenses. “No! I’m the last. Get down, all of you!”
The sun crested in the pale blue eastern sky, jabbing its light into the furthest reaches of the horizon. The shadows of the city still smothered their position, offering precious minutes before they would become the spectacle for all to see. Confusion reigned in Landmoor. Tremors rocked her heels. A tower on the southern wall had already crumbled, spitting up a plume of dust and smoke. He could hear the shudder and crunch of an army on the move, of horses screaming.
Xenon ordered three Wolfsmen down the ropes and closed ranks to protect the lines. “Get down there, you fool! Someone has to protect the ropes!”
Thealos whirled and glared at him, his skull aching with sharp needles of pain. The Oath magic protected him, but he felt weary of it. His arms and legs groaned against the exertions he had scarcely healed from.
“I don’t need the banned ropes! Get down there and I’ll watch the ends until you’re safe. Go! She’s almost down!”
Xenon’s eyes flickered with unspeakable hatred, but he bit off any retort and threw himself over the battlement walls, skidding down the ropes. Thealos saw other Bandits approach, warily, guardedly. He stared at them each way, his sword lowered but dripping blood. With the magic, he projected fear into their stomachs. You don’t want to face me. I am a Sleepwalker. You will die if you do. The wind stirred his black cloak.
The last of his group reached the base of the shortest battlement wall. He sliced the ropes with single stroke.
“Kill him! Kill the Shaden rook!”
Thealos jumped over the side and felt the wind rush as it met him. He focused on the Oath magic and felt it respond—sluggishly. The Earth magic strained and then swelled in the air around him, slowing his fall until he landed with a bone-jarring thump. He nearly blacked out.
“Sweet Hate, are you all right?” Stasy clutched at his clothes, her eyes wild with fear.