We dash to the shelter of the wall. Sister warriors battle above us on the ramparts, but the wind and hail obscure my sight. Udug has burned a tunnel through the reinforced brick and hurls his unnatural fire at the last defense, the gate. The bars warp and melt. He opens his arms wide in triumph and passes through the huge, smoking hole. He need only step foot in the palace, and he will be free from Ashwin and his heart’s wish.
Aquifiers wait for him on the other side. They draw streams of water from the prepositioned barrels and shoot. When the water suspends itself over the Voider’s head, the streams harden to jagged icicles and rain down. The daggered ice impales Udug’s back and the ground around him.
He yanks an icicle from his arm and throws it aside. His cold-fire burns the last of them away. His puncture wounds seep tarlike blood. But one after another, they seal up and heal.
“Your powers cannot harm me,” Udug says. “The bhuta soul-fire I consumed protects me against your defenses.”
Gods’ mercy.
Another cloudburst unleashes directly over us. Brac and I slip through the palace gate to flee the onslaught of ricocheting hail.
The rebels are wreaking havoc inside the gate. Aquifiers shoot streams of water from the barrels at soldiers, drowning them by flooding their mouth and nose. Men are flung over the wall, blown into the night by Galers. I spot Opal among them, winnowing a soldier who gets too close. Tremblers use bricks and rocks to smash their opponents’ skull. Despite the gruesome casualties, imperial soldiers continue to pour into the palace grounds.
The last of the light cavalry charges in, and a rider snaps a whip at Brac. The corded weapon, weighted by a trio of balls at the end, swings around his legs and trips him.
Though his arms and hands are free, Brac lies limp on his side. I slice through the cord, disconnecting him from the rider. While the soldier reaches for his khanda, I arch my blade overhead and cut him down.
I go to Brac and disentangle him. Up close, I see the whip is not made of leather but interconnected cords of a poisonous vine—snakeroot. The soldiers fashioned a weapon that can neutralize bhuta powers. All the riders have them.
“Son of a scorpion,” Brac says, shaking out of the last of the weighted cord.
I help him stand. “Stay clear of those.”
“You don’t have to tell me.” Brac pushes fire into his fingers. His abilities returned, he throws a curry-colored heatwave at another rider.
The sister warriors hold the line atop the wall, but I do not pick out Yatin or Natesa in the fray. Bodies are strung about, as many imperial soldiers as ranis. None I recognize, but the loss of life sickens me.
The ground trembles beneath us. Brac and I hunker down to withstand the tidal wave of quakes. Across the courtyard, a crevice opens in the ground between Hastin and Udug. A handful of unlucky soldiers fall in, their screams dying off. The warlord pulls the palace away from the demon, and a divide grows between them. We are stranded on the side the warlord pushed away, the chasm between us.
Udug treads up to the gulch. “You bhutas think you’re such masters of nature.” He manifests two burning balls and throws one to his left, one to his right. They blast through the rebel lines, clearing a path.
His soldiers march through the gate with ramps. Galers turn squalls on them, propelling them back. Some of the gusts pluck up the ramps and whirl the men off into the sky. But there are too many soldiers and ramps to stop them all. One unit reaches the gap, drops its ramp, and fashions a bridge to the other side.
Udug rushes across the ravine, and then a quake shakes the temporary bridge loose, and it falls out of sight.
“We have to get across!” Brac says.
The Galers tossing soldiers around gives me an idea. I grab a ramp and drag it to Opal. “Use your winds to throw me to the other side.”
“Deven, that’s dangerous!”
“Udug is already there. Do it!”
Brac throws a heatwave at a soldier behind me, and the man runs away screaming and covered in flames. “Send me too,” Brac says.
Opal sees Udug on the palace side and gives in to our lunacy. “All right. Turn around and hold your breath.”
Brac and I overlook the chasm and lift the ramp in front of us.
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” he says.
“I do.” I think.
“On three,” Opal says. Brac and I hold our breath. “One, two . . . !”
Gusts barrel at us. The ramp we are holding serves as a sail, lifting us over the chasm. I make the mistake of looking down into the ravine, but we soar over the expanse and drop the ramp, so we land and roll.
Brac rises beside me. He held on to his shield, and I kept my sword.
The rebels hold their ground in front of the palace, fighting the imperial troops that had attacked before the chasm opened. Soldiers howl as rebels winnow, leech, and grind their opponents. We join the fight, Brac with his fire and I with my sword.
Hastin and Anjali defend the entrance. Udug cuts at them with his powers. His flames burn Anjali’s arm, and she falls back. Hastin roots himself in front of his daughter and throws bricks and pavers at the demon, who burns the debris to cinders.
Udug gains on Hastin until they are toe to toe. Hastin grabs Udug’s throat to grind his bones. Their skin-to-skin connection backfires. Udug pushes his powers into him, and the warlord ruptures into blue light. Anjali cries out in rage but is too injured to confront the Voider.
The palace entry lies ahead, wide open.
I knock out a soldier and shout at Brac. He whirls around, sees Udug nearing the palace, and lobs a heatwave at his back.
Udug bunches his shoulders to absorb the hit, pivots, and returns fire. Brac ducks behind his shield, but the blast flings him over the gully. Opal cushions his fall with a well-timed gust. His shield protected him, but he is on the wrong side of the trench again.
Less than fifty strides, and Udug will be inside the palace.
I dash into his path, blocking the entry. My knees lock as I raise my khanda. I should run, hide, cower. I should apologize for my foolishness and beg for all our lives. But I have never been more certain that this is my path.
Udug strides up to me, hands blazing. “You’re no champion, General. You’re forgettable. A side dish. An afterthought.” Blue flames flicker in his pupils. “You’re ash in the wind.”
His fire wallops me. I fly back into the palace, slide across the marble floor, and thump into the bottom step of the staircase. Pain slices across my skin and burns through my veins.
Prince Ashwin kneels at my side. Behind him, radiating astral light, Kali enters the main hall. And then everything shutters to black.
29
KALINDA
Deven’s head slumps to the side. Smoke rises off his chest, the foul scent of scorched flesh stomach curdling. Udug’s fire burned through his tunic, down to his skin. His flesh is charred and seared. The need to go to him claws at me, but Udug nears the threshold. Anu, don’t let Deven die, I pray and cross to the palace door, leaving Ashwin to care for Deven.
“Don’t come any farther,” I shout to Udug.
“Dearest Kalinda,” he purrs, “how are you enjoying the cold-fire I gifted you?”