started, and Elvasi began to wake up. Mat took a quick second to look down at camp from the cliff and smiled as the fire began to rage, and the Elvasi scrambled to put them out.
For the Andinna. For Mave.
Everything wasn’t perfect, though. He stood there a moment longer than he should have and saw a handful of Andinna flying out of the other side of the camp. Arrows were following them, and one of the warriors fell from the sky, disappearing into the camp.
No.
20
Zayden
Everything had gone so well at the beginning. Zayden had led his unit to the cliff and discovered he was on the better side of the valley, with the deep shadow of the mountain working in his favor. He’d climbed down first, taking the risk, and they followed him shortly once he secured the place they could come down to. They had found an armory and a supply building, dousing them both with the flammable liquid.
That was where it went wrong.
“Who’s there?” an Elvasi called out. Zayden turned quickly, seeing the dark silhouette of the enemy, too far away for him to strike.
“Stop him,” Zayden snapped, wondering why none of the other Andinna had jumped into action yet.
Tekyv jumped forward a heartbeat later, his sword already drawn, and cut the Elvasi down before the poor bastard even had a chance to speak another word, but the kill made noise because Tekyv let the body drop. A bone-crunching thud marked the death of the Elvasi soldier, and it was bound to draw more attention. Zayden was sure of it.
“Get the fires going,” he ordered, walking away from the group. He only went ten paces before he heard the first bad sign—more footsteps. He turned back and hissed. “Hurry!”
Finally, the crackle of a fire began, eating into the wood structure they had chosen. Zayden turned back to keep his watch and saw them coming out of tents now. Elvasi eyes widened as they saw him.
Why do I keep finding myself in these positions? I need to stop entering enemy encampments, Skies damn it.
He turned and moved quickly back to his warriors. One was using a makeshift stick to grab some of the flames and move it to the second building.
“We need to get into the air,” he ordered. “Now.”
A twang called his eyes to its source. He saw an Elvasi smiling in the firelight, arrow up.
“Stand down, or we’ll kill another,” he ordered softly. “Surrender.”
Another? Zayden took a chance to look down and saw the blood spread around his feet. Fire was lighting up the area, and Elvasi began to scream on the other side of the camp, but Zayden’s eyes were only drawn to Tekyv, now on the ground, an arrow going into one of his eyes.
At least it was quick.
He looked around quickly. There were a dozen Elvasi around them, and he wasn’t sure how they got there or how they moved so quickly. Was this an ambush? A trap? Or were they just nearby and realized something was happening they could take advantage of?
“Surrender, Andinna,” another Elvasi snapped in anger.
Surrender. They’re asking for surrender. That’s positive to end up in torture for information and execution down the line, but they aren’t killing us. Not yet. I don’t know how they got here, but that gives us a chance. They don’t have fucking nets on them, at least.
Zayden dropped his sword, letting it hit the ground hard, so everyone heard it drop without a chance to second guess it.
“Sir!” another Andinna gasped.
“Do as I do,” he said with as much resolve as he could. “I’m the commander of this unit. You’ll follow orders.”
He heard their blades hit the ground. Zayden knew this was risky. He knew they would all lose their weapons, but weapons were replaceable—lives were not. His job was to get out of this mission with as few casualties as possible.
Zayden watched the Elvasi around them. Those with bows lowered them as those with swords drew close. Once those bows were pointed at the ground, Zayden smiled.
“Have a nice evening. Hope the fires keep you warm.” He jumped in the air and spun to see his warriors. “Fly!”
They rose up with him. They made it halfway up the cliff before the arrows started to fly by them in the sky. Zayden heard a scream and looked down for only a moment to see another of his warriors fall, but he couldn’t stop. He made it to the top of the cliff and grabbed another