54. Bree

54

Bree

Considering what hid in the trenches at the edges of the valley, it was remarkably quiet.

We were as ready as we could be. Tyrez had Dragons scouting for the oncoming army. The mountain caves were filled with squads of the winged warriors, while the ground trenches held those that lacked them.

Tyrez's sentries had already killed three and captured two underworld Dragons attempting to fly over the valley. They thought they'd be able to outrun the larger Legion Dragons.

They'd been wrong.

Riggs held me in his arms. Tyrez wanted his brother with him in the headquarters cave, so he needed to get back there. Even though I knew he had to go, I clung to him.

It will be all right, Venus, he crooned to me. We will get through this.

I looked up into his metallic purple gaze, but red light continued to radiate through my mind, and my heart filled with dread.

I have to go, my little ice princess. Riggs lowered his lips to mine and kissed me.

I pulled back and laid my hand along his cheek. Be safe.

He smiled gently down at me. I'm not the one standing in the trench. He stepped back from my restraining grip and embraced his Dragon.

With a heavy heart, I watched him fly to the cave where Tyrez was awaiting news of the army's progress. Tez moved close, slinging an arm around my waist.

The trench was full of our Dire, Centaur, and Sabre forces. I had the scabbard slung over one shoulder. Its weight was like the burden resting on my heart. We'd decided that the sword's power was best used against the Drakes, which meant I was the bearer, at least for now.

Not far from us stood Riley with Rafael, awaiting a visual location on the coven. Havoc was aloft—ready to send Riley those images.

I wondered what it was like to be a conduit to Nikolai's tremendous power. We looked up when two young Dragons flew by overhead and landed at the cave.

They report that the army is nearly here, Riggs stated a few moments later. Finn is moving the foot soldiers through the pass on Dragonback.

Cody had a hand on his ear comm as he moved up on us and spoke to Tez. "Time to get into position."

My heart constricted as Tez nodded. Tyrez was putting him at the valley entrance to do whatever damage he could as Finn's army moved in.

Tez turned to me, reaching to pull me into him. "This is it, mi cielito," he whispered. "I'll be back to help you with those asshole Drakes. Don't start without me."

I was so raw that I couldn't speak along the link. "Be careful," I whispered back.

He kissed me as the feathers started sprouting from his skin.

Surprised you volunteered for this, Riggs cut in from the cliffs above. I thought you took pride in your self-preservation instincts.

Yeah, I have no idea what came over me, Tez admitted, pulling back from the kiss. Think you do-gooders are rubbing off on me.

Or just rubbing on you, I said as I melted into him.

We need to stay focused here, muttered Caliel as he moved along the trench with Leah and Nar. They were the frontline triage crew.

I sighed. At least Caliel would be safe. But Tez would be out in front, exposed to whatever hell Finn unleashed first. I watched with my heart in my mouth as his form contorted to what I'd seen in my vision—over forty feet of spectacular Feathered Serpent, with a snakelike body, sturdy legs, and a crest of long, tapering feathers that gleamed blue and green in the sunlight.

As Tez moved to the valley entrance, squads of Centaurs and Sabres fell in behind him.

Stay safe, Slash, Riggs offered.

Who the fu—rick is Slash? Tez demanded. Better not be a turtle.

Sorry to disappoint you, but yes, a turtle from Dimension X, Riggs said with a mental snort of laughter.

Tez's sigh carried along the link. Was he at least dashingly handsome and a good fighter?

Um… Riggs hedged. He was violent, if that counts for anything. And irrationally bonded to his tree.

Stop. I don't want to know anything more, Tez growled.

As Marcus moved up beside me, I heard the chanting. It was a coarse, violent kind of sound, in a language I didn't understand.

Tez pulled himself up tall at the valley entrance, rearing above a coiled body with metallic feathers spreading and rustling. He swayed like a giant snake, turquoise eyes gleaming.

And into the valley, ran Finn's army.

Dires in the lead, but behind them came a troop of huge humanoid forms. Bulging with muscle and heavily armed—Trogs. Almost reptilian in appearance, with gray, leathery skin.

They were formidable as mercenaries. My stomach clenched, because every single one of them was collared. And they all ran with madness in their eyes.

Tez held his ground. The Centaurs, Bellati warriors, and Sabres moved up behind him. The ground beneath the oncoming horde trembled as our Earthshaker students worked to knock them off their feet. Many did fall, but then they rose again.

Boulders the size of houses flew off the side of the mountain to slam into them. I recognized Dani's handiwork. She was our most powerful Mover. I caught sight of her, flying on the back of a young Dragon to get her within range. Other Mover students hid at the valley entrance and hurled fist-sized stones to pummel the Dires and Trogs.

And yet, still, they came.

Tez waited until the hoard was nearly on top of him—and then he spread his crest of metallic feathers, opened his jaws, and blasted them with a sound so high-pitched I could barely hear it.

The results were instantaneous. The front ranks stumbled and fell, and the ones behind piled into them. Instead of stopping, they just kept coming, crashing and falling over each other.

Tez barely paused for breath.

Look to the sky, Caliel said from farther along the trench.

I looked up—clouds of winged forms arrowed toward the valley entrance. Birds of every size and description. How could they possibly help? But then I saw gigantic creatures moving among them.

Rocs, Caliel said. They roost in these mountains.

As big as underworld Dragons, the giant raptors had wicked hooked beaks and taloned feet. They folded their wings and dove at the horde, picking up Dires or Trogs and tearing at them with their beaks, or simply dropping them to smash against the rocks. The smaller birds ducked and dove to harass and distract.

Then Finn brought in his underworld Dragons.

They flooded over the valley. Tez kept the sound coming, knocking them one by one out of the sky. After a few minutes, there were just too many, and they were coming too fast. The Centaurs raced past him—each carrying Bellati warriors—and others poured out of the trenches to join them.

A tall, hairy figure ran with them. Sid howled as he picked an enemy Dire up, and ripped him apart. A tiny mote buzzed around him—Adilyn, throwing confusion glamors with her sparkly dust.

As Tez retreated, our Dragons dropped from the mountains. The air was immediately filled with what we had dreaded from the beginning—Dragons fighting Dragons.

A phalanx of larger ones appeared far overhead. Daize had arrived, and he'd brought the Trinity with him. But I only saw Dragons carrying two Trinity members, flanking the traitor Emperor. They flew in not from the pass end of the valley, but over the mountains themselves.

As our Dragons rose to meet them, they were met by lethal balls of blood energy. Then Finn's front line crashed into our squads, and everything vanished in a melee of slashing teeth and talons. The Trinity and Daize stayed high, but their bolts blazed through to the battle below, dropping everything they touched.

Firethrowers rose from our trenches and aimed their red lightning, targeting not the tough-scaled enemy Dragons, but the rogue Bellatis many of them carried. Those riders wielded bulky dart guns that they fired at close range—darts filled with the deadly parasites. It panicked many of our Dragons, who ducked and dove to avoid them.

The ground heaved and sank as our Earthshakers worked to knock enemies off their feet. Mounted on her swift young Dragon, Dani's influence was everywhere—if there was an isolated enemy group, there was a boulder designated just for them.

Where the hell is the coven? Tez asked as he selectively zapped enemies with his ultrasonic screams.

Ash can only see darkness and blood energy, Riggs answered . He can't get a clear look at their location. He thinks the bloodmagic is screening them.

As he made his way through the battle, Tez glanced skyward. They aren't the only ones missing—there's a Trinity member unaccounted for.

The coven must be pumping the bloodmagic through one of the Trinity—which means they aren't restricted to the valley, Riggs guessed. Tyrez is sending scouts out to look for them.

The final component of Finn's army arrived. The great bronze Dragon that I knew so well, and four Wyverns. They dove through the entrance and aimed for the spot at the far end, just as they had in my vision. They ducked a well-aimed boulder from Dani as Tyrez sent Dragons after them, trying to take them out before the Drakes could emerge. But Finn and the female Trinity member flew cover for them, sending their deadly bolts to knock our Dragons out of the sky.

Victor and the Wyverns landed and began to transform. My jaw dropped as all five did so, and we ended up with two Storm Drakes, two Fire Drakes, and an Earth Drake.

Finn and Aurora must have inserted them into the other two as well, Riggs stated in dismay.

When the Earthshakers turned the ground beneath them liquid, the emerging Earth Drake hissed and stabilized it with a look. Dani sent a boulder flying into one—but it barely got knocked sideways and then sent lightning chasing after her.

Then they turned their attention to the Dragons. Where the two armies mixed, it was difficult to hit just our warriors. But anytime they broke away, even for a moment—lightning forked through them, or flame shot into the sky, striking them down.

Not one at a time, but in groups . Their shattered corpses plummeted to the ground.

Rage and dismay flooded me. "We're on," I told Marcus. I removed the scabbard and pulled the sword free before laying it on the ground. Then I reached for Icey.

Marcus was already covered in glowing spines. As the clouds above roiled with lightning, I set my Drake free.

She leaped to do so, thickening my limbs with new muscle as my body expanded. The last thing to develop were ridges edged with icy spikes down my spine.

I wrapped the sword in my tail and clambered out of the trench to face my nemesis. Tez was moving closer but still a ways away, wreaking havoc with focused shrieks.

A Dragon swooped low over us—and then hovered above the Drakes. The female Trinity member held a crystal aloft, and I felt it try to grab hold of me?—

No fucking way, Tez snarled through the link, trying to get to me through the fighting.

I hissed at her as I seized the sword's power and pushed back. Then Riggs, Tez, and Caliel all came on board, and we joined together…

The crystal she held glowed like the sun, and then, shattered. I caught a glimpse of the woman's furious face before a crimson bloodmage bolt shot toward me, scorching along my scales and buying her time to escape.

My gaze dropped to the Drakes. Victor was by far the largest, and his eyes gleamed when we faced up to him. I met them and shivered. There was recognition, but only that. Nothing of the man I'd known showed in them.

It wasn't until then that I saw the collar. It gleamed with red blood energy and was wound around the back of his neck. All the Drakes wore them. Victor may have started off as master of his underworld domain, but now he was as much a slave as the rest of them.

I wasn't sure that it mattered to him, not anymore. All that glared out at me was the Fire Drake. His gaze gleamed orange, and while the other four focused on the battle around us, he sent the first blast of fire our way.

Marcus parried it with a burst of wind. Tez had moved closer when we emerged from the trench, and now fought nearby, using his shrieks to kill selected targets. But it only seemed to irritate the Drakes.

I reared up, and called on the sword's power as iced lightning shot from my talons toward the closest Storm Drake. It engulfed him, and his scales frosted as his blood cooled. But his collar flared crimson with bloodmagic, and he danced the lightning off his body, thawing him in an instant. We had the sword, but they had Finn's bloodmagic. Our powers were matched.

I looked upward—to mountain peaks adrift in snow, and I bumped into Marcus's shoulder. When he glanced at me, I pointed a talon upward.

"Hits it," I said.

He understood instantly what I was up to and sent a bolt of lightning into the snowpack—it broke loose with a sharp "bang".

My Drake seized hold of the ice and snow cascading down the mountain, and directed it straight over the enemy Drakes. Marcus used the wind to push at it as it fell, so that the tumbling white mass of death moved faster and faster.

They heard it coming. Victor and two others managed to shuffle just far enough out of the way—speed not being a Drake asset—but the avalanche caught the closest two. There was a crunch and a scream as one vanished and a second was partially buried.

I concentrated, halting the snow before it reached us, and increasing the ice around the partially buried one. It bellowed and attempted to break free, even as his scales rimmed with frost. His broad head and short snout identified him as the Earth Drake.

The snow vibrated around him and dissolved into chunks that fell free. Once he was out of the ice, he used his talent to heave the dirt beneath the snow, trying to free the other Storm Drake.

Its head poked above—I concentrated, pushing the ice into his body. And then Marcus brought the lightning down on him.

Trapped as he was, the multiple bolts hit him dead on. He screeched, and I gritted my teeth and reminded myself that he was a monster now—no longer the Centaur I'd once known.

Victor moved closer, sending fire blasting toward the snow—and Marcus blew it back at him, while encasing him in lightning. I focused on the trapped Drake, pushing the ice into his body, freezing him from the outside in.

The Earth Drake screeched as the Storm Drake's eyes frosted over and his head slumped.

Victor broke free from the lightning and sent a blast of Drake fire straight at us. Marcus cast the wind at it, but it didn't deflect it all…

I'd been aware of Tez's approach through the battle. Now, with a sinuous leap that shouldn't have been possible, he cast his Serpent between us and the flame.

NO! I screamed through the link. But the fire ricocheted off the metallic scales without burning through them. Tez opened his jaws, and shrieked at Victor. The Drake closed its eyes and flinched away.

Stalemate.

One down, though. That left us with two Fires, a Storm, and an Earth.

I grabbed the bits of ice and snow to create daggers, and Marcus used his wind to whip it at the Drakes. Most shattered against their scales, but one pierced the Earth Drake's eye, and another sank through the softer scales of the smaller Fire Drake's flank.

One down, one seriously annoyed, and two slightly wounded…

But our efforts weren't keeping them away from the army. The Earth Drake fractured the ground beneath the feet of our Centaurs, Dires, and Sabres. The Storm fried Dragons with its lightning. And then Victor reared up beside the second Fire Drake, and they combined their talent to send blasts of molten fire at us.

Although Tez managed to deflect some of it, and Marcus used wind to move aside the rest, it still scorched into our nearby warriors, causing carnage.

Tez caught my eye as he took another hit. I hate to state the obvious, he said, but we are in big trouble, here…