hated unbelievers on the walls, although Vaelin noted the plain beyond was now bare of Tuhla. He resisted the impulse to order the crossbowmen to cease their volleys. Although these people no longer posed a danger tonight, he saw wisdom in Sho Tsai’s tactics. The outcome of this siege would ultimately be decided by numbers, and the more they killed now the less they would face tomorrow.
“Do they want to die?” Ellese wondered, shaking her head as the cluster of Redeemed shrank ever smaller.
“Perhaps,” Nortah said in a cautious murmur, his gaze turned towards the northern bastion. “Or perhaps they just want to keep our sight from something else.”
Following his gaze Vaelin saw there to be some form of commotion atop the bastion, one of the well-ordered regular companies stationed there becoming suddenly disrupted. The troops on either side appeared unaffected and he could hear none of the shouts and chants that might signify an attack. Even so he knew instinctively he was looking upon men in combat. He was about to call for one of the Skulls to go and investigate when the disordered company was engulfed in a bright sheet of flame. Screams pealed into the night and men fell and rolled amid the blaze, the soldiers on either side forced back by the heat.
“Ready your poisoned shafts,” Vaelin told Nortah, starting along the battlement at the run. “Ellese, find Eresa and bring her to the northern bastion.”
They were obliged to force their way through a suddenly unruly throng of soldiers, their ranks bunching as they backed away from the fiery spectacle, deaf to Vaelin’s orders to get back into line. He sought out the officers and sergeants, themselves staring in shock at the flames engulfing the company atop the bastion, but all proving responsive to an authoritative voice after some judicious shouting. With their help, order was swiftly restored, Vaelin hurrying through the straightened ranks to find Jihla on the bastion. The woman was on her knees, face stricken and wet with tears as she stared at the now-smoking remnants of the company a few yards away.
“I had to,” she said in a whisper. She looked up at Vaelin with eyes that begged understanding. “They just started killing each other. Some began to turn on the other soldiers. I had to . . .”
Vaelin fought down his gorge at the thick stench of men roasted in their armour, surveying the carnage as Nortah muttered a name they both rarely spoke: “Caenis.”
“What?” Vaelin said.
“I saw him wreak much the same havoc on the Volarians.” Nortah’s face was dark with unwanted memories. “The day he died in that fucking temple. He bled himself dry saving us.” His brows creased as he continued to examine the scene. “He had to be close for it to work,” he added, turning back to Vaelin. “Close enough to see them.”
“Move back!” Vaelin called out to the surrounding soldiers. “No man is to show himself above the wall!”
The long lines of soldiers duly retreated as the order was relayed through the ranks. Vaelin crouched with Nortah behind one of the tall buttresses that marked the outermost point of the bastion. “Don’t, brother,” Nortah said as Vaelin began to edge forward, hoping to spy their Gifted assailant. “One glance might be enough.”
Vaelin turned at the sound of running feet, seeing Ellese arrive at the head of the Skulls with Eresa in tow. The small woman immediately went to her knees at Jihla’s side, pulling her tearful face into her shoulder.
“Wait a moment,” Vaelin told Nortah, keeping to a crouch as he moved to Eresa’s side. “I have a task for you,” he told her.
“Together we have contrived to do some very stupid things over the years,” Nortah said a few moments later. He stood with his back braced against the buttress, poison-tipped arrow nocked and bowstring half-drawn. His face was tense with a contrasting mix of determination and deep reluctance. “But perhaps none so stupid as this.”
“A power such as this could undo the whole defence,” Vaelin said. “We have to end it now.”
He glanced over his shoulder at Eresa. “Be ready,” he told her. “And don’t hesitate.”
Her reluctance was only marginally less acute than Nortah’s, face pale and eyes wide, but she nodded and pressed a hand to the rear of his hauberk. Vaelin could feel the tremble of it even through the barrier of metal and leather. He took a breath and rose to his full height, stepping out from the edge of