Read Online Uleni's Gamble by D.R. Rosier - Free Book Online

mages they were concerned if the enemy troops found out he was alive, they would retreat. Their best chance to put an end to this was to decimate Uleni’s ability to wage war. He also could not drain his magic again to hide; he would need it for the battlefield.
    They were meeting with the rest just to the west of the city, misdirection for the spies as the ladies left alone. It would have been too obvious if a cloaked stranger hiding his face left with them. He was a little uncomfortable without them in his sight. What if they were ambushed and he wasn’t there? He shook his head, he couldn’t control everything, and brooding about it wouldn’t help.
    Nora tugged on his arm. He stopped and faced her, she had a fierce look in her eyes when she kissed him.
    Nora said with feeling, “Fuck yes,” then her lips twitched.
    He wasn’t sure what she meant at first, but apparently the magic did, because he felt his reach out for hers and bond. He pulled her in for a rough kiss, breathlessly she pushed him away.
    She smiled, “Later, later you can give me a child, but first we need to go kill those fuckers. I just didn’t want to, couldn’t, wait anymore.”
    They held hands as they reached the end of the tunnel. There was a ladder, so they climbed. The ground parted before them and they climbed up into a field. When they were clear, the ground closed back up. He couldn’t see a thing to indicate anything was there at all. They had a straight shot here, it would take the other women longer as they had to get to the city gates on the south wall and then walk around.
    He wondered just how long, when he spied a group of men about sixty yards away, he guessed they were probably an enemy scout team as he didn’t recognize the armor. There were eight of them.
    Nora pulled him down and whispered, “Leave them unless they attack. There may be mage there; we don’t want to use your talent unless we have to.”
    Nora cursed as they started to move in their direction. “Nothing for it then,” and started to launch air bullets at the enemy.
    Four of them went down, the others were protected by a shield of fire. He didn’t want to expose himself, but letting them die to avoid that seemed like a bad plan, so he burst into fire, canceling the enemy talents and protecting Nora and himself. He immediately let go of his talent as he saw the other four men go down under Nora’s magic.
    He frowned and looked around, he didn’t see anyone else, but he was still worried someone had seen him.
    Nora’s tone of voice echoed his frustration, “Of all the fucking luck.”
    He agreed. They were easily in range of the city, even if it wasn’t the enemy, someone must have picked up the large magical power surge. One bad thing about being the Flame, the power didn’t lend itself to stealth. They could only hope word wouldn’t reach the invading army until it was too late.
    The trap itself was a short mile to the northwest from where they were. To his relief, the others showed up a few minutes later, and they started out at a brisk jog…
    *
    Katrina growled low as she ran alongside Justin. She was a little nervous at first, the thought of going into battle. But she realized she really didn’t have a choice. She needed to protect Justin and her unborn child. Hiding while others fought wasn’t the way to do that.
    When they were about halfway there, the sounds of battle reached her sensitive ears. The others heard it a short time later and they all picked up their pace. In Anton’s message, he had hoped that he would have time to rest the troops, and for them to arrive. Apparently the enemy, not knowing their plans, expected Anton to retreat behind the city walls, so had attacked immediately.
    As they closed in, the sound of screams, fire, earth and air joined the loud clanging of metal against metal. The battle was fully joined, but from what she could see, Anton was holding his side, for now.
    The earth talents had set traps deep in the