The war horns shattered the dawn as the Alliance army crested the ridge like a black tide.
“Positions!” Astrid’s voice cut through the chaos as our forces scrambled to meet the assault. “Every sword to the line!”
“How many?” I shouted, drawing my blade as enemy warriors poured down the hillside.
“Too many!” Nyx appeared beside me, her face grim. “But they’re disorganized. Desperate. Fenric’s death broke their coordination.”
“Then we break their spirit!” I raised my sword high. “For the triple crown!”
“For the territories!” Astrid’s battle cry echoed across our ranks as steel met steel in a deafening crash.
I carved through the enemy front line, Astrid at my back, our movements synchronized like a deadly dance. Her blade painted silver arcs through the morning air as she cut down attacker after attacker.
“Still think three mates was too many?” she snarled, spinning to take down two rogues with one sweeping strike.
“Ask me when we’re not fighting for our lives!” I parried a sword thrust, retaliating with a strike that dropped my opponent.
“Kieran!” Lilith’s voice rang across the battlefield, power crackling in every syllable. “The wounded, I need cover!”
I spun to see her kneeling in the center of our formation, her hands blazing with silver fire as she channeled healing energy into a fallen warrior. Enemy soldiers were pushing toward her position.
“Protect the healers!” I roared. “Nothing gets through!”
“You heard him!” Astrid vaulted over a fallen enemy, her sword seeking the throat of an archer taking aim at Lilith. “Form a circle!”
Our warriors moved with practiced precision, shields locking together around Lilith’s position. But the enemy kept coming, wave after wave crashing against our defenses.
“We can’t hold them forever!” a soldier shouted, blood streaming from a gash on his forehead.
“We don’t need forever!” Nyx appeared with reinforcements, her blade already dripping crimson. “Just long enough!”
“Long enough for what?”
“For this!” She pointed toward the eastern ridge, where our cavalry was finally cresting the hill. “Charge!”
The sight of fresh troops sent a cheer through our ranks and visible despair through the enemy’s. But their commander—a massive brute with Alliance colors—wasn’t finished.
“Retreat, it's dead!” he bellowed to his faltering forces. “Kill the prince and claim the bounty!”
“Bounty?” I cut down another attacker, my attention split between combat and conversation.
“Fifty thousand gold for your head” the commander roared across the battlefield. “Alive or dead!”
“Flattering,” Astrid snarled, driving her elbow into an enemy’s face. “They really want you gone.”
“Too bad for them,” I said, pressing forward through the melee. “I’m not that easy to kill!”
“Prove it!” The Alliance commander broke through our line, his massive war hammer swinging toward my head.
I rolled aside, the weapon cratering the ground where I’d been standing. “Gladly!”
We circled each other while the battle raged around us. He was huge—easily seven feet of muscle and scars—but slow. I used my speed, darting in to slash at his flanks before dancing away from his retaliatory strikes.
“Stand still and die like a prince!” he roared.
“Stand still and die like an idiot!” I shot back, my blade finding the gap in his armor.
He howled in pain and rage, his hammer smashing down with enough force to crack stone. I rolled away, but felt the wind from the blow ruffle my hair.
“Kieran!” Lilith’s voice cut through the chaos. “Behind you!”
I spun just in time to catch another Alliance warrior’s sword on my blade. The impact sent shockwaves through my arms, but I held firm.
“Thanks for the warning!” I drove my knee into the attacker’s gut, then followed up with a strike to his throat.
“Don’t thank me yet!” She pointed past me to where the Alliance commander was raising his hammer again. “Duck!”
I dropped just as Astrid’s thrown dagger whistled over my head and buried itself in the commander’s eye. He toppled backward like a felled tree, his weapon clattering harmlessly to the ground.
“Show off!” I called to her.
“Somebody has to save your royal ass!” she shouted back, already engaging another group of enemies.
The commander’s death broke what little organization the Alliance forces had left. Without their leader, they began to retreat in earnest, their battle cries turning to screams of panic.
“Let them run!” Nyx commanded as some of our soldiers moved to pursue. “We’ve won! No need for a massacre!!”
“Speak for yourself,” Astrid muttered, but she lowered her sword.
The battlefield fell quiet except for the moans of the wounded and the harsh breathing of survivors. Bodies littered the ground—enemy and ally alike—but we were still standing.
“Casualties?” I asked, wiping blood from my blade.
“Lighter than expected,” Nyx reported, her voice carrying grim satisfaction. “Fenric’s death really did break their coordination.”
“The wounded?” I looked to Lilith, who was still moving between fallen soldiers, her hands glowing with healing light.
“Most will live,” she said without looking up from her work. “But we lost good people today.”
“We honor them by surviving,” I said. “By building something worth their sacrifice.”
“Pretty words,” Astrid said, but there was no mockery in her voice. “Think they’ll stay away now?”
“For a while,” Nyx said. “Long enough for us to consolidate our power.”
“And if they come back?”
“Then we’ll be ready,” I said, looking at my three mates—bloodied but unbroken, exhausted but victorious. “All of us.”
“Together,” Lilith added, finally straightening from her healing work.
“As one,” Nyx finished.
“The Triple Crown,” Astrid said with a fierce grin. “I like the sound of that.”
I pulled all three of them into an embrace that tasted of victory and blood and the promise of peace.
“It’s done,” I said.
“For now,” Nyx corrected.
“For now is enough,” Lilith said, her silver light finally fading.