by Naomi Sparks
It doesn't take as long to set up the second barrier as it did the first, since Valetta has rested. I barely even notice the drain on my magic this time as well, showing just how much a couple days of rest can really help.
Once that's done, Lex gathers the newcomers inside the barrier, and the Fire Riders talk with them. Ezra and I hang back with the coven, letting them handle the introductions and planning. There are so many people here now, we have easily doubled our fighting force.
Many among come from small groups of less than a dozen. Much like the Fire Riders, they've banded together to hide from The Clutch. Others came in pairs and even single dragons, doing what is necessary to fly under the radar and avoid being noticed.
Then there are the Fae. Most of them are in smaller groups of five or less. Families or old friends, using their magics to keep themselves hidden. None are large groups like the enclave the Fire Riders joined up with. The same is true for the few covens of witches who join us for the fight as well.
They all have one thing in common. They all have been hiding from Amasis. They're all tired of living in fear. And they're all ready to get revenge for the centuries of pain Amasis has caused them. Even the witches, who don't usually live much longer than average humans, have generations of pent up rage they're ready to unleash.
For the first time since meeting Ezra and the others, I feel like we can really do this. We can take them down now. Ezra, Olivia, and I have a chance to be a real family, to live together without the cloud of fear hanging over us.
The Fae leaders join us soon enough, and the strategizing begins.
Ezra pulls me away from it, leaving everyone else to discuss tactics. When I look up at him, eyebrows raised in confusion, he frowns. "I want you to stay here this time," he tells me, and my heart drops."
"What? Why?"
"Because you have Olivia back," he says, his eyes shifting to the baby in my arms. "I want you to stay where it's safe, for her."
A mix of emotions well up inside me. I want to be out there fighting. I have just as much a right as the others do. Why should I be left here when they're all out there? I have just as much, if not more, magic than the others.
But I can't bring myself to argue with him, no matter how badly I want to. Ezra isn't wrong. The best place for me is here, by Olivia's side, keeping her safe. There won't be many with actual power left behind, and if I go, there's a chance the camp might be attacked in our absence. It's a small one, but it's still something I need to consider.
"Okay. Just promise me you'll rescue those babies in the nursery, okay?' I look into his eyes and silently plead with him. I can't leave those babies in there. I just can't.
Ezra holds my gaze for a moment, then lets out a sigh and nods. "I can't make any promises, but I'll do what I can, okay? Our top priority is going to be taking out Amasis and the rest of the Clutch. But if I can save the children, I will. Okay?"
I let out a sigh of my own, then nod. I can't really ask for more. I still wish I was going with him, and I hate knowing he's going off into battle without me. But again, it's not like I have much choice. I need to put Olivia first. All I can do is pray he'll be okay, that he'll come back to us in one piece.
13
Ezra
The barrier around Amasis's compound falls easily this time, even without Gabrielle acting as a battery for the coven. We must've hit Amasis harder than we thought. Either that or we'd taken out most of the people responsible for the barrier. There are soldiers all over the grounds, but they didn't seem to be expecting us.
Those few moments of surprise are all we need to overwhelm them and cross the threshold of the barrier.
That's the only easy part. After we take out the initial wave of grunts, they're on us. Dragons pour out of every corner of the compound, many of them quickly shift into their dragon forms.
We have many more dragons on our side this time, but Amasis's forces still outnumber us. But we have more to fight for than his men do. They fight out of fear or blind loyalty. We're fighting for our lives and for the lives of our loved ones.
We're not going to give in easily.
When the first dragon launches up at me, I latch my jaws around its neck, then toss it back to the ground into a group of dragons trying to shift.
The roars and screams echo around us. Each time I take out one dragon, another appears, eager to take its place. I keep an image of Gabrielle and Olivia firm in my mind, reminding myself why I'm doing this. Thinking of them gives me the strength I need to push forward, to force my way toward the compound.
By the time I land and shift back, I frown up at the sky. It's still littered with dragons, fighting each other, but I don't see Amasis or Yin or any other members of The Clutch.
"They're not out there," Bren says, coming up next to me. "None of them are. Since the new dragons are holding their own, Lex is going to lead us into the compound to search for them. Come on."
I nod and follow, my heart pounding. Why isn't The Clutch here? Have they already fled to another compound? Do we have to track them down again? We barely managed to find this place. I really don't want to have to chase them all over the world, going from compound to compound, hunting them like rabbits.
There are more soldiers inside the compound, heading out, and we have to fight our way through them. We search room after room, hoping to find the council in one of them. Without a map of the interior, we have no idea where they might actually be hiding.
Then, we hear a loud crash as the entire compound shakes. Screams and roars follow quickly after. We all look at each other, then take off running in the direction the crash came from.
Large doors stand in front of us, and Lex pushes them open, revealing what looks like a large hanger. It probably housed helicopters in its day, but now it was no doubt intended to be used by the council, allowing them to shift and fly out of the compound without having to go outside.
The roof of the hanger is in shambles. A dragon lays in a heap in the middle of the hanger as a handful of the new dragons fight with much larger, older dragons.
The Clutch.
As we rush inside, we find a man bleeding on the floor. I stop and look down into the dead eyes of Shinnashi, one of the oldest of our race. He'd led the Clutch before Amasis seized control. Now he was dead, a large shard of the metal roof sticking out of his chest.
I know I shouldn't, but I feel sad, looking down at his lifeless body. There were so few of our kind left, with only a handful nearly as old as Shinnashi. Losing him will mean losing countless centuries of our history and culture.
But I don't have long to reflect on it before the Fire Riders shift and launch themselves at the members of The Clutch. Lex and Galen shift faster than I've ever seen them, both launching up into the air simultaneously, heading straight for Amasis. The smaller dragon that had been fighting Amasis breaks off just as Lex and Galen crash into their old foe.
After that, everything becomes chaotic. My dragon comes to the surface, taking over completely. I launch myself up into the fray, biting and snapping at anyone I come close to. I don't focus on any specific target, simply attack anyone I could. These are the priority targets, the people we need to take out.
We can't let any of them escape.
Then, a loud roar echoes, followed quickly by a crash. I turn to see Galen lying on the floor of the hanger, barely able to move. We all dart back toward the ground, circling him.
The Clutch flies overhead, their massive bodies blocking out most of the light that had been streaming in.
"Don't you see how foolish this is?" Amasis yells from high above us. I can see blood peppering his body, but he's still going strong, especially surrounded by his most powerful supporters. "Stop this madness at once, Aleksander. Fighting us only leads to more death, death that can easily be avoided. We do not want to kill more of our kind. We have lost more than enough as it is. Join us. I implore you...."
We all glare up at them, none of us willing to give in to his deman
ds. We don't want to kill any more of our kind either, but none of us are willing to give in. We've come this far. It's either take out Amasis and The Clutch or die trying.
"Get Galen out of here," Lex demands, turning to look at Farris.
It's obvious Farris wants to argue, but the look Lex gives him shuts that down. We are still in the middle of battle, and there's no time for arguments. Farris knows that, and he moves to pick up Galen in his claws before flying off, slamming through the hanger wall toward the outside.
Yin moves to intercept him, and I launch myself into the air at him. He doesn't see me coming, and I slam into him with all of my might, nearly knocking him out of the sky. But Yin is older, larger, and stronger, and he's able to right himself before coming after me.
I can vaguely hear the other Fire Riders taking off and attacking The Clutch again. Our brief armistice over already. But my focus is on Yin, trying to avoid his attacks. If he gets his jaws on me, it's over. I won't be able to fight him off. But, at the same time, I know I can't defeat him by avoiding him.
And I need to defeat him if Gabrielle and Olivia are ever to live in peace and safety, I need to stop him somehow. Even if it costs me my life, I need to stop Yin here and now.
After avoiding his attacks, I catch him off guard when I shoot forward again, clamping my jaw down on his shoulder. He lets out an echoing scream, then his tail slams into me, sending me hurtling toward the ground.
The air is knocked from my lungs as I hit, and every inch of my body aches. That one attack nearly takes me out of commission, and I have no idea how I'm supposed to defeat someone that strong.
I struggle to stand again. I look up in time to see Yin darting down toward me, and I brace myself. He's moving too fast for me to avoid him, and I'm too injured.
My heart hammers in my chest as time slows to a crawl. Yin inches toward me. But before he can get to me, Bren tackles him, and the two of them crash to the ground together. Dust and debris fly everywhere, and I struggle to see what happened. Seconds seem like minutes as I wait for the smoke to clear. My entire body is braced for an attack.
Then, I see Bren pinning Yin to the ground, just barely, and I rush over to help. But with my injuries, I can't do much to keep him pinned. Yin is thrashing with his wings and claws and tail, doing everything he can to dislodge the two of us.
Each time one of us darts forward to wrap our jaws around his throat, he manages to move and nearly clamps down on our own throats. He's fast, faster than I'd ever imagined. Even with the two of us, I'm not sure how I'm going to stop him.
As Bren moves to avoid Yin's teeth, Yin catches him with his tail, sending him crashing away from us. Before I can react, Yin tosses me off and moves to pin me to the ground. I can almost read the sneer on his face as he looks down at me.
No matter how hard I thrash, I don't come close to dislodging him.
This is it, I think, looking up at him, waiting. This is how I'm going to die. I've lost, and I won't be able to protect my mate and her child.
Then, Yin lets out a howl as his entire body goes rigid.
He moves off of me, thrashing on the ground. For a long moment, I just lay there, wondering what's going on. Then, I hear it. Slow, methodical chanting. Power surges all around me, and I force myself to stand and look around.
There, near the hole Farris created when he carried Galen away, is the coven, Valetta stands at the lead. But that's not what surprises me the most. What surprises me is Gabrielle, in the middle of them.
I can feel the power radiating off her even from here. This time, she's not tapping into my strength. This is all her. Magic swirls around the five of them in a torrent of color. As they move closer, the chanting becomes louder, and Yin's thrashing becomes even worse.
"No!" he screams out as his body begins to shift. He bounces between forms for a moment as he claws at the ground, trying to force himself to stand.
Before he can, I'm on him, using every bit of my strength to force him to the ground. Then, the presence beneath me disappears, and when I move off of him, Yin is laying there in his human form. He's limp but still breathing, and I feel no power coming from him anymore.
When I turn to face the coven again, Valetta is on the ground, the others surround her. I shift back and rush over to them to find Gabrielle cradling Valetta in her arms. Tears stream down her face and the others move away to give me space next to her.
"I love you so much," Valetta says, her voice weak and hoarse. "Never doubt that. It nearly killed me to give you up."
"Merida," Gabrielle says suddenly, looking up at the old woman. "Can't you heal her? Please!"
But Merida shakes her head even as tears continue to fall. She's shaking as he looks down at her friend, her sister. "I cannot. She used her own life force to bind Yin's powers. It is not something we can heal."
Gabrielle looks around frantically as she cries, as if some answer, some miracle, might appear before her eyes. But none comes. Valetta reaches over and takes Gabrielle's hand and squeezes it. "Don't worry, child. I've lived far longer than I should have. It's only because of you that I stayed alive. Only our combined coven could undo the binding spell we'd placed on you, and I refused to die until it was time to return your gift to you." She smiles up at Gabrielle, a sad smile. "Look at it this way, once I am gone, Yin will never be able to regain his powers. He will die a mortal man."
Gabrielle sobs even harder now, the pain in her eyes clear as day. Valetta's act of selflessness wiped away every offense that she had caused for Gabrielle. It restored the love of a small girl who didn't want to part from her grandmother.
Then, Valetta's hand falls away, her eyes flutter closed as her body goes still. Even over the sounds of the battle rage, the cries of the coven echo loud and clear.
I wrap my arms around Gabrielle, and she releases her grandmother's body. She pits her sorrow against my shoulder. Valetta's death proved her love for Gabrielle, without ever speaking those words. It was a complicated love that earned Gabrielle's intense resentment for being abandoned. Yet, by the coven's wisdom, Valetta's actions had kept Gabrielle safe until she was ready to receive all the gifts of her birthright. Valetta's pure act of love shielded Gabrielle and Olivia from Yin's domination. Valetta also managed to save my life as well. I owed a life debt to this powerful witch who never spoke of love but protected those whom Gabrielle loved with her last breath.
"I'm sorry," I say, my voice low, barely audible over the sounds of the battle.
Gabrielle shakes her head. "Don't be. She made her choice. She knew binding the power of someone as powerful as Yin would come at great cost. But she did it anyway, knowing it would be a far greater punishment than simply killing him. Now he has to live and die as a mortal, stripped of everything that ever made him special." Her words come out choked, but I understand them just fine.
I let out a sigh and nod. That does seem like a fitting punishment for Yin. It would be a fitting punishment for all of the leaders of The Clutch. But without Valetta, it's unlikely the coven will be able to perform the spell again. And even if they could, I would never want them to. The cost is far too high.
"Where's Olivia?" I ask, my heart skipping a beat at the thought of the tiny infant. I hope she's not anywhere near this battle. I don't like having Gabrielle here, but at least she has the power to defend herself.
"With Tyko" Gabrielle says, and I immediately let out a sigh of relief.
Thank all the gods above she's as far away from here as she can get. I still wish Gabrielle was with her, but I know Tyko will do everything he can to keep the child safe. And I can't deny that part of me is glad to see Gabrielle, to have her at my side during this battle.
A crash jars me out of my thoughts, and I look up to see Lex and Amasis crashing through the far wall before they both dart back up into the sky. A quick survey of the room shows me Jerrick, back in his human form, standing over Meroe's lifeless body. He's gasping for air, his entire body is shaking. He doesn't look like he's in any bette
r shape than the rest of us, but that's another member of The Clutch down.
Bren stands again, but he wobbles, then shifts back to his human form. He and Jerrick make their way over to where I stand with the coven, all of us keep an eye on Amasis and Lex, flying high above us. Amasis's golden scales reflect the sunlight, and I have to squint to be able to see them. He latches on to Lex, and Lex lets out a roar of pain.
I wince, knowing Amasis must be using his power on Lex. I've heard just how much pain Amasis can inflict with just a simple touch. He doesn't need to bite Lex or scratch him. Just a touch will be enough.
But Lex manages to push away from Amasis, then he vanishes, his own power activating.
"We should help him," I say to the others as they approach. I have to force myself to stand. My own body is covered in cuts and bruises, and every inch of me hurts. But I can't stand by and let Lex fight Amasis alone.
Bren shakes his head, putting a calming hand on my shoulder. "This is between the two of them now. Lex doesn't want us to interfere."
I frown but stay where I am. Lex may not want us to intervene, but I won't let him die, either. If I think Amasis is about to kill him, I won't stand by and do nothing. A quick glance over at the other two tells me they're thinking the same thing.
Gabrielle walks over to me. She takes my hand in hers, and I feel the trickle of power coming out of her. I lock eyes with her, and she nods. Without Valetta, the coven is severely weakened. Gabrielle still has plenty of power surging through her, she just isn't able to fully utilize it. So far, she's just been acting as a battery for the coven, fueling their complex magic.
Now that they're down, she's using that battery to fuel me. Already I can feel my strength returning. My body still aches all over, but I no longer feel like I'm about to collapse. I can stand tall again.
Bren still has his hand on my shoulder, and I take a deep breath, then pass some of that strength over to him. He looks over at me in surprise, then his eyes sweep back to Gabrielle, and he grins before placing a hand on Jerrick's shoulder as well.