Warrior's Dawn (Fire and Tears) (21 page)

“The new arrows are really helping us,” Mina murmured, her comment echoing his train of thought. “But they’re going to make it harder for us, aren’t they?”

He grunted. “Our best option will be to stick close to the buildings. If it weren’t for the Sorcerers, I’d suggest roof-hopping. We’d reach your people quicker and stay above the majority of the fighting.”

There were only a few fights that he could see taking place on the rooftops. There might be more of those farther back where the Sinnale archers were heavily clustered, but in their immediate vicinity, rooftop skirmishes were rare.

Unfortunately, he’d spotted at least four Sorcerers throughout the day, each from a rooftop vantage. Too many to risk a rooftop run.

“Are any of the Sorcerers we’re seeing the ones that aren’t really here?” Mina asked. “The ones sending their souls out? Can you tell at a distance?”

“I can’t tell. They can appear very real, even up close. We wouldn’t know the difference until we were right on top of them and then it’d be too late.”

“Damn.” She was quiet for a few minutes before saying, “Do you think they realize you had a part in the theft of the List?”

“Oh, I have no doubt they suspect me. Talliah was expecting me in the List chamber. She figured out what I was after first but wouldn’t have been the only one suspicious of why I’d returned to their territory.”

“So one of them seeing you, or one of the traitors spotting you, is likely to cause us even more trouble than if we were just random enemies.”

She wasn’t asking a question. They both knew his notoriety worked against them.

“I could always draw their attention away,” he muttered as he considered their options. “Take one route, purposefully draw them off, giving you a way through the lines with less difficulty.”

“No,” she said firmly. “That plan isn’t any better than the Glengowyn plan. Besides, if they catch you, they’ll torture you.”

“True.” But they would have done that even if he hadn’t stolen the List. He wasn’t sure why that was her objection.

“You know why the Sinnale need the List. They’ll make you tell them.”

Ah. “You’re afraid I’ll give under the torture.” For some reason, her very practical logic irritated the hell out of him. “Think I can’t keep my mouth shut, huh?”

“That’s not it. But under torture—”

He glared at her, stopping her in midsentence. “I’ll take my knowledge into the afterlife with me, Mina. No need to worry about that.”

“Althir, I didn’t mean…”

He turned away. “If we wait for a break in the skirmishes, while they’re still working out a way to beat the Sinnale back, I can distract them before the shrapnel arrows start falling again. That’ll give you an even better opportunity to slip through.”

To his surprise, she actually stomped her foot.

“No! You are not setting yourself up as a sacrifice. I won’t allow it. We stick together and get back to safety together.”

He didn’t look at her, but the venom in her voice eased a little of his irritation. Still… His plan would give her the best chance.

“Althir,” she growled. “If you try to do this anyway, I will follow you and stick to your side. Do you understand me? If they take you, they’ll take me too.”

“Mina, don’t be an idiot. This might be the only chance to get that List to your people.”

“We have other options. The sun will set in a few more hours. We’ll take our chances then. Fight our way through if we have to. Avoid the elves and Sorcerers as much as we can and stick to fighting the minions. We just have to make contact with the Sinnale army and we’ll be okay.”

He shook his head. “Not that simple. Not with an elf in tow.”

“You’re as notoriously well known to my people as you are to the Sorcerers. They’ll recognize you too. And I have no doubt the word has been spread that if I come through the ranks with you, I’m to be let past.”

“What if they think it’s a trick? That we’re actually disguised minions or under an elf glamour to look like…us?”

“The enemy doesn’t know what I look like. They couldn’t send in a pretend me.”

“And your entire army does know?”

She frowned, and he knew he’d hit on a flaw in her thinking.

“Fine, they don’t all know me. But even if they’re suspicious of us, they’ll take us to Ulric, under guard, to confirm who we are.”

He wasn’t so sure they should count on that logic, but time was running out.

Unfortunately, and he hated to admit it, strategy wasn’t his strongest suit. That was Ulric’s talent. Althir’s magic worked better in face-to-face encounters. And Mina was no warrior, though she’d fought and killed before out of necessity. Taking her into the heart of the battle risked her life more than he thought he could tolerate.

But they couldn’t stay hidden in this building forever.

“Come dark, we take our chances on sneaking through the fights.” He pointed out a route. “We’ll stick to those streets that aren’t being used much.” They were all too narrow and strategically dangerous to both sides. “And yes—” he raised a hand before she could speak, “—we’ll stay together. Fight when we have to. I can’t see any other option than to just work our way through—at least not anything one or the other of us won’t object to.”

She snorted her agreement.

“So we’ll take the direct approach.” He shrugged. “A rare method for me, but it’s been known to work.”

“When do we start?”

“As soon as the sun sets, we make for your army. And hope we don’t get killed along the way.”

It wasn’t a great plan, he knew that. But he also knew neither she nor he would accept an option that put the other in specific danger. They’d make a run for it and hope for the best.

And if things turned against them…well, he did have one or two tricks up his sleeve. Another option Mina would object to, so this time he kept the backup plan to himself. For once, what she didn’t know might just save her life.

Chapter Seventeen

They took advantage of a lull in the fighting to make their move into the heart of the battle zone. Mina let Althir lead while she watched their backs. They slipped down the darkest, narrowest pathways they could find but still had to hide from small groups of minions loitering in buildings, watching for the next assault.

The Sinnale had fallen back just a little, so she and Althir were deep into the battle zone when they came across the first group of humans. The soldiers were huddled around a map, murmuring and occasionally pointing to nearby buildings.

Mina edged in front of Althir, knowing she would get a better reception than he would—even if they recognized him. But just as she was about to move out of the shadows, a volley of arrows arched overhead, coming from the Sinnale lines. Moments later, the streets filled with running Sinnale and minions, the clash of metal and screams. Mina cursed silently.

The fighting erupted all around them, turning their escape route into a melee of chaos. She and Althir stayed hidden, watching for an opening to move to another area of cover, still going in the direction they needed to go.

The sound of a much louder, closer clank of metal had Mina spinning around to see Althir fending off two minions who’d snuck up on them. Or at least on her. Althir looked in perfect control of the fight. He sliced through the two enemies quickly, with so little sound she could barely hear it over the rest of the battle. She faced the bulk of the conflict again and spotted an opening.

“Come on.” She reached back, grabbed his arm and tugged him forward. They crouched and ran, staying close to the buildings, then ducked into the next recessed doorway without being stopped by either human or minion.

Another line of humans marched up the road toward them, their numbers superior to the minions, but as they approached, a blast of magical fire melted the cobbles in a line in front of them.

“Fuck!” Mina couldn’t contain the curse. “Where are the Sorcerers?”

Althir tapped her shoulder and pointed to a building less than a block away. “There’s one up there. And another there, and there.” He pointed to flanking rooftops.

Mina watched in horror as the three Sorcerers launched deadly magical attack after attack, fire and bolts of lightning covering the street. Another volley of arrows arched overhead, toward the Sorcerers.

“We are not in a good spot right now,” she hissed.

“No, we’re not. Come on.”

He pulled her behind the building they’d been using for cover, on the Sinnale side of the fight but out of view of the soldiers in the streets, then hurried across the next road. The fighting was just as heavy there.

The sound of brick and mortar giving way startled another screech from Mina. She looked back to see a corner of the building they were hiding behind collapse.

Althir cursed this time as he searched the streets. He pointed through the smoke from a burning line of cobbles. “There’s a line of humans that way. If we can reach them, we’ll at least be on the right side of the battle.”

“If we can get through without getting killed,” she muttered.

“I offered other options,” he reminded her without looking back.

“None of them any better.” She took a breath. “At the next arrow volley, we run.”

He reached back for her free hand. She grabbed hold because she needed the contact. Her heart pounded so hard in her chest, it knocked against her ribs. This wasn’t her first fight. But it was the first time she’d tried to get through major battle lines from the wrong direction.

She hated being in the middle of these conflicts anyway. Each scream, each death, the scent of blood and burning things assaulting her nose, coating the back of her throat. She hated this war to the very depths of her soul. But never more than when she found herself in the middle of all the fighting.

Althir’s hand clenched tight around hers, and she looked up just as more arrows arched into the air. Even before the arrows peaked over their heads, Althir took off into the streets with her close on his heels.

Some of the arrows must have been shrapnel ones because the sounds of screams and shattering glass exploded behind them. Mina didn’t turn to look. She kept her head down and ran for the line of humans.

As they approached, several broke off from the line to face them, swords raised. She tugged Althir a little then moved around in front of him, releasing his hand. When she was close enough for them to hear her over the other noises, she shouted, “Friendly! Sinnale spy. I need to get to the council.”

The soldiers didn’t lower their weapons, but they didn’t attack either when she and Althir stopped in front of them. They looked between her and Althir for what felt an inordinately long moment.

“He’s the traitor that turned himself in to the council,” one woman said, her voice harsh. “What’s he doing free?”

Mina patted her pack. “We had an assignment from the council. Retrieved something to put an end to the—”

Her sentence was cut off as minions roared up behind them and her people had to break off the conversation to defend themselves. Althir faced the minions too, sweeping them aside with an awesome ease. Mina managed to drive the one minion who turned on her back, and he fell to Althir’s sword.

Not far away, more minions pointed toward them, heading in their direction. The soldiers around her were too occupied to see the reinforcements coming.

“Althir!” She moved to his side to face the newest threat. To her surprise, he handed her the sword he’d been using, slipped his bow over his head and started firing arrows into the approaching group. Half a dozen minions fell before the rest took cover.

He continued to fire until his quiver was empty. In the end, more than a dozen minions lay in the streets, bleeding or dying from Althir’s arrows.

He replaced the bow across his back and, without even looking down at her, held his hand out for the sword. She passed it to him as they returned to the other Sinnale. The woman who’d recognized Althir stared at him with wide eyes.

A man Mina vaguely recognized from the council’s meeting hall motioned them to follow. “Word’s been left with the regiment commanders about two spies coming from enemy territory. I’ll take you to my commander. If she can verify who you are, we’ll see you get to the right side of the fighting.”

Althir walked beside her without comment. His face was set in hard lines, his expression impossible to read. As they passed through the soldiers that had stopped them initially, she noticed all the stares he drew and wondered if he was bothered by those looks or if he even noticed. Given the fact that he’d just singlehandedly leveled a small contingent of minion soldiers, she thought her people should show him a little more consideration.

They jogged two blocks closer to what had been the border to Noman’s Land, and their guide led them into a small building with a gaping hole in one side. At the center of the damaged room stood another group of Sinnale bent over a table with yet another map of the city.

Mina and Althir’s guide approached a tall woman at the center of the discussion and murmured something to her Mina couldn’t hear.

Mina looked closely at the woman. She also looked vaguely familiar. A face she’d seen in and out of the council’s meeting hall. But still no one Mina knew well, unfortunately.