Tir Alainn - The House Of Gaian - Tir Alainn - The House of Gaian Part 78
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Tir Alainn - The House of Gaian Part 78

Liam gripped Edgar's arm hard enough to make the other man wince.

"Listen to me. That creature, no matter what it once had been, was a nighthunter, and we burn nighthunters. That's all the ladies need to know.

That's all they ever need to know."

"All right, Baron. If it's that important to you, I'll do just as you say."

Stepping away from Edgar, he approached Elinore.

"Where's Keely?" Elinore asked quietly.

Liam swallowed hard. "Keely's dead."

Elinore looked at Breanna. "You have to go. I know that. But be careful,

Liam. Please be careful. Not just for my sake, but for hers."

He kissed her cheek. "I'll be back."

"See that you are. We'll look after Breanna."

Since he could think of nothing more to say, he strode to the stables,

mounted his horse, and rode away toward the battle.

Chapter 48.

waning moon When they were in sight of the low rise, Ashk and Selena reined in.

Ashk scanned the land in front of her, troubled by the smell of burned meat that hung in the air. There were too many men moving toward the rise for

her to see much, but the skittish way they swung around objects caught her attention.

"What's burning?" Selena asked.

At that moment, a ball sailed over the low rise and smashed into a company

of men. Blood fountained from the neck of one man as he fell. Others

screamed as clothes and skin burst into flames."Mother's tits! What is that?" Ashk saw one of the western Fae riding toward her and raised her hand in a commanding summons. When he reined in, she looked at the barely conscious man he carried in front of him and felt her gorge rise. She hoped he was a stranger and that was the reason she couldn't recognize his face. "Report."

"We're outnumbered," the huntsman said. "And spread out too thin. Our

longbowmen have managed to keep them from coming up the rise, but there's hundreds of them marching across that field and we-" He glanced at the burned and wounded men.

"What is that?" Ashk said.

"Fire," Selena replied in a queer voice. "But not natural fire. Not the Mother's fire."

The huntsman nodded. "One of the humans said the Black Coats have

catapults. They're firing clay pots that shatter when they hit the ground or a man. Some are filled with scraps of metal that are flung in all directions when the pot breaks. Some have a liquid that burns when it meets air. Some have both. We're losing a third of the men before they make it up to the rise to fight."

"Where are you going with him?" Ashk asked.

"Message from Lyrra and Gwenn. They're sending carriages, wagons,

anything they can to bring the wounded back to the gentry houses. They should be- There!" The huntsman pointed.

Ashk looked over her shoulder. Lyrra might have thought to send the

conveyances, but Gwenn, married to a baron, would have known which ones to send. A pony cart, an open carriage, a farm wagon. They could travel over rougher land, but how would they get through the stone walls?

As the thought took shape, she watched a section of the stone wall in the path of the conveyances break apart, watched the stones roll out of the way.

And noticed the man on horseback.

"That Son must have the gift of earth," Selena said. "He's clearing the way

for the wagons."

Another ball sailed over the rise, hit the ground, and set the grass on fire.

Ashk tensed. If the field on this side of the rise began to burn ...

The flames diminished. The ground smoked.

She breathed out a sigh of relief. They might not be able to stop men from getting burned, but as long as the House of Gaian was fighting with them,

they wouldn't have to worry about being trapped between the enemy's army and a wall of fire.

"See those trees?" Ashk pointed and waited for the huntsman's nod. "Tell

the men driving those conveyances they are not to go beyond those trees."

"The catapults are positioned midfield," the huntsman said. "I don't think they have the range to reach that far. But if they push us back enough to

move them-"

"They won't," Selena said. "Go now. We have work to do."

When the huntsman rode away, Selena pointed to the stretch of rise right in

front of them. "You have to get up there and pull our men off that piece of the rise."

"If we open up a hole, the enemy will pour through it," Ashk protested.

"No, they won't. Because I'll be there to meet them."

Selena's hair fluttered, as if caught by a light breeze. Dust stirred around Mistrunner's hooves. The Huntress looked at her with cold, cold eyes, and the face was a perfect mask that held no hint of the woman Ashk was coming to know.

Saying nothing, Ashk urged her horse into a canter and headed up the rise.

She stopped a few lengths from the top and went the rest of the way on foot, pulling an arrow from her quiver and nocking her bow as she got her first look at the field and the enemy.

The huntsman was right. There were hundreds of men marching toward the rise. Longbowmen marched at the back of each company, pausing long enough to aim and fire, then marching on again while they nocked another arrow. Men worked the catapults in midfield, sending their deadly balls over the rise. The road, barely visible from where she stood, had become a cloud of dust, stirred by the feet of men who clashed and maimed and killed.

It would take hours for all the Clans and human companies to reach this place, Ashk thought with despair. The camps were spread out all around Willowsbrook while the enemy must have come up in one mass hidden by the trees at the other end of the field.

She shook her head. Time to get on with the task at hand.

"Huntsmen," she said, pausing a moment to draw her bow, aim, and fire.

"Move the line to either side of this position. Stagger the archers in a double line."

"But... Hunter," one of them protested, "we can't-"

Ashk looked over her shoulder and saw what was coming up the rise at the

speed of a cantering horse. "Move!" she shouted, shoving the man on her

left. "Move, move, move!"The men looked back, cried out in fear, and scrambled away from that part of the rise.

Ashk ran a few steps to the left, then flung herself to the ground, pressing

herself into it while it quivered beneath her.

Shouts of triumph from the enemy as they surged forward. Screams of fear as that funnel of earth and wind topped the rise and went down the other

side, straight into the men who had been rushing up to break through the opening.