Paki backed away and let Mckale pass. Then she pressed Loki back and stood in front of him.
Mckale moved to kneel beside Maleena. He touched her face gently. Her skin felt like fire. He drew a shuddering breath around the lump in his throat. “Oh, Maleena.” She stirred. He felt her pain spike and she whimpered. He traced the line of her brow as he struggled to bring the rage building in his heart under control.
A woman strode toward him, ignoring the battle around her. “How dare you mess with my pet. You will pay for that.”
Mckale stood and placed himself between the woman and Maleena. This woman would never hurt his bondmate again. He watched evil looking shadows uncoil from the woman’s hands. Mckale reached out for the earth beneath her feet. Shrieking, she floundered backward as the ground turned to liquid beneath her feet.
The shadows jumped at him from her hands and connected. Excruciating pain shot up his leg. He refused to acknowledge it. He was not a severely injured person deprived of food and warmth for days. He was healthy, fully focused, border trained and battle hardened. She would get no pleasure from his pain.
The earth reached up to grab the woman. She yanked back, struggling to find solid footing. A flicker of movement caught his eye. He turned like lightning. His swords caught the Kojen, trying to sneak up from behind, in the throat. Another rushed forward to engage him. Instead of finishing the woman, he found himself standing between the Kojen and an unconscious Maleena.
Distantly, he felt the Kojen trying to attack him on a mental level. Their mental attacks came up against the shield of his dragon bond and floundered, unable to reach him. It was easier when he only fought the battle on a physical level. The Kojen depended on their mental attacks to divide their opponent’s attention and weaken them.
He looked for the Earth mage that had rode in with him. He lay dead in a puddle of blood several feet away. A group of Kojen struggled a few paces beyond, mired in the earth up to their waists. At least the mage had taken out a few of the beasts before he lost his life.
Tellnox, on the other side of the open space between the canyons and the rock formations, tried to fight his way back to his rider. Kirynn and Vaddoc stood back-to-back, fighting the hordes swarming out of the canyons. Mckale lost sight of his companions as more Kojen pressed forward.
Emallya turned from the Kojen she felled. A Benduiren walked toward her. Dreth. How many times had they faced each other in battle? She couldn’t remember. She met his attack smoothly. Without half his soul, he didn’t move quite as fast as he had as a Shadow Rider. Not that it mattered. Her swords couldn’t kill him.
They danced circles around each other, Emallya trying to keep an eye on her back. One other Benduiren was present. They had no offensive magic anymore, but any magic thrown at them absorbed and fell apart. The danger lay in their inability to die by either sword or magic.
She parried a blow and narrowly missed the swipe of another blade as a second black cloaked figure moved opposite the first. Bern. Where was Alden hiding? Two Benduiren would test her skills. She didn’t get long to fight them both. Nydara’s massive silver body hurtled out of the falling darkness.
The dragon grabbed Bern in her teeth and flung the black cloaked figure far into the night. Dreth stumbled backward when confronted with the one thing that could kill him. He turned to run, but Nydara gave him no chance to escape. Bright-orange flame poured from her mouth. Dreth’s scream echoed off the rocks as the silver reduced him to a pile of black ash.
Emallya looked into the large violet eyes of the dragon. At that moment, Nydara looked so much like her mother, Rylin, it made Emallya’s heart hurt. “My thanks, Nydara.”
The dragon bobbed her head and turned on the black dragon that dove at her from the sky. Nydara dodged the green spit of fire and launched herself into the air after the black.
Emallya turned back to the fight and saw the one Paki had identified as Sadira. With her snake-like shadows writhing around her arms, the woman tried to work her way around the Kojen toward Mckale’s back.
She ran to head the woman off. Shock and anger chased each other across Sadira’s deceptively beautiful face. “Come then, mage,” Sadira snarled. “Come feel the bite of my shadows.”
Emallya raised an eyebrow. “It would not be the first time I have felt the bite of such shadows, child. I am not afraid. You think because you have spent a few months practicing that you know everything, do you? Then please, show me the bite of your shadows and we shall see who hurts more.”
The shadows jumped at Emallya and she struck Sadira’s mind with a wave of Spirit magic. It made her own head hurt to do it, with Bardeck so far away, but it was nothing to what the child felt as she staggered back clutching her head. “You do not know what other magic can do to you. You perceive Spirit and Healing magic to be weak.” She struck at her again. The younger woman cried out and fell to the ground. Emallya wove a net around the woman’s mind and began to pull it tight while Sadira thrashed and screamed.
The black tail of a dragon slammed into Emallya. She flew backward through the air and smacked into the side of a rock formation with a crack. She slid to the ground. Blood ran down the back of her neck and soaked her shirt. Emallya staggered to her feet. Her sword gone and her head spinning, she had no defense against the Kojen sword that stabbed into her abdomen. Pain seared through her body as the creature yanked the sword out and moved on. She put her hands to the wound. Blood poured out between her fingers as she crumpled to the ground.
Sadira staggered to her feet. The throbbing in her head was so intense, she could barely see through the tears forming in her eyes. She held her head in her hands. It hurt too much to open her eyes all the way. She squinted at the battle. What had that stupid cow done to her? Where was Ranit? “Ranit, you useless lizard, get over here. I can’t fight like this. Take me back to the Kormai. Now!”
Ranit landed next to her with a thud. Sadira grabbed for the saddle. Several of Ranit’s scales look melted together and blood flowed from tears in the leading edge of her wing. Sadira pulled herself into the saddle. Ranit would have to fend for herself. Her head hurt too much to care about the dragon’s injuries. “Go, get me out of here.”
Ranit launched into the sky, flying low and hugging the canyons. Sadira’s stomach rolled and she vomited down the dragon’s shoulder.
A massive swirl of wavering air filled the sky extending to the ground. Galdrilene Defenders poured out of the swirl as the huge shape of Mernoth burst out above them. With a roar that thundered over the din of the battle, he landed in the middle of the Kojen, crushing several of them. His jaws opened impossibly wide and a wave of flame, that dwarfed anything the younger dragons could produce, raged forth. He burned across the mass of Kojen, fire dripping from his jaws.
Howls of pain filled the air. Smoke billowed up and the sickly-sweet smell of charred flesh hung like a cloud. Bardeck ignored the stench that filled his nose and the smoke choking his lungs. He ripped away the safety straps and leaped down from the infuriated gold dragon. He sprinted across the battlefield toward Emallya, trusting Mernoth to protect him. His heart pounding, he dropped to his knees next to her. Bardeck pressed his hands against the wound. The gray shade of her skin struck terror into his heart. He reached for his magic and let it flow into her injured body. Not enough. As tears leaked down his cheeks, Bardeck tried to stem the flow of blood. He had to get her back to Galdrilene; it would take linked healers to repair the damage.
Defenders rushed past him, clashing with the remaining Kojen. Several Defenders formed a wall around Bardeck and Emallya. A black dragon spit green fire at Mernoth. Smoke rose from his scales. He turned with a hiss, his eyes tracking it across the sky. The wind buffeted the combatants and whipped sand into dust devils as the great, golden dragon launched himself into the air.
Mernoth surged after the shadow. The agony in his wings dulled by the fury and adrenaline in his veins. He’d lost two mates to these foul things and now he might lose Emallya. She might be
Bardeck’s mate, but she was beyond special to him.
The black screeched with fear and flew faster, but it couldn’t match Mernoth’s speed. He overtook the Shadow Dragon and crashed into it. His massive jaws closed over the head, his claws ripped through the black scales and dug into the flesh underneath. He flexed his claws, anchoring them in the muscle. With a wrenching twist of his neck, he tore the head off the black. Dark blood sprayed across his chest and through the air. He released the body and watched it fall until it hit the ground.
He picked out the screaming of the black’s rider from the pandemonium below. Now to find the new Benduiren and end him.
Serena battled the Kojen in front of her while Miya did her best to defend her back. To her left, the Healing mage went down screaming, clutching at his chest. A fading weave of magic surrounded the Healer. A man stepped out of the horde of Kojen. Broad shouldered with black hair and gray eyes. His features reminded her of Mckale except this man was not her friend. His eyes held only malice and pain. A mixture of hate and sorrow twisted his scarred face when he saw her.
She watched as he began a weave. He worked the shadow side of Healing. The weave would stop her heart if it reached her. Serena started working her own magic, but he would finish first. His weave was nearly finished when he fumbled it. He stared at her, indecision written on his face. Then the hard swung end of a quarterstaff smacked into the side of his head. With a howl, he grabbed his skull.
Serena watched as the woman who held the quarterstaff swung at him again. He narrowly deflected the second blow before turning and running. The woman turned to her. “I’m Taela. Did he hurt you?”
“I’m Serena and no he didn’t, thanks to you. Where is Paki?”
“She’s supposed to be hiding, but it isn’t working out too well,” Taela said, moving to deflect a blow from a Kojen. Serena also turned to intercept the blades of one of the unnatural beasts. She fought side-by-side with Taela. The Kojen pressed in. Too many. Serena started to reach for Miya to say goodbye, when Defenders carved a path to them. Taela turned to attack one of the men. Serena yelled over the din, “No. They are on our side.”
Taela spared her a glance. “How did they get here?”
Serena smiled with relief. “I have no idea, but I’m not going to complain.”
Kellinar laid about him with his zahri. When he could, he grabbed groups of the foul beasts and bound them together with air. He tied each weave off and left them to struggle with their invisible bonds. Behind him, the Weather mage fought with a sword, holding her own well. She also tied the beasts up though her strength allowed only one instead of groups.
Defenders, the red sleeves of their coats showing under their armor, charged past him. Where had they come from? A massive golden dragon streaked across the sky. His stomach clenched. What could bring Mernoth here?
He caught a movement out the corner of his eye and dodged just in time to avoid a ball of green fire. It exploded on the ground next to him. The second ball of fire landed squarely on his leg, burning and blistering as it ate through the leather breaches. He threw a shield of air up around himself and dropped the zahri to use both hands to beat the flames. Outside his shield, Shryden roared and a burst of orange flame shot over his head.
By the time he put the flames out and dropped his shield to rejoin the fight, he had lost sight of the Weather mage.
A woman walked toward him, the Kojen parting in front of her. Kellinar’s instincts screamed at him. He threw up a shield in time to block the bolt of green lighting that leaped from her hands. He lashed out with air and wrapped it around the woman. He set it to tighten. Her eyes bulged and she thrashed frantically. The weave crushed the life from her.
Near the canyons, a black dragon shrieked with the sound of nails on metal. Black smoke rose up around it as it snapped mindlessly at nothing. The leather of its wings tore and crumbled. Its body sunk in on itself until it was nothing more than scale-covered bones. The shriek faded and it fell to the ground, dead.
So that was what happened to a Shadow Dragon when its rider died. He felt no remorse.
A scream made him turn. Loki and Paki were no longer near Maleena. They fought near a broken black rock. Paki clawed and snapped at several Kojen. Kellinar sprinted toward them. Loki fell to his knees, his hands pressed to his head. Horror flooded Kellinar as he watched Paki grab Loki by the shoulder and throw him against a rock. Loki’s head bounced against the stone, his eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed.
With a swipe of his tail, Shryden cleared away the Kojen fighting Paki. Kellinar knelt next to Loki. Blood ran down the side of the boy’s face. “Why, Paki?”
Shryden’s calm voice entered his head. “She did what she thought she had to in order to save him. A Kojen cannot attack an unconscious mind.”
Kellinar closed his eyes. Paki was right. The move saved Loki. Not the way he would have chosen, but saved all the same. He looked up at the draclet who sported more than a few wounds of her own. “Thank you for doing what you had to.”
Syrakynn plummeted toward the ground, her fangs buried in the neck of a black dragon. The black reached around and snapped uselessly at the air. Syrakynn dug her back claws into the creature’s back and raked them backward, ripping up skin and scales. The black shrieked.
She kept tearing at the dragon until they fell within a few paces of the ground. She brought her wings down, and tore out chunks of flesh as she yanked her teeth out of its neck. The black smacked into the ground. Syrakynn nearly did the same. She had almost waited too long. Her breath rushed out from the impact, but the black softened the blow and her wings soon pulled her into the air again.
She swung her head around, searching for Kirynn among the combatants on the ground.
Kirynn’s zarhi carved a shield around her. Her mind centered, she ignored everything but the task at hand. Kojen rose up against her and fell. Heat burned through her body and sweat trickled down her face. Blood soaked both blades of her weapon. Exhaustion crept along the edges of her focus. A flash of red drew her attention. A knot of Defenders cut through the Kojen to her left. Defenders? Here? She shrugged, never one to second guess good luck in a battle. Ahead, a young man walked toward her, a twisted, confident smile on his face. The Kojen parted before him. A Shadow Rider. She set herself to take him on. He suddenly stopped several paces from her, his eyes wide. A scream tore from his throat and he dropped to his knees, clawing at his face.
Stunned, Kirynn watched in fascinated horror as the man withered before her eyes. His skin became thin, gray parchment stretched over his bones. She barely had time to process it when Mernoth landed with a ground shaking crash next to the shriveled man. The dragon opened his mouth and poured fire on him. The heat from the flames were so intense, Kirynn thought her own skin might burn.
Mernoth turned from the pile of ash the man had become and launched into the air once more. Uneasiness settled into the pit of Kirynn’s stomach. Why was Mernoth there? What would make him go through agony to come here?
A new wave of Kojen interrupted her thoughts. The knot of Defenders went down screaming, some clutching their heads, others dying on Kojen swords. Even with the Defenders and the dragons, there were too many. They had to do something soon, or they would never make it out alive. They were outnumbered. Everywhere she looked, Kojen surged like waves of a purple-skinned sea. She reached out to Syrakynn, “I need you.”
Tellnox reached Mckale and cleared a space around his rider with flame and the sharp spade-like end of his tail. Sending a thank you to his dragon, Mckale turned his attention to Maleena. Her closed lids were shaded purple in her too pale face. The dark circles under her eyes only accentuated it.
“She needs to wake up,” Tellnox sent.
“Why?”
“Kirynn has need of her magic,” came Tellnox’s sending. “We are overwhelmed. Only two mages are left, Emallya is gravely injured and will die soon without healing. Mernoth is here with Defenders, but even with them it is not enough. E
veryone sustains injuries. Kirynn believes she can get us out if Maleena can wake up and bind together Kirynn’s Fire magic and Kellinar’s Weather magic. She needs the strength of the wind to fan the flames of the weave she plans to use. Without it, she is not sure we will make it out of here. There are too many Kojen. I trust her assessment.”
Mckale looked across the battlefield and saw thousands of Kojen with the massive shapes of sparring dragons rising above, the night alternately lit by orange flame and green flame. Somewhere his companions fought for their lives in that sea.
He knelt next to Maleena and called her name, gently patting the uninjured side of her face.
Maleena swam through the dark toward consciousness. Clanging metal and roaring filled her ears. Someone called her name while they drove spikes into her head. Her lids fluttered open. Mckale’s worried face filled her view. In her mind she felt Nydara, fighting for both their lives.
“Maleena, you have to wake up. We need your magic. Without it we may all die.”
She tried to get her voice to work, but her body didn’t want to respond to her commands. Finally she was able to mouth the word, “What?”
“You need to bind together Kellinar and Kirynn’s magic. Kirynn says she can help us if you can bind the two and hold it.”
Maleena nodded and pulled on her last reserves to reach out for the rivers of power flowing into her two companions. The effort seemed too great and her first two attempts faltered. On her third try, she grasped the rivers of magic. It felt like trying to lift a dragon. She took the rivers and wove them together so tight they blended into one. She held the binding together and sent the power rushing toward Kirynn.
Fire bloomed in the center of the battle. Blindingly bright, it began to swirl and expand outward. The Kojen fell back from it. Kirynn, with her arms up, blood running down the side of her face and her dragon behind her, were visible in the center of the expanding firestorm.
Embers at Galdrilene Page 37