The other disciples must have been close.

"Val, focus on the warriors." I turned in a tight circle, scanning the perimeter. "Piercey, guard Nash."

"You hear them?" Piercey whispered.

I nodded. He should have been able to as well, so the fact that he couldn't told me his nerves had gotten the best of him. Piercey truly wasn't a warrior. His panic would make him sloppy. Not good.

I breathed out slowly.

We were surrounded. Just couldn't see them. I counted eight heartbeats, not including the disciple on the field who had stopped at the edge of the army, staring. No, waiting. Waiting for her time to strike. Studying us as we planned to study them.

"Draw them in!" I notched an arrow, trusting Piercey to overcome his fear. He didn't move. Didn't even blink. His eyes subtly narrowed and the air around us warmed.

Cries ripped through the air. Three disciples came flying toward us from the woods, all forced over by Piercey.

They stopped mid-air and dropped suddenly. Piercey's nostrils twitched. Someone must have severed the tether of his power.

No matter. They were close enough to each other now. I unleashed three arrows, one that sliced through flesh and bone and cut the beating heart to silence. Another thudded against what felt like a wall. The third one snapped mid-air.

One of my arrows stuck out from a man’s back. He must have stopped it at the last second from tearing through his heart. I could try to push it through, but I wouldn’t waste my power on a battle of wills with an arrow that may splinter rather than kill him.

I darted down the hill into tall grass and raced for the disciples with Nash on my heels. All across the field behind us, the sound of snapping rang out like a song, one plucking chord after the next. I glanced back to see the Prophet's warriors gawking. Val had cut their bowstrings, drawing a grin from me.

It took all I had to keep my back to my people as they warred with the Prophet's forces behind us. I could hear their battle cries, their blades clashing, the shrieks of the injured.

Val had them. I had to trust her, because Piercey did, and that meant I should too.

I turned my full attention to the disciples.

They raced for us, all seven of them still left alive, some emerging for the first time from the woods. The fear pumped energy into my muscles so I ran faster than I thought possible. Before we reached them, the two on the far end stumbled to a stop and had to strain to merely walk forward, so that their veins bulged against their muscles. Piercey was flexing his power and I couldn’t help but be impressed. I'd been wrong to think his fear would hold him back just because he'd had a weak moment.

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One of the women shot to me with an impossible speed and stabbed her knife for my gut. I parried with a gust of power driving my blade, nearly managing to wrench hers free of her grasp. Nash ran right past us. It took all of the discipline I had not to follow him and to trust that Piercey would protect him.

My senses honed in on the disciple closest to me.

I knocked my attacker back a step with a two-handed swipe. Followed it with a boot to her gut. Sliced through the tender flesh of her forearm.

The ground trembled beneath the strain of our power until it was quaking. The grass ripped open into a brown tear, like a massive smile. Nash leapt over the opening chasm and landed on the other side with the rest of the disciples.

Damn it, Piercey had better guard him well.

Instinctively, I balanced myself as I charged forward, but it took such little effort, I realized someone else was stabilizing me. Val or Piercey behind me. They must have been doing the same for Nash because he swept both of his blades in opposite directions with no issues, fending off two disciples who rushed for him.

I needed to make it to him and stop wasting time on this one.

Fury flooded me with heat as I feigned a lunge and kicked the inside of her knee instead. Before she could recover, I thrust my blade forward and caught her side, tearing through flesh and grating against ribs. Nails reached for me like claws. I slammed them with the force of my power.

Snap.

The nails ripped free in a spray of blood. A scream tore from her lips.

I shoved her back toward the growing crack in the ground with my power and she tumbled to the bottom. Clumps of dirt and rocks that had shaken loose fell over her as the ground swallowed her whole. The bloodied stump of her jagged nails reached up through the dirt. And then she was gone.

My heart panged as I leapt over the grave that had swallowed the disciple whole. I didn't even know her name. Fighting this way didn't feel the same as battle. Our power was unfair.

This was a war without honor.

But I couldn't spare a single moment mourning a woman who had given her life and power to the Prophet when my people were counting on me.

Ahead of me, Nash alone appeared to fight on stable ground, though the earth beneath him shook as well. Piercey and Val continued to stabilize us both as I ran and jumped to the other side of the gaping ground. Nash’s blades didn’t stop dancing for an instant. He held off two disciples as he slashed one blade toward one and blocked a hit with the other.

The disciples fighting him struggled for breath. That was when I caught the indentation ringing their necks. One of our people was trying to strangle them. And as they fended off the power, Nash launched a full-on attack. It really was working.

I swung my sword for the hip of one. The man caught it with his own blade, but Nash’s twin swords snapped like a cobra and skewered him through the gut. Blood poured out of his slack mouth. The other disciple swung for Nash, but her sword caught mid-air and her body trembled as she tried to bring it down on him. I advanced for her when a powerful force wrapped around my arms and jerked me back a step.

The other disciples had learned from our example. We needed to regroup and launch the next stage of our attack. Growling, I broke free of the force, the pressure squeezing me right down to my bones. I shoved Nash hard through the air toward the hill where we'd hid. Piercey would have to do the rest.

I threw my head back and screamed as I focused on throwing the disciples back. They all toppled, except for one, who dug her heels into the ground and snarled, managing to only slide a few inches.

Without hesitating, I rushed to retreat, eyes on Nash as an unseen hand pulled him through the air. He disappeared on the hill and within seconds I was there with him, helped along by Piercey.