Chapter 40
Sage
L arge branches snapped like brittle twigs as a blur of white fell no more than twenty feet from us, colliding with the ground. Feathers exploded into the air like a wagon full of pillows struck by cannon fire. A winged horse laid there, unmoving, no rider in sight.
“Is it dead?” Kaleb inquired, daring one step forward.
I eyed its side, illuminated by moonlight, looking for any sort of movement. Just barely, I could see its ribs rising and falling. “No, it’s alive,” I answered.
The horse burst upright, and it charged at us. Nostrils flared, white mane flying straight back, its wings spread out.
Vatara was quick to move, using her tail to protectively sweep Artemesia into her. Kaleb and I leapt in the opposite direction from one another as the horse stampeded past us.
I swirled around to face the horse, reaching for my powers, bracing for it to come at us again. But it didn’t turn back—it just kept going, racing off into the distance, which eagerly swallowed it whole.
Loud, rumbling sounds, like stone smashing against stone, came from the direction the winged creature had gone in, as if a rockslide was happening on one of the mountains in the distance.
A thunderous, unnatural roar blasted from there—like a violent wind being forced through too small of a space, amplifying it. The hairs on the back of my neck rose in standing ovation for the haunting bellow—one I did not care to hear an encore for.
“Winged horses can’t make that sound, can they?” Kaleb asked, wide eyes fixed straight ahead.
“Nope.” Artemesia popped the p.
Trees cried out as their branches and trunks snapped in two. The ground groaned, as if a heavy, unbearable weight were being placed upon it. The forest floor trembled beneath my feet, shooting shockwaves up into my legs, growing in force with each passing second.
“And they probably can’t do that either, can they?” Kaleb chuckled nervously.
“Definitely not,” Artemesia confirmed. She turned to Vatara, who lowered immediately, the two working in perfect tandem. Artemesia reached up, her arm now fully healed, and she slung herself over the side of the gryphon. Urgently, she directed us, “Come on. We need to get out of here.”
Kaleb stood with his mouth agape as he stared in the direction of whatever was coming toward us .
“Come on, Kaleb,” I urged, snatching his hand and dragging him over to Vatara.
When the three of us had mounted, Vatara flared out her wings and shot from the ground. It wasn’t until we were above the tree line that I looked back and saw it .
A giant, forged from the mountain behind it. Clumps of trees stood on the cliffs of its vessel, creeks stretching across it like a network of veins. I had thought the giant I faced in the arena was huge, but in comparison she wasn’t even half this beast’s size.
“What is it?” I asked Artemesia, my arms wrapped around her waist, Kaleb’s around mine.
“Something we won’t stand a chance against,” Artemesia hissed as she steered us away from the giant. “It was most likely conjured by a priestess who can bend the will of earth, which means we need to find her first.”
I scanned the indigo sky. Von and Folkoln had led the empress’s warriors away from us, across the lake, bringing the battle closer to the ground, using Harper and Ryker’s flame arrows to aid them.
I didn’t recall seeing so many fighters before, which meant reinforcements must have come. Dozens of them. Still, Von and the others were holding them at bay.
I zeroed in on a female, positioned behind the others. She hovered in the air, her purple robes floating around her. Her hands were raised, her eyes fixed on the giant.
“There!” Kaleb and I exclaimed at the same time.
“I see her,” Artemesia replied as she pulled her sword from its sheath and handed it to Kaleb. “Take this. ”
He unwrapped his arms from my waist and took it. “Thanks?” Kaleb replied with a degree of question as he eyed the sword.
“Vatara, we need to get closer,” Artemesia told her.
Vatara let out a piercing screech in reply.
“Hold on,” Artemesia warned us as Vatara angled upwards, shooting us high into the sky, above the battle below.
The well within me swelled with power, nudging at the surface as if it wanted to show me something.
Trusting in it, I allowed it to overflow into my palm.
I curled my fingers, and a round handle formed within them, the color of gold tinted with rose.
It shot out from one side to the other until it was eight feet long.
At one end, twin prongs formed, chiseled into the shape of slender, curved wings.
The points were lethal and sharp. Deadly .
Vatara tipped her beak to the ground, tucked her wings in, and dove straight for the earth bender.
“Guard the priestess!” shouted one of the riders as they charged for us.
Heeding their command, more and more warriors started to fly toward us, looking to cut us off.
It was now or never.
Using every ounce of my immortal might I could conjure, I fired the bident at the earth bender. It tore through the air, whistling as it headed straight for her. At the last possible second, her head swiveled up, and she formed a round shield out of thin air.
The bident chewed into it, the brunt of it shoving her downward.
With a snarl on her lips, she tossed her shield, along with my bident, into gravity’s clutches then set her furious sights on us. “Get her !” she yelled, her eyes narrowing on me.
Artemesia pulled up right before we collided with a handful of riders who had formed a protective barrier between us and the priestess. They chased after us as we flew upwards. I glanced back down, looking past them. Instinctually, my hand reached out, searching—
The bident answered my call, returning to me from the ground below. A hum sounded as it flew toward me, still stuck in the shield. The lip of the round shield collided with a rider, knocking her off her horse. The force was so great it freed my bident.
“Nice,” Kaleb exclaimed.
“That was dumb luck,” I chuckled as the bident returned to my hand.
I surveyed the weapon. I had never created anything like it before, but it felt good. Familiar. Powerful. A title came to me, whispered into my thoughts . . . Guardian of Creation.
Was that the name of the bident?
Something in me whispered yes .
A rider, standing on top of her horse’s back, daggers in hands, emerged beside us.
She leapt across the distance, her weapons ready to bite.
I took aim with my bident, released it, and held my breath.
It impaled her chest, knocking her back with such force her hands and legs curved in front of her torso.
She screamed as she fell toward the ground, her horse scrambling after her.
I flexed my hand over the air, and like a faithful old mare, the bident returned, the twin points saturated in ichor.
Another rider leapt from up above and I thrust my bident upwards.
It impaled the rider, my immortal strength kicking in as I held the fully grown immortal over the top of us, speared like a fish on a stick.
She kicked and squirmed, horrible gurgling sounds coming from her mouth.
Grunting and muscles contracting, I heaved her over the side.
Gravity tugged at her, pulling her off the sharp points of my weapon.
The metal tang of swords sounded behind me as Kaleb fought with another.
Their mount collided into Vatara’s side, and I swayed at the force of it.
Kaleb won against the other rider, earning us a few seconds to breathe.
Eyes searching, I looked for Von.
He was back to back with Folkoln, the two of them surrounded by riders, so many that I could just barely make them out.
“Von!” I yelled my mate’s name, my heart stampeding in my chest, frantically shooting blood through my veins. Urgency clawed at me as I watched the riders close in on them. We had to help them. We had to—
A tidal wave of immense power blasted through the air, and the soldiers who surrounded Von and Folkoln were sent careening backwards, their armor crumpling like tin cans.
I could hear the sound of bones breaking, followed by desperate, pleading wails, something I had heard once before, back in Edenvale.
Immediately, I knew who the lethal force had come from.
Only my mate was capable of such raw, incomprehensible power.
Only Death could crush bones as if they were made from brittle leaves.
Down below, Harper and Ryker continued to shoot their flame arrows. Lyra, Soren, and Fallon were with them—the three of them fighting the riders who had taken to the ground.
The giant was drawing closer to them. Closer to us all.
“Shit,” Artemesia swore. “I’ve lost visual of the priestess.”
I scanned the sky, searching for the earth bender.
“She’s over by the giant!” Kaleb shouted.
I glanced back, toward the mountainous beast.
Sure enough, Kaleb was right.
The priestess hovered by the giant’s shoulder. She lowered her hand, and the giant reached down. Like two monstrous shovels, his stone hands dug into the ground, pulling a huge chunk of it free—trees and all. Bits of soil crumbled beneath the slab as he raised it over his head.
“Oh fuck,” Kaleb muttered under his breath, voicing what we all were thinking.
The giant roared as he threw the mass of land at us.
“Hold on!” Artemesia yelled as she pushed Vatara to her limits. She flapped her wings faster and faster. I peered behind us, my eyes stretching wide—
We weren’t going to make it.
Get up, commanded a voice as strong as steel. A voice from my memories—Ezra. Now fight for him, child, with everything you have. Those were the same words she had said to me when Kaleb got lost in the blizzard. I looked at Kaleb. I knew what I had to do.
I leapt to my feet, core contracting, muscles firing as I kept my balance.
Time almost seemed to pause.