“I’m ready.” Croft adjusted her black cloak. She felt for the handle of her wand by her side. The familiar shape gave her comfort. “Let’s go.”
Witch and vampire exited the capital building. Two white unicorns stood waiting for them as soon as they exited the building on the hill. Elwood stood, holding their reins with a tiny fist.
“Elwood.” Sloan smiled at the gnome. “Thank you. I’ve been getting tired of walking up and down this hill.”
The gnome gave the women a beaming smile and chattered away something Croft didn’t understand.
“Did you conjure these animals?” Sloan accepted the reins and swung up onto her mount.
Elwood smiled furiously and shook his head.
Croft managed a smile and did the same. Her unicorn danced underneath her weight, ready to be off.
“Be careful and watch the city while we’re gone,” Sloan said as she kicked her unicorn to motion.
Elwood gave the woman a salute.
As they made their way down the street, the same feeling of dread reached out and touched her again. Croft would rather face the entire army of New Hope herself, than have to face her children. Of course she was going to apologize, but there was only so far that would take her. She didn’t know if she could handle them hating her.
Time passed much too quickly as the women made their way to the main gate. In front of them was an army of shifters, all Azra warriors with wild-colored eyes, capable of turning into various animals within seconds. There were just over two thousand of them in all. They made quite the impressive group, all standing shoulder to shoulder in their white-and-gold uniforms.
“You can’t come. You’re still hurt,” Sloan said to Kade. “Excuse me.”
Croft nodded, giving the sabertooth shifter a sideways glance. He was brave, but Sloan was right. He needed to stay. He would only slow them down and prove a hazard to himself and others if he came.
Theo walked up to Croft, pointing to Aareth and Jack, the latter on a brown unicorn of his own. “We’re ready. Everyone who needs a steed has one. The guards are waiting if you’d like to address them.”
“Not yet.” Croft motioned to the Azra guards by the gate to open the doors. “Send the scouts ahead. When we’re about to engage the enemy, then I’ll speak to them. They’ll need their courage when we charge the mage engine.”
Croft
They rode all day with short breaks. They finally met the fleeing New Order troops as the sun sunk below the horizon. Both sides had ridden hard to reach one another. Croft rode in the front with her men, like she believed any general should. As long as she was able, she would always lead from the front.
There were a handful of riders on horses who had survived the events of the night, along with two carriages. Croft intently searched every face for signs of her eldest daughter. Dirt billowed through the air as both forces exchanged pleasantries. Sasha’s familiar face greeted Theo. Jack was saying hello to friends he had made in the New Order.
Then she saw her. Abigail was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. Croft was sure of it. Her daughter was strong, tall, and wildly fierce. She was much older than the young girl who would pull on her legs to be held or carry books to her lap to be read. She exited one of the carriages, making her way to Jack.
Croft had replayed the events surrounding the reunion with her daughter a hundred times in her head. Each time they ended in her imagination, there was a fair amount of yelling.
Her heart beat like a war drum as Croft lowered herself from her unicorn and handed her reins to a waiting Azra guard. Abigail was now not only the most beautiful thing Croft had ever seen, but also the most frightening. Fear like she had never experienced raced down her spine. The walls of her mouth were dry.
Abigail released her hug with Jack. Croft was close enough to hear their words around the cacophony of sounds around them.
“You came back?” Abigail was facing Croft, but looking at Jack at the moment. “Why? What’s the plan? Are we going to fight them now? Jack, why aren’t you answering me? Why is that woman star—”
Abigail moved her eyes from Jack, looking at Croft over his shoulder. Her face went from one of confusion, to anger, and then back to confusion again.
“What? How?” Abigail’s lips continued to move, but no more words came out.
Jack moved to the side to allow Croft access to her daughter. Every step Croft took toward Abigail felt like her boots were made of lead. She finally stood in front of her, no more than two feet away.
Croft wasn’t sure when the last time was she’d cried, but she did so now. Tears filled her eyes as all of the words she had planned on saying to her daughter died somewhere in her throat.
What was wrong with her? She had practiced this at least a hundred times before. But now, her lips weren’t cooperating. Tears that had been held in for so many years streaked down her cheeks and plummeted to the grassy ground below.
“I—” Croft finally managed.
She didn’t have time to say more, even if she had been able. Abigail approached and wrapped her strong arms around her. She was her own height now. How she had grown so quickly was something Croft was still trying to figure out. Wasn’t it just last year she was learning how to tie her shoes?
“This … this doesn’t mean it’s okay.” Abigail was crying into her mother’s shoulder. “This doesn’t mean … I forgive you.”
Abigail’s words were angry, but Croft had expected that. Right now, just holding her daughter was enough. Croft gripped Abigail like she would never let her go again. Her daughter’s hair tickled her cheek.
“I know,” Croft said in Abigail’s ear. “I’m so, so sorry. But I’m here now.”
“Dad—” Abigail whispered through her sobs.
“I know.”
“Elizabeth—”
“I know, we’re going to get her back.”
“I’m sorry. I tried.” Abigail pulled away the slightest bit, shaking her head. “I tried to be strong for her, but they took her anyway. I’m sorry, I—”
“You’ve been strong for so long. It’s not your fault what happened to your sister.” Croft cleared her throat. “I’m here now.”
“Why? Why did you leave us?” Abigail wiped dirty hands across her eyes. “We needed you. Dad changed over the years you were gone. Where did you go?”
“I’ll explain everything to you right now, but”—Croft motioned to the army that stood waiting for them—“I’ll have to do it as we ride. We’re going to get your sister back.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Croft
Once again, Croft led at the front of her army. The only Azra guards out in front were a handful of scouts in every direction to warn them of any surprise attacks. But right now, the last thing on Croft’s mind was war. For the first time in years, she was having a conversation with her daughter.
The two women rode side by side. Croft found it hard to take her eyes off the beautiful, strong woman Abigail had become. She couldn’t have been a prouder mother.
“So you never told us about who your sisters were, or that you had the ability to control magic to protect us.” Abigail had restated her mother’s words, trying to wrap her head around the revelation. “You left us because you had to prepare for this war?”
“I had to prepare for this very moment, when the forces of the Outland would engage New Hope in a conflict that would be remembered for centuries to come.” Croft shook her head, trying to fight past all of her raging emotions. It was something new for her not to be able to keep her feelings in check. “I couldn’t tell you or bring you with me, but if I wanted you to grow up in a world free of bondage, this is what I had to do.
“Understanding the kind of women my sisters were, I knew this day would come. Leah and I share a magical link as all wizards do once they reach a certain level of power. I knew what she would eventually do. She craves control.”
“I’m still angry at you.” Abigail looked ahead instead of making
eye contact with her mother. “I understand now why you left, but that doesn’t erase all the years you were gone.”
“I know.” Croft finally took her eyes off her daughter and looked ahead. The day’s light was dying. A faint glow was the last thing to remind them of the sun as it dipped beyond the horizon. “And I don’t expect you to forgive what I did. If you can just understand why I did it, that will have to be enough. But I love you, Abigail. I love you and your sister. I never stopped.”
A figure approached out of the night. An Azra soldier on horseback. Croft immediately recognized her as one of the scouts.
Theo, who had given Croft and Abigail time to speak, now spurred his unicorn beside them to hear the report.
“Two miles, due north.” The bright-eyed Azra shifter looked to Theo and Croft. “There’s a city of tents pitched for the night. Men still working on laying the tracks. It looks too quiet. There’s the mage engine and one vessel behind it that it pulls along the track.”
“That’s where she has to be,” Abigail breathed. “Elizabeth’s in there. I know it.”
“It’s also a trap.” Croft drummed her fingers on the pommel of her saddle. “Theo, have the shifters dismount and change. I’ll lead them into the enemy first. When they spring whatever it is they have in store for us, I want you to bring the New Order soldiers, along with Sloan and Aareth. into the fight to give us support.”
“Understood.” Theo dismounted from his black unicorn and rushed to obey.
Croft caught Abigail out of the corner of her eye. Her daughter was adjusting her swords that stuck up behind each shoulder. Telling her to stay put wasn’t an option; Croft had already tried to offer the New Order rebels a spot on the bench for this fight. They were all exhausted from their trip from New Hope. But with the exception of a few injured soldiers, they refused to accept. Instead of traveling safely to Azra, they joined forces with Croft and headed right back into the fight.
“I know you’d just disobey an order if I told you to stay behind.” Croft looked over at her daughter. “But please wait with Jack and the others in reserve. You’ll get to fight. Let me at least see what we’re dealing with first.”
Abigail slowly nodded.
“Thank you,” Croft said as she looked to the warriors who moved in haste behind her.
Theo had already given the orders, and everyone was rushing to obey. There was an electricity in the air that only an impending fight could bring. Sloan, Aareth, Jack, Saber, Sasha, and the handful of New Order rebels congregated to the side with Theo.
A dozen Azra guards lead the herd of unicorns away. Unicorns were more than reliable steeds in a fight, especially those bred and trained in Azra. These were war animals ready to skewer anyone their riders directed them toward. But these animals would be needed for a different day. Today, the Azra shifters would take the battlefield.
“Be careful,” Croft said to Abigail as she moved to the side to join her friends. “I just found you again. I’m not going to lose you.”
“You, too.” Abigail looked over her shoulder as her unicorn trotted toward Jack and the others. “I still need time to be angry with you. Be safe.”
Croft’s heart was full. Her reunion with Abigail had gone better than anything she could have imagined. Her daughter’s heart was much larger than her own, and her capacity to forgive dwarfed her own. Croft couldn’t imagine what she would do if she were in her position, but it wouldn’t have been acts of kindness, that was for sure.
Her mind needed to turn from joy at being reunited with her oldest daughter, to the fight that was at her doorstep. Her youngest daughter needed her now more than ever.
Roars echoed through the air as the Azra guards made their change into the animals that lived just beneath their surfaces. Mouths transitioned to muzzles, and hands and feet turned into paws and hooves. Within seconds, Croft was looking at an army of animals ranging from rhinoceroses, to bears, to cheetahs and tigers.
Not in the history of the Outland had there been an official engagement of this magnitude. Her guards were well trained, and Croft didn’t expect any of them to run, but there was still the hesitancy of the unknown.
“We all know what’s at stake.” Croft trotted up and down the line of shifters. Her black cloak billowed out behind her. Her voice rose even louder than the roars of the shifters. “There’s an army coming for our homes, and I say let them come. I say let them try, because Azra is not a city of slaves or simple men and women. Warriors live in Azra. Free human and supernatural alike, and when tyranny comes to our door, we bury it on the battlefield!”
The sound that came from so many shifters at once was nothing like Croft had ever heard before. Their animal shouts mixed together to form a single sound that inspired courage and heralded dread at the same time.
“I believe in us. I believe in our cause. I believe in freedom.” Croft nudged her unicorn into a slight run as she maneuvered up and down the line of shifters. She met as many of their animal eyes as she could. “New Hope has built their railway to Term and the rest of the cities in the Outland, but they do not understand that warriors live in Azra. For your families! For your future!”
Croft turned her back now on her guards as the shifters stomped paws and hooves on the ground. They were ready. Croft urged her unicorn to a run. They had two miles until they reached the mage engine and the encampment. Adrenaline urged Croft forward, her hand already reaching for her wand.
“I’m coming, Elizabeth,” Croft said out loud although there was nothing but the rushing wind to catch her words. “I’m coming.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Croft
The sun was gone now, making it easy to see the glow of campfires and the twin lights of yellow magical light coming from the mage engine. From this distance, Croft could hear men at work. Shadow figures moved back and forth near the front of the track, laboring away to extend the railway to Azra.
Croft brought her unicorn to a full sprint. She looked behind her one last time. Her shifter army was with her, following only a few feet in her wake.
The sorceress channeled her magical wand into a lance of yellow magic. The lance started at her wand, but extended out in a line of yellow light, pointed at the end like a spear.
Shouts spread across the enemy camp while she was still a hundred yards away. Dark figures ran from their tents, forming a perfect line in front of her charging shifters. Of course, they were charging into a trap; the speed at which the New Hope guards were out of their tents had proven that. Already they formed a wall of soldiers, three ranks deep.
Adrenaline raced through Croft’s body even faster than her white unicorn sprinted over the soft grass. Right before Croft collided with the first rank of New Hope soldiers, she confirmed what she had suspected: they were all vampire soldiers.
Croft’s unicorn took in the chest the unlucky soldier she first collided with, its razor sharp horn puncturing the vampire’s sternum and breaking through his back. Croft’s magical lance eviscerated the head of the vampire to her right. All around her, the noise of battle raged as the Azra shifters took on the New Hope vampires.
Croft maneuvered through the battlefield, transitioning her wand from a lance to a sword. She struck out as fast as she could on both the right and left side. Her weapon flashed in the dark. Everywhere she looked, black-clad, red-eyed vampires engaged in deadly struggles with the Azra shifters.
It was soon clear that only the most brutal wounds were capable of killing the vampires. They healed quickly from any other kind of injury. Croft severed a vampire’s arm, only to see him get back up and attack her again a moment later. They were strong, but speed was their true weapon. Their razor-sharp teeth and claw-like hands were raking through her shifters like scythes through grass.
Croft was tackled from her mount by two vampires who struck her from behind. The air was knocked out of Croft’s lungs as she was still trying to figure out what had happened. The hard ground bruised her ribs. Her vision blurred for a m
oment as the sound of her unicorn’s screams tore through the rest of the noise a moment later.
She was just fast enough to regain her feet to strike out and cleave the first vampire in two. The second vampire was tearing out the throat of the unicorn.
“Hey!” Croft screamed to grab its attention. The vampire turned around just in time to receive Croft’s yellow sword through its mouth and out the back of its skull. “Heal from that!”
Croft had a moment to survey the battlefield. The fight had spread into the tent city, right up to the mage engine. Croft could finally make out the shape of the face on the front of the machine. It was a wolf. A yellow-eyed monster. Croft understood at once what was about to happen.
“Back! Regroup!” Croft shouted at her guards.
She was too late. At once, the steel container being dragged along by the mage engine opened. Both long walls on either side of the container fell away, crashing against the ground with impunity. Elizabeth exited the compartment, along with a pack of crazed white-and-brown werewolves.
As large as her biggest shifter, the werewolves were faster and possessed near impenetrable skin. She knew this due to her experimentation on Aareth. Ten werewolves raced toward the battlefield, howling madness as their blood craze consumed them. Each beast wore a collar Croft had never seen before. But the way they glowed a dull yellow, Croft understood what they must be: the animals were being controlled by magic.
All of this she took in in the space of a few seconds. She would have to trust that Sloan and her reserve unit could at least hold them off for the time being. As much as she wanted to help, her youngest daughter needed her the most.
Croft said a silent prayer as she maneuvered around the pack of snarling werewolves. Elizabeth wasn’t far behind the animals. Her red hair was pulled back and she floated forward, striking out with her own wand that shot yellow beams of light at the shifters.
The Complete Vampire Project Series: (Books 1 - 5) Page 65