Page 88 of Ashes of Honor

I didn’t argue. In the past fifteen minutes, we’d lost half our ships docked in the bay. Fire bloomed across the water, engulfing our crumbling navy. The roar of cannon fire and magic mixed with the screams of the wounded and drowning.

“I know,” I said. “Let’s go. We say our prayers as we make our way down to help.”

We locked in to start our repel when shouts rang out. Miller’s yell cut through the chaos, asking us to hold. A group of soldiers pulled along several girls around Elie’s age.What the hell are they doing out on the battlefield?As we’d set up in preparation, any stragglers outside our gates had headed anywhere but here. Miller jerked her chin at me, her taught bun fried off at the base. They’d obviously been through hell holding their position.

“Sir, we found ‘em out on the battlefield. They claim they can help.”

One of the girls stepped forward, older than the others. Her warm brown skin and frame swallowed by a shirt that was familiar. Standard issued.One of ours. My hand fell to my holster and Abel followed suit, sheathing his sword into a reinforced scabbard with a quick-release mechanism, custom-fitted to his right side. It allowed him to draw with ease despite the loss of use in his left hand.

“Alexiares helped us.”

“We have a debt to pay,” added another, a small brunette.

I stared at them, hand falling at my side.Alexiares?Notthe Bloodhound. The man had one hell of a reputation, yet they spoke his name as though he was a savior.

Ronan’s navy was minutes out from shore. We were outgunned, outmatched, and frankly, desperate. I glanced back at Abel who gave me a nod.

“Fine,” I said. What other option did we have? “What do you need?”

The older girl turned toward the brunette, “Denver.”

‘Denver’ strode to the edge of the cliff without hesitation. I frowned, following her movements, “What is she?—”

Then she moved her hands.

Wind whipped violently around her, funneling into a tight spiral that rose from the ocean in the fashion of a vengeful spirit. A tornado.

Abel cursed. “What thehell.”

“A little assistance here please, Austin!” Denver called, her voice strained.

Another girl moved forward—this one with softer features and a determined glare from hell. She raised her hands at Denver’s side. The dark clouds above us churned with thunder.

The two girls worked in tandem as we watched on in awe. The tornado became a monstrous lightning fed vortex. Bolts of lightning crackled and twisted through the spiral. Covert’s massive battleships buckled and splintered under its wrath. Soldiers flailed in the water with panic, abandoning what remained of their ship and swimming for shore.

But something else shifted in the water. A sick feeling curled its way through my stomach as I saw it. Sharks. Dozens of them. The rocks along the cliffside came alive, seals splashing into the water and darting through the wreckage. They attacked, tearing through Ronan’s troops in a frenzy. All of them.

I turned, heart hammering in my ears. The oldest stood completely still, her gaze locked on the carnage. Not watching,commanding. Her eyes burned with an intensity I’d only seen in battle-hardened veterans. A lack of mercy issued to enemies who’d thought themselves unstoppable.

She blinked once, breaking out of her trance. “It feels good to use our magic again,” she said calmly. When her gaze met mine, her expression softened. “Is our group truly here?”

“Your group?” I repeated.

“Hunter’s people,” she clarified. “I suppose that’s what you’d know them as. Alexiares said they were here. I would like to see them.”

“Is he …?” Abel asked, concern etched on the lines of his skin.

The oldest offered a slight nod. “Alive and headed for your general. Our group? Take us to them.”

Hunter’s people. That explained the power simmering off them. When he’d mentioned he had numbers with extraordinary blessings, he wasn’t lying. My gut told me there was more to all of this than any of them let on. I couldn’t trust it—not yet. Magic like that didn’t come without a price. It couldn’t. We’d used spells and science to get even half of what they possessed.

“Of course,” I said smoothly, hating the taste of the lie. I valued honesty, but it was earned over time, not given out right. “Help them,” I ordered Miller. “On your way in, have Barnes see that the stragglers in the water are finished off. No prisoners. There’s only about a hundred left—it should be more than manageable.”

“Don’t dispose of the bodies.”

The quietest of them all spoke in a breath, barely enough to catch. I turned to her, “I’m sorry?”

Memphis edged closer, the discomfort from the proximity of our bodies radiated off her as she winced back. “She needs them. Sedona is a siphon healer.”

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