“Halt. What’s your business in the city?”
“My business? Um—” Rayne hesitated.
“We’re heading into the city looking for work,” Eno supplied when Rayne appeared to be scrambling for an answer.
“Shut your mouth!” the Empire soldier snapped. “I’ll get to you soon enough.”
Caelan kept his head down, his fists trembling at his side. He wanted to palm his knife and shove it into this man’s throat so badly, it was consuming him. Thief. Murderer. Invader. They needed to be eradicated from his land and his city cleansed of their violence.
“What’s the holdup?” a second guard shouted as he started to walk up toward them.
Caelan’s fingers twitched closer to the knife on his hip, but it was his sword he longed to pull and let loose on the soldiers. He’d barely had the thought when Rayne shocked him by muttering, “To hell with this.”
The blades were in Rayne’s hands before anyone could react. Blood sprayed from the soldier’s throat while silver flashed briefly through the air. A knife was suddenly embedded deep in the second guard’s chest. The man stumbled back and fell flat on the sidewalk, his hand clutching the knife sticking out of his heart.
“Move!” Eno shouted in his ear, breaking through his frozen state. The guards were running at them, weapons drawn.
His first instinct was to put up the protective shield, but everything was feeling off with the thick presence of Tula around him. He didn’t want to try and have it fall apart.
However, Kaes was close at hand and more than happy to come out to play. Caelan pulled his sword and gave it a little flick. The power from the God of Storms was surging up to his fingertips as he launched himself at the guards. He cut one down as he tried to raise his gun. The shot cut through the chaos, and tires squealed as the car holding the family charged through the blockade and into Stonehaven. The soldier who’d been questioning the driver was dead in the street, a gunshot to the head, thanks to Drayce.
The power built within him as he dodged one soldier and slashed at a second. Drayce provided coverage with his guns while Rayne and Eno fought back a wave that was trying to come through the opening.
People in the car trying to escape the city proper cowered, unsure what to do. Caelan marched to the closest car and ripped the sunglasses from his face as he leaned close to the window. “Go! Go!” he shouted.
The driver’s eyes widened as he recognized Caelan, but then he stepped on the gas. The other cars followed while the Empire soldiers were too busy dealing with them.
Caelan laughed as he fought two more soldiers, sweat sliding along the side of his face. At least he could get some of his people free of New Rosanthe. It wasn’t much, but it was a start. And if anything, it was furthering the whispers that Prince Caelan Talos was still alive.
The more pressing problem was that they were losing this battle. For every soldier they killed, two more replaced them. There must have been a temporary barracks or housing nearby, because backup was arriving too quickly.
An electric charge roared through Caelan, and he needed to release it before it shorted out his damn brain. He rolled under the aim of one soldier and slammed his palm against the hot asphalt, summoning the lightning that gathered in the clouds.
Bolt after electric white bolt hammered the ground, reducing a dozen soldiers to blackened ash where they stood. When the lightning stopped, everyone still living remained frozen except for their eyes as they darted around, afraid to move or even breathe.
A small metal can sailed overhead and landed with a loud clatter. As it settled, it belched out thick plumes of gray smoke between Caelan and the soldiers.
“Run, you idiots!” a young female voice shouted.
Caelan twisted to see a girl crouched on a rooftop across the street, frantically waving for him to run into toward a nearby alley. There wasn’t time to second-guess it. The lightning had bought them some time, but they were too outnumbered for a frontal assault. Gray smoke was filling the air and the Empire soldiers were choking on it, blind to their positions. It was the perfect opening for escape, but it wasn’t going to last long.
Reaching out, he grabbed Drayce’s arm and tugged him to follow. “Rayne! Eno! Let’s move!” he yelled and headed in the direction the girl had motioned.
Caelan ran with Drayce on his heels. He could hear the heavy footsteps of Eno and Rayne following, but he didn’t want to chance looking over his shoulder. They darted through the alley and followed it behind a series of buildings to an intersection. Caelan found the young girl standing half a block away, once again waving for them to follow. They were at least moving in the opposite direction of the wall opening.