Free Golden Tide (Song of the Aura, Book Four) by Gregory J. Downs Page A

her.
     
    That was their secret. Kill the Coalskin, hit the heart of the golem, and it would die.
     
    She landed in front of her men, trying to scream with excitement… and fear. She had not meant to do that… not so quickly. It had just come . Things were changing, too fast. She wasn’t strong enough. Not strong enough…
     
    “ By the Aura,” gasped one soldier. He was in awe of her, she saw, as were the others. They kept in a huddle, looking as if they were deciding between trying to kiss her and trying to run away.
     
    “ Give me a bloody weapon,” she growled. One of the soldiers threw her a sheathed sword. She tried to catch it, but her hand would not work, and it crashed down beside her. Cursing, she fumbled for it, finally clasping it between her hands and managing to make it hang on her belt. The men seemed not to see. Fine with her. She looked at her hands.
     
    Blood and Wind, she thought. Just like Vail. She had tried to heal him, in that time that seemed so very long ago… but it had hurt him more. Now she had done the same to herself. So much power, so much lightning… her hands were beginning to turn black, and flaky. She could barely bend her fingers, except around the hilt of weapons she knew so well.
     
    The price of victory.
     
    “ Windmaster…” one of the men said in a hushed voice. Somehow she had not realized the quiet that had fallen. That couldn’t be good. She turned, slowly, hand on the sword-handle, ready to draw.
     
    Five golems, waiting outside the smoking ruins of the gate.
     
    “ So this is how it ends…” Karanel whispered. It would not be a bad way to go. She could feel the power within her, the Power of Sky filling her and craving to be used, let loose, burning out of her in sparks of lightning and gales of wind…
     
    So many things were different, now that Vail had died. She had held him, and he… he…
     
    He had given himself to save her.
     
    Turning abruptly, she faced the soldiers. Behind her now, one of the golems outside screeched, and charged through the gate.
     
    “ All of you, flee!” she said. “Flee the dalheim! Find your fellows! Get everyone out, and flee to the North! Meet the King’s army, and turn back this tide another day!” The men fled… all but one.
     
    “ What in Vast are you going to do?” shouted the lone soldier.
     
    “ Die,” Karanel said simply, “And kill the golems first. Now go!” The man ran.
     
    Karanel turned, letting the Power of Sky surge through her. The five golems had broken through, and the first was mere yards away.
     
    “ FOR VAIL!” Karanel shouted, spinning and drawing her blade. Above her, where no clouds had been before, a storm swirled down from the heavens, light flickering along its rim.
     
    The golem leaped. Karanel swung her sword into the grassy earth, plunging the blade in deep.
     
    A bolt of lightning arced out of the sky, blasting the golem into oblivion. Winds of horrible hurricane strength tore at Karanel’s pale braid, whipping it around her neck, but she felt no fear. Not anymore. When she could see again, the golem was a smoking hulk of metal debris. The sky was dark with clouds, and a heavy rain pelted her from all sides.
     
    The last four golems had her trapped. She could feel her body shaking, starting to snap under the strain of so much Striding. Killing them one by one might work, but it might not. She did not have time. The men… I hope the men escaped through the postern gates. I hope. I hope…
     
    Karanel gritted her teeth. The sword she had stuck in the ground was glowing a blue so bright she could barely look at it. The world was falling apart around her, growing darker and darker…
     
    Fire streaked from the golems; four deathly balls of flame that would not even leave her ashes behind. The men must have made it out. They must have.
     
    Karanel leaped into the air, higher than she had ever done before. The wind carried her as she willed, and when she had soared above