Chapter 15 #2
Grambolt banks around to fly with me. “Kellan, Maia, Arran, and their other wing guards are helping the townsfolk and local soldiers contain the fire. Wade and Danica went to cut off the vampires with their warbirds. The bloodsuckers set the fire to distract the Draywood soldiers and then took off with their spoils.”
“How many vampires?” The movement I saw from above looked like a considerable group—too many for only two dragon shifters and their phoenixes.
The vampires will be protected by Rannigan’s sorcerers and employ their usual tactics to make our fire and flight terrible options.
And just like Idallia, Danica is down a young bird back at Drayke Mountain.
“Forty?” Grambolt answers. “Not an exact count.”
My insides twist sharply. “You three stay with us,” I order the newcomers. “We head for the vampires.”
“What about the fire?” Idallia shouts above the wind of our breakneck pace toward the woods between Draywood and the border. “More people are in danger from that inferno than however many the vampires took.”
“Three of the Elite Wing, half their wing guards, and the local soldiers are already on it.” I angle toward where I know the woods thin and then taper off entirely—just a stone’s throw from the border and those damn tunnels.
The thick canopy is still all I see for now, but my guess is that the open field is where Wade and Danica will make their stand against the vampires.
I hope this guess is better than my last one.
“If the bloodsuckers get away again, anyone who dies in that fire will have died in vain. We need to stop them before they cross the border.”
Idallia looks like she might argue. Finally, she settles on, “Can I send Rim to help in town with the fire?”
My lips thin, pulling over my fangs. I can’t reasonably deny her. “Rimblaze can go into town. He’s big enough to help lift smaller people to safety.”
“Go, Rim!” She points him toward Draywood. “Be careful!”
Rimblaze doesn’t look as pleased with this outcome as Idallia, but he goes without argument, peeling off to head dead south to Draywood.
“Where are they? Can you hear anything?” Idallia peers into the woods.
“I don’t hear fighting yet. Just wagon wheels and people calling for help. I think Wade and Danica are waiting for them to emerge from the woods and hoping we’ll get there quickly.”
A roar of firebreath hits my ears, followed by the clash of metal.
“They’ll be forced to go straight to skin and swords.” Fyrestar accelerates, his burst of speed leaving the other wing guards behind.
Idallia and I barrel past the woods side by side and come out above the border clearing. My eyes widen. It’s hard to get an instant count, but there are more vampires than I’ve ever seen making a blood raid. It’s a fucking army.
“Bloodpit,” Idallia curses under her breath. She whips her head toward me, her expression worried and questioning.
Wade, Danica, and their three wing guards form a small blockade on the border side, but the vampire horde will quickly overwhelm them.
Rage fills me, along with a violent firebreath I wish could still burn these bloodsuckers to a crisp.
“Let’s hit them from the back and make them fight on two fronts. ”
We fly lower, faster. The screams from the captives in the wagon cages and the harsh clanging of swords fill my ears as the first arrows whistle past us.
We evade the volley. Another one comes, and Cinderblaze screeches.
I turn, dread seizing me. She wobbles, then rights herself.
The arrow tore straight through her wing, but she keeps flying.
We’re nearly on top of the vampires when they start launching spears at us.
Fyrestar banks hard, narrowly avoiding a skewering.
I glance over my shoulder. The other four wing guards are still out of reach of the throwing lances, but won’t be for long.
Cinderblaze takes up the rear now, her expression pained but determined.
Arrows fly at us again. I expel a furious firebreath, burning the bolts before they can hit us or the wing guards. My fire also coats a good many of the closest vampires. Another round of spears surges out of what should be a deadly inferno. One comes straight at me.
“Bale!” Idallia’s shout garbles in my ears as I shift in flight, rapidly decreasing my body size.
The spear whistles past me, tearing through shadow remnants instead of hitting my fleshy underbelly.
I shift again, pumping my wings hard to keep from crashing as the ground comes up to meet me.
I land running and instantly transform into skin as more spears fly past. I whip out my swords and deflect the lance about to pierce my chest, then charge straight into the vampires.
Idallia swoops in just behind me with Fyrestar.
I fight my way forward, hearing Wade and Danica doing the same from the other side of the battle with new vigor.
They’re not alone anymore against what must be at least sixty enemies.
There are four of us now, several wing guards, and Fyrestar.
If we can meet in the middle, we’ll crush them.
The wing guards attack from above, plunging down to claw, peck, and burn.
Their talons tear through scalps and eyes and throats.
They wreak havoc on the middle of the vampire horde, but they’re vulnerable to spears and arrows.
I hear a pained caw and glance up to see a long slice bleeding along Glimmerwing’s side.
Cinderblaze is already injured. I call them both to me.
“Find the prisoners. Start working on opening the cages. Burn through them if you have to, then get those people back to Draywood.” I use mind-to-mind speech despite my common form, keeping my words from vampire ears.
“We can fight.” Glimmerwing’s blood hisses and steams where it hits his burning feathers.
“This is what I need.” I never slow my swords and bring my full attention back to the vampires.
The injured warbirds do as I ask without a backward glance. Good. I’ll be twice as effective if I’m not worried about them.
To my right, Fyrestar and Idallia move like a violent wind on this edge of the battle. They leave glowing streaks in the air, using wings and swords and sheer savagery to tear through vampires. She’s found her focus, and when she’s on fire, the two of them burn as hot as I do.
“The captives are in a trio of wagon cages still in the woods,” Grambolt caws as he swoops by and takes one of my opponents off me. He grips the vampire by his head, talons gouging into eye sockets, and flings the screaming man into a foe trying to circle around behind us.
Another vampire takes the previous one’s place. They have dozens of reserves hovering between us and Wade and Danica. Vampires wait in the center, battle-ready and still shooting arrows and throwing lances to keep the remaining wing guards occupied and in danger.
I want to shift and crush these bloodsuckers with teeth and tail and talons, but a severed head will kill me just as it will a vampire.
While I shred one with my fangs, five more would attack from the sides, and we’ve learned the hard way from our ravaged garrisons along this border that it’s better to fight vampires in skin if we can’t burn through them with fire.
It makes us smaller and more nimble opponents, but still physically stronger than they are. Even in skin, a skilled dragon shifter is worth several vampires.
Which is why the seven of us are usually enough to put the fear of the stars into blood raiders.
But right now, we’re only four, and the vampires are dozens more than usual.
“Have the raiders noticed Glimmerwing and Cinderblaze trying to free the prisoners?” I ask Grambolt in mind-to-mind speech.
“Not yet.” He spins abruptly to avoid an arrow, then swoops back to me. “Wade and Danica are struggling.”
My dread intensifies as I fight off waves of relentless vampires. Idallia and I are struggling too. The numbers are heavily against us.
“We need the rest of the Elite Wing here,” I mind-to-mind shout to Fyrestar, allowing Idallia to hear too. Seconds could make a life-or-death difference soon. “Leave Idallia and retrieve the squadron as fast as possible. The locals will need to manage the fire alone.”
I hear Idallia’s heart hammer out a hard beat despite the deafening battle. “Fight without Fyrestar? We’re a team. Bale—”
I cut her off. “None of us can use fire or flight. You’re on equal ground.”
She scowls at me as the two of them whip toward a new threat, her legs gripping Fyrestar’s body.
She deflects a blow on one side and slices off a head on the other.
Fyrestar hammers a heavy wing into a vampire’s stomach and uses the resistance to whip around so fast they plow into another and knock her over from behind.
Grambolt speeds down and drives burning talons through the vampire’s neck, ripping it open.
“Equal ground?” Idallia shouts as they circle past me to attack again. “We’re so outnumbered, I can’t even count them!”
“Then everyone else had better get here now!” I soundlessly snarl. And that means sending the fastest warbird in our arsenal. “Fyrestar, go!”