bodies. “Usually I am his control, but…well, he reacts faster than he thinks, sometimes.”
“Remind me to stay behind him in a fight.” Sayas rubbed his chest. “His power feels strange.”
“I am interested to see what he can do when let off the leash,” Mela said.
“Has this city always been so dirty?” Shanti asked Cayan as she pushed her Gift behind the thick double doors. She ran her hand along the peeling paint and watched white flakes flutter to the ground.
“I have always heard it was, yes.” Cayan turned back to those still on their horses. “Dismount. There are about a dozen in here that we know of.”
“Were the Mugdock evacuated before this lot was moved in, or did they leave of their own accord after the battle…” Shanti sheathed her sword and took out two throwing knives. Fear and apprehension rolled and spiraled inside the room. Unease drifted from those behind her.
“Or did they join the army and forsake the women?” Cayan bristled. “They weren’t an honorable people.”
“Some of them might have been, but the loudest voices are the ones people hear most often.” Shanti took a deep breath. “There is no way Xandre is in this room. Nor his prized inner circle. There is zero chance, but…” She licked her lips and squeezed the handles of her throwing knives. “If he is, he is protected from the Gift and will have half a dozen excellent fighters surrounding him. Maybe we should wait for Sanders.”
Cayan surveyed the Shumas waiting patiently behind them, their limbs loose and shoulders relaxed. Shanti knew he could feel their turmoil through the merge, even if he couldn’t see the fire burning brightly in their eyes.
“Sanders would pale in comparison to what we’ll be taking in there with us,” Cayan said with absolute conviction.
Kallon straightened a little. The movement was small, but spoke volumes. He approved of Cayan’s validation.
“Enough stalling,” Shanti said to herself. She stepped back, giving Cayan room. With a show of might, his foot smashed the door by the handle at the same time as his Gift surged out, flooding the room beyond. The door broke with a series of splintered cracks. The top hinge ripped from the wood.
Cayan shouldered through, with Shanti following close behind. The room opened up around her. Shapes hunkered to the ground at the other end, cringing from the pain Cayan was still pumping into them. A quick sweep of her gaze told her what she’d hoped and feared at the same time—no one else occupied this room.
She let a breath tumble out of her mouth as Rohnan and Mela ran in a moment later, bows in hand. Sayas and Kallon were right behind them with throwing knives.
Cayan’s Gift withered away as his battle zeal quieted. He walked toward the enemy with sure steps, alert in case anyone should jump out of a cupboard or from behind the sagging couches. The men on the ground unfurled like flowers in spring and staggered upward. The first to recover looked around with dazed eyes. Then he burst into action. He jumped forward with sword outstretched, hacking toward Cayan with barely trained gusto. Cayan knocked the blade to the side and struck, piercing the man in the gut. Another man jumped up and charged. An arrow stabbed him like a pincushion. He faltered and lost the strength in his legs before tumbling to the ground.
One by one the enemy recovered and advanced. Wild-eyed and hopeless, they swung their swords or tried to throw their knives, defiant to the last in a land they had stolen.
She slapped her Gift onto their minds even as one of the enemy reached her with a battle cry. Sucking in, she drank in all his energy and life force, sapping him of strength and power. Confusion stole over his expression, and then a flash of fear, before he sank to the ground.
“There’s your officer,” she said as she jumped back, avoiding his thrust. The others behind him fell as well, some clawing toward her with determination not common in enlisted men. They must’ve been the Graygual flunkies, only useful for occupation and dying.
“What were these men promised in order to fight through their fear?” Cayan asked.
Rohnan backed away toward the door, as far away from those on the ground as possible. “They were manic. Their emotions weren’t right. Corroded, almost.”
“One wonders how long they have been kept in this place.” Kallon checked the pulse of the Graygual at Shanti’s feet. “He lives. That is a useful