He said, “With your powers, I can either draw strength from them or give them strength?”
“Never give more than half of your strength, not even to me. The body cannot recover if you do.” Then I smiled. “But I’m very interested to see how much we can take.”
Joth carried a disk bow and shield, and wore a lever blade at his side. I had a knife in my boot and the Olden Blade against my leg. If I happened to test it on some Ironhearts before using it on Lord Endrick, maybe that would help him understand that I was stronger than I had been in our last encounter.
At Joth’s suggestion, the half-lives went before us in battle, so by the time we emerged from the rotted building, the attack had already begun. The commanders had ordered the Ironhearts to remain in their formations while they retreated to what they believed were safer distances. In my head, I heard Joth’s orders to take care of the commanders first.
Without intending to, on the night he cursed the people in All Spirits Forest, Lord Endrick had created an army as immortal as himself. All they lacked was the ability to leave, and I had provided that.
“The Infidante is here!” one soldier called, and instantly, the focus of every soldier rested on me.
Disks immediately began flying toward us, more than I could count, but not one of them came close. To the eyes of the Ironhearts, they would have simply stopped midair and fallen to the ground. Only we understood that they had indeed hit a ta
rget, too dead to be killed, and just alive enough to provide a barricade for us.
Joth moved right and I went left, so confident in the protections around me that all I had to focus on was my attack. I swung fierce and hard, and when the blade wasn’t enough, with one touch of my hand, I drew enough strength from the soldier to drop him to the ground.
Despite the numbers on their side, the fight was hardly fair, not at the rate at which the Ironhearts were dwindling. After only fifteen minutes, an order was called for retreat, but that was immediately followed by a shout that no one could break through our barricade.
Ahead of me was a statue of Lord Endrick. I climbed it and shouted for the attention of those Ironhearts who were still alive. At least a hundred soldiers still remained on their feet, but the area was littered with their fallen comrades.
In my most commanding voice, I said, “You will surrender to us! Lord Endrick will not harm you; he needs every soldier he can get. So go to your knees now and you will live. Nothing else will save you.”
The Ironhearts closest to me were the first to toss their weapons and fall to their knees. In turn, so did the soldiers behind them, followed by yet another row. When the last row knelt, I looked past them and was surprised to see Simon and Gabe standing in the distance, just beyond where the barricade of half-lives would be. They could not get in any more than the Ironhearts could get out.
Simon was staring directly at me, his expression one of deep concern, which confused me because I had just caused the surrender of an entire company of enemy soldiers. He should have been happy, not looking at me as if I were an even greater enemy.
Joth ran up beside me. “I have an idea,” he said. “Take my hand.”
Grateful for the distraction, I did as he asked, and he shut his eyes. In my head, I heard his command, but before I could stop it, I felt the half-lives swoop in from around us. Somehow Joth was sharing my powers with them, the power to take strength. And they took with a vengeance, killing every Ironheart in their path. They moved so fast, the Ironhearts toppled over in a single wave. Within seconds, Joth and I were all that was left of the battle. Everyone else was dead.
I yanked my hand free of Joth’s. “I told them to surrender and they would live!”
“You shouldn’t have made such a promise. And you don’t know for sure that Endrick would have let them live.” Joth grabbed my shoulders. “At least this way, we benefit from what happened. Can you feel their strength flowing into you, Kestra? So much power!”
The icy core within me was pulsing with life. Their lives. It hungered for more, and the more I fed it, the more it wanted.
Yes, I felt it.
“What have you done?” With the half-life barricade dissolved, Simon had run up to the base of the statue. His sword was in his hand, which it shouldn’t have been. Not unless he expected to need it against Joth or me.
Almost in a wild desperation, Simon began checking the Ironheart bodies, occasionally using the sword to roll someone over. He was searching for a specific person.
His sister was an Ironheart.
Joth jumped down and offered me a hand for support. “Come with me, Kestra. Our business is finished here.”
I ignored his offer, instead looking around the area for anyone who might have been Simon’s sister, desperately hoping with every good part of myself that I would not see Rosaleen here. Meanwhile, Simon’s words echoed in my ears.
What have you done?
“Why did you do that?” Gabe called, running to Simon’s side. “They were on their knees. They had surrendered!”
Joth pointed toward those who had fallen. “They attacked us! Had the battle gone differently, they would not have accepted our surrender! The Dominion would have done the same to us!”
“But you’re not like the Dominion,” Gabe countered. “Or are you now?”
“We are the only ones fighting the Dominion,” Joth said. “You Coracks dance around them, poking at their feet with pinpricks and moaning about why the problem continues. It’s about time someone hit them hard enough that Endrick would feel it.”