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Chapter 21

It was time.

Ashok woke with a start. “They’re here.”

Thera was lying next to him, and she bolted upright, instantly awake. “Demons?”

“Yes.” He rose and found his clothing in the dark. “Guard!”

One of them appeared at the entrance to the tent. “What is it, General?”

“Sound the alarm. Rouse the camp. Bring me the wizard and the runners who are on duty.”

“Right away!” He bolted.

Seconds later, men were shouting as they rushed from paltan to paltan, rousing the Sons of the Black Sword and their Fortress allies from their slumber. Ashok didn’t even know the hour, but it felt as if dawn was still some distance away.

“Can you tell where they’re at?” Thera was scrambling to get dressed. “Are they aboveground?”

He tried to decipher the urgent twinge in his chest. The shard embedded there was heating up, as if every new scratch of demonic claw through the rock and soil of his homeland gave offense. Somehow he could feel what it was like in the cold depths, and that there was a great weight of rushing water above the demons. They were pushing relentlessly toward it.

“Not yet, but they have found a path directly under the Martaban.”

“How do you—Never mind. Is it the whole army of hell or just raiders?”

“It is an army. There’s a multitude of them.”

“More than were in the Capitol?”

The shard left him no doubt. “Far more.”

“Oceans!” Thera cried. “We’re not ready.”

“It will do.”

Thera looked like there was something else she wanted to say, but she hesitated, stricken. She knew he could see in the dark, so there was no hiding her fear from him.

“What is it?”

“It’s nothing, Ashok. Just nerves before the fight. If it’s to be from the river, then, I’ll go to the vantage point like we discussed.”

“And you’ll retreat if they break through?” He didn’t mean that question as an insult to her courage, because demons didn’t care about such things, they killed brave or cowardly just the same. He asked because he needed her to live.

“I will. I promise.”

Ashok kissed her on the forehead. “Do not fear. This is the moment for which the gods gave you an army and me another chance. We will prevail.” He waited for her to nod in understanding. Then he took up his sword belt, threw it over one shoulder, and walked from the tent to see that the camp was already in a frenzy of activity.

One of Laxmi’s wizards was on watch at all times, and he had come as soon as he’d been summoned. The wizard stopped before Ashok, breathing hard from his sprint. “Is it time?” Right behind the wizard was one of Shekar’s skirmishers who would dispatch riders in case the other army’s wizards somehow missed the much faster magical message.

“Spare no bone. Send to every commander and bearer. Tell them the demons have dug beneath the river. They will break through soon.”

“Which district?”

The shard’s warning wasn’t that specific. “I only know the threat will come from under the Martaban.”

This wouldn’t be like when the demons had attacked the Capitol, emerging from distant Shabdakosh, where the human forces might have been able to intercept them away from the population. This would be more like how the demons had struck Kanok, emerging from beneath the Thakoor’s mansion and immediately rampaging outward. Demons appearing from the Martaban had been Jagdish’s greatest concern, because the river was gigantic, with miles of city stretching around it on both sides. Demons could swim up and down it with impunity. They could strike a dozen different districts. There were only a relative handful of bridges that spanned the Martaban, and if those fell their forces on either side would be cut off.

Strategy was Jagdish’s problem. Ashok’s duty was to lead the Sons and kill as many demons as possible. The gods had predicted the Voice would die today, but Ashok angrily dismissed that thought. To the ocean with their proclamations. The gods weren’t here. Ashok was.

“Sons of the Black Sword, Children of Fortress, free men, hear me!” he roared.

The entire camp stopped to listen.

“The time has come. To fight for your people! To fight for the brother by your side! To fight for your gods! Let no demon live! Prepare for battle!”


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