Chapter 45

Bailey

We fought with everything we had, but the Kandoran took down the shield an hour after sunset. Those of us on the ground retreated two miles back to I-35. The enemy caught up to us quickly, even with half the shifter forces diverted there to slow them down.

Near midnight, I found myself, most of the slayers, the ground forces, and half a dozen sorcerers within a mile of the fortress. We were slowly moving as a unit along the Highway 9 corridor and surrounding area. The shifters in the air followed at a slower rate, fighting viciously. Of course, they weren’t outnumbered nearly as much as those of us below. Conrad had already gone to the castle to begin freeing the orb from its numerous physical and mystical protections. Whether the trio of Kandoran sorcerers showed up or not, we were out of time and had to put it into play. At the very least, we’d cure all the infected within a ten-mile radius.

Rayna fought with us tonight, violently swinging her blade as Kandoran humans swarmed our way. For the first hour after sunset, she’d blasted the enemy with lightning using a dark, ominous storm Galadon had created for her. They’d killed hundreds with their combined power, but the opposition eventually overran us. She’d had no choice except to switch to her sword. The lone shifter let the storm dissipate and focused on physical attacks.

Sweat beaded the slayer’s brow now. She’d expended a lot of energy and weakened herself. Rayna glanced my way before returning her attention to the next approaching enemy. “I think they intend to take the fortress before dawn. There are so many of them that they must have committed most—if not all—of their forces.”

“Agreed,” I yelled, working to be heard over the noise of swords clanging, screams of pain, and squishes of mud where we tromped. She was only ten feet away, but it felt much farther.

Aidan’s beast voice filled my head. According to your commander, the enemy is moving all their forces to encircle us. Within the hour, most of them will be within reach. It is time to prepare ourselves.

It appeared my slayer friend was right. I looked up and spotted Aidan heading my way.

“Rayna,” I called while beheading an infected human and finding another foe behind him, ready to take his place. The bastards never stopped coming.

She gutted the one in front of her. “What?”

“I’m heading to the fortress. We’re going to need you and all our best fighters there as well,” I said while avoiding a Kandoran blade slashing at my head. I deflected it and kicked the large man. He fell to the ground, and I stabbed him in the chest. That slowed him down a bit.

She finished her next opponent. “I’m going to need a ride. Onyx is locked down in the tunnels to keep him safe.”

Of course, he’d escaped several times and joined the battles. While the horse killed his fair share of enemies, he also got injured, and tonight’s battle was not the place to test his limits.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

Aidan swooped down and picked me up, narrowly avoiding several Kandoran racing to slash at him with their swords and daggers. He’d moved so fast they didn’t get a chance.

“Rayna needs a lift,” I said.

Titan is following behind me. He’ll grab her.

Everyone who joined us at the fortress would get a brief break from fighting so they could recharge before things grew ugly again. It was why we pulled them back now. At this point, nearly every dragon, shifter, slayer, sorcerer, and soldier we had remaining in our alliance was one to two miles from the fortress.

As Aidan took me higher, I could see the heated battle being waged in every direction, with only the east being somewhat less chaotic, but Kandoran forces were working their way over there, too. I only wondered where the three sorcerers were hiding.

We’d closed our ranks, but could we hold them off long enough for the trio to appear?

Aidan set me down on the landing pad closest to the fortress gate. Danae and Phoebe were already there, standing with Kade and Xanath. I spotted Conrad running in our direction across the cobblestone path inside the keep. He had a grim expression and held a small, dark bag. Only one thing could be inside.

“Where do we do this?” I asked.

Aidan pointed at a ruined tower on the southwest side of the fortress. “That’s the highest open point. It should extend the orb’s range, so we catch more of the enemy.”

“And once you close the gates, none of the Kandoran humans will be able to reach us, so we only have dragons trying to attack us,” I surmised.

He nodded. “They won’t bar entry until we have more humans to man the walls, but that is the idea. The fewer enemies who can get to us, the better.”

I spotted movement in the northwest tower. “Is that Colonel Melvin up there?”

“It is.” Aidan looked in that direction. “He wanted a safe vantage point for the battle since he’ll be helping to direct our defenses while Phoebe is occupied.”

I knew the coalition had already relocated all its vehicles and equipment to Tinker Air Force Base, which had a special guard of dragons, sorcerers, and humans around it.The Kandoran had shown no interest in infiltrating the city's southeast side yet, so it was safe for now.

Conrad finally reached us. “Ya’ll ready?”

“Potty break first,” I said, having had no chance in hours and who knew when we would again.

Phoebe rubbed her stomach. “Yes. Good idea.”

We went to the nearest shop that had a public water closet. It wasn’t anything fancy, but Phoebe and I took turns in there. Conrad and the others decided to take advantage and relieved themselves as well. For the past month, we rarely got to use a flushable toilet.

During that time, we also fueled up with some cheesy rolls Aidan had sent out to us. Anything to help us keep up our energy because our next step wasn’t going to be easy. I only felt bad we got a brief break while others fought for their lives out there.

I wiped my lips after the last bite. “Are we ready?”

Everyone nodded.

“Let’s go,” Aidan said.

We hurried through the keep and followed the wall to the nearest stairs. Everyone rushed up them and then carefully crossed the ramparts toward the southwest tower. Much of it had been burned away except the pockmarked floor. Once we stood atop it, Kade handed each of us parchment paper.

My heart beat rapidly in my chest. It was the moment we’d waited for since six years ago when we made our oaths. It really began millennia ago, if one counted the brave souls who captured the orb in Europe and transported it to America at a time when ocean travel was especially perilous. The phrase “Here be dragons” on a map over bodies of water had actually been accurate at one time.

The ancient group had taken the artifact to save the world in their darkest hour against true evil. Like them, we would do the same. Except this would be the last use of the dark object before it would be destroyed forever. I still didn’t quite know how that would come about, but I supposed we’d find out soon enough.

“That is the spell you’ll need to recite together.” My gaze narrowed on the scrawled words that used the English alphabet but made no sense. “I’m not even sure how to pronounce this, much less understand what it says.”

Aidan’s uncle gave me an irritated look. “It is basically a purification spell, but a far more powerful one than I’ve ever seen before. As for the words, they’re simpler than you realize, but they must be spoken precisely.”

Everyone frowned at their copy of the paper.

“Maybe recite them for us,” Danae suggested, lifted a brow.

“Yes, yes, of course.” Kade cleared his throat. “The first line is Hamisha jismu bilus wa tahdur salmat . It is pronounced as ha-mish-a jis-mu be-lus wah tah-der sal-mat. ”

The “J” in the second word was pronounced the French way. He had us say the line several times until everyone got it.

“The second line is Darbu kul sharir lilabad. It is pronounced as dar-boo cool shar-eer lil-a-bad. ”

We practiced all the lines until they were familiar. The fighting grew closer as we did so, heightening our nerves. Everyone out there was relying on us to get this right, and some would die before we finished. It was a lot of pressure.

I swallowed. “Okay, what’s next?”

“Conrad will take out the orb,” Xanath directed, the elderly sorcerer taking over for Kade and shuffling toward us. “One at a time, you’ll each press two fingertips from your right hand to the glass until you’re all connected. It will be uncomfortable, but do not let go under any circumstances. That will break the spell within three seconds. It will also cause the orb to explode, so there will be no way to restart the process.”

“Explode?” Conrad asked, with a squeak in his voice. “Like a grenade?”

“Yes, I suppose.” Xanath frowned. “There is a clear warning about that in Kade’s book, so please do keep it in mind. The orb will release all the dark energy it has gathered in one concentrated burst.”

I was feeling better and better about this plan already.

Phoebe wiped her face, nervousness written all over her expression. “How long will this take?”

“We have no idea,” Kade replied.

Xanath cleared his throat. “I would suggest not stopping until all our enemies are dead.”

Conrad gave him a sour look. “Ya think?”

I grabbed my canteen, slugged down some water, and noted others following my example. After that, we formed a circle, anxious yet aware of the battle raging around us and precious minutes slipping away. Conrad removed the cloth bag from the orb, hitting us with its insidious power. My stomach twisted, and by the looks on the other’s faces, they felt it, too.

“One last thing,” Kade said. He’d taken a few steps back and stopped near the stair entrance. “It will take time for the chant to power the orb, so it won’t do anything right away. Be patient. The spell will work after you’ve fed it enough magic.”

“And don’t let go even if you’re in pain,” Xanath added, wagging a gnarled finger at us. He’d also moved back to the tower's edge, where a small section of the original wall remained from the Kandoran green fire that nearly hit Phoebe the night before.

The sorcerers couldn’t leave since they were the last line of defense while we worked the spell, but they didn’t stand any closer than necessary. Rayna appeared, coming up the staircase. Her face scrunched when she reached the top. Even ten feet away, the dark power hit her as well.

“Okay, I’m here to watch your backs,” she said, stationing herself at a point between the two sorcerers.

Falcon and Sabryn followed behind her, grabbing spears from a pile near the stairs and stationing themselves in the open spaces.

All the other elites we’d requested either flew near the tower, guarded the ground below us, or paced the ramparts on either side of us. I noted Verena and Skylar on one end with Morgan and Thatcher on the other. Galadon, Titan, Zoran, Donar, Ruari, and Freya formed a wall of dragons a hundred feet away in the air.

Javier stood at an opposite tower, ready to cast his magic nets once the enemy came close enough. He had the best range out of anyone, which was why he could stand farther away. We were as protected as we could be from danger.

Aidan met each of our gazes. “We will do this for our family, friends, allies, and our future.”

“That’s right.” Conrad nodded. “We don’t stop for nothin’ to include the fat lady.”

Unlike before, the strain on his face told me he felt the dark power this time. He’d been a full human before and didn’t have to suffer in its presence, but as a slayer, he’d pay the same price as the rest of us, despite being the designated guardian.

“I’ll go first,” I said, taking a deep breath.

I pressed my index and middle fingers to the orb, flinching as pain shot up my arm. It took all my willpower not to let go. How Conrad could hold it in the palm of his hand, I didn’t know, but he winced a little, so perhaps me touching it made things less comfortable.

Aidan went next. A low growl rumbled in his throat as the orb's effects hit him. Danae went next, trembling for a moment but keeping her arm raised until she got used to it. Phoebe went last. She let out a grunt and scrunched her brows.

Each of us inhaled deeplyandbegan the chant. “Hamisha jismu bilus wa tahdur salmat. Darbu kul sharir lilabad.”

It took a few times before we got into synch. After that, the dusky glass of the orb began to emanate a soft light through the marbled darkness. Next, it started to warm. With each minute that passed, the light brightened a fraction, and the heat increased a few degrees.

Though I kept my gaze on the orb, I couldn’t miss the sounds of battle getting closer. Nothing stirred in my peripheral vision, but I sensed danger inching its way along. The orb wasn’t absorbing power nearly fast enough.

My mouth went dry, and my head started to ache.

I used my free hand to wipe sweat from my brow. The sphere began to pull on me, making my skin itch as tendrils of my inner power crawled through my arm into the artifact. After another five minutes, my knees began to shake.

Still, I couldn’t pull my gaze from the orb and the hazy swirls inside.

“Hamisha jismu bilus wa tahdur salmat. Darbu kul sharir lilabad.”

From the corner of my eye, I caught movement in the sky. The shifters flying defense of our tower were now engaged in battle. Though I couldn’t turn to look directly, I made out enough. They were outnumbered, and we were running out of time.

Javier’s giant cheese grater net—as we fondly called it—flew through my line of vision like glinting chainmail and cut off a group of Kandoran attempting to fly around our defense. The dragon’s pieces rained to the ground, hopefully not landing on any allies.

Xanath was mumbling some unintelligible words I caught when we took a breath between chants. Power began to build up from his direction, crackling across my already-sensitive skin, though I couldn’t tell what he was doing.

A storm rolled over us with monstrous dark wall clouds. It wasn’t like the usual ones Galadon created and didn’t feel like his magical signature. Instead, it was even more powerful. Drops of rain started to fall and pelt our faces. I kept chanting while blinking the dampness from my eyes.

Xanath lifted his hands skyward, and to my shock, a tornado formed in the distance. It sounded like an angry freight train barreling into the enemy more than a mile away. The amount of power he used to generate it was unfathomable and crackled the air all around us.

Kandoran dragons and humans alike were sucked inside before it tossed them like discarded trash far into the distance. My first thought was he’d been holding out on us, but then I realized he’d been saving his strength for this moment.

Now, Xanath revealed precisely how much power he’d amassed in his lifetime.

Cracks of lightning shot down and forked to strike multiple targets. I could barely see Rayna from the corner of my eye, but I couldn’t miss her coppery-brown hair flowing behind her in the wind. Maybe the orb enhanced my senses, but I believed without a doubt the slayer-sorceress had merged her power with the storm.

Her electric bolts struck enemy dragons near and far, filling the air with the scent of charred flesh. All the while, the tornado continued to spin, working its way through the outer circle of our enemy in relentless pursuit like a hungry monster. The debris it also picked up turned into weapons that tore into the Kandoran as if it were a giant blender.

We continued our endless chant. “Hamisha jismu bilus wa tahdur salmat. Darbu kul sharir lilabad.”

Morgan was behind me and to my rightso I couldn’t see him, but I couldn’t miss the sizzling sounds of his charged spheres as he sent them into the air in rapid succession. Kandoran screamed every time they were hit. It shocked me how fast the bodies smashed into the ground from all over the sky, including ones I could spot within my vantage point.

So far, Thatcher hadn’t done anything, but we’d told him to hold back for a while to stay fresh. His primary offense skill was forming ice into weapons. He could draw the moisture from the air and form them quickly into shooting daggers.

A surge of pain ran through my feet, up my body, and across my arm to my fingertips. My hand glowed as power flowed from me, feeding the mystical sphere. The swirls of light inside grew brighter, and the heat intensified. A burning sensation crept through my skin where I had direct contact.

God, how I wanted to let go as the pain ratcheted up another notch. Weakness assailed me next. I gritted my teeth, fighting the urge to collapse to the ground.

To make matters worse, the wind and rain lashed at us, tossing my hair into my eyes. I could barely keep my feet planted on the wet stone as hard bursts of air pushed at my body. Every inch of me was drenched, and the cool air chilled my skin everywhere except where I touched the orb. The temperature must have dropped ten degrees in the last few minutes, bringing us closer to freezing.

Still, no one faltered in the chant, and we stayed in sync. “Hamisha jismu bilus wa tahdur salmat. Darbu kul sharir lilabad.”

I lost sight of the tornado as it continued in its circular path of destruction, but the roar somewhere far behind me indicated that it hadn’t ceased moving. Neither had the cries of the injured nor the dying. We could stop this if only the orb would hurry up and charge.

As if it sensed our urgency, it pulled on us even harder. Screams tore from our mouths as it felt like our very essence was being ripped from our bodies. The agony was so intense that—as one—we dropped to our knees with the orb still between us. It was a blessed relief not to stand anymore, but it didn’t diminish the pain that intensified by the second. It occurred to me then that no one had asked if we’d survive this spell.

As my tears mixed with raindrops, I felt like I was dying, but I knew I couldn’t let go.

Everyone, including our allies, friends, family, and all the places that hadn’t yet been conquered, depended on us to hold fast. This was our one and only chance. If we gave up, we’d all be dead or assimilated.

The orb grew brighter until it hurt my eyes to keep looking at it. Finally, I was able to break my gaze. Blinking rapidly to clear my vision, I spotted the tornado coming back around to the right. It had shrunk and withered to a narrow point on the ground. Fewer Kandoran were being picked up and thrown, and in the seconds I watched, even that stopped as the funnel ascended to return to the clouds.

Xanath crumpled to the ground, face ashen and body still. Oh, God. What happened?

The rain stopped, and the heavy clouds broke up to reveal the night sky. Rayna, pale as a ghost, dashed over to Xanath. She pressed her fingers to his throat. Time seemed to slow. A minute later, she clenched her eyes shut.

“May you rest in peace,” she whispered.

The sorcerer had given the last of his powers to protect us. Now, he was dead.

I wanted to mourn his loss, but we had to continue the chant. It was all I could do to push down the lump in my throat. Though I wouldn’t have called Xanath a friend, he was a good and kind person. He’d helped me when I needed him, and his final act had been to sacrifice himself for us—for everyone.

From beyond the tower, I caught sight of Ruari screeching as several Kandoran attacked him at once. He fought back, but they shredded his wings and face until he flailed and spiraled to the ground. It was impossible to tell from my angle how he landed.

They went after Titan next, who already had two giant green dragons on him. He performed evasive maneuvers, all while trying to keep them from getting past him. Donar and Zoran came to his assistance, but half a dozen more enemies flew at them. Galadon and Freya were also outnumbered.

Several Kandoran got past them and headed straight for us.

Sabryn and Falcon had used up all their spears on other dragons who came too close. They pulled their swords and held the blades before them.

Next to Xanath’s body, Rayna rose to her feet. A hard, cold mask came over her face as she turned to face the incoming threat. They were only fifty feet away now.

“Those are mine,” she said with rage in her voice.

Lifting her sword, she pointed at the one in the middle, shot lightning through the blade, and straight at the dragon’s head. It burned a hole between its eyes. Before it fell, she adjusted the weapon to the left and repeated the strike on the next Kandoran. It died instantly, plunging to the ground. Unfortunately, the third had time to get closer.

Morgan shook his hands as he tried to send one of his energy balls, but his frustrated grimace told me he’d run out of power. He’d been giving all he had for the last hour as we powered the orb. Thatcher threw some ice picks that punctured the dragon’s scales, but it didn’t phase the beast. Falcon and Sabryn began moving to help, but they couldn’t get to that side in time with my orb group in their way.

The Kandoran opened its jaws wide.

Rayna shoved Morgan down to the floor and slashed her sword as the dragon reached the tower. She cut across its nose. The slayer altered her blade’s momentum to bring it back and thrust the sword tip straight into the beast’s mouth. With a scream of rage, she pushed the weapon until its hilt caught on jagged teeth.

Maybe she still had some super strength—or lots of rage to vent—because she kicked that dragon several feet away from her. The blade slid out just in time as the dragon fell, bouncing off the stone tower as it descended and sending small chunks of stone down with it.

As we crouched and chanted, unable to help in any way, Rayna faced another group of dragons who’d broken through our defenses. She slashed her sword hard and fast while Falcon and Sabryn threw spears that someone had come to replenish moments before. They only had four each to launch and would have to be used judiciously.

Skylar still froze the occasional incoming Kandoran, but she had to wait a minute between each one to gather enough power. Tears ran down her face, and I knew she must have seen what happened to Xanath, her grandfather.

I searched for Donar, Ruari, and Freya in the air, unable to find them. Galadon, Zoran, and Titan remained flying, but they were a mass of bloody wounds as they took on far more enemies than they should have been able to handle. There was no time left.

We were about to lose everything.

A fresh jolt of pain ran through my arm and into my hand. I returned my gaze to the orb and found my fingers had merged into the brightly lit glass. Everyone’s had done the same. Even if we wanted to, we couldn’t pull away now. We gazed at each other in pained confusion.

Something was different when we said the line of the chant for the thousandth time. “Hamisha jismu bilus wa tahdur salmat. Darbu kul sharir lilabad!”

Streaks of golden light shot from the shining orb and went in every direction, passing through our bodies without harm. They hit all the nearby Kandoran, causing infected humans to crumple and dragons to fall from the sky. Only those on our side remained untouched. As the rays hit one target, they continued their path to the next like a chain reaction.

The pain in my body eased as the power focused elsewhere, and I sighed in relief.

It was a sight to behold as more and more of the enemy around us dropped. Our nearest allies paused to follow the progress, no doubt grateful their battle had ended. Exhaustion ate at me, but I kept watching the streaks of light reach farther into the distance.

Movement at the edge of the woods drew my attention. Three figures in deep red robes emerged at the far end of the clearing in front of the fortress. Large necklaces with glinting stones and throbbing dark power hung from their necks. They held their hands uplifted as they chanted their own spell, too far away for me to make out the words. Falcon and Galadon banked in their direction and spewed flames at the trio. The fire hit some sort of circular barrier surrounding them. They didn’t even look at the shifters.

Compelled to continue, we didn’t stop our own chant, either. It fed the light that still had numerous enemies to reach. From what Kade had said, it would eventually cleanse every Kandoran within a ten-mile radius, but that took time.

The sorcerers walked closer and closer to our tower, their heads covered by the crimson hoods of their robes. All I could see of their faces was their moving lips and chins. More dragons tried to attack with fire, teeth, and claws to no avail. Their protective bubble was impenetrable, and nothing seemed to disrupt it.

Rayna tried hitting them with a lightning bolt, shaking as she pulled a tiny bit of renewed power to send it. The bolt bounced off the sorcerers’ shield and burned the grass nearby. Shifters and humans on the ground tried piercing the barrier, but they rebounded from it as well. There was no sign of it weakening.

Shafts of darkness began to form and elongate from the trio, easily passing through their shield to stretch toward us. With each line of their chant, they grew. We had minutes until they would hit us at the rate they went, and I had no doubt they’d stop our magic as soon as the tendrils touched our orb.

The rays of light curing the Kandoran now reached far beyond my line of sight. They were still working, saving people and dragons who we would otherwise have to kill. Only the orb could cure them since they were too far gone for sorcerers to cure.

We needed every moment possible since it was likely cleansing dozens or more a second. Too many lives had already been lost to the sorcerers’ evil, and we needed to save as many as we could.

The trio stopped about a hundred feet from the tower. Falcon, Sabryn, Zoran, and Galadon were chomping at the shield, sparks shooting off their teeth. Others chopped and poked at it with their weapons. I knew what they were thinking. If the Kandoran could break through ours, we could surely do the same to theirs. But did we have time for that?

My heart skipped a beat as the tendrils of darkness approached the tower. If we stopped, the orb would shut down in seconds and explode. If we kept going, the sorcerers’ spell would hit and possibly kill us since we were connected.

Conrad drew in a deep breath. “Clear the fuck away from the sorcerers!”

He screamed the command so loudly that the fighters below couldn’t have missed it.

They hesitated, looking in his direction. He screamed it again as the dark tendrils reached the tower's edge. At best, we had thirty seconds left before it would be too late.

“Please, go,” I screamed, hoping they’d listen to me.

Falcon roared and backed away. Finally, the others did the same in a quick scramble.

Conrad’s face scrunched. “Everyone, let go of the orb now!”

It was like moving my fingers through thick mud, but I did it at the same time as the rest of the group. As soon as we released our touch, Conrad lifted the bright sphere high, as it continued to shoot golden streaks from it. He drew back like a baseball player and threw the orb with all his might at the trio below.

“Take that, motherfuckers!”

It zoomed straight through their shield as if it wasn’t there and struck the female in the middle. A massive boom sounded, knocking us onto the stone floor. Fiery red and orange light exploded from that same direction, blindingly bright. I had to cover my eyes as heat swept over me before flowing past us.

Everything became quiet until all I heard was my panting breaths.

I peeked through my fingers, checking to see if it was safe. No one around me moved, but they all appeared unharmed. I rose onto my elbows. Down below, there was a crater where the three sorcerers had stood. There was no sign of them or the orb.

Conrad sat up with a grin. “Damn, was that a badass throw or what?”

“Your aim has definitely improved,” I said.

“Hell yeah, it has.”

“How did you know to do it?” I asked, frowning at him. That idea could have gone horribly wrong. I’d only followed along because I didn’t have a better plan, and we were out of options.

He shrugged. “I heard Allison’s voice in my head, telling me what to do.”

“Oh, great.” Danae groaned as she slowly sat up. “We won because you listened to the voices in your head.”

Conrad grinned. “You know it, girl.”

Aidan and Phoebe rubbed their heads, making me wonder if the magic had hit them harder. It took several moments until my mate focused on me, relief in his gaze when it met mine. There had been some scary moments at the end.

“That is what I call too close for comfort,” Rayna said from where she lay flat on her back with her arms spread. “I’m going to sleep for a week after this.”

Aidan grunted. “We have a lot of cleaning up to do first.”

“Ugh. You couldn’t let me live in my fantasy land for a minute?” she asked, turning her head to glare at him.

“My apologies.” He gestured outward. “But you don’t see what I do.”

One look at the land around us confirmed what he meant. Dead and injured from both sides were scattered as far as the eye could see in the late-night darkness, while many of the surviving Kandoran were now waking and looking lost.

Skylar raced up the tower stairs and fell on her knees beside Xanath, sobbing. I crawled over to her, unable to walk yet and put a hand on her back. She leaned against me, muttering something about the sorcerer being an old fool.

“He saved a lot of lives,” I said, hugging her. “It might not seem fair right now, but he died so the rest of us could live. He wanted a better future for you.”

She sniffled. “But I’ll miss him.”

“We all will, sweetie.”

The others gathered around Xanath and said their own goodbyes. A shifter appeared from the staircase opening, and Aidan ordered him to take the body to the sorcerers’ tower to prepare it for burial. Skylar followed him while the rest of us exchanged glances, exhausted.

I gave Aidan a pleading look. “Can we concentrate on recovering the injured for tonight? There are only a few hours left until dawn, and it’s going to take days to sort the rest out.”

Physically and emotionally, I was done and couldn’t begin to process the scale of tragic losses around us. Many others on the field below had dazed looks, too, as they stumbled around the battlefield.

The lines of fatigue on Aidan’s face proved he felt it as well. “Yes, we do what we can until dawn, and then we’ll resume in the afternoon after food and rest.”

“Oh.” Conrad fell back to a laying position with an arm slung over his eyes. “Thank God, Zorya, and whoever else grants mercy.”