Siege (The Warrior Chronicles, #5) - K.F. Breene Page 0,90

remember what he was supposed to do if that mostly turned out to be his bad luck.

Arrows flew through the crowd, sticking into the Graygual and lowering them to the ground. Another splash of fingertips raced across his forehead. A great few in the army groaned and sank as another rush of Graygual entered the square.

“Get those men the root!” Sanders yelled, running parallel to the beast. It let out a ferocious growl before swiping at the back of a Graygual. Four lines of red parted the black. He arched and screamed before the beast’s head ripped into the back of his neck.

Sanders looked around wildly, trying to find those Inkna. His men were standing now, though. Shanti’s kin must’ve been taking care of it, though he couldn’t tell to look at them. Unlike the Inkna, who hid away, the Shumas worked through the crowd, their movements slick and precise, and their sword strokes lethal.

Sanders ran around the melee, slashing at enemy on the edges of the battle. He reached the drawbridge and saw the line of men anxious to get to the fight.

“Damn it!” A black shirt ran at him. He ducked, stuck upward with his blade, and propelled himself to the right, ripping his sword out as he did so.

“Clear this area of our men and I’ll blow the Graygual out!”

Sanders followed the voice and saw Maggie with a round metal canister. Next to her, on the ground in a stone bowl, glowed a small fire. The flames barely reached out of their confinement. Out of the canister hung a white string.

“Move!” Maggie yelled, waving her arm to the side.

“Clear out,” Sanders yelled, grabbing the back of one of his men’s shirts and yanking him back. “Clear out!”

Men dressed in blue ran where they could. A scream rose the hairs on Sanders’ arms away to the left, then the Graygual in the square shrank down in agony. The Inkna must’ve been taken care of.

“Hurry!” Sanders yelled, shoving and pushing to take advantage of the mental workers. “Go!”

Maggie lowered her contraption to the fire, and then quickly threw. The hollow metal sound when it bounced was quickly lost to the screaming of the Graygual. It rolled amongst them, bumping off someone’s boot as he crouched down, clutching his head in agony. For a moment, nothing happened.

A loud explosion shook the ground. A spray of metal stuck in bodies like a deadly pincushion. Bodies flew up and out. A limb spiraled through the air.

“Grisly.” Sanders grimaced. He wasted no time. “Get everyone in, hurry!”

With a roar of fervor, Sanders’ men ran over the drawbridge. Their feet thumped as the surviving enemy scraped themselves up off the bloody street. One by one they finished the Graygual off, finally joining the battle after only watching.

“More come!” Sayas ran past Sanders with his sword in his hand. He looked up at the roof and made sweeping signaling gestures with his arms.

“I’m with you.” Sanders took off after the Shumas, noticing a few more running to catch up. “With me, men. With me!” he yelled, moving the battle forward.

Around the corner spilled a sea of black. Like a tide during a storm, they crashed into the Westwood Lands men and Shumas rushing to meet them.

“Fire!” Lucius yelled, his arm swinging downward.

Arrows shot into the fray, downing Graygual by the dozens. It wasn’t enough. This city had far too many.

The feathered pressure slid over his head. Damn Inkna again. The city was infested.

Sanders turned back to check behind and noticed an opening off to the side. Within it, standing straight and stiff, stood one of the buggers.

“Now I’ve got you.” Sanders stuck his sword through someone, nearly missed someone else, but luckily was able to slice off a limb instead, and elbowed a man fighting with a grim-faced Marc.

“Thanks, sir,” Marc called as Sanders continued on.

His eye on the prize, he ran at that Inkna with everything he had. A black shape zipped in from the side. Another came from the left. “No!”

A cat lunged, its mouth fitting perfectly around the throat of the Inkna and chomping down. The other cat waited for the now-struggling man to fall before dodging in to finish the kill.

“You filthy little— I need revenge!” Sanders shouted.

A huge boom shook Sanders to the core. The air crackled around them, making some of their hair stand up as if lightning was about to strike.

Sanders looked up at the sky, clear and blue, promising a chilly but beautiful day. The ground and