Chapter 54
Petra
The forces clashed in an explosion of swords and shields, fangs and flames. I watched in awe as armored soldiers charged into the fold, all here for one reason.
Ludovicus… He’d revealed himself. He’d swallowed back his fear for the better of the realm, and I swallowed back tears at the thought.
The ground shifted beneath my feet then, a narrow chasm cracking the shore open.
Sand spilled in as soulhags crawled out, immediately launching their assault on the Occulti.
Yes. All this time, they’d been waiting for the right moment.
They were the things of nightmares, and somehow almost as beautiful as the drivas.
Rixa’s neck swiveled back and forth, clearing out Occulti as I stared at Nell. “Laion and…Ludovicus,” I stammered. “He came out of hiding? ”
“Prince Vic has returned. The people of Nesan are thrilled their Lost Heir has been found,” she said with a smile. “We started marching three days ago. Where is Adorex?”
I opened my mouth to answer, but the words clogged my throat.
Nell and I ducked low as another driva swooped low overhead.
But before it could bank and head back our way, Gehenna shot in from the right, her jaw closing around the base of one of its wings.
The sound of tearing flesh was the most beautiful music I’d ever heard as Gehenna ripped the wing from the enemy’s body.
“Take Rixa,” she said as soon as the driva’s body hit the ground. She reached for the sword at her hip, flexing her hands as she found a comfortable grip. “I feel like cutting down some demons.”
What a Saints damned badass.
Without a second thought, I was on Rixa’s back, patting her neck as soon as I found my seat, adjusting to the slightly different feel than Adorex.
“There are crossbows!” I called up to her as I spotted another one just visible in the still hanging fog.
How the fuck were the Occulti still marching down the beach? How many could there possibly be?
A low growl sounded in Rixa’s throat as we soared above the shore, my head whirling as I tried to take everything in. There were only a few of Malosym’s drivas coasting over the demon horde, and Gehenna was handling them with ease.
My hand flew over my mouth when my eyes landed on the mass of soldiers marching here from Araqina. The army reached almost to the horizon, thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people marching under different banners, wearing different armor, but holding the same allegiance.
From this vantage point, the soldiers on the beach seemed to be making progress against the horde.
A few of the soulhags were tearing a pathway through that rivaled the drivas’ fire.
But as large as my army was, I could see where it ended.
Malosym’s… I couldn’t. The Occulti just kept fucking coming .
Light flashed over the foggy ocean, but it wasn’t the familiar blue I was looking for. It was a split second of orange from within the fog, followed by an ear-splitting boom .
A cannonball sailed high over the fray, arcing through the air and landing hard in the sand.
The smile that split my face was almost painful as a golden-yellow sail cut through the fog, its intricate crest one I didn’t recognize.
I didn’t recognize the crest on the group of three blue-sailed warships beside it either, or the deep violet of the one beside them.
Thank the fucking Saints , I thought to myself, my eyes narrowing on the crowded decks of the dozens of ships emerging from the fog launching cannonballs toward shore. Toward…us.
My eyes narrowed as I took in those crowded decks, those dark-haired, translucent-skinned figures that lined every single ship. Fuck. Malosym had taken the fleet we’d built.
Kelpies, kelpies, kelpies! I thought, hoping they’d be listening now.
And sure enough, they emerged from the waves like the miracles they were, the thunder of their hooves over the water resonating in my soul.
Immediately, one of the warships tilted, its mast slamming to the water before it capsized.
But the sheer number of Occulti ships was staggering as more and more broke through the fog. It seemed for every ship the kelpies took down, two more replaced it.
As if reading my mind, Rixa veered left, fire bursting from her jaws as she soared over the line of ships closest to shore.
I winced when out of the corner of my eye, I saw a spear launch through the air, on a straight path to Gehenna’s head.
But she banked at the last second, Tyrak leaning to accommodate her movement.
The spear narrowly missed its mark as she unleashed her flaming fury on the crossbow.
By some fucking miracle, we were holding our own right now. We couldn’t really advance when the opposing force was seemingly infinite, but we weren’t being pushed back .
And just when I thought we almost had a handle on it, like maybe we wouldn’t be completely decimated before I found Malosym, the rest of the drivas arrived. And they weren’t alone.
As dozens and dozens of drivas materialized from the fog, the forest erupted with monsters of every shape and size, pouring onto the sand and tearing into my army.
I blinked in horrified shock at the beasts that closed their jaws around entire torsos, at the ones that swooped from the sky and dug their talons into unsuspecting eyes.
Beasts I’d seen before. Beasts I’d killed before.
It was… They were…
The Onyx Pass was silent.
They were the beasts of the Onyx Pass.
A bonehog’s tusks tore through a man’s armor like it was no tougher than butter.
A wolfhound sunk its teeth into the side of a woman whose scream was so piercing, it rattled my brain even from all the way up here.
A creature with eight legs and fangs like a spider ripped apart soldier after soldier after soldier, leaving a trail of carnage behind.
Monsters of every shape, every size — some on two legs, some on four, and some flying through the sky — all laying ruin to the forces who’d rallied behind me.
The fog was whipped into tendrils as Malosym’s drivas soared above the fleet of ships.
I tried to latch my power to one, tried to wrench it apart the way I could the Occulti, but they were too big, too powerful.
The sand turned red beneath my army as blood spilled from mortal wounds.
A terrified trill sounded from Rixa as she flew for shore again.
I craned my neck back to see if any of Malosym’s drivas were in pursuit, but they’d all descended, their eyes set on my army still marching in.
Fire erupted from their jaws, and I closed my eyes.
All this chaos, all this pain, and still, the bastard was nowhere to be found.
I jolted in a sickeningly familiar way as Rixa’s body was thrown to the side.
But this time it wasn’t a spear. She flailed wildly to dislodge the driva that had sunken its claws deep into her neck.
A scream ravaged my throat as Rixa bucked and thrashed, until finally, the other driva tore away with a chunk of flesh clutched in its talons, a group of Rivodian crows close behind, looking to scavenge the driva’s prize.
Rixa dove for the driva, a shrill screech sounding from her mouth as her jaws closed around its throat.
She’d just managed to right herself when two more drivas collided with her side.
They were both smaller than Rixa, but they still managed to push us back from the shore, over the forest again.
Her teeth gnashed and snapped, but all Rixa managed to catch was the tip of a tail.
In a coordinated movement, the two drivas moved for her wings, their talons grabbing hold of the thin skin and yanking.
Not to tear the skin, but to keep her from flying.
They heaved us toward the ground, the treetops growing closer with every heartbeat.
Another driva collided with the one holding Rixa’s right wing.
Gehenna . The demon-driva careened backwards, slamming into the ground head first, its neck snapping on impact.
With one wing free, Rixa managed to tilt her body enough to break out of the remaining driva’s grip, just as Gehenna dove for that one next.
I caught sight of Tyrak for less than a split second as Gehenna raced by, his body moving with her like he’d been made to do just that.
At that moment, he was not Tyrak, but Noros.
Not a man, but a Saint. And though he was human, though his blood possessed none of the power it had so long ago, I could hear its echoes.
I could see the mark it had left on him as he scanned the horizon.
He commanded the skies as Gehenna dipped and banked, fire shooting from her throat as she took down another driva.
Rixa followed suit, my legs tightening around her as she lifted higher into the air.
I was mesmerized by Tyrak and Gehenna below us, the way they maneuvered through the air, above the treetops.
Hope sparked to life again, that feeling that maybe we had somewhat of a handle on it all.
Until a driva flew toward us from amid the trees, as if it had been waiting, watching. This one was larger. Not as large as Gehenna, but large enough that its jaws easily clamped over the base of Gehenna’s throat.
“Rixa!” I shouted, and she screeched when she caught sight of the attack. We dove, just as Malosym’s driva managed to hook its claws below Gehenna’s wing.
What happened next was a tornado of tearing flesh and bloodied teeth, the high-pitched roars resonating somewhere deep within me. I couldn’t tell what was happening, couldn’t tell which driva’s pained cries sounded from the mess of wings and scales. But I could see one thing.
This driva of Malosym’s had a rider.
Gehenna finally broke free, and I caught sight of Tyrak’s body slumping forward as she bolted toward the shore. Blood poured from a wound on Gehenna’s side, raining down on the chaos below. I urged Rixa to follow, but both she and I saw it at the same time.
Atop the other driva’s back was Miles, and in its talons was Tyrak’s head.