Brimstone Angels

Farideh hesitated. She couldn’t tell Mehen why she didn’t want to go. Better he think she was so fragile as to be afraid of some thorns. Not like Havilar, she thought, as she ducked into a break in the canes where some animal had made a path, and wove her way through the brambles.

The fat smell of blackberries baking in the sun and the buzz of wasps swallowed Farideh. The brambles snagged at her loose robe with every step. When she’d woken that morning to the already-humid air, she’d thought it better than her leather armor. Now, as she untangled thorns from the fabric and waited for Lorcan to appear, she just felt foolish.

She finally stepped free of the thorns and into the open forest. On the other side of the brambles, the hill fell away down through a sparse gathering of pines and spreading maples, their feet carpeted in ferns and overlaid with the remnants of cracked boulders.

And no devils. She waited a moment, but there was nothing. Perhaps he’d had his fun needling her while Mehen grew suspicious.

A little searching found her sword caught on the overhanging canes that had launched themselves over their predecessors in greedy arcs down the hill. She ducked beneath them and wound her hand between the thorns and blackberries, then snaked the sword out, hilt-first, the same way. Through the brambles, she could just hear Havilar and Mehen’s voices, but not what they were saying. She sheathed the sword.

A breeze stirred the air and lifted the sweaty hair off Farideh’s neck.

Out of the breeze, a pair of hands grabbed ahold of her shoulders. Startled, Farideh turned sharply, bringing her elbow around to slam into her attacker’s arm. As she turned, she caught a glimpse of Lorcan’s red skin and his wings. She pulled her arm back against her chest, sending her off balance, and onto one knee.

“Gods,” she hissed. She glared up at him. “Why must you do that?”

“I was starting to worry your arm had been cut off,” Lorcan said, sounding anything but worried. “Or were you just playing hard to get?”

Farideh let him help her to her feet. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“You forced me to,” he said. “You’re going to get hurt if you keep on like this.”

“What? Havi? She gets enthusiastic, but she knows when to pull-”

“Not your sister-although we can discuss what an utter waste of time that was, later. No, I meant the orcs.”

Farideh shook her head. “What orcs?”

He turned her to face north, and left his hands lingering on her shoulders. “Other side of the road, up on the hillside there. There’s an ambush waiting. Maybe a dozen fellows-axes, arrows, at least one shaman. A wonder dear Mehen didn’t spot it.”

“That’s …” She turned out of his hands. “… kind of you, actually. We’ll avoid them.”

“Of course you will.” He smiled and her heart beat to match the throb of her scar. “And even if you didn’t, what are a few orcs? You’d burn them to ashes. I’m not worried about that.”

“What then?”

“Darling,” he said, taking hold of her arm and walking her back toward the part in the brambles, “they don’t want you. They don’t even know you’re here. They’re waiting for that caravan, which is carrying a score of people, including children. Also at least two priests-the kind who won’t be happy to see you. The orcs are out of supplies, they’re lost and they’re hungry-they aren’t looking to leave survivors. Which means you’re going to have to decide.” He ran a finger over her jaw and said, low in her ear, “Do you keep safe and hidden and wait for the people to die, or do you aid the caravan with everything you have?”

A scream split the air, and Lorcan vanished. Farideh stumbled at the sudden lack of him.

A part of her-the part that was still Arush Vayem through and through-insisted she drop to the ground and stay behind the wall of thorns where it was safe. This wasn’t her fight. She couldn’t help. And if she did, the priests would be after her.

She pushed past it and past the brambles. It might be safe this breath. It wouldn’t be safe if the orcs triumphed. And people were going to die.

“Ambush!” she cried, as she broke through to the road. “There’s an ambush! Orcs!”

Mehen and Havilar were already on their feet, watching the caravan downhill. Mehen’s yellow eyes locked on Farideh and he pulled her through the last of the brush.

“A dozen,” she said. “Archers, axemen, a priest or something. There are children in the caravan.”

Mehen spat out a curse and scooped up his pack. “Where did you-”

“Lorcan,” she said, her pulse in her throat. She took up her haversack.

“Bloody, karshoji henish-”

“I know. He was only warning-”

“Later,” Mehen growled. “Come on.” They raced down the hill toward the caravan and the orcs pouring out of the woods. Mehen slid to a stop, taking in the battlefield.

“Farideh, stay here,” Mehen barked.

“I could cast-”

“No,” he shouted, halting long enough to turn and make sure she stopped as well. “Keep out of the way. You stab them if they get too close. Havilar, with me. Don’t get sloppy.”

“Wait!” Farideh called, but they both sprinted into the chaos of the road, and were gone.

A few score feet separated Farideh from the end of the caravan, from the clatter of blades, from the bellows of orcs, the screaming horses, and the singing of arrows through the air. From the heavy thud that carried farther than she’d ever expected as an arrow sank deeply into a man’s chest and toppled him. Mehen was right-she was too nervous for fighting.

She had to do something. She could do something-she thought of the spells Lorcan had given her. She could take out the archers without entering the fray. It was a better solution than Mehen’s, by far. She sheathed her sword.

Spurred by her nerves, the powers that swirled through her spread outward in a cloak of shadowy smoke, a miasma that blurred her and made it harder to spot where she stood. A little protection at least.

She tried to focus, to draw up the powers Lorcan’s pact granted her, but her nerves were jangling. There were too many eyes ready to stare at her.

There are too many eyes, she thought, but they’re too busy to notice you. If you don’t do something they’ll all be dead, and their eyes will be treats for the crows.

She clutched at the stream of magic that ran through her and hurled a rain of fiery bolts toward the forest, far from the crowd, over where the arrows seemed to fall from. She cast another, frustrated-who knew if she were even hitting anything?

Then she saw a boy, about her own age, running toward the thorns that lined the road, chased by orcs. He didn’t see her-she was sure-but she saw the look of fear in his eyes.

The orcs were going to kill him, and he knew it.

No one else was going to save him. She drew hard on the powers of the Hells.

CHAPTER TWO

A chorus of bowstrings sang out and the driver of the wagon behind them screamed, an arrow sunk into his side. Orcs boiled out of the brush, axes clattering on their shields. The little girls in the wagon woke, eyes wide, startling at screams and too shocked to listen to their father’s orders to lie flat in the cart.

All around Brin, people who’d been riding along, quiet as you please, pulled weapons from under provisions and wagon seats and jumped from their carts under a hail of arrows. Tam leaped out of the cart as well and unwound the spiked chain he wore around his narrow waist.

“Shar and hrast.” The priest spat. He shoved a dagger into Brin’s hand. “Under the cart. Stay low and hamstring them as they pass.” His chain lashed out, suddenly alive with holy fire, and caught an orc that sprang onto the road by the throat.

Brin’s ears were buzzing loud enough to drown out the screaming. He looked down at the blade in his hand- rougher than the one in his pack, smaller than the short sword he had in the cart bed. What had the priest said?