by Everly Frost
It will take a lot to kill them today.
Below us, Grayson stands at the head of the elven army right where he promised he would be. He tilts his head back and his gaze seeks me out, focused on me. Far behind him, behind the bulk of the elven army, a cage full of shadow panthers waits to be opened, but they’ll do that once enough gargoyles are wounded so that the scent of gargoyle blood will drive the panthers into a frenzy.
To get past our defenses, the elves will have to either fly over the cliffs on their winged creatures or fight their way through one of two ravines below us. The ravines are wide and will allow many elves through at a time if we can’t stop them. The sky is clear and the mountains here are not as tall or craggy as others.
The Elven Command has chosen this place of attack well.
Our plan of defense is simple: the airborne elves are the greatest threat because they can travel the farthest distance, so we need to take them down fast. While we’re doing that, we also need to block the ground forces from getting through. It’s Baelen and my job to protect our army from the Elven Commanders.
The elves are singing and it makes me shudder. The gorgeous voices of the House of Splendor rise above the others while Priscilla smirks at me. Her gaze shifts to Jordan. They are both from the House of Splendor where the song originated. Sebastian sang this same song to Jordan to tell her that he loved her. But in battle it means something very different.
They sing, “Spin gold, shelter silver.”
They intend to spill blood and bury us.
My gargoyles respond by beating their wings—once, twice—rising into the air, many of them staying aloft, while others take up positions on the ground, forming a thick barrier with their bodies and invincible wings. A synchronized roar blasts across the sky, twenty thousand male and female voices shouting in unison, sending shivers up and down my spine.
“SUPREME INCORRUPTIBLE, WE HONOR YOU!”
The elves fall silent, which makes me grin. The gargoyles’ loyalty to me has silenced them.
I raise my voice, louder than ever before, filling my whole body with thunder and roaring into the sky, “I AM HONORED!”
I lower my arms. Then the gargoyle army shocks me by shouting again. “HUSBAND OF SUPREME INCORRUPTIBLE, WE HONOR YOU!”
Baelen looks as surprised as me. He tips his head back and roars, shaking the sky around us, “I. AM. HONORED!”
My skin prickles, but it’s not entirely because of the gargoyle’s display of allegiance. I sense a force near the ground, a far off disturbance. It feels like pain… It feels like Grayson… He didn’t know I was married…
The sensation shuts off fast, gone as quickly as it started.
My gargoyle army waits for my command.
The sun rises.
I inhale the cold air and meet Baelen’s strong gaze. We both remove our swords and hold them aloft, powerful electricity lighting up around our bodies at the touch of metal. I hear his voice inside my mind for the first time in a long time. I will love you, Marbella Mercy. Until death.
It’s time to fight.
34. Marbella Mercy
The Elven Commanders raise their hands in unison, deadly green light extending between them to form a death spell. They focus on the Outlier gargoyles, rather than on me. They must intend to blast through the gargoyles, make an opening, and create a quick path through our defenses. Their only target is the deep springs and they want to get there as fast as possible.
We won’t let that happen.
We’re ready.
My left arm shoots up and out—the signal that Talia and Elise are waiting for. They immediately let loose their magic, their arms splayed out, deep magic and spellcasting pouring from their bodies, mingling and combining the strongest elements of both. A glistening shield shoots up all along the border in line with their position at the back of the cliff. The shield extends all the way to the ground, all the way up into the clouds, and thousands of feet left and right. Because of where they are positioned, those of us on this side of the shield can fight the airborne elves, while the remainder of the gargoyle army is protected behind the shield—including the ground forces.
Now the elves won’t be able to proceed through the ravines. Not until Grayson figures out how to bring the shield down. He’s the only one powerful enough to do it and it’s going to take him a while because Talia and Elise have deliberately created layers of spells on top of deep magic, weaving a complicated magical web for him to untangle.
The Elven Commanders shout to each other as soon as the shield springs up. They lower their hands and allow their death spell to fizzle out, right before they urge their griffins to turn around and retreat. Priscilla hesitates, glaring across the distance at me. She wants to fight. I can sense it. But a heart beat later, she turns around, taking up position with the others much further in the distance.
“Cowards!” They know their power isn’t strong enough to get through the shield and they’ll have to fight Baelen and me if they stick around. They’re going to let others fight their battle for them while they wait in safety for their next opportunity to get past us.
The elves who sail up to take their place are all too familiar to me. These elves are not from a minor House.
Rhydian Valor smirks at me from twenty feet away, drawing the reins on his winged stallion so tight that the poor creature’s neck is strained. Rhydian Valor was at the heart of the attack on me in the arena during the marriage trials. He tried to take my storm power by force. I’ve never had good experiences with the House of Valor but Rhydian’s behavior took the cake. While Rhydian molested me, the other males had fought dirty to keep Baelen from intervening. One glance at Baelen tells me he has a score to settle with Rhydian.
Baelen’s growl could be straight from a gargoyle’s throat. “With all due respect, Marbella, Rhydian Valor is mine.”
“I won’t get in your way.” I focus on the rider beside Rhydian. Another Valor male. In fact, there are many of them. They must not have any idea what they’re facing if they volunteered for this part of the battle.
That’s okay. I’m used to males underestimating me.
Baelen’s muscles bunch.
My heart rate increases.
Together, we run to the edge of the cliff and leap from it, our swords raised, lightning licking the air, flying straight at the elves.
A thousand Outlier gargoyles follow us, razor-sharp wings spread for maximum impact. They will try to spare the stallions and eagles if they can, aiming for the riders instead.
Baelen slams into Rhydian, lifting him bodily off his stallion, one big hand around his throat, holding him midair as the stallion bucks in terror and tries to escape. As soon as Rhydian’s legs leave the saddle, the stallion escapes while Rhydian kicks the air.
Baelen says, “You were a fool to come here, Rhydian.”
Rhydian snarls. A glint of steel is the only warning before he thrusts a dagger toward Baelen’s ribs. I quell a split second of fear. Baelen has the storm power but he isn’t invincible…
Before the dagger even nears him, Baelen punches Rhydian straight in the heart with a blast of lightning. It’s fast and brutal. Then he drops Rhydian’s lifeless body into the masses of watching elves below.
An Outlier zooms past me, cutting a nearby elf from his seat as I hit my target. His sword is raised and he kicks his stallion to make it turn and dodge me while slicing across the air at my neck. But it’s hard to dodge my power. I duck and a single brush of my hand on his skin is all it takes for my destruction to shriek through him. I grab the back of his armor as I fly upward, wrenching him away from his ride so the death stroke doesn’t kill the innocent horse too. The elf crumbles into dust in my hands.
My body fills with lightning as I snatch up a dagger and fling it, electrified, straight into the next elf’s chest. Another elf screams as Senturi rips him from his ride and there’s a crash as Baelen slams two elves into each other, breaking both their necks. Their deaths are savage, but qui
ck.
My concern now is Priscilla. I knew she couldn’t stay out of the fight. She soars past me, close enough to get my attention, but far enough that I can’t get to her quickly—not with the other elves and gargoyles in my path. Her target is my Storm Command. As usual, she wants to strike where it will hurt me most. On the rocky precipice, my ladies brace, swords and shields ready while Jasper and Sebastian take up battle stances beside them, shields raised. They can’t fly up to meet her. All they can do is brace for the impact. An emerald death bolt grows in her hands as her eagle soars toward them. She wants to take them out in one blow. I’m seconds behind her. Close. But too far to get in between them. I can’t throw my destructive power across the distance or I could hit my friends…
I scream, using my storm power instead to churn the air around her, upsetting the eagle so it wobbles and tips but she stays on.
Damn! No!
She’s only a breath away from releasing her power when Senturi soars out of nowhere, razor-sharp wings glinting in the early sun. Priscilla jolts and aims the death blow at him instead. My heart leaps into my throat but he darts to the right, spreads his wings to full capacity, avoids the death blow, and flies right at the eagle.
I feel a moment of pity for the bird…
Priscilla screams as Senturi’s wings cut right through the animal, barely missing her legs. She launches herself off the dying creature and lands on the cliff top in the middle of my waiting Storm Command. My ladies are ready, ducking and spinning, fighting with grace and heart as Priscilla tries to kill them with her power.
She really should have learned how to use a sword.
My Storm Commanders are everywhere and nowhere all at once and within moments Priscilla rocks beneath the blow of a dagger to her heart, screaming out her frustration as she wrenches the weapon out and flings it back at Jordan, missing her by a mile. Priscilla is full of sorcery and will be hard to kill but Jordan attacks her with a savagery I’ve never seen before, whirling and stabbing Priscilla three more times in quick succession, before slitting her throat and screaming, “That’s for Elise!”
I zoom over the top of them, shouting, “Jordan! Get clear!”
I wait another moment for my friends to leap out of the way…
Then I release my power straight at Priscilla. At the last moment, she drops and rolls and the deathblow strikes the rock instead. She rolls straight over the edge of the cliff, stretching her hand out as she falls, compelling the nearest creature to fly to her. A stallion with an empty saddle soars beneath her and she drops onto its back, landing on her stomach in an ungraceful heap before righting herself. She darts away.
She wants to hurt me. She’ll be back.
On the other cliff top, Indira, Erit, and Roar fly upward to meet airborne elves who make it as far as the cliffs. Their swords flash as they drop five elves from their rides while Gilda finishes the enemy off after they fall onto the rocky surface. Indira’s flung dagger finds the heart of another rider as he attempts to cut Erit from the sky. On the third cliff, Llion, Liliana, Welsian, and Arlo are a blur of movement, protecting the position in front of Talia, taking out any elves who try to get past, flinging the bodies down onto the waiting forces below.
I return to the fight and after that, it’s fast and bloody.
The gargoyles fight with everything they’ve got and the elves are at a disadvantage because they can’t leave their rides. What’s more, the gargoyles use their wings as shields, avoiding every attempt to stab or maim them. They have every advantage in the air.
What feels like moments later, a cry of triumph goes up from the gargoyles as the last airborne elf falls. Winged creatures flee as fast as they can from the battle now that they’re free from their riders. The only airborne elves now are the Elven Commanders, coasting in the distance, glaring and red-faced, while their griffins gnash the air like angry beasts.
Something tells me that the danger isn’t over.
A horn blows from a distant location and Priscilla is the first to tip her stallion, urging it down toward the ground in a rush of wind. The other Elven Commanders are quick to join her as they drive their griffins toward the earth.
As I float in the air in front of the cliffs, Baelen returns to my side, frowning like I am. His voice is a low growl: a rumbling tone I’m hearing a lot today. “Where are they going?”
Also responding to the horn, the elves on the ground drop, crouch, and ball up their bodies, slipping their shields across their backs. The Elven Commanders dismount and join them, hunkering down, disappearing in the mass of bodies.
“Something’s coming. But… what? Shadow panthers?” I search the ground but the cage is still closed.
Below and to our right, Grayson finally makes a move.
So far he has stayed out of the aerial fight, remaining beside Talia and Elise’s shield at ground level, studying it. Now it seems he’s ready to fight back.
He flies up into the air, hovering halfway between the ground and the cliff top, one palm pressed flat against the protective barrier, his other arm outspread toward the crouching elven army. His power washes over them, a glistening barrier just like ours growing and spreading a few feet above them, sealing over the back of the last elf, covering the entire army.
I soon see why.
A black cloud tears toward us.
It’s talon crows. Hundreds of them.
They will kill indiscriminately. Even the elves are in danger, which is why Grayson has protected his army. At the same time, he is putting enormous pressure on our shield. He wants to break it to allow the talon crows through. On the other side of our barrier, Talia and Elise scream with the effort to maintain their power, their voices muffled through the shield. Their arms shake. Their heads are thrown back. Grayson is hurting them, sending torturous pain through the shield right into their bodies.
My heart wrenches because there’s nothing I can do to help them. Tears burn at the back of my eyes. Don’t give up, Talia. Hold on, Elise. Our shield must hold. The talon crows can’t get through. It’s bad enough that the gargoyles on this side of the shield will face the vicious black birds. We can’t expose our entire army to them.
On the cliff tops, my gargoyle friends rally and prepare. My elven friends, including Elyria, are most vulnerable because they can’t fly away. Gratitude floods my heart when Jordan orders the Storm Command to form a defensive shape, urging Elyria into the middle and asking Jasper and Sebastian to join her. Sebastian gives his wife an admiring grin before he knuckles down—he’s secure enough in himself to listen to her. In fact, I’m pretty sure he thinks she’s damn sexy taking charge of this situation. He lifts and links his shield with the others to create a box around themselves, swords resting against the arc cut out of the top of each shield, ready to spear any crows that fly into them.
Senturi joins Baelen and me in the air, along with the other Outliers, lining up in defensive formation as we wait for the horde to arrive. He is covered in blood, a gruesome sight that sends shivers down my spine.
He asks Baelen, “Do you still remember how to kill a crow, Wrathful One?”
A scary grin breaks across Baelen’s face. “We will make new chains today.”
Senturi jiggles the chain around his neck and for the first time, I realize it’s actually two, not one. “I wasn’t sure if I should give yours back.”
One of them is Baelen’s?
Baelen continues to smile. Just like a wolf before it bites. “No need, brother.”
The black birds soar toward us, only three hundred feet away and closing. They are a large black mass of razor-sharp feathers, brutal tusks, and giant claws. Fighting them one by one will take a lot of time. Time that Elise and Talia don’t have. They won’t hold out that long.
My nightmare returns to me. Pedr Bounty’s grandson’s voice echoes in my mind. I see a girl on a mountain… lightning’s striking, claws are ripping, but she’s fighting back.
I suddenly speak up. “I have an idea, but it invo
lves spoiling your fun.”
Baelen raises an eyebrow at me. “Just as long as I’m part of the plan.”
Senturi opens his arms wide. “Of course, Marbella, please tell us.”
“Senturi, would you please ask the Outliers to get behind us. Far back, please.” My heart swells when he immediately obeys me without question. He trusts me. Completely.
When Senturi and the Outliers are safely located near the shield, I whisper to Baelen, “You are always part of my plan, Baelen Rath.”
In the back of my mind, I pray: Hold on Elise and Talia. Not much longer.
I reach for Baelen’s hand, connecting our power. He grins as he understands what I want to do and our power combines in a flash.
Acid rain.
I listen for his heartbeat as he closes his eyes for a moment. Connecting with him is like coming home. Everything he feels for me rises to the surface. Even in the middle of battle, his thoughts are for me. And mine are for him.
The birds are only fifty feet away. I open my eyes, turning to face Baelen, meeting his burning gaze and drowning in the smile he gives me. Drops of acid rise up from our skin, filling the air around us for ten feet in all directions, forming a thick, crimson barrier. Lightning ignites between us at the same time, crackling from his body to mine and back again.
The birds are almost upon us.
We turn to face them. Wait a moment longer…
Then we release our power.
Giant ropes of electricity shriek out from our bodies, striking into the middle of the flock of birds and out to the sides, circling them completely. Acid rain rushes along each charged rope, splattering everything in its path. The birds screech and scream, pulling up, beating their wings, trying to get away. The ones closest to the lightning light up for a split second before they disintegrate instantly. The birds further away are unluckiest, cawing as their wings light up, burning, holes growing where the acid rain touches them. Hundreds fall within seconds, most of them turning to ash before they reach the ground.