Then Miro heard a strange whirring sound overhead.
Looking up, he saw an incredible sight. The sky was full of dirigibles, hundreds of them clouding the sun as they shot overhead. Orbs rained down from their high sides, detonating one after the other, sending bursts of flame rolling through the alleys of Sarostar’s western quarter, wiping out the surging horde, destroying revenants in numbers.
The Louan dirigible pilots, clean and sparkling in their blue uniforms, leaned out to call out to the defenders as they sped past. “The Legion is behind us! The Legion is coming!”
Taking heart, all of the defenders on the bridges surged forward to leap back into the fray. Miro roared with triumph as he cut down his enemies, and then, with a surge of joy, he realized something.
For the first time since the landing on the beaches, Miro had to search for enemies.
A knot of revenants countercharged, blocking the way forward, but then two tall black figures charged into their midst. Monsters of metal and cloth, with a thin red slit for eyes, for once they were fighting on the same side as Miro. A flail curled around a revenant, tearing it to pieces as a sword as dark as night stabbed through another. Lurching and twisting, the two Imperial avengers smashed through the cluster of enemy resistance.
Suddenly there were Tingarans in purple fighting side by side with men in green.
Pushing forward as the hail of orbs broke the horde into smaller groups, more avengers came to take the battle directly to the enemy’s heart. Miro searched for opponents, but the attack was too much for the enemy; the last knot broke in a burst of red liquid, and then there were no more revenants to be seen.
Miro jumped up on top of a wall and climbed to a storehouse roof. Gazing out, he saw the dirigibles and Altura’s heroes head farther out until they were past the city, and then past the rubble of the fallen wall. The wedge of glowing swords moved farther out, heading toward the forest, and then they were gone from sight altogether.
Miro felt tears running down his cheeks as he saw the dirigibles circle back toward Sarostar.
Sarostar, the city of the nine bridges, had made it through.
The Louans had come. The Tingarans had come.
As high lord, Miro’s duty was to protect his people, to keep them safe from enemies. He’d known the enemy was coming, and he’d fought beyond all endurance.
Miro slumped down, falling to his knees on the storehouse roof, and his zenblade fell out of his hands; his armorsilk went dark.
Altura had survived.
39
With renewed vigor the allies scoured the land. And this time, no one died. Altura’s fallen heroes hunted down the last of the necromancers and revenants until there were no more to be found. At the end, with Ella’s help, the energy left the warriors’ bodies, the runes faded, and then they were at peace again.
Ella ensured every last man was buried once more with honor. Word spread, and soon everyone knew it was Ella who, with High Enchanter Merlon’s help, had brought back the bladesingers to fight again.
Ignoring their stares and murmurs, Ella searched for Miro. She went to the palace first and found Amber. After a brief embrace, Amber directed her to the city gardens, near the river.
Ella finally found her brother talking with a Louan artificer at the place where many of the pilots had chosen to set their dirigibles down.
Miro had his mouth open, an expression of consternation on his face, but whatever he’d been about to say, he stopped when he saw his sister.
“Ella,” he said.
Ella pulled him close and held him hard. “You did it,” she whispered into his ear. She felt wetness on her cheeks and, holding him back, she saw the glint of moisture in his eyes.
“You did it too,” Miro said.
“No, Miro,” Ella said, “it was you.”
“We lost so many,” Miro whispered.
“I heard about Beorn,” Ella said. “I’m sorry. He was a good man.”
“The very best,” said Miro. He coughed and turned away, gathering himself before returning to his sister.
“So much destruction,” said Ella, looking over the city.
“But we’ll rebuild. We evacuated the free cities, and we’ll rebuild Castlemere and Schalberg. It’ll take a long time, but we’ll get there.”
“You’ll do it.” Ella nodded.
“There’s one thing I don’t understand, though,” Miro said, “and I’m still waiting to find out.” He turned to the short middle-aged Louan woman standing nearby, and his puzzled expression returned. “Artificer Touana, why did you come?”
“Why did we come?” Touana looked confused, glancing at each of them in turn. “I don’t understand. We received your gilden, and we rushed your order through.”
“Gilden?” Miro said. “What gilden?”
“Your agent brought it to us. What was his name . . . ? He was from the free cities. A strange name. Hermen, yes that’s it. Hermen Tosch.”
Ella stared at the Louan artificer. “What did you just say?”