Chapter 81

Iwheeled through the air, my wings tucking in as I dropped below a blazing fireball that tore from the jaws of a Manticore. The heat of it warmed the armoured plates on my back then the cold wind claimed me once more.

I flew beneath the belly of the beastly lion with leathery wings. Its scorpion tail whipped my way, but I swerved left and drove my horn up with a surge of effort, ramming it between the Manticore's ribs.

The beast roared in pain and I drove it deeper still, piercing its heart and suddenly the weight of its entire body was falling down on me. I flapped my wings, letting the Manticore tumble over my back before spiralling away towards the battling Fae far below.

A Harpy came at me next, with brown wings and a sword in her grip. She swung for my neck and I reared back, the blade just skimming my throat before a beautiful silver stallion rammed into her from the side, skewering her on his horn. Tyler finished her with a harsh kick that sent her tumbling away towards the ground, and he caught my gaze for a fleeting moment before he was off into the fight once more.

The flurry of wings was everywhere, cries of war carrying up from above and below, in every direction.

My gaze hooked on Sofia's pink mane just beyond two clashing Griffins, but then a weight collided with me that stole my breath away. A Dragon. A giant beast of darkest red swiped at me with its talons and one of my flank plates was torn clean off.

I whinnied in alarm as the huge, clawed foot struck at me again, slamming into my head so hard that my vision faltered.

Darkness took over and my panic was lost to it as I fell.

I blinked and I was awake, staring down at the battlefield below that was mere feet beneath me. With a neigh of fright, I beat my wings, banking to the left to miss the swing of a Nymph's spear and kicking the heads of enemy Fae as I fought to gain height again. But hands caught my hind legs, my tail. They were pulling, yanking me down into the fold and my pulse thundered as I fought to get free.

I kicked and thrashed, my wings beating to try and get me back into the sky, but more hands caught my wings and I was thrown onto the mud with a terrified neigh. A sword swung for my head and I shoved myself up, the blade skimming my armour with a ring of metal against metal.

I buried my horn in the culprit's chest, but vines spewed from the hands of the enemy earth Elementals who were trying to hold me down. I fought harder to free myself, snapping some of the vines with my teeth as another Fae caught hold of my head and ice grew against his palms.

My death was all too clear. I couldn't escape, I couldn't fight. There were too many of them keeping me down, securing my fate.

A roar carried to my right and a gleaming axe carved through the arms of the water Elemental who was about to finish me, his severed hands falling onto the ground with a wet slap. His screams were cut short by another swing of that axe to his chest and a furious fire scored out around me in a wide circle, burning anyone who was holding onto me. The vines snapped and I leapt upright, kicking and bucking to keep any more attackers away.

Then Darius stepped through the flames like a wraith of death, a snarl on his lips as he moved closer to heal me. My wounds knitted over and I neighed a command to him, jerking my chin at my back as water flooded over Darius's flames and extinguished them.

Darius swung his leg over me, gripping my mane and I took off, kicking hard with my hind legs and crushing the skulls of anyone foolish enough to try and take hold of me again.

I flew high enough to see the scope of the battle, Darius's heavy breaths telling me he'd been fighting long and hard, and I hoped this brief moment of rest might be enough to restore his strength.

"I have to get to the castle," he boomed. "But the war machines need dealing with first. They're causing havoc."

I fixed my gaze on the offending towers loaded with catapults and violent magical canons which were positioned towards the rear of the enemy ranks. The blasts were efficient, bloody and terrible, our army getting hit harder and harder with every passing second.

Above, Lionel's Bonded Dragons were ripping through our ranks of flying Fae and my heart stuttered as I realised how quickly the tide of this war was turning in my father's favour. We couldn't hold on much longer like this. We had to do something.

I veered in the direction of the closest tower and Darius's hand knotted tighter in my mane. "That's it, fly close enough and I'll burn the fucker to the ground."

I took off in that direction as fast as I could, flying higher so as to not draw attention from the Fae working the machines.

Another catapult was being loaded and magic was sparking in the cannon, ready to destroy more of our army.

I tore down from the sky with rage in my heart, and Darius blasted fire at the structure with such power that the flames spiralled through it in a vortex. Screams carried from the Fae within the tower, some leaping off of it to try and escape.

I noticed the canon starting to malfunction within Darius's flames, blasts of magic shooting off in random directions as the mechanism broke.

I flew down to it at speed, kicking it hard and forcing it to spin around, the magic blasting out of it across Lionel's army instead of ours. A whirring, buzzing sound said it was on its way to exploding and I raced for the sky again before a loud boom roared at our backs and shrapnel rained down on the enemy army, bloody screams making me whinny in victory.

Darius whooped, patting my shoulder and I wheeled around to head for the next war machine, determination racing through me. We were angels of death soaring through the sky, and we were going to take those towers down along with as many of our foes as possible.