CHAPTER NINE

The Battle For Heimgaard

  Aster bit her lip. Not only had this trainwreck of a person she’d somehow bound herself to managed to lock away his key inside his familiar. But now he’d also managed to bait them into a trap the likes of which she never could’ve believed to be possible. There was no way out.

  “No, no, no, this can’t be right,” Isaac muttered beside her. She felt like throwing him off the wall, but no doubt that sycophant of a rock he had down below would catch him. Rocky appeared to be just as obsessed with Isaac as Isaac himself was with Finn. In that way they deserved each other.

  She’d hoped Inga would use her power and deliver the news that any right-minded person would’ve realized by themselves ages ago. Surviving the endpoint was an anomaly, not the norm. Isaac’s brother was dead. If she hadn’t heard of him then he hadn’t survived, it was that simple. But the man simply refused to listen!

  She glared at him, and she really would have pushed him off the wall then, but the shock of what she saw before her kept her from acting.

  Chaaron. She shivered. The things she’d seen that woman do, they defied all logic. How had both her and Ronan managed to lose against Crassus? Had they started infighting? Crassus was strong, she’d never deny that, but there had to be a limit to how many people one person could fight at one time and still come out on top.

  Aster sawed her lip back and forth between her teeth. Agnes had been unharmed, and she’d arrived before them, that fact worried her. She must’ve ran for Heimgaard the moment the fighting broke out, but why? Perhaps more of Chaaron’s group had defected as well, at least that could help explain why they’d lost. The problem with that theory though was that Ronan would never let someone defect, she knew that much personally. Something didn’t add up. The only person who could’ve defected without Ronan’s approval, was Chaaron, and indeed so she had. The proof of that lay right in front of her.

  Chaaron and Kin Tao’s golden platoon, cooperating. It had to be some sick joke. They’d spent the last ten years fighting each other only to now put that behind them? No, there had to be something she could use there. More golden soldiers had died by Chaaron’s hand than anyone else, including Tejahl herself.

  Aster squinted. The soldiers were led by that bumbling fool, Augustin. She’d had always thought he was too dumb to lead anyone, much less an entire army. But she couldn’t deny that the man was strong. In particular that golem of his, would pose a problem. She’d seen Augustin fight before, he used his soldiers and his giant golem as a slow moving formation that served as a foundation that protected him while he stood on top of the golem and sent out short to medium ranged attacks with his extending sword. It looked ridiculous, much like the man himself, but it did work.

  The golem reminded Aster of Rocky. Maybe Isaac’s new familiar could be their ticket out of this. She looked at the rock creature below. Two large eyes moped at her. He acted like an oversized puppy. Still, despite the pathetic demeanor, he appeared strong enough.

  “Do you think we could make Rocky throw some rocks at them? We should test how they react.”

  Isaac didn’t answer. He sat cross legged on the wall, eyes closed.

  “Hey!” She shoved him with one foot.

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  He toppled over and gasped like he’d been submerged in cold water. “Would you stop that? I’m not talking to you, now kindly fuck off.”

  “What do you think you’re doing?”

  He returned to his cross legged sitting position and scowled at her. “I’m trying to map out where everyone is.”

  Aster raised her eyebrows. “How?”

  “By listening to the voices from their keys of course! If I have this stuff figured out then I thought you of all people would have as well.”

  “You idiot. You only hear the keys that are synchronized to you.”

  That made him pause. “You do?”

  “Yes! Now if you haven’t noticed we’re in the middle of a siege here. If you want to storm off in indignation to pout then you can do so after you’ve helped me survive this.”

  “But I can hear all of them. Everytime I go into the void there’s hundreds of voices shouting at me.”

  “You’re sure that’s not just you being crazy?”

  “Hey! I’m serious here, I really can hear them!”

  Aster crossed her arms across her stomach. “Alright, then tell me where in those clouds Chaaron is and I’ll kill her right now.”

  Isaac didn’t answer, he just closed his eyes. Aster waited. His eyebrows tensed as if he had a nightmare. She leaned closer, putting her face in front of his until they almost touched.

  “Well?”

  His eyes opened. “I— I can’t hear her. There’s no voices coming from the clouds.”

  “See? I told you. You only hear the keys that are synchronized to you, and even then, if someone else is using that key you can only hear it when they’re asleep.”

  “But I heard Crassus’s keys! That’s how I knew he was coming.”

  “Are you sure you didn’t just hear the vibrations from his footsteps, he’s not exactly quiet you know.”

  “Then how come you didn’t hear them yourself, you’ve got way better instincts than me.”

  Aster didn’t know how to rebuke that argument, so she stayed silent.

  Isaac’s face brightened. “Oh!” He fumbled with his coat, then drew out a set of two silver keys.

  “Where did you get those?”

  Isaac ignored her. “If what you say is true and the voices means I’m synchronized with the keys, that should mean I can use these!” He held them tight in his hand and before Aster could warn him, he closed his eyes. Aster held her breath.

  Nothing happened.

  Isaac made a frustrated sound. “What’s wrong, why doesn’t it work?”

  Aster almost felt bad for him. Almost. “Are you done fucking around?”

  Isaac scowled at her. That was fine by her. He could be as angry as he wanted, it made no difference.

  “Get rocky down there to throw some rocks at Augustin, alright? No more experiments.”

  He stood up and surveyed the poison clouds below them. His eyes lingered on the golden soldiers.

  “I need someone to distract them while I try to pick off some stragglers.”

  He swiveled around and searched the crowds inside the walls. This time it was Inga he focused on.

  “You’re not listening are you?”

  He wasn’t listening.

  “For fuck’s sake, Isaac, we’re going to die, do you realize that?”

  He motioned to Rocky and a massive hand reached up to the wall. He walked onto the hand. “They’ll attack us any second now. You stay on the wall and defend it.”

  Aster couldn’t believe the gall of that man. Strutting around, giving orders to her. “I’m not gonna stay on the wall. The first thing Augustin’s going to do is to swipe everyone off it.”

  Isaac waved away her concerns. “Then stay in the air, I don’t care, just defend the wall, you’re the combat expert here. Make sure no one gets over it.”

  She prepared a few well chosen string of words to let him know just how much she thought of his so-called plan, but he was gone.

  Birk’s shrill voice carried over the cacophony of panicked voices below. “They’re coming!”