Chapter 31

31

A nother cartful of Iron Fae ground to a halt in front of me. “Half of you add your supplies into the cave,” I instructed, pointing to a carved opening in the rock across from us. “The other half, grab your tents and join the others in making camp outside.” The company offered me a salute before their commander divided them up. All around me, soldiers performed their duties with ease, taking what little time we had left before the real battles would begin. Unfortunately, we were stuck in the Day Realm until Ruslan called for us.

As the general of the Iron Realm’s army, I wanted to be where the action was, carrying out battle plans I’d so painstakingly put together after reading countless histories from the greatest generals Ravasz had ever seen – including a book by the Deathcaller himself. Instead, I was stuck in the back of the tunnels, coordinating the new arrivals and trying to organize for the moment we were needed.

The next cart rolled forward. I opened my mouth to speak, but my voice was drowned out by a tidal wave of sound. Every head whipped toward the maw of the mountain, and I cursed the torches that lined the hall and prevented me from peering into the night.

The rage-filled battle cry was unmistakable, especially as a horn cut through the receding wave of it.

Fuck me.

Our calculations had been partially wrong. Kazimir did barge into the Day Realm, thinking he could conquer it as handily as he had the Crystal Realm.

Only we wouldn’t be lying in wait for him; he had lain in wait for us.

We were being ambushed.

A dozen orders sprang from my throat as I tried to organize before everything slipped into chaos. “You! Send word to Artur and the others who went to the Crystal Realm that we need reinforcements. Now .” The Iron Fae I’d pointed at immediately hopped into one of the carts still half-filled with supplies and sped off in the direction of the artery that linked up with all other tracks beneath the Agrenak Mountains.

“Commanders, organize your units!”

“Shift if you can, drink the potion if you need it!”

“Build a wall of fire and earth around our perimeter!”

“Ready the arrows and whips and tip them in toxins!”

Around me, every warrior sprang into action. A group of Félvér females shifted into large birds and screeched as they flew through the tunnel and out into the open, shifting again and relaying my orders to those outside my shouting range.

Screams erupted before a fire could illuminate the night. Cursing, I yanked a glass bottle of shifting potion from a nearby cart and chugged the thick liquid down. “Once I breathe my Dragon fire over them, everything will catch. I need you to ensure the entire Day Realm doesn’t burn while we cook the Night Fae alive. Organize a unit to fly over the lines and build a wall around us to prevent its spread,” I commanded one of the winged Félvér leaders.

“Yes, sir,” he replied before racing away to corral his unit. I trusted him to carry out my orders, and with the itching already spreading across my skin, I knew I needed to get outside, fast.

I sprinted and shouted orders along the way, doing everything I could for those under my command before I could no longer communicate with them. The shock of the ambush had worn off, and training began kicking in all around. The flow of people out of the tunnel was hindered by its narrow opening, but the screams from beyond had everyone charging through and not lingering. Pride swelled in my chest as none of my soldiers balked at the challenge before us.

By the time I reached the exit, the Day Realm truly looked like the day, with large fires spearing into the sky and blasts of silver knocking infantry about. Behind me, two deep voices called my name, and I spun and stripped off my armor simultaneously as they caught up.

Xorrek and Gozzak, the two Demons who had volunteered to lead, careened to a stop, their red-rimmed eyes wild with excitement, followed by High Lords Anton and Slavian, the two Félvér bachelors who sought violence and pleasure like it was their job.

“Before you go mute, what do you want us to do?” Slavian asked.

My sword clattered to the ground, along with the plates covering my arms. “They’ve probably surrounded us on all sides. Hold the line as much as possible and try to get everyone back inside without letting the Night Fae in.” I was naked from the waist up by the time I finished speaking, and already, lapis lazuli scales coated my skin.

“Can I trust you to lead while I’m in the sky?” I asked, kicking off my boots.

Why had we split our forces like this?

“Absolutely. We’ve sat in on enough meetings that we know what to do,” Xorrek replied, drawing two axes from his back.

“Besides, we fought in the Great War,” Gozzak said, flashing his white teeth, highlighting his sharpened canines, while Anton did the same, his eyes glowing golden as his Wolf prepared to take over.

The shift ripped through me before I could respond. My Dragon form was so massive, I knocked the Demons back. They recovered quickly, calling on their membranous black wings and shooting into the sky, offering me a salute before they flew into the midst of the chaos, leaving Anton and Slavian to bark orders on the ground. I was airborne and roaring a heartbeat later, not wanting to crush my own people beneath my massive talons.

With sharpened eyes, I scanned the battlefield. At the very back stood a dark horse that nearly blended into the night, and alongside it, two far too familiar faces – Kazimir and Desmond. Cursing the Goddess, the Fates, and the Night Fae, I flew toward them, ensuring I had their full attention as I sliced through the air, flaunting my massive Dragon form.

Desmond, at least, had the good sense of choking when he saw me. Kazimir, on the other hand, betrayed no emotion.

I could kill them both and end this war before it even began.

A snarl tore through me, and I opened my jaw to blast them with blue fire. But as the burn built in my throat, Desmond latched on to Kazimir, and they disappeared from existence.

Fuck!

I blasted the space they had occupied anyway, unleashing some of my rage and making a point should they still be watching me. Banking, I changed course for the edges of the battlefield.

A group of Félvér and Iron Fae worked diligently on the wall of earth, but a winged legion of Night Fae fought with them, and the Félvér were falling faster than the wall was rising. A roar blasted in their direction as I tried to disrupt the focus of those with black feathered wings. Green eyes widened and filled with terror, and if my Dragon form could smile, it would have as I barreled toward them.

I snapped my jaws around a group of three and ripped them from the sky before slicing another with my talons and sending him tumbling, wingless, toward the earth. All attention landed heavily on me, and blasts of white energy magic pelted my scales, followed by a few arrows and jabs from swords.

My scales were tough, but each impact was painful, and I released a menacing hiss once an arrow pierced the membrane of my wing. The male was dead before he had time to draw a new arrow from his quiver. Another’s scream was cut short when I crushed him between my sharp teeth.

The wall rose higher with the Night Fae distracted, and I fought fiercely despite my growing injuries. They needed to finish it, and quickly, because once they did, the Night Fae would be cooked alive. But these injuries were uncharted territory, and fear speared through me as a sword sliced deep into my side. Another roar ripped from my throat, and I thrashed my tail in the sky, knocking more winged fuckers from it.

Would the potion wear off if I was bleeding too much?

As soon as the thought crossed my mind, I felt it.

Shit, shit, shit.

With a furious bellow, I ripped apart a handful of Night Fae, cast one last look at the wall, then banked toward the main area of battle, hoping I could at least get one solid blast in before I was reduced to a Félvér once more.

The hot, dry wind of the Day Realm accosted me as it blew across the plains, bending the stalks of tall grass even more than the hundreds of thousands of feet trampling it.

We were far outnumbered.

How did they have so many?

The number that spread across the plains had to be double the force I’d brought with me, if not double our entire army. My gut twisted, and I shoved my fears to the side.

Another Dragon, a smaller female with red scales, rose to meet me, and I gnashed my teeth in hopes she would understand what I wanted to do. We were running out of time – and soldiers. Her maw opened, and ruby embers built in her throat. I did the same, allowing the blast to build there before unleashing it on the thousands of Night Fae fighting their way toward my lesser force.

Heat licked across the ground, blue and red dancing together as we aimed to create as much chaos as we could. The howls of those caught on the fringes of our streams were not nearly as satisfying as I wanted them to be. Hurriedly, I counted our army’s numbers, praying to the Goddess, to the Fates even, that we hadn’t lost as many as I feared.

We had.

With a growl, I jerked my head at the female, urging her to continue, while I flapped furiously toward the exit of the tunnel where my armor, hopefully, waited for me to return. The empire’s army had been decimated so significantly in such a short amount of time that piles of Iron Fae and Félvér bodies nearly blocked the entrance to the tunnel. Night Fae had overwhelmed our forces on the outside, and the ones on the inside couldn’t get out in time to defend their brothers and sisters in arms.

Spotting Gozzak and Xorrek drenched in hot blood and fighting off three Night Fae each, I lost my focus and crashed into the ground, fully male once again. Leaping over the dead and dying, I found my clothes and pulled them on without taking my eye off the fray.

“Fall back!” I shouted, hoping my voice would carry across the carnage. Digging deep into my well of magic, I lifted my hands and formed a ring of blue fire around the mountain’s entrance, hoping to buy my soldiers enough time to slip through them and return to the tunnels.

“Above!” Xorrek shouted, flinging an axe at a descending Night Fae.

I pushed my magic to its limits, increasing the height of the fire to deter any easy entrance behind it. The red Dragon appeared moments later, lending her fire to the forces trying to fly over my wall. She lasted only a minute before she was peppered with so many arrows she crashed to the ground.

A group of piercing cries ripped the air, and the females who had been working on the wall raced toward the opening of the cave. I allowed the blue fire to dip just enough to aid in their entrance, but as they blew by me, I counted their numbers and gritted my teeth over the additional loss.

“Gozzak! How many left?” I shouted, my arms trembling as I approached burnout.

“Only a few more!” He flapped his wings furiously to remain aloft, still shooting arrows at the approaching Night Fae. He managed to force them back long enough for a group of Iron Fae to burst through the blue flames.

They spluttered and dimmed, breaking apart in sections, and I knew I couldn’t hold it much longer. “Close the door!” I commanded the last few Iron Fae to race by me, and when the scraping of stone sounded in my ears, I nearly cried out with relief. Sweat poured off of me like rain in a thunderstorm, and every shaky step I took backward was hindered by the dead.

“Get inside!” Xorrek yelled, still hovering a breath above what was left of my blue flames.

“We go together,” I said through clenched teeth.

“You don’t get to sacrifice yourself to save us. We go now,” Gozzak replied, diving down and catching me under the arms.

The blue flames sputtered out, and the Demons hefted me between them and raced to the narrowing opening.

Hundreds of my soldiers still fought beyond the rock, and I watched every last one of them until the door closed behind us and cut them off permanently.

They would die out there, and there was nothing I could do to save them.

So I shook off the Demons and stood with my quivering palms braced against the rock and listened to their screams, until there was only silence on the other side.

My first battle as general, and I’d fucking lost.

The only saving grace was that the majority of our forces, the most valuable and well-trained, had gone to the Crystal Realm. But now we knew where the Night Fae were, and how many filled their ranks.

We already knew Desmond was working with them, but the tunnels? How long had he creeped over Rares’s shoulder, learning everything he could and everything he shouldn’t? How often had he broken into the Mage’s private chambers and plucked further knowledge from the trove with which King Azim had entrusted Rares? With Desmond on their side and the unknown of how many more secrets he possessed, and the sheer number of males on that battlefield, fear gripped my chest, constricting until black spots danced in my vision.

Because one thing was certain.

We were fucked.