Trial by Fire

Pull the bars apart.

Dana obeyed. Juliet slipped out from the between the bent bars and hugged Lily. Then she looked at Dana.

“Did you—” Juliet asked, unable to finish her thought aloud. Lily nodded and grabbed Juliet’s hand.

“Let’s go,” Lily said, pulling Juliet along. “Good-bye, Dana. I’m sorry I did that to you, but I had to. She’s my sister.”

Lily gave Dana back her will, even though she had to force herself to do so.

Go be with your son. Good luck.

Wait, Lily! I’ll never make it over the wall without you.

“I’m out of strength. Give me some more power so I can fight my way out,” Dana called aloud. Lily stopped and turned. “You owe me,” Dana said in a low voice.

The torches flickered with witch wind, and Dana’s willstone flared with power. Dana smiled and rolled her meaty shoulders as a huge measure of strength filled her.

“Now I owe you. Get behind me, you two,” Dana said, rushing down the corridor. “If anyone comes up from the rear, you holler and duck.”

And if you ever try to possess me again, I’ll find a way to kill you, Lily.

Understood.

Dana paused at the end of the passageway to look up and down the abutting main hallway. She waved Lily and Juliet forward, and then darted down the main hallway to grab a sword from a fallen guard.

“Oh my,” Juliet breathed when she saw all the bodies.

Lily had helped create this slaughter. It was inhuman to have enjoyed it as much as she had, and she wondered what had happened to her to make her so bloodthirsty. Was it the thrill of power, or was there something sinister growing inside her? She thought twice about possessing Dana, and still she did it. That worried her.

“Come on!” Dana said, charging toward the stairs. “Don’t get squeamish on me now.”

Lily and Juliet raced after Dana, taking the steps as quickly as they could. They encountered a pair of soldiers on the stairs, and Dana ran them both through before they could even call out. Their bodies slid past Lily and Juliet. Juliet shied away from the corpses, her hand at her mouth, and Lily had to pull on her arm to get her to move again. As they got closer to the surface, Lily tried to touch the minds of her mechanics.

Rowan? Tristan? Caleb?

She heard nothing in reply and kept climbing. Both she and Juliet were drained, and they were flagging. As they reached the surface, Lily heard the shouts and clangs of a huge fight. The three women passed through the broken bars of the portcullis and came out into the courtyard.

“Rowan!” Lily screamed.

He was fighting in the center of at least three-dozen soldiers, his legs planted around the crouching figure of a woman. He was bleeding.

Lily! Help me.

“Get back!” Lily yelled at Juliet and Dana. She yanked the pocket bomb out of her skirts, pulled the pin, squeezed the lever, and slid the clip over the lever to keep it in place. Dana recognized what was in Lily’s hand and tackled Juliet, who was staring at her sister, slack-jawed.

Lily threw the pocket bomb at her feet just as it exploded. The white-bright fire expanded, slowed, and then retreated back on itself as Lily devoured its energy. Instead of the deafening clap of a bomb there was silence, followed by the shrieks and howls of a fierce witch wind as it rushed over the ramparts. The wind hit Lily like fists on all sides and pushed her high into the air, arms straight up, head thrown back, and lips parted like she were trying to jump up and swallow the moon.

She sent the Gift to Rowan and felt him exalt in it.

The shrieking wind was nearly overshadowed by the screams of the soldiers as Rowan renewed his attack. He quickly blazed a path through the circle surrounding him and pulled the scientist out with him. He managed to stop himself from turning and facing the rest of the guards in the circle. He didn’t want to kill them all.

We need to run, Lily, before Lillian comes.