Free Lonen's War by Jeffe Kennedy Page A

dress.”
    “It would be my privilege to assist,
Princess,” Priestess Febe said with a grave nod.
    It seemed they all would be taking on new
roles that day.
    “I’m going with you when you ride out,
Princess,” her guard Renzo said from behind her. “I won’t let you
be completely undefended.”
    “Thank you.” She stroked Chuffta’s long
tail. “But I have my own defenses, too.”
    “ Yes. We will do this together.”
    She smiled at the lizard’s fierce thought.
And maybe felt a little fierce, too.

~ 8 ~
    I n a way, fighting human
men came as a relief. Though the guard inside the walls put up a
fierce fight, fueled by the desperation of men defending their
homes and families, Lonen understood it better. And though
exhaustion dragged at him, that bleak despair no longer clouded his
mind. This kind of battle at least made sense.
    These men would not give up easily, either.
Though the sun had risen to midmorning, making him entirely too hot
in his furs, with no opportunity to doff them beyond shoving his
cloak behind his shoulders, the Báran guard showed no sign of
flagging. Lonen and his men had formed a defensive wedge inside the
gates, holding it in the narrow passage against the city guards who
came at them, but they hadn’t yet found a way to open the massive
doors. Could be magic, knowing these sorcerers.
    Destrye from outside arrived to supplement
their forces, finding the ropes and scaling the wall, then dropping
over. But more Bárans joined the guard attacking them—common folk
by their dress, mingling with the brightly uniformed guard. The
Destrye who added themselves to Lonen’s defense were men separated
from their units, still doggedly following the primary mission of
getting up and over the wall, then throwing into Lonen’s fight for
lack of any other objective. None had news of the rest of the army,
at least not that could be transmitted between pitched
skirmishes.
    Much depended on the Destrye forces outside
the walls, because they had arrived at a stalemate within it. It
sounded like utter chaos on the other side of the doors and, if
Lonen’s people weren’t going to make it through soon, it could turn
his occupation of the gate into a long-term proposition. Something
they had meager supplies to outlast. At least the narrow alcove
just inside the gates made it relatively simple for a small group
to defend.
    They might as well implement rotations and
settle in.
    Sending several of the recently arrived men
to push the line of defense forward, to gain them a bit of
breathing room, Lonen stepped back behind them. Then he shucked the
damn cloak, grateful for the immediate cooling. Too bad he couldn’t
discard it altogether, but he’d need it if they found themselves
still outside when the cold night settled in on them again.
    “Alby!” he called, waiting for his man to
disengage and similarly take refuge behind the wall of fighters.
Alby also immediately doffed his furs.
    “What kind of monstrous land has burning
days and freezing nights?” Alby panted, leaning hands on knees to
take full advantage of the breather.
    “I begin to understand why they came to Dru
for water, brutal as this place is,” Lonen agreed. “We need to set
up shifts. Only enough men to hold the gate, rotate out the ones
who’ve been fighting longest, fresher ones to the fore.”
    Alby eyed him wearily. “There’s not a man
here who hasn’t been fighting all night.”
    “Best judgement then. And find me whoever’s
come over the wall most recently. I need to know what’s going on
out there.”
    “Yes, my prince, but—” Alby’s eyes widened
just as a trumpet pealed. “Holy Arill incarnate!”
    Lonen spun to follow the direction of Alby’s
gaze, tired muscles singing into life as he lifted his axe to meet
the challenge, then lowered it again in slow bemusement. A white
banner rippled over a blaze of copper hair. The woman from the
window. Another dream made flesh in this nightmarish and