Chapter Thirty-Nine #2
Azdahas in every gemlike color of the rainbow, blotting out the sky, their wings gliding on the wind—some delicate and ethereal like butterflies’, and others spinier and batlike but no less majestic.
There are tiny azdahas and huge ones, a few with long, frilled tails and some with thorns and spikes and barbs. And they all united at Indira’s call.
“Gods . . .” I say. “There are so many.”
Darrius leans into me. “When this is over, I’ll take you to visit their largest adult colony on the Lost Isles in the northwest.”
“I’d love that.”
If we survive . . .
I don’t see Razulek, but maybe he’s still fighting down below. Fire is one of the only things that seems to kill the revenants and keep the rot plague from spreading.
I glance down to where most of the revenant forces have resumed movement, and I hope that Roshan can hold his own, because we are going to have our hands full up here.
As Indira swoops in, I send a test blast of star magic toward the beast. My power is unique and might lend us a small advantage, if it doesn’t feed the monster.
But Anahima dodges the blast at the last moment, the azhi moving nimbly under her command.
She sends back several bolts of lightning that Indira narrowly manages to evade.
“She’s an electrokinetic, too?” I shout in surprise, peering up at Darrius.
“Looks like my sister was hiding many things.”
Raz, where are you? I reach out for the azdaha, sensing him near. I need you.
“Dare, we will be better off separate,” I tell him. I twist around, kissing him soundly. He barely has time to return it before I’m leaping from Indira’s back with a war cry; Razulek passes below, catching me easily on his back.
We zoom off to the right and bank sharply, aiming for the azhi’s underbelly.
Darrius and Indira attack from the left, his shadow magic pouring from him in a dark, viscous tangle of deadly ribbons and his obsidian sword cutting a path along the azhi’s left head, blinding it temporarily.
Buoyed by hope, I shoot a burst of starlight as Raz lets out a scream and swings his barbed tail into the monster’s wing.
We both make contact and the azhi roars, but the damage from our strikes is instantly healed.
That has to be Anahima’s corpus magic.
Other azdahas dive, slashing with talons and snapping with teeth, but the injury they’re inflicting is minimal.
The middle head blows out a stream of gas that catches one bright blue azdaha dead in its sights, and it screams piteously when its scaled hide immediately starts to dissolve.
The first head catches another with its nightmare breath, and I see the moment the delusions start when the azdaha and its rider turn on one of their own, launching an arc of fire that takes out a nearby griffin.
The hallucinating rider—clearly an ice numen—sends several bolts toward Indira.
Darrius, behind you!
Luckily, they evade the attack, but there’s no help for the azdaha or the rider as Darrius’s shadows make quick work of them. Our eyes meet, mine wide with sorrow and horror.
This isn’t working, I tell him. Anahima is healing any physical wounds as fast as we can inflict them.
Darrius nods grimly. We need to unseat her.
But how?
Digging deep into my well of power, I send bolt after bolt of starlight toward the azhi, hoping to keep it distracted while Darrius comes in from above, his shadow magic aiming for his sister.
But it’s as though Anahima has eyes on the back of her head; she turns the beast at the last moment.
And in slow motion, I see the third head release a white cloud heading straight for the king.
“Darrius!” I scream, nudging Razulek into a spinning dive.
At the last second, I feel the azhi’s breath crash into me instead of Darrius, and the dearth of magic that instantly takes over my entire mind feels like I’ve been submerged underwater. Everything is muted, the sound of my heartbeat thunderous as my magic is abruptly silenced.
Starbright, what the fuck did you do?
I gasp in a breath, trying to keep the panic at bay and hide it from my soul-fated. I need him focused on his sister, not me. Better me than you. I can feel my magic coming back already, I lie. Don’t worry about me, get Anahima!
We circle around for another round, hearing hideous screams as two more azdahas get caught by the corrosive breath, blood spraying everywhere.
Darrius evades another breath attack—this time the nightmare one—and my relief is huge.
I don’t even want to imagine the destruction he could cause if his powerful godly mind was affected by hallucinations. He’d wipe out half of our forces.
Reaching inward, I try to draw on my magic.
But there’s nothing, not even a spark. It’s like I’ve lost a limb.
What if it doesn’t come back? This isn’t like the cuffs, it’s much worse.
I can’t even feel my simurgh, who’s a constant presence in my chest. Instead, it’s hollow and empty where she should be, like a gaping hole.
Lightning bolts spear toward us, and I barely hold on as Razulek attempts to dodge, but the last blast catches the top of his wing and we start to spiral.
My heart is screaming with terror when we plunge downward in a sickening death spin.
Maker above, I don’t even have magic to heal him!
Or to save us! Tears spring from my eyes as nerve-racking horror sets in.
Raz! I scream.
Hold on, little queen.
The ground comes toward us much too quickly as he aims for a clearing of trees.
At the last moment, Razulek bucks me off and flips his entire body to catch me between his wings, which wrap securely around us.
He takes the brunt of the fall on his back as we smash into the trees, sliding fifty feet before we stop.
Mostly unharmed with the wind knocked out of me, I catch my breath, gently easing Razulek’s limp wings off.
Fuck, Raz! Are you hurt?
His chest is rising and falling, but he’s unresponsive. My cheeks are wet with tears, but I don’t have time to deal with my emotions as the person I last expect to see appears in a blur of dark smoke.
Anahima . . . and she looks furious.