Page 132 of Silver & Smoke
A hollow of dread opened low in her stomach as she realized the extent of her failure.
She had never won Dorinth.
Silas had delivered it to her, piece by poisoned piece.
Only to trap them within.
Wren watched in horror as the ground beyond her own army gave out, screams piercing the smoke-filled sky. But it didn’t just cave in; it fell away to reveal a subterranean passage...
‘Shit,’ Thea said at Wren’s side. ‘The tunnels.’
‘What tunnels?’ Wilder barked, slicing the hand clean off a soldier wielding an axe against him.
Realization hit Wren like a blow. ‘The underground network between the taverns. The one Kipp mentioned.’
‘How the fuck does Silas know about it?’ Thea kicked another assailant from the rampart, his scream swallowed by the pandemonium below.
‘How do you think?’ Wren shouted, bracing herself as her power surged within. ‘Lucian was in that meeting. All his lackeys were.’
She thrust her hands skywards, summoning a violent burst of storm magic that she directed towards the passage, hoping to collapse it before whatever awaited them surfaced from the dark. Lightning struck the ground at the tunnel’s edge, sending rock and debris tumbling, but it was too late – the passage was too wide.
As the sparks of lightning faded, the extent of the enemy’s plan became clear.
For from the depths of that tunnel, Silas the Kingsbane and his true army emerged.
Wren should have known it was coming. A man like Silas didnot concede territory without a motive. She’d known that all along. He’d used the desperate common folk of the midrealms to bolster his numbers and then sacrificed them without a second of remorse.
There was no Devereux sigil stamped on the armour of his followers, but she could see the might of Lucian’s coin in the weapons and numbers, in the formations that marched forth, fresh and eager to spill blood. Silas and his ranks rose from the hidden stairs below and lined the borders of the city, surrounding Torj, Vernich, Graves and the rest of their forces.
There were those who were mad with bloodlust from the shadow alchemy, practically foaming at the mouth to unleash their violence upon her forces. There were soldiers wearing colours Wren didn’t recognize...
And within the simmering alchemy and storm magic lingering in the air, Silas stood tall, gathering strength.
That was all it took for Wren to understand what she’d failed to see right from the start, ever since the Kingsbane had inflicted himself on the world.
Silas was asummoner.
The realization hit her with physical force, making her knees weaken and her storm magic crackle erratically around her fingertips. Cold sweat broke out across her skin as the pieces fell into place. Instead of summoning objects with his mind like Zavier, he had somehow learned how to summon strengthandmagic – first by muting it with the manacles and his alchemical concoctions, and then by drawing it to him with his own sovereign magic. The masks helped absorb and contain that power—
Silas gave a signal.
Those whose gazes were clouded with shadow alchemy surged forwards in a mindless charge of brutality. They fought by no code, driven only by a thirst for pain and death. In a trance state, the enemy ranks seemed not to feel the blows to their own bodies, but simply raged on, screaming in victory whenever an opponent fell before them in a spray of crimson.
It was barbaric – sickening. Wren could smell the blood mingling with the smoke around them. The Warswords below carved through the chaos, cutting down as many incensed soldiers as they could, but more and more seemed to emerge from the passage—
A powerful gust of wind, not born of Wren or Thea’s storm magic, swept through the battleground, sending debris flying. Ally and enemy alike braced themselves against the impact...
And membranous wings parted the fog as Talemir Starling landed amid the ruins.
CHAPTER 69
Wren
‘With my body as a shield, my mind as a blade, I will not hesitate to sacrifice’
– Drevenor Academy Oath of Secrecy
TALEMIR SET HISwife Drue down, and she unsheathed a wicked-looking blade just as a second pair of wings snapped back, revealing another shadow-touched. Dratos Castemont landed beside the couple, along with Adrienne, another Naarvian ranger, who jumped down from his arms.
