“Shalia isn’t the only Elementa here,” Kata reminded, giving me an arch look. “And there’s plenty of water in the river down below. If they come while she works, I can repel them.”
“Very well,” Galen said. “Move fast. Shalia, you go first; Rian and I will follow you. Kairos, stay to the middle and keep the hawk in play. Kata, toward the back so you can fight first. Men, you know what to do.”
Everyone nodded, and I led my horse up between Rian and Galen. My heart was beating hard as I looked at the open stretch of road. “I just ride for the edge?” I asked, pointing. The road was still in shambles from where my power had wreaked havoc, and I couldn’t ask if my family had been burned here or somewhere else.
Not in the sands of the desert, that was for sure.
“Yes. Wherever you need to be to use your power,” Galen told me. He reached for my hand and kissed it, and Rian growled. “You can do this,” Galen said, ignoring my brother. “We’ll keep you safe.”
“That, at least, we can agree on,” Rian grunted.
“We agree on much more than that, old friend,” Galen told him. “If we die today, you need to remember that.”
“We’re not dying today, if only so we have more time to fight about this,” Rian snapped at him. “Shalia, go!”
I went. I spurred my horse hard and covered the thousand or more feet between the castle and the pass. It seemed to take an eternity, long enough for my heartbeat to match the beat of the horse’s hooves.
And then the edge of the cliff loomed before me, broken and jagged where the land bridge used to be.
I heard shouting, and I saw Trifectate soldiers swarming out from the castle, and then Kata holding her hands up and water cresting up from the crevasse and swirling in the air. With a rush, it arched down in front of her, hitting the road and knocking the soldiers off their feet.
With a deep breath, I reminded myself that the best way to help everyone was to get them across before the battle got much, much worse.
I turned back to the open air, the impossibly deep drop, even as I watched more water flying up to come to Kata’s aid. I could see the dark smudge of the lower tunnel, and I shut my eyes, calling up stones and dirt, slamming the boulders into place to form a rough, uneven kind of stairway to bridge the gap.
The sound of rushing water behind me stopped abruptly, and I turned. Kata was on the ground, and Kairos was crouched beside her. The rest of the men were in a line, standing as soldiers ran at them. The two lines slammed together with a clash of violent steel.
“Shalia!” Kairos yelled, picking up Kata. “Focus!”
I looked back toward the crevasse. There were several stairs lifting up from the lower outlet. I lifted my arms, focusing again, watching the rocks rip out from the mountain and bash themselves into place.
“What happened?” I asked as Kairos came beside me with Kata limp in his arms.
“Arrow,” he said, showing me her side. “And she hit her head.”
“Leave her here. Keep fighting,” I told him. He hesitated, but I shook my head. “Go!” I told him.
Kairos nodded, turning back to whatever was raging behind me.
Three more stairs slammed into place, the noise shuddering my feet.
“Shalia, hurry!” It was Galen’s voice.
I turned for a moment. There were more soldiers rushing out of the castle, and the Resistance was about to be utterly overwhelmed.
“Almost done!” I yelled.
“Go!” I heard, and this was closer. Men peeled away from the line of battle, and the first one ran past me at full pace, leaping into the air to the uncompleted bridge. He caught the edge, slipping down, and with a gasp, I sent a rock up under him, pushing him higher. He popped up with it, running down the stairs as soon as he was able.
Men started running after him, but I could still hear fighting behind me. I turned again and saw Rian, Galen, and Kairos fighting men, and Osmost screaming and plucking at the eyes and face of another, who was flailing under the hawk’s talons.
The next wave of soldiers was only seconds away. “Now!” I yelled. “We have to go! Kair—”
My words were cut off as something slammed into my side, pulling me to the ground and falling on top of me. The breath was knocked out of me as I saw my husband’s face swim before my eyes.
He was faster than I was. He sprang up, wrapping his arm around my throat and hauling me up. I clawed at his arm as Galen, Rian, and Kairos halted in front of me.
“Brother,” Calix growled at Galen.
Galen put up his hands, stepping forward slowly. “Let her go, Calix. You’ve done enough.”
My eyes darted to Kairos. His eyes lifted up. Osmost. If I could knock him off me, Osmost would take him.
“You’ve betrayed me, brother. I always knew you would. So disloyal you would choose a woman—my woman—over your own brother.”
Galen swallowed, and I called up a rock without any way to know how far behind Calix’s head it was. “I didn’t betray you,” Galen said. “You have debased this family and this country for so long that this was all I could do.”
The other soldiers had arrived, but they hung back, making a half circle around us and the edge of the cliff. Trapped. There was one extremely tall soldier, and I recognized him instantly. Zeph.
“Shy, now!” Kairos snapped, and I tried to hit Calix’s head with a rock. It missed, but he dropped me to dodge it, and I ran forward as Osmost shrieked downward.
Calix hit Osmost’s talons away, but Kairos was right behind him, tackling Calix around the waist and heaving him onto his back dangerously close to the edge. Kairos reared up, slamming punch after punch to Calix’s face, and we all ran forward.
Calix bucked him off, rolling over to hit Kairos, but Kairos turned them once more and landed more blows.
Calix slammed his fist up through Kairos’s jaw and pushed at the same moment, and Kairos’s body flipped over the edge.
With a scream, I reached out with my power, and I felt rocks shearing off the cliff, but I couldn’t see what I was doing. I couldn’t tell if I had caught him or if I had hit him in the head with a boulder. I ran to the edge, kneeling to look over, but I couldn’t see him.
“Shalia!” Galen yelled, snatching me back from the edge.
Galen dragged me toward the bridge and Rian ran to meet us as Calix yelled, “Kill them! Kill them all!”
There was still an unfinished gap on the bridge, but Galen jumped, and without a question, I jumped after him. He caught me, landing on the highest step and swinging me aside so Rian could jump after us.
The Trifectate men nearly caught Rian, but a big shape cut them off.
“You’ll have to go through me,” Zeph said, and I saw him turn to face the semicircle of men.
I saw Theron move forward, shaking his head. “This isn’t how I wanted this to end, old friend,” Theron said.
Zeph didn’t respond, lunging forward with his khopesh. Rian jumped and stumbled down a stair as the men hesitated, then bellowed as they closed in on my brave guard.
“Go,” Galen ordered Rian. He started running down the stairs, and Galen tugged my waist. “Shalia, go!”