Diana darts forward and smacks the side of the dragon’s head. Her blow sends the creature slamming to the ground with a loud shriek. In a blur of speed, Diana is astride the dragon, its neck in her hands as she jerks it around with a cracking twist. The creature slumps limp and lifeless into the dirt, black foam bubbling up from its mouth.
Jarod’s and Diana’s heads jerk upward. Two more dragons fly into the patch of sky above. They crash down, bending back trees with beating wings, branches cracking off and raining down into the clearing.
Yvan falls on me and pushes me flat onto the ground. Huge tree parts rain down on us. Arrows whistle by from multiple directions, one piercing the bark of the tree behind me with a dull thwunk.
“Stay down!” Yvan cries as he pushes himself off me and into a crouch.
A flash of steel glints amidst the thrashing confusion of dragon limbs as Andras curses and swings his labrys. There’s a metallic thud, a terrible, ground-shaking roar, the whoosh of more arrows, Diana’s low growl as she kills another dragon. Complete chaos ensues as the dragons fall, writhing on the ground, a new one bursting forth from the trees, its face twisted in ravenous fury.
Trystan raises his wand at the beast as it stalks toward him. Fire bursts forth from the wand’s tip in a powerful surge. The wave of fire engulfs the dragon and flames toward Yvan and me. A great burst of water drenches us both from the side, dousing the fire and chilling me to the bone. I sit up and rub at my eyes as I choke on rancid smoke.
I look over to see Tierney putting out Andras’s flaming cloak hem with another burst of water from her palms as Andras pulls his labrys from the dragon’s neck.
“What are you doing?” Diana yells at Trystan. “Stop setting people on fire!”
“Sorry!” Trystan calls to Andras, his voice rattled.
“Fire won’t hurt them!” Yvan cries out to Trystan as he rakes his hair in frustration. “They’re dragons!”
Without warning, another dragon crashes down from the sky to land in front of Yvan and me.
I scuttle backward into the woods as Yvan leaps at the creature.
Dizzy with panic, I hear a soft rustling to my left. I turn to see, amidst the dense brush, the head of a dragon. It’s motionless, with opaque eyes that watch me coldly. I stare at it, transfixed and realize I’m about to die.
The attack comes from behind as yet another dragon slams me into the ground. Claws scrape at my back with a red-hot slash, then there’s an unbearable pressure as a heavy foot comes down on my back, pinning me in place, the beast snarling behind me. I scream at the top of my lungs as the other dragon’s terrifying face slides into view, inches from my head.
And then Yvan is there, grappling with the dragon before me, his hands tight around the creature’s horns. Baring his teeth, he jerks the beast’s head back, blackened blood spurting out from the creature’s mouth.
The pressure on my back abruptly releases as the dragon behind me roars and lunges for Yvan. I spring free, scramble to my feet and break into a panicked run.
I race through the woods, my breath coming in deep gasps, not daring to look back at the snuffling creature that’s now crashing through the woods behind me.
I burst into another clearing and leap over the remains of a cage. A powerful blow to my side sends me flying toward a tree. My head collides with it, a shower of stars bursting to life behind my lids. A terrible, ripping pain on the side of my thigh reduces me to a wild state as I claw at the ground. I scream at the top of my lungs, the sound disembodied, taking on a life of its own.
Through my screams, I hear Yvan snarl out something in a strange language, the words quickly morphing into a bizarre hiss. Trapped in a blaze of pain, I roll over to see Yvan rip the dragon’s head clear off its body.
I stop screaming as the searing pain grows numb and the world begins to spin slightly off its axis. “Yvan...” I croak, as he runs to me and views my leg with horror, the green of his eyes having taken on a bright, otherworldly glow.
He drops down and grabs at my shredded skirt hem and rips off a long shred of fabric. His form blurs in and out of my vision, and I’m vaguely aware of him wrapping the long shred around my thigh and cinching it tight.
Trystan bursts into view. “Oh, Ancient One. No!” He runs to me, his eyes flying to Yvan in desperation. “What can I do?”
“We’ve got to get her out of here,” Yvan says. “There’s not much time. She’s losing too much blood...”
And then there’s an unbearable heat around my shredded thigh. The pain halves, and my leg feels knit tight again, but the world is a blur, and I’m ebbing.
“How did you...” Trystan’s voice breaks off in shocked awe.
“Does it matter?” There’s a fierce challenge in Yvan’s tone.
“No,” Trystan demurs, his voice calm and sure. “No, it doesn’t.”
Yvan’s arms come around me, lifting me as the world spins and goes in and out of view.
I’m vaguely aware of the voices of the others, sounding like they’re momentarily underwater as we move through the forest. The world briefly comes back into focus as we slow to a stop.
“They’re...leaving,” Cael marvels. I weakly glance over toward where the Elf is pointing. My head lolls strangely, like it’s partially disconnected from my body, my arms limply wrapped around Yvan’s neck. We’re high up, afforded a panoramic view of the military base. Naga is unconscious and being carried by Diana and Jarod, one wingtip scraping along the ground.
What looks like over a hundred dragons are rising and flying off into the west, as frantic soldiers try in vain to subdue them with hooks and spells.
“Where do you think they’re going?” Andras asks.
“They seem to be headed in the direction of Valgard,” Trystan says, incredulous.
“They have a mental connection to Damion Bane,” Yvan says. I can feel the subtle vibration of his deep voice along his warm chest. “So they probably are headed for Valgard.”
Complete chaos has broken out in the military base, soldiers yelling out to each other, shooting arrows and blue streams of wand light at the dragons, the majority of the beasts now a swiftly moving black cloud barreling toward Valgard.
One of the dragons, a straggler farthest from the others, rounds back, lets out a horrific roar and begins to fly straight toward us. I should be terrified, but I’m dizzy and so weak. It seems like a surreal dream as the realization hits me.
Before, when I touched Trystan—the latent power in my blood seemed to amplify his magic.
“Trystan,” I rasp as I set a weak hand on my brother’s back. “The cratering spell. Blow a hole through it...”
Trystan grinds out the words to the spell as the dragon swoops in. I gasp as heat shudders through me, through my hand and into Trystan’s shoulder. A beam of white light bursts out of the white wand and spears toward the dragon, colliding with the creature’s chest, piercing the dragon clear through. An explosion of limbs, flesh and blood streaks through the sky as the white beam barrels onward and crashes into the vertical cliff face of the mountain before us.
An explosion of rock and dust follows, the sound deafening, the ground shaking beneath us. Multiple avalanches rumble to life and rain down huge stones onto the military base, the largest of the structures quickly reduced to smoky rubble.
“Is that...” Jarod says, his voice dazed.
“Damion Bane’s new military headquarters, yes,” Trystan finishes for him.
Everyone flinches as another avalanche of stone breaks free from the mountain and takes out the last of the stone buildings. The soldiers below, small as ants, have grown silent as they stand near their small, isolated barracks and stare, along with us, at the destroyed base. One soldier yells out and points in our direction.
“They’re regrouping,” Cael says grimly as gruff voices b
egin to bellow out orders. “And they’ll come after us.”
“Let’s go,” Yvan prods, his arms tight around me. “I need to tend to her leg. Soon.”
“They’ll send trackers out after us,” Rafe says, his voice ragged. My brother looks tense, his face streaked with blood.
Tierney raises her hands in the air, closes her eyes and begins to hum, low and clear. Gray clouds pull in from every direction, like dogs heeding a master’s call, growing and mushrooming above, their movement dizzying and strange, like time speeding up. Thick, fat flakes begin to rain down on us, first scattered, and then thick as an upended sack of flour.
“There,” Tierney says, barely visible through the frigid white. “That should hide our tracks nicely.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Aftermath
I’m drifting in and out of consciousness, half-aware of Yvan’s arms around me, my head lolling over his shoulder, the terrible pain in my leg muted into a throbbing ache that grows and then recedes, over and over, like the rhythmic sweep of the ocean’s tide. I can taste blood in my mouth, smell it on Yvan’s taut neck.
And then I’m dipped down, and the air around me grows damp, the voices more distinct as I’m laid out on a cold, stone-hard floor. Everyone is fuzzy, some of them grouped around me. The dragon being carried in by Diana and Jarod briefly comes into focus, her scales scraping against the stone floor of the cave as she’s lowered down, her hide giving off a dusty, wood-smoke smell. The warmth from her body rushes toward me, loosening my muscles. The pain spikes. I cry out as flashing spots of light block out my vision.
Yvan’s voice. Yelling out orders as I writhe in pain. My clothes being pushed up and over. Hands tight on my leg. Other hands around my arms. Grasping me firmly as I struggle against them.
“Ren.” Trystan’s voice, coming from right behind me. I moan again. “You’ve got to try and stay still, Ren.”
I scream out like a wild animal as the pain of a thousand knives stabs at my leg. I buck against the hands grasped tight around my thigh, the pain seeming to go on forever and ever.
Finally, the pain begins to fade and the room comes into focus, like I’m surfacing from deep water, gasping and choking.
Yvan is staring at me, his face full of an intense relief, his arms still tight around my leg, the pain now tamped down to a small ache. My head throbbing, the room begins to spin, my vision blurring. I slump back against Trystan.
“You fixed my leg,” I weakly marvel.
Yvan smiles, a desperate relief evident in his eyes. He moves up to sit beside me as Trystan places something soft under my head. I sink back into it.
“You’ve lost a lot of blood,” Yvan says gently. He takes hold of my tunic at the waist and rips open the side seams with one quick jerk.
Even in my haze, this strikes me as odd. “What are you doing?”
He pauses. “Do you trust me?” His eyes are steady on mine.
I nod, my head feeling weightless as if it could just float right into the sky.
Yvan slides his hands through the ripped seam and finds his way with deft fingers. He slides one hand behind my back and the other to the center of my chest.
I draw in a small, languid breath. “You’re so warm...”
“Shhh,” he says, his deep voice soothing. “Close your eyes.”
I obey as his hand moves up my breastbone with slow, deliberate care. Warmth radiates out from his fingers and flows through me, coursing from his hands into my entire body. The light-headedness fades as the warmth grows, my breath strengthening in my lungs, the long, stinging slashes on my back muting to tingling ribbons.
I open my eyes and meet his gaze, my vision clear again, the pain gone. He’s so close to me, his ministrations like a lover’s caress.
Perhaps sensing the shift, Yvan’s touch becomes tentative and featherlight. He slides his hands away and pulls back. As I blink up at him, Yvan’s serious expression wavers and becomes momentarily boyish and unsure. He glances at my leg then quickly away.
I sit up, surprised that the room isn’t spinning. My skirts are pushed up to the top of my thigh, only a faint, pink scar where the gaping wound was. I stare at my leg, amazed, the blood on the cave floor and Yvan’s hands and forearms proof that I’ve not dreamed this.
Yvan goes next to Rhys, who’s slumped against a wall. His tunic is being cut off with a small knife by Cael. Rhys’s upper torso is crisscrossed with bloody gashes, one ivory sleeve soaked with blood, the arm beneath hanging at an odd angle.
Ariel is bent over the unconscious dragon, lining up her torn wing. Wynter’s hands rest gently on the beast’s side. Naga’s chest rises and falls in weak breaths, smoke periodically sputtering out of her nostrils and spiraling white toward the cave’s ceiling. Andras kneels down beside the dragon and begins to straighten out her bent leg.
Ariel leaps up and grabs roughly at his shoulder. “Get away from her!” she snarls at him. “She’s not a horse! You have to line up the greater tarsal bone with the lesser tarsal bone or it will fuse all wrong!”
Andras pulls his hands away from Naga’s leg and lifts them, palms up, in surrender as Ariel glares at him murderously.
Wynter gently places her hand on Ariel’s arm. After a moment Ariel’s manic look recedes. She sits back down, focusing in on Naga’s wing, and sets back to work with nimble fingers, cursing to herself as she works.
“Where’s Diana? And Jarod?” I ask, my eyes darting around the cave and quickly lighting on the Lupine twins’ clothing, piled up against one wall.
“They’re out in wolf form,” Trystan assures me. “Standing guard.”
Alive. All of us, miraculously still alive.
Rafe is slumped down near Rhys, holding on to his own arm, a strained expression on his face, as if he’s gritting his teeth.
I pull down my skirts and cautiously rise with Trystan’s support, holding tight on to his arm as I wiggle the toes of my left leg, scared to put weight on it. Screwing up my courage, I bear down on the leg, amazed to find it flush with more energy and strength than the other.
“Rafe,” I call out. “Are you okay?”
Rafe smiles, his head slumped to one side. “Oh, I’ve been better.” He looks to my healed leg with obvious relief, then glances over at Yvan who’s laying his fingers over Rhys’s gashes one by one. “But I suspect Yvan here could reattach our heads if he had to, so I’m feeling hopeful.”
Yvan’s eyes flash at Rafe.
We all know you’re Fire Fae, I want to tell Yvan. Stop the charade.
“Can you heal Naga?” I ask Yvan bluntly.
Yvan hesitates, his jaw tensing as he holds on to Rhys’s wounded arm. “No,” he finally says, guarded. “Not when she’s in this form. And she isn’t able to shift to human form.”
Rafe’s eyes widen, along with my own. “She’s a shifter?” Rafe asks with surprise.
Yvan gives a tight shake of his head. “The Gardnerians use geomancy to bind their ability to shift.”
I stare at him, amazed. “Are you saying that all of our military dragons...are wyvern-shifters?”
Yvan meets my stare head-on. “They were.”
I try to wrap my mind around this—there’s a human form bound somewhere inside Naga, unable to get out.
Tierney leans against the cave wall, stoic and unhurt. She’s looking at Yvan, her jaw set forward, her gaze full of concern and solidarity.
Two Fae. The both of them. Water and Fire.
Cael stands and begins
to grab up his weapons and secure them one by one.
An Elfin bow and arrows. Knives.
In case they come for us.
The terrible reality of our situation seeps in. “We’ve destroyed a Gardnerian military base,” I state flatly, not quite believing the words.
Everyone turns to look at me, the gravity of what we’ve done, and the extreme danger we’ve placed ourselves in, stark in everyone’s eyes.
Tierney is the first to speak, her voice soft, her eyes gone hard. “Good.”
“We cannot all stay together here,” Cael puts in, his gaze narrowed at us all. “Ariel Haven can care for the dragon. As soon as Yvan is done, the rest of us need to separate. And quickly.”
* * *
I rush back toward the North Tower, the sack over my shoulder containing the white wand.
Emerging from the wilds, I step onto the large, sloping field that lies before the tower, the irregular, frozen ground rough against my boot heels. I pause, overcome by the immensity of the black dome of sky reeling overhead. It’s ribboned with silvery clouds, sharp as talons.
Something moves in the sky to the northeast. Flapping.
Legs buckling, I’m seized by a sudden, crippling terror.
Dragon. Another dragon.
I stumble back into the shadowy woods. Shuddering with fear, I frantically search the northeastern sky.
A cloud. One of the ribbony clouds. The dragon shape has dispersed and split into three separate slashes against the black dome of the sky.
I brace myself against a large stone, struggling to breathe as it all washes over me—the dragon attack, the beast’s terrible claws, the wild pain, the mountain falling apart.
We’ll be caught. They’ll find us and arrest us all. And then...
“Elloren.”
The Black Witch Page 53