I saddled my horse with trembling hands. I suddenly didn't feel so sure of myself. All this time I had been so eager to fight and now I didn't know why. There was nothing exciting about battle and any injuries I got now would not be so quickly attended to. Any one of us could die out there.
I tried to calm my frantic nerves as I checked the reins and tucked my sickle blade into its curved sheath, hiding a dagger in the padding of my left ankle. Thankfully I was dressed for battle. I was already wearing pale linen breeches and a riding shirt that was the norm of the desert peoples. I tightened the belt at my waist and wished vaguely desert fighters wore armor. I felt exposed with no chainmail and only a thin wooden shield to carry. Desert nomads and raiders fought by agility and wore clothing suited to their environment.
I hope that still applied in winter.
"Ryiah!" My twin came stumbling into the stables, fear written all over his face. "Tell me it's not true! Tell me you and the rest of your faction aren't going after the raiders without Byron or Commander Ama's men to protect you!"
"I have to." I mounted my mare, trying to look more confident than I felt. "Byron and the rest of them are held up at the southern mines. We just got report that the northern ones are being attacked – the ones we supposedly recovered two nights back, and they've got mages, Alex. One of the Mahj soldiers told us so right before he died!"
My brother didn't look happy. He looked angry. "Ry, you need to wait for the regiment! You don't know how many mages they have!"
"They'll kill the others!" I burst. "We have to try and help-"
"But what if they kill you?" Alex cried. His eyes glistened and he was white as a sheet. "Or Ella?"
I tried to be brave. "They won't." I felt guilty leaving him so distraught, but Alex was Restoration: he would have to learn to deal with this fear – especially since his sister and the girl he loved were Combat.
I would have to learn to leave him behind.
****
We had been riding for almost an hour when we finally spotted something in the distance. At first it had been hard to see anything in the darkening of night, but eventually the twinkling desert landscape began to reveal itself.
"There!" Caine pointed to a herd of slaughtered camel. There were heaped in a pile of bloody carcasses next to a pair of toppled caravans and just further west were two large mile-long pits surrounded by chunks of rock and large sprawling slabs of white. The northern salt mines.
Almost everywhere were deep fissures that continued to spread, rattling the earth as they ripped across the flat salt beds, scattering Mahj soldiers as they went.
Just in front of the mines was a blood bath. Young men and women were sprawled across ditches and sand, caked in blood and nursing their injuries.
There were still about twenty soldiers standing, attempting to avoid the quakes. They fought to press a handful of darkly clad raiders back. Away from the precious mines and their valuable resource.
They were losing.
The raiders continued to draw closer, only ten in their midst but undeniably dangerous. I could see bright flares of magic spilling from their hands as they continued to target the earth – more focused on destroying the mines than the men fighting them. Already one of the mines had collapsed.
White mists scattered the sharp desert wind. It made no sense. Why were the raiders attacking the mines? How could ten untrained individuals possess so much magic - unless they really were mages as the locals had claimed?
The raider-mages didn't bear Caltothian or Jerar mages' robes. They were dressed in loose desert garb, muted browns and blacks with hoods that fell over their eyes and scarves that left the rest of their face hidden from view. It must have been how they'd been able to sneak up on the Mahj regiment undetected. Blending into the night as the red desert sun left its sky behind.
One of the raiders spotted us. "Leave us!" His voice echoed across the expanse. Magic amplified the volume of his voice. "I give you the same choice we gave these men here. Return to your camps and we will let your people live!"
"Relinquish our mines and we will let you live, you filthy bandit!" Caine hollered back. He had assumed the role of command as the highest ranked fifth-year in our group. His stallion fidgeted nervously under the trembling ground, clearly wanting to go anywhere but where his rider was leading him.
"This land belongs to the Crown." Darren had brought his horse forward to join Caine at the head of our party.
"You?" The gruff raider looked surprised. Then he smiled wide, white teeth flashing. "Well this is unexpected." He laughed hoarsely and roared to his companions: "Friends, the orders have changed: kill them all! Do not let that young princeling escape!"
A thundering roll broke from above and the sky lit up. Screams filled the air as the Mahj soldiers nearest fell to the ground, writhing. Bright yellow shards of lightening tore across the air, crippling each man and woman they touched.