Frustration brewed in my chest, but I bottled the anger tight and focused on Rhyne’s forces. Father might be able to deny our troops the aid of Sentinels, but he’d never stop me from leading the charge.
“For Lendria!” My war cry burned my throat at the same moment I dug my heels into my mare’s sides. She rocketed forward, and my riders followed. Spears and swords glinted in the sun as we charged toward the thick of the enemy ranks. With every pounding beat of my horse’s hooves, my pulse jumped higher. We rode without fear. We rode without hesitation. We rode without thinking of anything except what lay before us. Our horses crashed into the first wave of men, and soldiers crumpled to the ground as we effortlessly broke the line.
Spears shook and splintered against shields, swords clashed against armor and men. Blood sprayed all around us, and the earthy scent of the marsh was soon coated with a copper tang. And still we rode. I arced my sword high and crashed it against a solider, meeting the soft spot between neck and shoulder. He fell to the earth only to be replaced by another, and another. Swinging to my left, I caught sight of the morning sky aglow with something other than pale sunlight. Enemy arrows soaked in oil and licking flames careened toward my battlement.
“Shields!” With my free hand, I stripped a shield from my horse’s side and flung it over my head. Arrows thumped into the soft wood, cooking the iron holds and heating my skin. I winced with every hit as each vibration shook through my bones. Once the rain of arrows died, I lowered my arm and continued to push my mare forward. The jarring clatter of armor meeting metal filled the air, and I swiped my blade at an advancing jade-clad soldier. His head hit the ground.
Part of me felt sick. The spray of blood against my horse’s legs turned her snowy white coat a speckled red, and the sound of death was everywhere. But war was never pretty, and I’d be damned if I left my men to fight a battle I’d started, intentionally or not.
Beside me, the Sentinels were making easy work of our enemies. They’d dismounted and were cleaving through the ranks. Bodies fell in heaps around them, but they did not flinch.
Stomach churning, I stared out over the blood-soaked expanse. The muddy banks and shallow pools of water had turned a murky reddish brown, and the lifeless eyes of many, so many, stared up at me as I passed. It didn’t matter if their armor was jade or steel, their expressions were the same: lost. I hated it. This was a useless war with no end, but one side had to win eventually. One side had to cave.
We would persevere. We would win. We had to.
An enemy rider bolted toward me, and our swords met with a harsh clang. The scrape of metal rang through my ears as I thrust my blade against his thigh, knocking him off balance. He slid in his saddle, and his horse veered. I was about to lunge after him when a brilliant orb of sparking magic careened between us. It singed the air with electricity and cooked everything it passed until it crashed into the ground. My gaze snapped to the enemy forces and the singular woman standing clear in their midst. She’d opted for leather armor that mirrored the drab browns and sage greens of our surroundings, keeping her position camouflaged until she struck. But now, with a burnt path of grass and cattails leading directly to her feet, she was all too visible.
Mage.
Flexing her fingers, she brought her hands before her chest and summoned another crackling ball of energy. It raged between her palms and sparked outward like lightning, and she looked up with a ferocious grin.
Thaleus galloped toward me like an arrow loosed from a bow. “How did Rhyne manage to get their hands on a mage?”
My gaze dropped to the ashy earth before us. “Explains how they tore through our ships so easily.” Mages didn’t trifle with the wars of Lendria. And yet there she was, summoning another sphere of lightning that could annihilate our forces without consequence. She had to be stopped.
Leaning into my mare’s neck, I nudged her sides and called over my shoulder as we galloped forward. “You take command of the riders. I’ll deal with her.”