“You’ll get us all killed.”
Alexander shrugged indifferently.
Kagosi worked through his emotions, his colors roiling.
“Udane, make ready to move into the forest,” Kagosi snapped.
“Surely, you’re not serious,” Udane said.
“Follow my orders, Commander, or I’ll find someone who will.”
Udane shot Alexander a quick glare before throwing himself into command, shouting orders for the nearest Lancers to make ready to ride.
Tyr’s forces had withdrawn into the trees, shouting taunts at the Lancers while consolidating their forces along the trail leading west. The Lancers fell back to a smaller defensive perimeter around the command tent and held their ground.
Alexander smiled to himself when he saw Nero appear on the south side of the meadow. When a Lancer shouted a warning of his presence, the wraithkin vanished, appearing twenty feet closer, disappearing again almost before he’d even materialized, then again, past the protective cordon of Lancers … blink … Alexander drew his sword … blink … Nero was standing among Alexander’s escort atop the little hill, but still a good ten feet away from him.
“Aren’t you early?” Alexander asked. “I thought you’d wait until after I retrieved the Stone.”
“You’re surrounded, Pretender,” Nero said. “The ruse is over. Surrender your weapon.”
“Come and get it.”
“Lord Protector!” Udane shouted, pointing to the northern wood line and the hundreds of brigands charging toward the Lancer perimeter.
Not to be outdone, Tyr’s forces gave a battle cry and charged into the meadow a few moments later. Alexander lunged toward Nero, but the wraithkin vanished, quickly extracting himself from the battlefield and vanishing into the forest to the south.
“Countercharge!” Udane shouted.
Two squads broke off from the defensive perimeter, charging to meet each attack. The strategy was a success against the first line, but the Lancers were vulnerable to arrows once they turned to regroup with the main force, several rhone returning without their riders.
A few moments of relative calm settled on the meadow while both forces closed the distance to the Lancers’ final protective line. Alexander surveyed the battlefield and decided that everyone was fair game. Nightshade’s brigands were thieves come to abduct him for ransom, Tyr was a thug, the Acuna was a crime syndicate, Nero was touched by darkness, and the Lancers served to prop up a government that had turned corruption into an art form.
Literally everyone on the battlefield was his enemy-and a few of them were definitely worth killing.
“Shield!” the Lord Protector shouted. The two chief overseers, quiet, yet ever-present, positioned themselves around the command tent to form a triangle with the Lord Protector. Several seconds of chanting by the three of them created a bubble of force over the entire Lancer contingent.
“Mount up,” the Lord Protector snapped. “Form a column facing east.”
Arrows began to pelt against the shield, causing ripples in the reddish-tinged magical shell.
“Don’t you mean west?” Alexander said.
“This expedition is over,” Kagosi snapped. “We’ll be lucky to survive the day. We have to flee … now!”
Alexander shook his head in disgust, spitting at Kagosi’s feet. “Coward.”
Anger flared in Kagosi’s colors. He stepped in close to Alexander. “Nero was right about one thing, the ruse is over, Pretender. Seize him!”
There was a second of hesitation, a moment while the nearest two Lancers struggled to make sense of the order. Standing face-to-face with the Lord Protector, Alexander brought his blade up along Kagosi’s body, under his arm, slicing his armpit to the bone. The Lord Protector fell back in shock. The shield faltered, flickering for a moment before failing entirely. A barrage of arrows and stones suddenly began pelting them from two sides.
A dismounted Lancer attacked Alexander with his longsword, but the heavily armored man was slow and clumsy, bringing the blade down in a massive stroke. Alexander sidestepped, letting the blade hit the ground before kicking the man over and turning back to the Lord Protector, whose arm was nearly severed at the shoulder and bleeding profusely.
“Please don’t kill me,” he said weakly, struggling to remain on one knee.
“Too late,” Alexander said, finishing him with a quick stab through the left eye socket, then spinning in response to a sense of moments to come, blocking the Royal Assassin’s dagger an instant before it would have plunged into his back. He counterthrust, but his blade turned aside, a flicker of color registering on impact with Yasim’s magical defenses. The Royal Assassin backed away, commanding two nearby Lancers to attack from behind. Alexander took in Yasim’s dagger, dark and dangerous, powerfully enchanted. He took in the two soldiers moving to flank him. And he took in the crush of enemy about to engulf the Lancers from two sides … and he waited.
He waited for his enemy to act, to commit. In that moment, he had power like no other. Chief Overseer Bahar launched a spell into the coming throng, an arc of red-hot lightning hit the nearest bandit in the chest, coring him out in a ball of molten flame, then leaping to the next two closest men, doubling again and then again, killing thirteen people with startling quickness.
The brigands faltered for only a moment, taking force-lance blasts and getting back up, until they were close enough to pull the Lancers from their steeds.
One of the soldiers behind Alexander attacked, thrusting toward his leg, but he slipped sideways just enough for the blade to go wide and plunge into the dirt, then he swept his blade up, taking the soldier’s head, quickly catching the man’s body with his left hand while slipping to the side and pushing the corpse into another soldier coming for him.
“There’s still time to run away, Yasim.”
“If there’s time to run away, then there’s time to kill you,” the Royal Assassin said, leveling his hand at Alexander. Cold, numbing weakness gripped him, bringing him to his knees. He dropped his sword from lack of strength. Yasim smiled, seeming to absorb the strength that Alexander was losing.
Alexander saw it coming well before any of his enemies did, but only because he was looking for it, hoping that it would come soon. He heard a shout, half warning, half fear … then another, followed by several more. Yasim’s spell faltered when he saw it. Alexander’s strength returned quickly and he staggered to his feet.
The wyvern landed lightly with one foot on the ground, carefully gripping Alexander with the other and launching into the sky amid shouts of sudden confusion and anger from the Lancers and the Acuna, followed by a renewed battle frenzy with all sides fighting savagely for survival.
While certainly not comfortable, the ride wasn’t entirely unpleasant, lasting only a few minutes before the wyvern landed gently and set Alexander on the ground in a clearing filled with seven other wyverns, as well as his friends.
“Lord Reishi,” Jataan said.
“Well done,” Alexander said.
Jataan nodded deferentially. Alexander gave him an affectionate pat on the shoulder, then smiled at the Sky Knight.
“I’m Kiera, witch, Sky Knight, and now a member of your elite guard,” she said proudly, after sliding to the ground. She was tall and lanky, thin but wiry, with fiery red hair and sharp features.
“Thank you for the rescue,” Alexander said. “I’m glad you were able to pull it off without taking a hit.”
“You’re welcome,” she said, patting her wyvern’s knee. “I never had any doubt.”
“Outstanding,” Alexander said, turning back to Jataan. “Are we ready?”
“Yes, Lord Reishi.”
Alexander dumped the Sovereign Stone out of the little pouch into his hand. It pulsed with a soft red light. He put it around his neck, then opened the door to his Wizard’s Den, his friends following him inside.
“You’ll be needing this,” Jack said, holding up the dragon-scale shirt.