Chapter 53
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
SOFIA
Sofia didn’t expect the faeries to come so soon or in such a wave.
They’d scattered the rabbit hearts the moment they made it to the north of camp.
Fox’s brief run-in with the ciervado had inspired Sofia—it was easy to draw the faeries to you in the forest. They’d hoped at least one of the bloody hearts would be sniffed out by a ciervado after a few hours.
Instead, three ciervados and a sangra came ambling out of the woods twenty minutes later.
The sangra, hair black and lank across its pale face, scurried across the ground like a warped creature somewhere between human and spider, while ciervados, skull faces shining white in the night, took slow, menacing steps forward.
The moment they were within a few hundred yards of the north perimeter, the wolfshifters turned restless.
Sofia and Delio were perched in trees, downwind from the camp, but the wolfshifters didn’t even notice them as the faeries prowled into view.
With a crack and a howl, they were in their wolf forms, bounding toward the creatures.
The sangra ran, a few wolves darting after it, but the ciervados only roared—a scream that froze the blood in Sofia’s veins and made her breath burn in her chest. There was something truly otherworldly about the creatures.
The wolfshifters seemed equally terrified, attacking them with fervor.
The human soldiers came only a few minutes later, the forest already alive with screams as the creatures clashed.
Some blood monkeys had joined the fray, drawn by the gore.
And just as Sofia hoped they would, the humans didn’t bother with questions, one shooting off an arrow and hitting a wolf in the flank.
It did nothing against the wolfshifter, but the creature snarled, bounding toward the humans, too crazed with bloodlust to care about allies or promises.
The humans attacked as more wolfshifters turned.
A thick fog blew across the battlefield, adding to the tumult.
Sofia could hear the self-satisfaction in Chalia’s thoughts as the fog worked.
Some humans recognized the other faeries as the true enemies and shifted their focus, but the confusion had done its job as more and more soldiers came running, shooting indiscriminately.
Sofia slipped from the tree as the fog covered the ground around her and dashed east, back to where Chalia and Micael waited, Delio left behind in the trees to watch the chaos.
She didn’t let her muscles relax until she saw Chalia through the trees.
“I don’t know how long they’ll fight,” she said to Micael as she came to a stop in front of them, “but it will take a while to calm the wolfshifters down enough to stop attacking.” She turned to Chalia. “Any news?”
“Nothing yet,” she said. “Jobin is still waiting and has heard nothing either.”
Sofia bounced on the balls of her feet, feeling her anxiety crawling beneath her skin.
Micael watched with a raised eyebrow. He made it less than ten minutes before snapping, “Just go. Keep a good perimeter and tell Chalia the moment you know anything.”
Sofia didn’t wait for him to finish talking, darting into the trees toward the south.
She followed his directions, keeping far enough from the camp that a wandering soldier wouldn’t run into her.
Amid the chaos, she didn’t bother with stealth, so Javi was practically on top of her by the time she realized she wasn’t alone in the woods.
Her own approach seemed to surprise him just as much as he skidded to a stop, his dagger pulled before he truly saw her.
Sofia’s stomach dropped, the blood draining from her face.
“What are you doing here? What happened?”
“Fox’s mom wasn’t where she was supposed to be,” Javi said, slightly out of breath. She knew the words were coming before they were out of his mouth, her heart already catching in her chest. “Fox went into the camp looking for Ian.”
She was running again, Javi on her heels.
“Chalia, Fox is in trouble. Something went wrong.” She sent the message between steps, hoping the dragon picked up on the urgency. The roar that echoed through the forest a few seconds later told her that Chalia had heard her fine.
“Shit,” Javi said, looking back over his shoulder.
Chalia was already in the air soaring toward them.
Sofia grabbed Javi, pulling him back as Chalia twisted down between the trees and flattened her back for them.
Javi jumped on her first and she followed, Chalia already pulling up into the air before Sofia had gotten a good grip on her feathers.
But she knew she wouldn’t fall. She could sense the movements of the dragon, sense the turns before she made them, allowing her to shift her weight as they sped toward the south of camp.
Sofia didn’t need to tell Chalia where Fox was, she knew already, flying directly toward a thick copse of trees within the camp perimeter.
“I smell blood,” she said, the dragon’s anxiety making Sofia’s fingers vibrate.
The moment the trees broke away into a clearing, Sofia saw the furor of the battle below. Black-clad soldiers surrounding a single head of blond hair, a lone star in the black night. A pool of blood cascaded outward from where he kneeled, and Sofia felt her body go hot and cold.
Chalia let out a roar that climbed up Sofia’s chest.
She didn’t wait for the dragon to land, slipping from her back when she was close enough to the ground to not break anything. She landed with a roll, jumping up with her daggers out and ready.
Her only thought was of getting to Fox.
The appearance of the dragon had done little to calm the turmoil, but it took only a moment for the soldiers to realize there was a second enemy combatant in the clearing, and then they were on her.
She stayed low, ducking under swords as her daggers slashed at legs and stomachs, searching out the breaks in their leather armor. Their distraction hadn’t woken these soldiers from sleep or surprised them; they were dressed and prepared for war. It had been a trap from the start.
Rage coursed through her, burning like fire in her blood.
She needed to get to Fox. She wouldn’t let Harlow take someone else she loved.
Where was Vato? She stabbed the soldier in front of her, the blade sinking deep into flesh as blood splattered.
She saw a flash of Fox’s blond hair for just a moment as the soldier’s body fell, but then there was another man towering over her, sword swinging.
Her fingertips thrummed, something cold and powerful humming beneath her skin.
Icy water shot from the sky as Chalia roared, pummeling the man square in the chest. He fell backward, a thick coating of ice melded across his face and chest as he choked for air.
Sofia ignored him, pushing forward again.
She couldn’t see Fox’s hair anymore. The night was filled with black shadows and screams. Javi was on the ground with her, fighting his own battle.
“Fox!” she screamed as if his name would bring him to her. She had told him—he wasn’t allowed to die. Her mind was spinning, her breaths coming in sharp pants. She screamed again, fighting against the tightness in her chest.
She would not let him die.
She took a slow breath, and her eyes scanned the clearing. She couldn’t find Harlow either.
“Chalia, do you know where Fox is?” she asked, just as a roar cracked through the air.
Her breath caught in her throat as Eha rose above the trees, Harlow balanced on her back. Ice shot forward, crashing across Chalia and sending her careening back against the trees. Branches splintered the air, and Sofia threw herself to the ground, covering her neck.
The ground shook as roars echoed through the trees, and Sofia looked up to see three more dragons descending on Chalia. Then Jobin was there, Jacinta on his back as he blew a gust that sent two of the larger dragons off course.
The soldiers left on the ground were standing now, watching the war rage in the sky between the living gods. Sofia used their distraction to move, crawling across the ground to where she’d last seen Fox. She needed to get to him—to find him.
Her hands touched wet blood, and she saw Vato lying sprawled across the mud, dark curls covering his face.
“Vato,” she said, voice hoarse. A soft groan had her scrambling forward, brushing aside the hair from his face. His eyes were wide, blinking up at her.
“Ian,” she said, voice soft, addressing him by his real name.
She searched his body, the wound in his chest easy to find even in the dark.
Her hands pressed against it automatically, but she knew there was no point.
There was already so much blood soaking the ground.
It wasn’t the type of wound you walked away from.
“You’re going to be okay,” she said, grabbing his hand in her own and squeezing it.
His lips cracked into a small smile, teeth red from his own blood. “I thought you were a better liar.”
She didn’t speak, blinking away hot tears, too afraid of her own voice.
“Don’t,” he said, voice barely a whisper. “I saved Fox. I saved someone. I made a difference.”
Sofia choked back a sob, hating the relief that moved through her. Fox was okay. Ian was smiling, and it tore something in her.
“I get to see him again,” Ian said between shallow breaths. “I get to see him.”
Sofia struggled to breathe, her chest too tight and her heart too raw. She was grasping his hand as if it might keep him tethered here. It was a jealous thought—a stupid and wishful thought.
Still, she clung to it as she watched Ian’s chest rise and fall with increasing difficulty, trembling with pain and effort. His breaths grew shallower, hitching even as his smile deepened and his eyes clouded.
His chest rose and fell one more time before going still. The final breath of the resistance fighter echoed in Sofia’s ears, dissipating into the clearing.
She blinked hard, a scream clawing up her throat as his grip slackened in her own. She roared, Chalia’s growl echoing her, a chorus of grief and rage. Chalia dove toward her, reading her intentions before she was even aware of them.
As the dragon slowed her flight, low along the ground, Sofia grabbed her wing and swung herself onto Chalia’s back.
They were in the air moments later, shooting straight for Harlow and Eha.
Sofia screamed, and Chalia let out a funnel of icy water.
Eha reared up in time to dodge the attack, but Sofia saw Harlow struggle to keep his seat at the sudden movement.
Chalia shot to one side and then the other, forcing Eha to move in quick, jerking motions.
Sofia was focused only on Harlow as he grabbed at Eha’s feathers, no longer shouting orders, but simply clinging to his dragon. He glared back at her, making eye contact across the night, his teeth flashing in a snarl. He was a wild animal, and she felt a thrill seeing him torn down low.
A whipping wind had Sofia looking up to see the large black dragon snarling down at her. He opened his throat, and a sharp blade of ice shot from his jaws, aimed directly at Sofia.
Her brain told her to act—to jump—to move, but there wasn’t time. In the same moment she thought that, Chalia twisted, a scream wrenching from her throat as the ice sliced into the scales on her stomach. Icy blood splattered Sofia’s face, and she went flying off the dragon’s back.
She and Chalia both fell.
Her body jerked a moment later, and hands grabbed at her. She opened her eyes to see Jacinta pulling her up and against her chest. Sofia’s breath burned in her lungs, but she pulled away, trying to look below them. They were riding Jobin, and he was rising above the battle, above the canopy
“Chalia!” she screamed, seeing her dragon lying crumpled on the ground so far below.
Her wing twitched at the sound of Sofia’s voice.
“Fly!” Chalia said, the word pressed hard into Sofia’s mind.
“No!” Sofia screamed, her throat tearing.
“Go.” The word echoed the roar Chalia let out as soldiers circled her.
“Stop moving, you’re going to fall,” Jacinta yelled in her ear, pulling her back again.
“We need to go back! Javi, Chalia, Fox—”
“Javi’s with me.”
“I’m here, Sof,” Javi said at the same time. “We need to go.”
Sofia saw three dragons following them as they shot away from the clearing.
Jobin was fast despite the three of them on his back, faster than Chalia was.
He moved with precision, keeping just low enough to skip along the trees, ducking down when there was an opening only to turn sharply and pop up above the trees in a different place.
The dragons behind them, larger and slowed down by their human manipulation, slowly fell farther and farther behind until their riders pulled them back.
Sofia watched them disappear into the shadows as Jobin ducked back below the canopy to pick up Micael and Delio at their old camp.
She wasn’t paying attention as they piled onto Jobin’s back.
She stared into the shadows of the forest, willing Chalia to come bursting through them, triumphant.
But she felt the hopelessness of that in her body.
She could feel the echoes of Chalia’s cries in the back of her mind—pain, fear, helplessness.
Someone handed her furs—Fox’s furs.
Jobin pulled into the sky, and Sofia bent over and let out a scream as they flew north, leaving everyone behind.