Chapter 39

Zoran

Darkness took over the land and sky, and a hush fell across the battlefield. Zoran crouched, waiting on the line with the rest of the shifters. The Straegud were to his left, the south, and the Craegud to his right, the north. Aidan had chosen to put him between the two so that he could bridge communications when necessary.

Considering the trust it required, Zoran was surprised by his brother’s decision. He’d thought he’d spend years trying to earn his confidence, and even then, they might never build the kind of relationships he’d seen between human siblings. Though he didn’t think he deserved it, he would do his job to the best of his ability and prove his worthiness.

His old self would have never cared about such things, but he saw their value now. Aidan was the only one who could lead their toriq into a future worth having. Zoran had seen how much darkness filled the world.

A small plane soared through the sky at breakneck speed. A few seconds later, bright explosions lit up along the Kandoran front line. The ground under his feet trembled as well. He braced himself as a Patriot missile battery began firing with their large projectiles close over his head. It was unnerving, and he had to resist the urge to run away.

Zoran hated being this close to them with their ear-splitting sounds. Still, he enjoyed watching the Kandoran dragons burst into fiery pieces inthe sky. He counted at least eight killed outright and more than a dozen injured from their proximity to the blasts. They tumbled to the ground beyond his view from this distance in the dark. The enemy was still seven or eight miles away but moving quickly.

Javier stepped forward as the artillery pulled back. The sorcerer didn’t have the advantage of bright lights blinding the Kandoran since most had been destroyed over the past three and a half weeks, but he had impressive offensive skills regardless.

He wove a complicated spell during the fifteen minutes it took for the enemy to reach them. His hands worked furiously fast as a metallic net formed and expanded into massive proportions, spilling to the ground as it grew. Zoran had seen a lot over the years, but Javier was the only sorcerer he’d witnessed who could perform this particular spell.

It was unique. If the Kandoran wished to play it smart, they wouldn’t send their warriors to this section of the line, but they had such a large army they were apparently willing to sacrifice some of them.

As soon as the enemy reached the half-mile point, Javier lifted his hands, and the shimmering net rose into the air like a mesh wall. With a shouted command, he threw his arms outward, sending the fine weave flying across the sky. It struck three green dragons and sliced through them like a cheese grater. Their tiny pieces fell to the ground. The sorcerer continued guiding it along the Kandoran line while machine guns fired a rapid staccato, striking those who tried to dodge the deadly net.

By the time it fizzled away, Javier’s spell had killed more than twenty. Their gruesome remains littered the ground below. The soldiers’ weapons had taken down another dozen or so, most of whom lay on the ground, struggling to rise. A few were dead from bullets striking directly into their brains.

Zoran and the other shifters took flight, racing toward the enemy.

He took hold of one, grasping the Kandoran by the head and gnawing on his neck until it severed from the body. It took him no more than ten seconds since the infected had weaker scales and bones.

Zoran tossed the remains at another foe, knocking him off balance. While the dragon attempted to right himself, he punctured the beast’s eyes with his talons. The large male roared with pain and tried to claw himself free.

Ignoring the pain of his arms getting slashed, Zoran pressed harder until he pushed the tips of his claws through to his opponent’s brain. The struggle stopped with his next breath, and he let go of the lifeless Kandoran, allowing him to plummet to the earth below.

More dragons came in a seemingly endless tide. Craegud and Straegud shifters intermixed in the sky as they valiantly fought off their attackers. Zoran took on as many as he could and helped the others when they needed it. He’d grown used to being among warriors not from his toriq. They proved every bit as fierce and competent as the Taugud, and he’d even learned a few tricks from them.

Nearly an hour passed when he noticed a large wave of human enemies descending on the soldiers and slayers below. There weren’t nearly enough ground fighters to handle such a sizeable force. In the sky, the dragons had thinned to an easily managed number.

He connected his mind to four shifters he’d come to know over recent weeks. We must help the humans now!

Without question, they followed him as he zoomed toward the incoming wave. His two Craegud and two Straegud friends lined up on either side of him, and as one, they blew flames at the Kandoran. Continuing their forward momentum at six feet off the ground, they grabbed their opponents’ heads and ripped them off. Then, they raked their claws through the line, injuring as many as possible so the soldiers would have an easier time finishing them.

Zoran and his shifter allies repeated the process many times without ever touching the ground. It gave them a tactical advantage by staying in the air. Some of the Kandoran thought to lift their weapons to attack, but they easily knocked those aside.

Eventually, the two sides mixed in battle with no clear lines left. Zoran didn’t have to say anything to the others. They went their separate ways to search for any soldiers who were outnumbered and needed assistance. The first he spotted was a slayer fighting off an enemy female dragon and three infected humans.

He leaped onto the beast’s back and wrapped an arm around her neck to hold her in place. Lifting his arm high, he stabbed his talon into the base of her skull. It slid in easily to penetrate the brain. She was dead in moments.

Before he could get off the dragon’s back, one of the humans stabbed a sword into Zoran’s side, where his armor didn’t protect him. He roared and spun around to face his attacker. The Kandoran had a maniacal grin on his face. He punched the annoying man straight in the nose and sent him flying back to smash into the ground.

Angry and in pain, Zoran struck him over and over until little remained of the human’s head. It was almost a blessing when he got injured. The pain made him especially vicious, and he mowed through every nearby Kandoran he could find, tearing them apart.

“Thanks, man,” the slayer said a short time later, surrounded by bodies. “My partner got hit by one of those dragons with green flames and didn’t make it. I’d be dead if you didn’t come along.”

Yes, he would have, but Zoran had witnessed him fighting, and he was good—worth saving. It surprised him how comfortable he’d become with slayers and them with the shifters. There was a time when he wouldn’t have believed it possible. He was almost sorry the man had lost his partner, which he imagined wasn’t an easy loss.

He managed a garbled reply through his dragon mouth. “Wel-come.”

For the rest of the night, he stayed near the man and helped fight off the seemingly endless waves of Kandoran humans. Working together, they also managed to save other soldiers.

Occasionally, Zoran would catch sight of his fellow shifters doing the same in the distance. They were all from different places and backgrounds, but he’d never felt better than working with his allies as a team. It gave him hope that perhaps they could survive and win this war if they just didn’t give up.