Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
One minute, they were talking, and the next, Abi watched as Nash’s face turned to horror. Nash did a one-eighty, and that was when Abi saw the warlocks. There were four of them. They all wore dark clothing, as if trying to blend into the night. Except the sun had just started showing itself again.
One of the warlocks threw a fireball. Abi watched it sail through the air and hit Nash in the back.
Nash hissed and arched. It was the pain on Nash’s face that finally registered what was happening.
One of Nash’s Dragon Skull brothers reacted quickly, returning fire.
Abi thought his name was Seryn. He was sleek like a vampire, but he had an incredible amount of power.
He took out the warlock with fire of his own.
Their other opponents returned fire. Seryn held them off, but three against one wasn’t a fair fight. Not with warlocks so strong.
“Oh, fuck.”
“Fucking shift, Nash. Get into the air.” He would heal a lot faster in his dragon form, and he might dodge whatever they were throwing at him.
One warlock, with a shock of hair so blond it appeared white, already had a small blaze. He swirled his hands around it, turning it into a small ball.
“Nash! Oh, gods!” Abi tried to wiggle out of Nash’s arms to shift so he could protect him, but Nash held on as if Abi’s life depended on it. Nash growled low in his throat, and his hands turned into claws, but he refused to shift completely.
The white-haired warlock threw the fireball and hit Nash in the back again. His skin smoldered and then turned black. The blackness spread to his shoulders.
Nash fell to his knees, his face contorting in pain. He would have fallen on Abi if not for Nash catching himself.
Abi shifted, slithering out from under Nash.
Abi shifted into a dragon. It was the biggest animal Abi could think of. He put himself between the warlock and Nash, trying to make as big a target as possible so they wouldn’t hit Nash anymore.
The warlock threw fire at him, but Seryn blocked it with magic of his own. Abi wasn’t as good at flying as Nash, but he lifted off the ground to dodge the next fireball thrown by a dark-haired warlock.
He roared, trying to get more help, but the others were already there. Two dragons flanked him, and one blew fire at the warlock. Abi took on the fire dragon’s form. It was just a slight shift in DNA, but he could help keep the warlocks at bay.
Warlocks, Abi said to Peter through their link. Three of them. Their main shit is fire. Same as Mallor. Fix Nash. Please. He’s hurt.
Two minutes out.
Seryn threw up a dome around Nash, keeping him safe inside.
Abi could focus on taking out the warlocks.
Abi added to the other dragon’s fire, and they kept them from throwing anymore balls. It turned out that breathing fire was exhausting work.
The other dragon had a lot more stamina.
One warlock tried to put up a dome around them but couldn’t seem to make it work with Seryn using magic to keep them on the defensive.
Eshan walked within feet of the warlocks and stood with that smirk on his face that he sometimes got when he knew he was saving the day. All he had to do was stand there and everyone’s magic died—even Seryn’s.
The dome fell away from Nash.
Abi blew fire onto one warlock before biting the guy in half. He shifted into a bear and roared as he ran another warlock down. He knocked the guy onto his stomach and then tore into him with teeth and claws.
Seryn took out the other warlock by ripping out his throat. His eyes glowed red, and blood covered his face. Seryn cursed when the warlocks turned to dust.
Abi’s attention went to Nash. He shifted into a human again and raced to Nash’s side. By then, the doctor was working on him. Abi learned quickly that the fire dragon was the doctor’s mate.
More warlocks appeared. This time, they had doubled in number.
Abi met Eshan’s gaze.
Eshan nodded and grinned.
He shut his eyes and waited for the warlocks to get closer. When they did, Eshan opened his arms. A golden stream flowed to him. Each stream of light connected Eshan to the warlocks like a channel of flowing magic. It was beautiful and deadly all at once.
Seryn stumbled away, staring at Eshan as though he’d seen nothing like it. But he recovered quickly. “They’re carbon copies!”
The warlocks fell to the ground. Their eyes were wide, and their mouths were open as if they were screaming, but no sound came out. They also turned to dust.
Something was off about the warlocks, although Abi couldn’t put his finger on what it was.
Then Seryn’s words registered. Abi saw a shock of white hair and stared at the warlock’s facial features.
The same pale blue eyes and white eyebrows, just like the warlock they had just killed.
The same man who burned Nash with his magic.
He wasn’t the only one who had a clone. There were three of each person—exact replicas.
How could that be?
More warlocks came behind them. So many Abi couldn’t count them all. They were all clones of the first four.
Peter ran to them from the cabin. Seeing him was a relief.
Seryn ran toward Eshan. He must have realized the danger he was in. There were too many. He couldn’t take them all at once. Seryn shoved Eshan, making him stumble and then fall. The magic streams were severed.
Peter pushed magic into Nash, healing him. Abi had seen him do it a thousand times. He knew what came next, but he hadn’t prepared himself for Nash screaming in pain.
Abi growled.
Nash's eyes opened, and then he lost consciousness again.
Peter met Abi’s gaze. “Get Eshan out of here!”
Abi shifted into a dragon again. He made a beeline straight for Eshan. Once he got to him, he shifted to his human form and grabbed his hand, pulling him as far away from the warlocks as possible.
He practically dragged him into the forest. He kept going into the trees until he was well away from magic users.
Eshan leaned against him. The exhaustion was evident.
“I’m going to shift into a dragon. Do you think you can hold on if I fly you out of here?”
“Don’t drop me.”
Abi rolled his eyes. “I won’t drop you.” Nash had made the flying thing look easy. Abi wasn’t sure if he would be stable enough in the air to not crash-land, but Eshan needed a getaway plan fast.
Then the doctor jogged to them. His entire focus was on Eshan. “I’ve got him,” he said to Abi.
“How is your energy level?” he asked Eshan.
Abi was ready to get back into the fight, but he stayed long enough to watch the doctor shift and fly Eshan out.
Nash was already conscious again by the time Abi got back to him. He sat up and just breathed because that was what Peter told him to do.
Nash met Peter’s gaze. “Abi?”
Abi raced over to him. “I’m here. Right here, mate.”
Relief turned to tears. He held Nash’s face in his hands.
“The warlock coven is helping Mallor,” Nash whispered.
It made sense. They were the only warlocks close enough to create an army so fast. “Their magic is strong. Strong enough to create copies of themselves.”
“Copies?”
“Clones, I guess. I don’t know how they’re doing it. They just keep coming.”
“We need to do something and fast,” Peter said, just as someone screamed.
Indeed, fighting raged on around them.
Peter threw a gray light at someone who ran toward them.
Nash met Peter’s gaze when there was a lull in the warlocks who tried to get close enough to kill them. “Do you trust me enough to fly with me?”
Peter nodded.
Nash hooked an arm around Abi’s waist, then around Peter's.
In a move that defied gravity and just about every other law of physics, Nash jumped with them in his arms and turned toward the cabin.
Running at a speed no one as big as him should be able to accomplish, he took them far enough from danger so he could shift in relative safety.
Abi and Peter climbed up and held onto Nash.
I think I know where the source of magic is coming from. Nash took to the air.
Two of his Dragon Skull brothers flanked him. The rest stayed to fight.