Peter Brett - The Daylight War

Only to have the consort claim the victory as his own, the eldest mind thought.

We should kill this one as soon as we are done Knowing him , the youngest ventured, before the consort can feed on his memories. Arlen could sense the treason in the thought, and for a moment all were silent.

With the Queen about to lay, we must offer the consort no advantage , the eldest agreed.

They resumed stripping his memories like tearing pages from a book. There was understanding when Arlen relived the night he tattooed himself, followed by shock and disbelief when, a few weeks later, he began to eat the flesh of demons.

He is unlike the other unifiers. He steals our power for his own.

By accident only , the eldest thought. The secret will die with him.

They continued to stride through his mind, and again there was a vibration of amusement as they witnessed Arlen’s time in the mud with Leesha. Again this one fails at mating!

There was less amusement as they watched the Battle of Cutter’s Hollow, but neither was there great concern. The coreling princes were taking the humans’ measure and finding them wanting.

But they hissed as they watched Arlen and Renna kill the mind that had come for them last new moon. He felt their rage, and — for just an instant — fear as they watched him scatter the defeated mind’s essence by casting it off a path to the Core.

But the feeling was short-lived. The demons resumed their cold search, watching the events of the last few weeks.

The female knows the secret to power , the local mind thought. She must be killed as well.

Arlen, who had thought his own will broken, suddenly felt the strength to resist again. He struggled against the overwhelming press, not seeming to shift it at all, but it was enough for the mind demons to take note.

He cares about her. There was surprise and amusement at the thought.

His anguish upon her death will be exquisite.

A fitting punishment for the trouble he has caused among the stock .

They probed.

His thoughts say she is out in the night even now …

For a moment the pressure eased as their thoughts turned out through the senses of their drones, searching for a sign of a woman with warded flesh, glowing bright with stolen magic.

Renna! Arlen focused all his strength in that instant, not trying to break free, but only to solidify the barest fingertip. The mind that held him kept him from re-forming enough to render his painted wards, but he managed just enough to draw one in the air. He had only a slight spark of power to give, but a spark was all that was required as the crate of thundersticks detonated.

The night sky lit up in a flash of intense heat. Roaring filled the air and the ground shook as trenches collapsed onto the demons digging them. The wave of pressure splintered trees and crumpled field demons like wads of paper.

Trapped by the will of his captors, Arlen was caught in the blast, though it could not harm him in his ethereal state. He tried to ignore the distraction, waiting for what seemed an eternity, but a moment later the link among the demons shattered along with their wardnet.

In that instant of shock, Arlen broke free of the mind that held him and fled down the nearest path. He felt the pull of the Hollow’s wardnet and in an eyeblink was there, Drawing magic like a drowning man breaking the surface would gasp air. Strength washed over him, driving away the pain and despair, but Arlen wasted no time enjoying it. Immediately he leapt skyward, seeking his former captor.

The mind demon, still reeling in shock from the loss of its greatward, was easily spotted by his power — a beacon in the night. His brothers had never left their own greatwards and remained safe, but deferential though they might have been to the elder mind when the odds were in their favour, Arlen knew the demons would not risk themselves to help him. Altruism was as alien a concept to them as love.

The elder mind demon’s mimic, in the form of a gigantic field demon, was loping towards its master at incredible speed, but wasn’t there to protect it yet. Arlen Drew hard on the Hollow wardnet, tracing heat and impact wards to send a huge blast of magic at the coreling prince. It had none of the subtlety of their assault upon him, but subtlety was not needed here.

The demon saw the attack coming and dematerialized with the speed of thought, but the magic travelled faster than thought and he was still mostly solid when the blast struck, killing both mimic and mind.

As before, the death scream of the mind demon sent psychic waves through the air more potent than any crate of thundersticks. Drones for more than a mile in every direction dropped dead from the shock of it, and even Arlen put his hands to his head to try to massage out the pain.

The other minds must have felt it, too, for the demons fighting the Hollowers, while not killed, fell into disarray. Arlen looked at his people and realized the price of his arrogance. In the minutes he had been trapped, the organized drones had taken a heavy toll.

Boulders and tree trunks lay scattered about the field amid the broken bodies of dozens of men and horses. There was no sign of Captain Gamon, and Thamos, his armour spattered with ichor, had lost his horse and was fighting spear and shield against a rock demon. Promise ran free, trampling field demons into the ground as Renna fought at his side.

Gared had kept his seat, but Rockslide now had Dug Butcher slung unconscious across his back as well. The Hollowers had killed their share, but the Core could spew an endless stream, whereas every human life was precious and irreplaceable if they hoped to win.

The sight of the dead and wounded filled Arlen with anger and he Drew again, ignoring the burning in his skin as he sent a blast of power into a knot of field demons, clearing a path back to safety.

‘Retreat,’ he called, sending his voice far and wide. ‘Keep your heads, but move back to the greatward quick as you can. Work’s done for now.’

Twice more he drew wards of heat and impact, incinerating groups of demons to help his people back to safety. He used the same wards Leesha used to pull moisture from the air to water her garden to drown a pack of flame demons that tried to give chase. They fell to the ground, steaming and writhing as they gurgled water, glowing eyes going dark.

When the Hollowers were safe, Arlen turned to the stockpiles of boulders and trees the corelings had built, pulling more and more power as he began destroying them.

He Drew so hard, the entire wardnet began to flicker and dim. Arlen’s throat and nose were on fire like he had eaten a handful of Krasian firepeppers. His muscles ached and his fingernails grew hot. His eyes were dry and stung when he blinked.

But there were stockpiles still, so he pulled yet more, until suddenly everything went black, and he felt himself falling.

Forgot to breathe again , he thought just before he hit the ground.

333 AR Autumn

Second Night of New Moon

Leesha was in the temporary hospit in New Rizon when the flashes of light began. She was desperately trying to stitch a man’s chest back together, but twice needed to stop work and lean over him, shielding the wound with her own body as explosions shook the building and dust clattered from the rafters. Outside, people were cheering and screaming in equal measure.

‘What in the Core is going on out there?’ she demanded.

‘I’ll find out, mistress.’ Wonda grabbed her bow, glad to have something to do.

She returned a few minutes later. ‘Mistress, you need to come quick.’