Uleni's Gamble by D.R. Rosier Page A

relieved by it. But not by much. She also kept looking over at Justin. He was the same man in many ways that she had met in the forest. But now more than ever the authority of his power was apparent on his face. She was also a bit more than a little turned on by his forceful decisiveness over the last few hours…
    *
    Nora almost groaned as they ran by another patrol of soldiers. She took down a number of them, as did Nicole, but considering Nicole was a big fire streaking across the sky, it was almost a lost cause trying to keep their presence a secret. Still, the more they silenced now, the less they would have to face on the way back out.
    She just hoped it wouldn’t wind up being all five thousand.
    It also wasn’t lost on her that Katrina was pregnant, and it was entirely possible her and Nicole were with child as well. She was trying to force it out of her mind the best she could. The last thing she needed was to panic about it. She felt responsible though, for all of them. Justin made most of the big decisions, but the details and strategies were always left to her.
    She was proud he trusted their family to her judgment without question, but it was a lot of responsibility. She just couldn’t screw up, it would destroy her.
    If she had anything to say about it, they would all make it through this, even the mentally unbalanced assassin if only for Sara’s sake…
    *
    Nicole was doing her best to keep any soldiers from following them, or even surviving if she was seen. One of the advantages to her fire birds was they operated independently of her, until the goal she gave them was reached, or they ran out of the magic powering them. So they could fly, at a bird’s speed, as far from her as her magic would last.
    This meant, she was killing a lot more soldiers than anyone on the ground knew. Her eyesight in her phoenix form was phenomenal. Any group of soldiers she judged close enough to make them out, she released a group of firebirds to take care of. She wasn’t able to kill all of them of course, without Justin suppressing their talents, anyone with water or earth talents could stop her birds easily.
    But she was getting most of them. Fire and telekinesis talents had no effect on her magical fire birds, and air talents simply made them stronger, fed the flames. Outside of a mage, earth or water talent, she couldn’t think of many others that could stop the birds.
    She had killed maybe fifty soldiers so far, which wasn’t a lot compared to the five thousand Uleni is reputed to have left. But most of those would be in the city, or sleeping in barracks still at this time in the morning. Only those unlucky enough to be on night patrol met their deaths from her flames.
    So far she was still doing great on her magical level. Every fifteen minutes or so, Justin was restoring them so they could keep up the punishing pace. Well, the pace wasn’t punishing for her, but those on the ground…
    *
    Sally was starting to feel a little more comfortable pushing with air, though she had a long way to go before she was effortlessly juggling all the little things and adjustments needed to safely move her and two others at speed. Nora made it look so easy, but it so wasn’t, it was grueling.
    It was about two hours past sunrise when the city came into view and it was with some relief that they all slowed. She frowned at the picture in front of them. The walls were well manned and although the gate was open, there were at least six soldiers there. They weren’t close enough yet, but as they slowly advanced and came in range of her talent, she felt no less than four mages.
    They really hadn’t given much thought or planning as to what would happen when they arrived. She heard a loud horn and the soldiers looked their way. She had expected the six soldiers to close the gates, she had expected swords to be pulled, she had expected to feel the mages connect to their talents.
    But none of that happened, instead a large bear of a man