Chapter 44
It was the middle of training when it happened.
Jace and I were trying to figure out a way to secure the thundervein claws we’d made to Calla and Quinn so they could use them when they shifted against the demons. So far, it had been trial and error—mostly error.
Each dominion had offered up something—thundervein from the Silver Tyger, phoenix silk from the Red Phoenix that Auron was attempting to fashion into shields and barding for the tygers, and healing lifebark from Azure Dragon, which was rarer than ever now that its only source, the Soulbearing Tree, the Azure Anchor, had fallen.
Even the Onyxes contributed after the Diviner stepped in.
Once it was clear they couldn’t coexist with the Reds otherwise, they removed the manacles from their women’s ankles.
They reluctantly offered up shadowsteel—a rare metal of solidified darkness that fed on life.
Like thundervein, it could defeat demons.
Una and an Azure were attempting to make different healing tonics and creams to store up before we’d be summoned.
Meanwhile, Blake, Vidor, Lian, and most of the others were trying different fighting styles against each other, comparing what information they had on demons and how to fight them.
Auron quietly disagreed with Blake, which irritated the Ambush Master.
The prince of the Reds either didn’t notice or didn’t care.
“It doesn’t really help that you lot fight like brutes,” Auron said, matter-of-factly. Blake’s face went cold, eyes trained on the fire siren.
“Come try me, princeling.”
“All right then,” Auron said, hands suddenly wreathed in fire. Blake held his arms out, and two large blades shot into his grip. Malissa’s knives flew from her belt and hovered over him in an arc identical to the one I’d seen when he killed in the Arena.
“By the god of war, I hate when he does that,” Malissa complained, but only seated herself on one of the low platforms to observe.
Everyone watched the two powers circle each other, interest sparking from every warrior.
Only they didn’t get a chance to start.
The earth shook, followed by a burst of light before the Diviner appeared, red robes streaming behind her.
“Demons have started attacking the borders of the Red Phoenix Dominion,” she said, her voice urgent. “If they invade, the Red Anchor shall fail after the Silver one. There is little time. We must leave at once for the Silver Anchor. Stow your weapons, prepare yourselves. We leave at noon.”
And then she was gone.
Lian looked stricken, her body frozen even as the other firens clustered around her, panicked. It was Auron who halted their frenzy.
“You heard her. We must prepare—”
“What of our families?” one of them shouted.
Auron shook his head. “We must focus. Our task is here, with the Silver Anchor first.”
“Blazing hell! Why should we fix the Silver Tyger’s Anchor while our people are attacked? Who is to say the Silvers won’t abandon us the moment their Anchor is fixed?”
“Silvers are as steadfast as the metal we command,” Blake declared, stepping toward the firens.
“All the Anchors must be secured to keep the Demon Realm sealed. It would do us no good to have only one Anchor fixed. We shall travel together to the Red Anchor as soon as this is done. We joined the Raveling to secure them all before the twelfth—”
“Our people could be wiped out by then,” Lian said, her voice heavy. I didn’t miss the quick look she shot toward the Azures, who stood quietly along the edges.
The Azures, who had lost everything to the largest demon attack the world had yet seen.
I wondered if this might be the moment when everyone finally understood that the Serpent Lord was behind the attacks, when any remaining belief that the Azures had led them to the slaughter at the Wedding of Flame and Sky would finally be laid to rest.
“My heart hurts for your people. I know what it is to lose everything and I do not wish that on anyone,” I said, taking a step forward.
“The way to save your people is to repair the Silver Anchor as quickly as possible. This is a divine quest. The gods have chosen us and set the order in which the Anchors must be restored. We can do this together.”