Page 408 of Of Empires and Dust
“She’s going to set something on fire, isn’t she?”
“Something big,” Alina answered.
“That sounds like her,” Aeson said, folding his arms.
“Now we just have to see if she’s full of shit or not.” Mera crouched low and ran her fingers in the dirt, her eyes fixed on the Keep. “I will not leave him in there another night.”
“You will not have to. If those gates don’t open, then Belina is dead. There is nothing in this world she wouldn’t do for him. Either way, we will fight with you.”
Aeson turned to Alina, who was already staring at him. She looked so much like her mother. Same eyes, same hair, same fury about her. That woman had been a force of nature. And by the looks of it, her daughter was no different. “Come the sunrise, Valtara will be free.”
“I pray to Achyron you are right,” Alina said.
“He is too busy to answer prayers,” Aeson said, turning back to the fortress. “But we won’t need him.”
Chapter 94
Choices
25thDay of the Blood Moon
Achyron’s Keep – Winter, Year 3081 After Doom
Alina sat astride Rynvar,her breath misting in the cold air before her. All across the ledge and in the forest behind her, seven hundred Wyndarii awaited her signal.
In the plains below, Olivian, Savrin, and her Royal Guard stood amongst her warriors and the Andurii, four Narvonan Ilsildans waiting within their numbers. She had never seen these mighty Narvonan champions before, never seen their Atalus armour. But if it worked as the stories told and as Aeson Virandr said it would, those champions would be what turned this battle. The bulk of the Narvonan forces, including their monstrous beasts – the tharnas – and the scaled darvakin mounts, waited just out of eyeline, behind the bend of the hill. It was best to keep their existence hidden from Loren until the last moment.
“How long do we wait?” Amari asked from astride Syndel.
“Until my patience wears thin.” Alina sat forwards in her saddle, fingers tightening around the handles.
“Not long then,” Lukira said.
“Give Belina time.” Mera sat in Audin’s saddle with her arms resting in her lap, eyes staring down at the lanterns that burned across the keep’s walls. “This valley will run red this night, but the less of it that is ours the better.”
“Mmm.” Alina ran her fingers across Rynvar’s scales. She could not say it aloud, but she held fear in her heart. Not fear of dying. She had accepted that a long time ago. But fear of losing Dayne, of losing the brother she had already lost. The brother who had come back to her. She had been so blinded by her own anger and her own loss that she had treated him as though he had drawn the blade across Kal’s throat himself. She had pushed him away, and the thought of losing him before she could truly have him back tore her apart.
Baren could rot in the void for all she cared, but Dayne, Dayne she could not lose. Shewouldnot lose.
Belina kepther head down as she walked away from the gatehouse, the bridge of the Valtaran helmet scraping against her nose. She hated helmets. They made her feel claustrophobic. Though she didn’t mind the Koraklon armoured skirts. Blue had always been her colour.
She hefted the circular shield on her left arm, her fingers gripped tightly around the clay jar of Godfire, the liquid spilling in a careful stream onto the ground. She would never let Dayne live this one down. She could have bought half a fleet with the amount of gold she’d spent on all the Godfire, nevermind the favours she’d called in. And now she only had three jars left.
Lorian and Valtaran soldiers buzzed about her, shifting in columns in the main square and lining the walls. She had to admit, this place was impressive. It would almost be a shame to burn it down. Almost.
A shout rose from behind her.
“Fuck,” she muttered, not daring to glance over her shoulder. Someone knocked into her, sending her stumbling to the right.
“Watch where you’re going,” a man snapped, a heavy circular shield in one hand, a thick spear in the other.
“Suck my cock,” Belina snapped back.
“What did you just say?”
Belina took the jar of Godfire into her free hand, swigged it, then sprayed it over the man’s face.
He staggered backwards, rubbing at his eyes and shouting. Other soldiers turned and stared, moving towards them.
