Page 134 of The Garnet Daughter
Controlled chaos erupts on top of the wall, soldiers getting into position to fight, voices coming over wrist comms of the higher ranking Viathans.
I recognize the voice of Lord General sending commands from the tower he sits in while 99 gestures wildly to the commanders, urging them to prepare as he strides toward the communication tower.
August looks to me with sad regret. This is it. He has to go, and I have to stay behind until the enemy is fully drawn in.
“Selene, listen to me.” I pull her close, away from the increasing dread around us. “I made it to the temple of Omnesis. She spoke to me. First Son is after divinity for some sort of ritual. He’s targeted Ferren and me. He already has one woman, and he needs all three of us.”
Her eyes dart back and forth between mine as she processes my words rapidly over the sounds of the forces preparing for war. “Where is Ferren?”
“She is gone. We can’t be together. It is too dangerous. Ferren heard the voice too, Selene, the same as I have.”
She grips my arms so tightly her nails scrape against my skin. “Frith is the safest for you.”
A blood-chilling scream echoes up from the running people below. I jump as another lets out an animalistic sound, more joining in the haunting chorus.
“Stand at the ready!” 99 yells somewhere in the distance.
Viathan commanders in the lookouts closest to ours aim their weapons, cursing at each other and trying to figure out what the enemies are.
The eclipse devotees run past the first set of measuring torches, black ooze running from the eyes sockets of some, their teeth displayed in snarls as if they intend to use them in their attack.
Viathan weapons ring out with deafening force all around us, cutting down the first few runners. Several fall instantly, but others continue to run as if unfazed by the pain inflicted on their bodies. The turrets adjust quickly, aiming and spraying violent beams of light in peppering flicks into the rest.
I cover my ears and tuck into August, the awful sounds blending together in a nightmarish howl. When I open my eyes again, the valley below is much different. The bodies of the eclipse devotees line the perimeter, hunched and lifeless, a grim pile where the turrets could reach.
After a cold, silent moment, First Son’s army moves, groups working with the formation and catching the attention of every commander I can see. Glowing orbs of light ebb from their towers, engaging, but instead of aiming toward the wall, they face upward, toward the sky.
“Callia,” August pleads, tension running through him like a chill. He grabs me by the wrist and pulls me away from the exterior wall with no explanation.
Just as I duck below an opening, I’m blinded by a beam flashing from the top of the pillar ship, shooting toward us. But we are not the target. The beacon in the center of the city hums like a swarm of bees, the vibrations from it felt even this high on the wall.
And then the beacon itself sends lightning into the city and the Estate, so bright my pupils sting from witnessing it swirl forward and above us like lightning across the purple-huedhorizon, crumbling buildings with angry tendrils, each beam snapping like rope then disappearing as the structure falls.
August pulls me to the stone floor, covering me with his body.
They’re using Cosima’s beacon as a weapon.
And with one more flick of bright light, so blinding I can see it even as I close my lids, another beam shoots over our heads and into the very tower 99 entered.
Chapter
Forty
August drapes over me long after the ringing in my ears has subsided. The air is thick around us, coated in dust and debris. The tower 99 was in is reduced to a single standing stone wall, and most of the Viathan soldiers’ efforts are digging into the heap for survivors. Soldiers groan, some scream in pain, and others are lifeless and bloodied.
August helps me stand, running his hands over my body, quickly checking for injury.
“I’m unharmed.” I pant, holding onto him for support.
Selene aids an injured priestess and glances over to make sure I am not in shock, letting August comfort me while she attends to others who need her more.
Through the billowing smoke and dust, we finally see 99 carrying a commander over his shoulder and laying him down for the next person to dress his wounds.
August and I both exhale in relief, knowing he was not in the tower when it fell, but many others were and some are still under the crushing stones.
99 strides to us, making sure we are both uninjured and looking to August for answers.
“They used the beacon to bypass the ward and our perimeter. I did not think it possible,” August tells him without having to be questioned.
