Set in Stone (29 page)

Before soldiers could turn to give chase, the first haystack erupted into flames, followed in turn by each of the others. Fire roared high into the night, and heat seared Connor's face. The roaring of the flames drowned out conversation, and the smoke smelled like lantern oil. He retreated with the rest of the army from the raging inferno. The soldiers who had stood closest to the haystacks clutched at burned eyes or beat at singed clothing.

Then Connor gasped as he realized only Shona and Rory and the two Fast Rollers had made it through the firewall before the Wingrunner triggered the trap. They alone faced Ilse and her company.

As the soldiers regrouped under the direction of the other two Fast Rollers, Connor ran up the sloping bed of the mule cart and jumped up onto the low carriage shed roof. From there he could see over the burning barrier and, despite the bright lights, managed to focus on the tiny strike force.

Rory and the others had nearly reached Ilse's company, who had formed into a defensive line to meet them. They ran up a low mound of dirt, only seconds away from closing with the enemy. Rory's battle cry echoed back through the fire and stirred Connor's heart as he silently urged on the burly captain.

In that second, two huge rocks plummeted from above and crashed into the ground three strides in front of Captain Rory. They struck with terrific force and, with a loud whump, sank halfway into the earth, driving down the ends of thick planks concealed in the dirt. The opposite ends of the planks, acting as levers, burst out of the ground under the feet of the charging force, catapulting all four of them high into the air.

They soared above Ilse's band and crashed with terrific force into the wall of the manor house. Connor was surprised they did not smash through the wall entirely. They hung for a breathless second there before sliding down the face of the manor, leaving indentations in the façade.

Connor raised his bow, but could not make himself shoot Ilse, even though he could now make her out through the blinding light. He'd never killed a person before, and as much as he hated her for threatening his father, her bold cleverness forced a grudging respect.

As the attackers fell, Anika and Erich caught the two Fast Rollers. Using their own momentum against them, they whipped the two men around and launched them back over the flaming barrier, onto the leading ranks of the army.

Connor raised his bow again. He didn't mind shooting Anika. She terrified him so much he preferred to shoot her from a distance. He still shuddered at the memory of clinging to her wildly twisting form as she crashed through the dark forest by the river. He could barely believe he'd bested her, and never again wanted to stand so close.

Rory leaped to his feet and shouted at Ilse, "I'll rip your heart out."

Anika stepped in front of Ilse and beckoned Rory on with a grin. "Take mine heart first, soldier man."

Erich moved to intercept Shona at the same time. All four of them swelled with granite power, so Connor lowered his bow. The arrow would do nothing against stone-hard skin.

Shouting down in the courtyard drew his gaze. Some soldiers had pulled two wagons out of the carriage shed and were moving them into position to try to drive them through the flaming wall. The Guardians had gathered closer to the flames, but Connor could not tell what they intended.

The shouting came from soldiers trying to intercept the Wingrunner, who had shot out of the big barn, making for the Fast Rollers. Slingers threw stones at him, but the skinny fellow moved too fast, and the stones missed.

The Fast Rollers turned to face the new threat, but the Wingrunner sprinted past before they were set, and whipped out a braided steel cable, capped with a studded ball. Driven by his super-human speed, it cracked the nearest Fast Roller in the side of the head.

The man tumbled to the ground, the granite-gray skin of his face webbed with cracks. He did not move.

The Wingrunner continued past, ran up the same mule cart Connor had used, and leaped up onto the carriage shed roof.

Connor tried to bring his bow around, but the Wingrunner sprinted past with a laugh before he could. The man leaped off the far side and, when he hit the ground, accelerated around the back side of the manor house.

Donald appeared on the roof beside Connor. He dropped the small pack he wore and said, "That one's mine."

Then he too jumped off the far side of the roof and accelerated after the Wingrunner, spraying dirt in his wake. In a single heartbeat, he surged from a jog to the speed of a diving pedra, and disappeared around the manor house. His legs blurred, moving faster than should be possible.

Back by the manor doors, Erich leaped down the steps and met Shona with an overhand blow driven by all his strength. The crack of the impact sounded above the roar of the flames. Shona stumbled back under the sheer force of the blow, and Erich moved in to finish her off.

In that moment Tomas, thrown by the other two standing Fast Rollers, flew through the top of the flaming wall. He landed in a roll and came to his feet already running. He tackled Erich, and the two pummeled each other with their stone-hard fists. Shona returned to the fray, and the three fought with reckless abandon, using fists as much as swords. They all took heavy blows, but shrugged them off without slowing.

Meanwhile, Anika and Rory collided with a resounding crack. Their skin shone white in the bright light, and their forms shifted as they increased their tap-rate. She seemed to glow, the picture of a perfectly formed goddess, while his every muscle rippled with power. They grappled together, and for a moment looked more like they were embracing than wrestling.

Connor stared as the Guardians and Petralists fought. The stories Bruce had told them for years had seemed fantastical, but they completely failed to capture the magnificence of these warriors.

He could do nothing to help in that super-human battle, but he had to do something. So he jumped back down to the ground and, as soldiers started driving the two wagons toward the flame wall, he ran through the big barn to see if he could help Donald against the Wingrunner.

Behind him in the courtyard, the soldiers who had started charging the wall of fire suddenly crumpled to the ground screaming. Connor could not see what new evil powers toppled them, but their cries of pain filled him with a need to strike back at the Grandurians.

As soon as he stepped out through the far doors of the big barn, he caught sight of the Wingrunner running south toward him, with Donald closing the distance between them fast. The Wingrunner veered around in a tight turn that pointed him straight at the steep western edge of the plateau.

Donald poured on the speed as he moved to intercept, and Connor held his breath as the two raced toward the edge of the plateau in intercepting paths.

Before they collided, the Wingrunner suddenly reversed direction and dug his feet into the soft grass. He leaned far back and braced his legs as he skidded to a stop.

Donald tried to do the same.

His legs flew up into the air, and he slammed hard onto his back. Connor gasped. It looked like he had slipped, as if in mud. Donald's momentum drove him on, sliding on his back, barely slowing even though he tore at the grass with his hands in a desperate attempt to stop.

With a long, angry shout, he shot out over the edge of the plateau and plunged into the night, out of sight. Connor prayed the spirits might grant he land in the river.

The Wingrunner gave the spot where Donald slid off the cliff a roguish salute, sparking a fresh wave of anger in Connor. As the man closed fast on his position, Connor raised his bow.

He felt no hesitation about shooting this man.

The Wingrunner raced past and made an obscene gesture at Connor.

Connor released.

The arrow leaped away to catch the irritating little man, but the Wingrunner heard the twang and accelerated away with unbelievable speed. He shifted a little to the right as the arrow caught him, and sped up again. For a moment, the two flew across the plateau side by side, then the Wingrunner snatched the arrow out of the air, gave Connor a wave, and rounded the big barn out of sight.

"Tallan take you!" Connor shouted. He cringed and instinctively looked around to make sure his mother hadn't heard him shout such a vile curse, even though the man deserved it.

Gripping his bow hard, Connor ran back through the big barn, but paused to stare in shock. The charge at the flaming wall had broken, and dozens of soldiers, many of them clutching bleeding wounds, huddled behind the toppled wagons, using them as barriers. Others lay unconscious as comrades dragged them back from the fire wall.

What sickened him most was the thought of what Ilse would do when Rory's force finally figured out a way through her defenses, or when the flames burned out. Would she then bring forth the prisoners and murder Connor's father in a last desperate attempt to save herself?

Just then, something struck one of the wagon barriers and bounced to land at his feet. He picked it up and examined the jagged piece of granite, a little smaller than an egg. The Grandurians were using the local stones of his homeland to support their invasion. The thought added fuel to his towering anger.

He needed to shoot someone.

With one leather-armored arm raised to protect his face, he sprinted across the battlefield. Soldiers shouted at him to get down, but he did not pause. The two remaining Fast Rollers appeared from the carriage shed carrying the bed of Lord Gavin's coach. They had ripped off the wheels, the canopy, and the plush seats, and carried the heavy base of thick planks reinforced with steel like a giant shield.

As they moved toward the flames, clearly intent on driving through the barrier despite the missile barrage that had stopped the previous attempt, Connor jumped up onto the overturned mule cart and scrambled up onto the roof.

He crouched there and reached for another arrow just as Verena stepped out of the shadows and joined Ilse on the steps in the doorway. Ilse pointed toward the flaming haystacks, and Verena nodded.

Even though she looked vulnerable standing beside soldiers dressed in battle leathers wearing her red silk blouse and black vest, she drew an opaque square stone out of the leather satchel she carried. It was about as long as her forearm and looked unremarkable.

Verena stepped to the side of the doorway, pressed her back against the open door, and held the stone flat to her stomach. There, she crinkled her face as if concentrating. With her cute little nose, and her hair bound in a loose braid, she looked adorable.

Gale force wind erupted out of the stone she held pressed to her stomach and howled through the haystacks forming the flaming barrier. It whipped the burning hay into a cyclone of fire that boiled up into the air and rolled over the army caught in the courtyard.

Screams ripped the night as soldiers fled the firestorm, beating at burning clothes or trying to drag unconscious companions out of danger. The Fast Rollers, who had been preparing to storm through the firewall, tossed aside their barrier and ran to assist their comrades. Their stone-hard skin offered some protection as they led the army back toward the southern lip of the plateau where it fell away into a long slope downriver.

Connor had to do something. His bow rose almost before he willed it, and the arrow came effortlessly to his ear. All the anger and fear building inside him since the attack began burned through him and filled him with a terrible resolve.

He'd never killed anyone before.

It no longer mattered.

He sighted on Verena.

Chapter 31

Connor took a deep, steadying breath. Somehow Verena had triggered the wind with that stone. He could not imagine how, but that didn't matter. The force of the air drove her back against the wall where she fought to hold the stone steady. Her big blue eyes seemed enormous as she stared in open amazement at what she'd done.

Connor released the arrow.

The bow twanged as the arrow leaped away, flashed over the wall of flames, and shattered against the bottom edge of the stone in Verena's hands.

The impact twisted the stone against her stomach, and she yelped. The stone dipped forward, and the wind blasted it up against her sternum.

The force of the wind drove Verena up off her feet and the pressure of the air scraped her up along the door. She shouted in pain or surprise and wrenched at the stone, and managed to twist it a little.