Divide and Conquer (13 page)

That morning Siegfried had pulled most of his men back at the last minute, only wanting to show the Franks the force of his might.

Today the Parisians wouldn’t be so lucky.

“Maybe you should take the Ring and get someplace safer,” Riq suggested.

Sera shook her head. “We’re in this together,” she told him but as soon as the words left her mouth she was hit with a bout of dizziness. Her stomach lurched and she stumbled. If it weren’t for Riq grabbing hold of her, she would have fallen.

She squeezed her eyes shut but that didn’t stop the feeling that something was horribly off about the world. The words she’d just uttered, “We’re in this together,” echoed through her head again and again, and her heart ached with each incantation.

Phantom hands cupped her cheeks; a face like her own peered down at her with eyes brimming with love. She was warm and safe and loved and cherished.

And then it was gone, but Sera couldn’t bear to open her eyes and return to the harshness of their reality. She wanted to live inside the Remnant.

“It’s okay,” Riq was murmuring, but she didn’t believe him. It had never been okay.

Riq maneuvered her until she was sitting with her back against one of the crenellations and he pushed her head between her knees so that she could catch her breath and keep the world from spinning.

He didn’t have to ask her what had happened. It was clear from his expression that he understood. “We have to fix this Break,” she finally said when she’d caught her breath. “It’s the only way to stop the Remnants. I don’t know if I can take them any longer.”

“We will,” Riq promised, his hand warm against her back. Sera marveled at how not too long ago she’d viewed Riq as an annoying third wheel who did nothing but cause trouble. Now she realized she’d almost call him a friend.

“Thanks,” she murmured.

He nodded, the gesture growing still as he looked over her shoulder out toward the river and the fields beyond. His eyes widened as an expression of horror crossed his face.

“What?” Sera demanded. She shifted to her knees. Riq tried to keep her from looking, but she finally dodged around him until she could see what had caused him such fear.

A band of naked men was sprinting across the field, furs of various animals trailing from their shoulders and gleaming weapons waving over their heads. They screamed and roared, their faces purple. Aghast, she averted her eyes . . . and that’s when she saw Dak at the edge of the pack, axe raised in the air as he ran at full speed toward the fortified walls.

S
ERA RACED
down the ladders and to the bridge. Waves crashed over the sides, making the stone surface dangerously slick. The north tower on the mainland looked very far away, but that didn’t stop her. Riq called after her, but she didn’t wait for him to catch up. More than once she slipped and fell, wincing as she scraped her palms and skinned her knees.

Over the roar of the rising river she heard the sound of battle just beginning. Through the gaps in the north tower’s metal gate she caught glimpses of men fighting. She clenched her hands into fists, refusing to even consider that she might be too late.

She had to make it to the tower. She had to keep the archers from taking aim at her best friend. She had to find a way to get Dak back safely.

She didn’t want to think about the consequences if she failed.

Stones fell from the sky, clattering around her: the first wave of assaults from the Viking siege engines. A few pebbles struck her shoulder and a massive boulder landed two inches to her left, almost crushing her toes.

She was just approaching the entrance to the tower when Riq barreled into her, shoving her to safety. Behind them arrows whizzed and pots of flaming oil exploded. A few flames sputtered around their feet and Riq leapt to stomp them out.

They stared at each other for a second, trying to catch their breath, both aware that if they’d been any slower they probably wouldn’t have made it without catching fire or getting impaled. As it was, the bridge was already beginning to crumble under the force of the swollen river and the crash of falling debris.

“If the bridge goes, we’ll be stuck on the wrong side of the river!” Riq shouted.

“We have to,” Sera responded. “For Dak.”

Riq nodded and pulled Sera to her feet. Together they raced through the tower. From above they heard the shouts of soldiers trying to fight through bouts of punishing rain.

They’d just started up a set of stone stairs when the wall to their right began to tremble. At first Sera only felt a series of vibrations but soon enough they were strong enough to jolt her off balance. Stones shook loose, pebbles falling from the ceiling.

Men began to stream down from above, their swords drawn and their faces vivid with panic. “Run!” the soldier in the lead shouted. “They’re about to breach!” They raced back toward the fortified island.

Riq grabbed Sera by the wrist and began to drag her across the bridge. She dug in her heels.

“What are you doing?” Riq asked, aghast.

“If they breach, we fail,” she said softly.

“If we die, any hope of avoiding the Cataclysm dissolves.”

They looked at each other as soldiers streamed past them. One man made it only three steps along the bridge before being struck by an arrow. He fell to his knees and collapsed, his sword clattering from his grasp.

There was another loud thud and the ground jolted under their feet, causing Sera to stumble. A tremendous cracking sound boomed as fissures raced through the outer wall of the tower. Streaks of watery morning light began to filter through, accompanied by the sound of Vikings raging.

The tower wall was crumbling.

Sera looked back at the fortified island through the rain. Soldiers ringed the ramparts, their bows raised as they let loose arrow after arrow, so fast their movements were a blur.

She slipped her hand into the sack on her belt. Her fingers tightened around the Infinity Ring, hidden inside. She knew Riq was right; it was smarter for them to retreat.

But Sera was tired of always having to make the smart choices. Just this once, she wanted to make the bold one and follow her gut.

Everything around her trembled and strained, the tower groaning under the onslaught of siege engines. As the first chunk fell free Sera dashed toward the fallen soldier on the bridge and snatched up his sword.

Riq was so stunned he didn’t move to stop her. With a crashing boom, a break opened in the wall, the last bit of defense between the Vikings and the Franks crumbling. Even though her heart pounded ferociously and her hands trembled, she refused to let fear make her hesitate.

As soon as the dust cleared from the collapsed wall, Sera leapt into the breach with the sword held high. Her gaze skimmed over the mass of Viking warriors racing toward her clad only in the skins of animals until she spotted Dak.

“Go!” she screamed at him. “Go!”

The moment Dak saw Sera step from the rubble of the broken wall waving a massive sword over her head Dak thought,
She’s gone completely insane
. Then he started running faster.

All around him
berserkrs
screamed and bellowed, their faces monstrous masks of rage. Some were clearly injured, arrows piercing arms or chests, but they seemed not to notice or slow. There would be no reasoning, no calling them back. And they were all running straight for Sera and the gap in the tower.

She stood on the pile of rubble, her sword held high in such a way that it gleamed in the damp morning. She looked bold and fierce — unlike the science geek who’d been his best friend for years.

She looks like she’s about to get herself killed
. Blood roared in Dak’s ears at the thought, making his feet pound faster than he thought was possible.

He tried waving his arms, calling for her to fall back, but his voice was lost in the din of the battlefield.

And then a curious thing happened. Soldiers began to pour from the breach behind Sera, men in armor with swords and axes and spears and arrows. They streamed around Sera as though she were rallying them with a battle cry.

“For Lutetia!” they shouted, paying homage to the old Roman name for Paris as they raced into the fray.

For an instant the
berserkrs
hesitated, faced with this new approaching army. Dak himself was so distracted by the sight of Sera that he didn’t notice the boy racing at him until it was too late. He tackled Dak, slamming him to the ground. Dak rolled, struggling to get a better grip on his axe as the two of them tussled for control of the weapon.

Dak was not exactly a seasoned warrior, but he still managed to gain the advantage on his opponent, twisting until he was kneeling on his chest. Dak was just about to clobber the boy over his head with the axe handle when he held up his empty hands and gasped: “Wait! I’m with Sera!”

The axe hovered inches from the boy’s head. The adrenaline coursing through Dak’s body urged him to strike fast and hard, but his brain was screaming at him to stop and listen.

With a great deal of effort, he held still, hands trembling from the rush of battle. “Prove it,” he growled, surprised at how raw and angry his voice sounded.

“My name is Billfrith,” he said. “I’m a . . . a . . .” He seemed to hesitate over the word and then leaned forward and whispered, “Hystorian.”

Dak blinked back his surprise and then rolled from the boy, giving him a chance to breathe. “I thought you’d be older.”

Billfrith twisted his lips. “Well, imagine my surprise when I realized the fate of the world rested in the hands of kids.”

“Hey,” Dak countered. “We haven’t screwed it up yet, have we?”

The other boy declined to respond to that and instead rose to his feet, tugging Dak up after him. “I’d love to sit and chat about the effectiveness of your efforts, but if you haven’t noticed we’re sitting in the middle of a battlefield. Perhaps we could find someplace less deadly to catch up.” An arrow pierced the ground between them. “Now would be a good time to start running.”

S
ERA STOOD
stunned as Frankish troops streamed around her, racing out toward the battlefield with weapons drawn and cries of victory on their lips. Several of them nodded to her as they ran past, as though she were somehow responsible for this turn of events.

Surrounded by the crowd of soldiers, she lost track of Dak. The adrenaline rush of the last several moments began to dim, quickly replaced with a rising tide of panic.

Riq appeared by her side and she clutched his arm. “Where’s Dak?!” she asked.

“This way,” he answered, and he took off running across the battlefield. Sera followed. For the time being, both sides had halted the flow of arrows, the armies so jumbled it was impossible to let loose anything and not endanger their own men.

Sera and Riq took advantage of this lull, dodging past groups of sparring warriors. She cringed as blade met blade and metal sliced through leather. The Viking
berserkrs
lived up to their name
,
a sheen of madness glazing over their eyes as they fought with a rage that seemed incomprehensible.

Riq led her toward a large stone church on the edge of the battlefield, just out of range of the fighting. Sera caught a glimpse of two tall towers bookending a wall set with arched windows before they hurried inside.