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Parahan said a few things in his own language and drew his swords
"Wait," Evvy told hiic up the slope and let it spread When it spilled over the top of the ridge, Evvy felt weight on the stones there, the kind of ht that said people to her She shifted the rocks, straining to pull the bigger ones toward the edge Soling her hands, her power, and the rocks, she looked around Arrowheads lay on the dirt as long wooden splinters, the remains of their bolts, sprouted tendrils and leaves Rosethorn srimly andto his knees beside Evvy, Briar glared at the ridge As weeds and grass sprouted round, five people looked over the edge Tore black scholar’s robes with the gold sashes ofaround their necks and in their hands Two more were archers; the fifth was ar to keep their feet The archers also did their best to fit fresh arrows to their crossbows
Evvy yanked her hands up Rocks flew into the air above the ridge The archers dropped their bows as they covered their eyes with their hands She tugged her hands forward The es had protected themselves froround pull away fro was going wrong with the long strings of beads in their hands They twisted together around thethee’s neck spun swiftly, winding tighter and tighter, strangling the wearer The led to pull their traitor necklaces away froot redder and redder as they fought to breathe
Evvy gave all of the stones on the ridge one last, savage pull This time it was the ponies andthem away from the landslide by the reins looped around their are came down They scra earth and rock The stone of the ridge roared past thees with it When everything settled but for a haze of dust, there was no sign of the warriors who had stood with thees lay on the heap of fallen rock where it had come to a halt They were clearly dead
Evvy crept to the southern hilltop to see the road There was no sign of the enerin in relief when she saw movement at the crown of the western hill She scrayi warriors in douessed they’d heard the rock slide Now she strained to give the to find andstones in front of them She was too tired for small ones at that distance She flinched when the archers a them raised their crossbows, as if the bolts had struck her already
Parahan scooped up a couple of round, hard stones and threw first one, then the other, with vicious accuracy Each hit an archer in the face, knocking him out of the saddle and under the other horses’ hooves Parahan grabbed two more stones
Suddenly Evvy saw the bows leap fro archers’ hands The crossbows broke apart instocks, lathes, arrowheads, and splintered shafts down on the other riders She laughed in spite of herself as lathes and shafts grew and sprouted leaves, then wound around the arms and necks of the soldiers Stocks planted therew as trees Horses reared and slipped, trying not to run headfirst into trees that had not been there a morinned at Evvy, then snapped his rocks at one soldier each, striking their heads with deadly accuracy Down they went
The horses thattheir balance onstones and pebbles They went down; those behind theround her teeth and kept the stones on the slope under the ridersShe opened her eyes Briar had run forward to pitch seed balls as far and high as they would go into the air over the charging soldiers The cloth balls burst at his co deadly vines with sword-sharp thorns insoldiers and their rown fro trees
Evvy shrieked as more arrows arched into the air from the far side of the hilltop
Parahan, at her side, laid a hand on her arht they were fire arrows In truth they were crossbow bolts dyed bright orange These struck short of her and her coyi soldiers More followed, again dropping into the net and the enemy beneath
New soldier-archers, these in pointed heled over the hill in the wake of the arrows Deftly they split apart to avoid the fallen enemy and the trap of thorny vines The newcomers’ leather armor orn over flame-colored silk The metal pieces fixed to the leather in tidy roere bronze, not iron, and they were rounded, not flat, as the Yanjingyi soldiers wore their metal Their horses were s rock Where had she seen thexin soldiers!
Half of their allies split off and galloped downhill, toward the road Parahan swung into his own horse’s saddle and followed
Evvy released her stones and collapsed on the ground She watched blankly as the Gyongxin soldiers who stayed behind killed any living Yanjingyi soldiers Two Gyongxin warriors rode over to Rosethorn and Briar