Call to War by Adam Blade Page B

helmet visor down and shouts, “Kill them all!” A soldier hurls a spear that wobbles in midair and flies wide. I snare his varkule and toss them both into more soldiers, biting another one. On my right, Nera lunges into a mass of them, who yell and collide in a whirl of splashing, fur, and scraping metal. Falkor, our new ally, slithers close with his Chosen Rider, and when a varkule rider readies a spear, Falkor flashes in and out again in a blur: The rider is down, and the varkule hobbles back, its front legs crushed. Falkor hisses, his red eyes shining through the pounding rain, and now Rufus’s hands tremble with light.
    When the soldiers attack, I beat my wings in a thunder-rain spray that knocks them back. I take off, spear a soldier with my beak, and grab two more in my talons, yanking them free of their saddles, fly high, and then I hurl them into the front lines of the advancing army. I circle fast to dive in a rush that makes Tanner cling tight to my neck. We are one, Tanner and I. My blood and strength flows in his veins. I can feel excitement in his touch. We fight together; my heart should swell with pride. Yet a cloud of darkness hovers over me. Tanner should never have worn that mask; he does not understand the power it yields.
    We join Gulkien, Nera, and Falkor to slam the army back against the ruined castle wall. As I connect, the soldiers shout in terror, their varkules scrambling to get away, colliding in a chaos of bodies and weapons against the stone. They break like a wave into a writhing mound.
    There are more behind me, led by Varlot, rushing through the wall gap. Varlot stumbles, but there is General Gor on top of the wall, shouting orders, directing the counterattack. More soldiers — and Hartwell villagers in blue — hurry in to surround us. I grab a fallen varkule in my beak; it snarls and flails, and I toss it into the incoming soldiers. They go down in a wall of puddle water, but more men quickly take their place. I cry out and beat my wings in the freezing water: “Make war!” My friends answer and attack.
    From Firepos’s back, Tanner leaned into the jumble of wounded soldiers, striking and stabbing. During the ambush, they had pinned the courtyard soldiers in a stampede of confusion against the ruined outer wall, but in another moment, the rest of the army would arrive, and most of these soldiers were still alive and full of panic. Tanner had to get close to Gor and the mask he was wearing. When a soldier in the pile blocked with his spear, Tanner pulled his sword back, then lunged for the man. The soldier’s varkule snapped at Tanner, but Firepos lanced its head with her beak.
    From Tanner’s right, there was a low war cry. He looked back: Nera and Castor were on that flank, and now a mass of soldiers and villagers rushed them on foot, swarming the courtyard. Castor urged Nera directly into them, and she pounced, claws and teeth bared. She broke a hole in the center of the line, with Castor stabbing and hacking from her back. Soldiers rushed her, surrounding Castor and Nera in a circle of spears. Nera swiped, the soldiers dodged back, and when Castor batted down an incoming spear, another lanced past his face.
    Blue light streaked by, hitting the soldiers on Nera’s left, and they exploded in a sudden cloud of burning armor, blood, and black-stone spray. Another beam shot high in a trail of steam. Rufus was shaking on Falkor’s back, his jaw set, the veins in his neck taut like tense ropes. His hands were glowing again. Falkor flicked the rain with his tongue, and when a soldier rushed past Nera, closing on them, Falkor snapped forward, then back. The soldier slumped and went down, his neck broken.
    â€œLook out, Tanner!” Gwen shouted.
    A crowd of villagers in blue tunics surrounded Firepos, three with crossbows aimed at her. She beat her wings: one tripped, Tanner tackled another, and Gwen sent her ax spinning into the third