A Crumble of Walls (The Kin of Kings Book 4) Read Online Free Page A

the energy he could gather into a ball. He would have to form and then shoot this fireball even farther than the last, and there was only one way he knew to do that.
    The danger of this risky spell was not lost on him as he brought out a thin stream of sartious energy from his wand to catch the bastial energy aflame. He then split his focus, pulling the burning bastial energy toward him and pushing it away at the same time. It was a game of balance, the fireball jittering forward and back as the burning energy fought to break free from the hold of his mind, akin to getting ready to snap a finger.
    He propelled it forward as he released his hold and watched the ball of flame soar through the air. At first he thought he might have overshot his mark, but the escaping army had wheeled the catapult just far enough for Basen’s fireball to come down and explode on top of it.
    Unfortunately, he missed the sartious mage who dove out of the way. She was now back on her feet and heading toward the burning basket.
    “Cleve!” Basen said as he rejoined the group. “You have to shoot—”
    “I know.”
    Cleve already had his string pulled back with an arrow notched. He fired. Basen lost track of the arrow in the darkness and watched the sartious mage as time seemed to slow.
    The arrow struck her hard enough to take her off her feet. Two others bent down to help her while everyone else threw mud at the burning basket.
    It was too high for them to get a good angle, the flames growing too quickly.
    The rain had stopped. God’s mercy, when? Had Basen been religious, he would’ve credited divine intervention, but it was just luck.
    With the rest of Terren’s army quickly approaching, Tauwin’s troops running away and leaving behind the catapult, the battle appeared over for now.
    “Good shot,” Basen told Cleve.
    “You as well.”
    Terren and Henry met amidst their men. “You were right,” the headmaster said. “But how did you know?”
    “Tauwin’s army always uses specific formations for certain battle tactics,” Henry answered. “We’ve seen enough formations to predict what they’re going to do.”
    Terren smiled. “When they return, I’ll make sure you have as much time as possible to read their formation.”
    Henry nodded.
    “How did you stand up against the spell?” Basen asked him.
    But Abith interrupted as he came up and asked Henry, “How many were there?”
    “We’re not going after them,” Terren said firmly.
    Abith gave him an annoyed look before turning back to Henry. “How many did you see, Hiller?”
    “That’s a very different question than how many there were,” Henry replied. “I could’ve seen a hundred or a thousand, and Terren would still be right. We’re not going after them.” After staring at a confused Abith for a moment, Henry continued. “I didn’t see many, but the night is dark. There’s no way to tell how many wait for us to be lured into a trap.”
    Abith veered back to his group of older troops, who mostly had a nervous look about them.
    Basen wanted to ask his father if he had any experiences with such traps during the many battles at Trentyre, but he was still waiting for Henry to answer his first question.
    “Let’s speak later,” Henry told him. “Tomorrow, I will find you.”
    “All right.”
    Fatigue caught up with Basen as he neared the Academy and saw the two gaping holes in the southern wall. While the excitement of speaking with his father buoyed his spirit, Basen was frustrated they’d shared precious few words in the hours since their reunion.
    He held his cloak closed as he walked around the students, instructors, and all the troops from Tenred and Trentyre. He looked for Alabell among their vast army, all the time wondering how many more troops composed Tauwin’s. Basen didn’t know why he was reluctant to go back to his student home, where his warm bed awaited, but he wasn’t the only one. Everyone paced around aimlessly as if awaiting the next