Page 43 of Wind and Water
Centaur magic binds with mine to further slow her descent.
As the water falls back to the land, I snatch Birdie into my arms before she can crash.
Still thrashing and screaming, Birdie takes a moment to realize she’s safe. Her face is swollen and bruised, and her shirt is torn at the shoulder. She grips me like I might not be real. “We have to get out of here. She’s hiding them.” She points west.
Fifty yards past the tower, the water churns. There is only one thing that can make water move that way. The marching of troops through the shallows. The horizon shimmers, and one by one, elven soldiers dressed in black with a red V signet at the chest appear and march toward us.
Venora’s horrible laughter hurts my ears.
With Birdie’s arms and legs clinging to me, I grip Wren’s arm and back up. “We have her. Time to run.”
Wren turns, and together we rush past the centaurs.
I toss Birdie onto Wellon’s back.
She screams but hangs on to the centaur.
Once Jadar plucks Wren from the water and puts her on his back, I swing onto Belloc.
Lightning pierces the air, and the stench of sulfur comes with it. It strikes the water to our left, forcing us right.
Looking back, I let the shield magic fall as I’ll need my strength for the battle to come. A thousand troops rush toward us.
A black cloud of shadow demons swoops across the sky. Several lift a centaur, and when they reach a fatal height, they drop him.
My gut knots. They outnumber us ten to one. We cannot win in a full battle.
“All who defy me will pay the price.” Venora’s voice rattles the sea. She hurls a fireball east across the lost lands. There is no doubt of its destination. The magic needed to create such a missile is disturbing. She should be weak from the conjuring, but she stands on the parapet and watches gleefully as it explodes in the forest where the centaur village is.
That maniacal laughter fills my ears.
Several centaurs stop their retreat and shoot arrows into the enemy line.
They are exposed to the shadow demons, who rush in and pick up two more and drop them. Their bodies break on the ground beneath the shallow water.
“Retreat! Retreat!” A shadow demon whisks by me, and a chill runs up my spine. A mad idea, not fully formed, wakes in my mind. “Belloc, get me close to Wren.”
Without question, Belloc rushes dangerously across the galloping centaurs until we’re next to Jadar and Wren.
Her eyes are wide as she clutches the centaur’s armor in a death grip. Seeing me, she screams, “They’re dropping the centaurs to their deaths.” The horror of it is clear in her tone.
“You have to get us out of here.”
“What? Me? How?” She looks around as if the answer will be found somewhere in the charging centaurs.
“The same way you caught your mother with the wave. It will have to be big, and the wind must push the shadow demons back as well. I’ll help with my fireballs.”
Wren stares at our retreating troops. She focuses on the water, then closes her eyes. Her lips move without any sound.
The rushing away of water leaves us on dry land, and the centaurs increase their speed, which puts some space between us and the oncoming army.
I turn on Belloc’s back and throw balls of fire at the shadow demons.
The centaurs’ magic sends a charge across my skin, making the hair on my arms stand on end.
The fireballs expand and explode, destroying several of Venora’s stolen souls.
As the water rises behind us, it pulls many of Venora’s soldiers off their feet and washes them farther away from us.
