“And let the line do the rest. It will tear them apart!”
“And again, how do you expect us to do that?”
I didn’t say anything. I just stood there, looking at Pritkin. After a moment, I crossed my arms.
“No,” he said emphatically.
“Why not?”
“I just told you why not! You don’t know a damned thing about elemental magic! It’s dangerous—”
“All magic is dangerous—”
“Not like this!”
“Well, if you have a better idea—”
“I bloody well have a better idea!”
I waited.
“All right, I don’t have a better idea, but we’re not doing that!”
The shield overhead started to crack.
“Can I drive one?” Caleb asked me.
“Can you see?” I asked him back.
“No, but it can see for me, right?”
“I have no idea—”
“That’s the bloody point!” Pritkin snarled. “Neither of you knows a damned thing about elemental magic!”
“Lucky we have you to help us, then, isn’t it?” I asked him.
Pritkin cursed a lot.
Chapter Forty-Five
There were a lot of wounded mixed in with the Corpsmen—more than I’d realized. I guessed that was why so many had been clustered together, using some fallen colossi as a makeshift fortress—to try to protect their comrades. But that left us with a serious shortage of riders.
All together, we had maybe sixty who were hale and hearty enough to have a current of elemental magic shot through them, binding their wills to a bunch of rock monsters. And even fewer who seemed to think that this was a good idea. But, as Pritkin had admitted, we didn’t have a better one.
“On a count of three,” I said. “Okay?”
The healthy Corpsmen looked at me. They were bunched under Caleb’s expanded silence spell, so I knew they’d heard me. But not a single one answered back.
“Are you fucking deaf?” Pritkin snarled. “Answer her!”
“Yes, Lady!”
Okay, mayb
e I just wasn’t swearing enough, I thought. “Okay, on a fucking count of three, we’re going to fucking do this, all right?”
“Yes, Lady!”