Chapter 52
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
Draven and the other dragon shifters twist their heads up and breathe fire at the deadly wave, but it’s too wide and too thick.
I throw my arms up over my head as the tidal wave of ice and snow crashes down.
Isera yanks her arms up and slashes them through the air as if she is trying to cleave the sky.
The thick sheet of ice at the bottom of the attack splits in two with a violent crack.
Snow slides along both sides, tumbling down over us.
It slams into the dragon shifters’ wings, forcing them down towards the ground.
But the massive ceiling of ice that would’ve crushed us plummets down on either side of us instead, crashing harmlessly into the ground below.
Isera slumps down on the black dragon’s back again, breathing heavily.
But before I can call out to her, snow thuds down over all of us as the rest of the avalanche tumbles downwards.
I shiver violently as the thick clumps hit my body, and I shake my arms to try to get it off before I sweep my hands over Draven’s scales to clear the snow there too.
All around us, the entire squad of black dragons is forced towards the ground as the mass of snow weighs down their wings.
“Hold on,” Draven says into my mind.
I grip the spikes before me hard as he rolls in the air. My stomach lurches, but the snow falls off Draven’s body as well as mine.
The other dragons around us do the same.
Right as Draven levels out again, something silver-colored flashes in the corner of my eye. On instinct, I slam a violet flame of pain into it.
The silver dragon that had been about to tear through Draven’s side screeches in agony and jerks back. Pleasure thrums inside me, but I quickly cut off the magic again to save energy. My attack achieved its goal.
Swinging his head around, Draven bites his teeth right through the thrashing silver dragon’s neck and rips its throat out. Blood drips from Draven’s jaws as he bellows out a roar while the silver dragon tumbles lifelessly to the ground.
But Jessina’s avalanche attack bought her forces enough time to compose themselves and re-form their ranks. Ice flames shoot through the air as silver dragons speed towards us from all sides, backed up by white and red dragons.
Fire roars through the sky, slamming into the ice flames. Isera yanks up another ice shield to protect her dragon companion, but exhaustion lines every inch of her face. Cleaving that massive ice block and moving it away from us used up most of her remaining energy.
My heart pounds in my chest. I don’t have a lot of energy left either.
And the Unseelie fae around us have even less raw magic than we do.
They must be close to their breaking point as well.
We will never be able to take out Jessina in this state.
We need a break from constantly using our magic so that our energy levels have a chance to build back up again.
As if Draven could read my mind, he lets out a roar again and then shoots upwards.
A massive storm cloud spreads out around him, blocking out the majority of the enemy forces.
The ones who get caught in the thick black clouds snarl in rage and frustration.
But Draven and his clan are already moving.
Speeding through the sky, they fly back towards our own ranks.
Enemy dragons shoot towards us from all sides, trying to stop our retreat.
Isera and the rest of the fae with elemental magic slam attacks back at them in an effort to keep them away from us while the dragon shifters twist and swerve through the sky.
I shove my magic at any emotion I can find in their chests, making them hesitate and panic and crash into each other in confusion.
Then we at last break through the final rows and soar back through the part of the battlefield where we hold the sky.
Draven roars again, and a few dragons of various colors from several sections suddenly disentangle themselves and follow us towards the back. Diana is one of them.
Ejnare, the leader of the Blue Clan, immediately flies forward and takes her place at the front instead. The black, blue, purple, and orange dragons that remain rally around him, pushing back the waves of enemies that tried to follow us.
We land on the charred grass outside Rin’s healing station. She is working tirelessly on the fae and dragon shifters who were already there when we left, and some new ones that have appeared since as well.
A weight lifts from my chest when I find Alistair standing with Lyra on the grass a short distance from where we land. I quickly slide down from Draven’s back, and he immediately shifts into his human form.
With a gust of wind, he clears the worst of the smoke from the grass after the other dragons have shifted into humans as well. The fae who were seated on their backs stagger across the grass, gasping in deep breaths.
“She told you to rest,” Lyra is growling at Alistair.
“No, she told me to avoid using my magic too much until the energy has built back up,” Alistair retorts.
“That’s the same thing.”
“No, it’s not.” He frowns. “And besides, since when are you this cautious? You’re supposed to be the reckless one.”
“Not when it comes to you.”
He stops short, his mouth open but no argument making it out. Then his features soften, and he discreetly reaches out and laces his fingers through Lyra’s. His green and orange eyes are full of light as he gently squeezes her hand. “I’m fine, sunshine. I promise.”
Across the grass, dragon shifters in black, blue, and purple dragon scale armor crouch down to check on their fae, who have all collapsed on the ground. The only ones who look relatively well are Trevor, Fenriel, and Kevlin.
An involuntary shudder rolls down my spine when I spot Kevlin. The last time I saw him, he snapped my ankle and crushed all the bones in my hand in his attempt to win the Atonement Trials. Though given that our fight ended with me cutting his hamstrings, I suppose we’re somewhat even.
Draven slides his arm around my back as we walk towards where Lyra and Alistair are standing. “You okay?”
Warmth floods my heart. He noticed even that small shudder. Of course he did. Draven always does.
“Yeah, I’m alright,” I reply, smiling up at him.
Galen comes jogging across the grass while Orion simply strides towards us in that refined way of his, the very image of royal nonchalance. Isera stalks over from the other direction, her long black hair windswept but her eyes as sharp as always.
We reach Alistair and Lyra at the same time as Diana does. Fenriel hurries over after her, Talon perched on his shoulder.
“We need a new plan,” Draven says without preamble.
“Agreed,” Orion says as the rest of them reach us as well.
“A frontal assault clearly won’t work,” Galen adds, raking a frustrated hand through his blond hair. “There are too many of them. If we have to fight our way through, we won’t have enough strength left at the end to take on Empress Jessina.”
Orion clicks his tongue. “Not to mention that she still has that hourglass thing that functions as a shield against magic like mine and Selena’s. We need to separate her from it.”
“I… might have an idea about that,” a hesitant but cheerful voice says.
We all turn towards the source of it. Fenriel blushes at the scrutiny, but the hawk on his shoulder just ruffles its feathers and looks back at us all with determined eyes. After glancing over at Diana, Fenriel begins explaining his plan.
“That might work,” Draven agrees when he’s done. “However, our initial problem remains. We can’t get close to her.”
“What if we do what they did?” I say, looking from face to face. “Sneak a force around the back? If we can get behind Jessina, we could spring an ambush on her.”
“Excellent plan,” a low and smooth voice suddenly says from my left.
We all jump and whirl towards it, weapons drawn. It takes my shocked brain another few seconds to realize what it is that I’m looking at.
A woman made of the woods stands there on the grass. Her dress and hair, all made of vines, ripple slightly around her even though there is no wind here right now. And a pair of ancient brown eyes watch us all with a wicked glint from underneath a crown of red flowers.
The Dryad Queen.
“Mabona’s tits,” Alistair blurts out while extinguishing the fire in his palm. Shaking his head, he stares at the dryad that just appeared out of nowhere. “Where did you even come from?”
She just flashes us all a wolfish smile. Then her gaze sharpens, and she locks intense eyes on Orion. “You have it.”
It’s not a question. But Orion answers anyway. “I do.”
The Soul of Trees pulses cheerfully in his pocket.
A wide smile, so otherworldly that it’s almost terrifying, spreads across the Dryad Queen’s mouth. The fact that the smile is somehow filled with relief and joy but also looks sharp and ruthless at the same time makes a primal sense of fear pulse through me.
“Then the dryads will now go to war,” she says, that vicious smile still on her mouth.
Diana glances around at the otherwise dryad-free landscape around us. “Your people are here?”
“Yes.” Her gaze slides towards the forest a short distance from us. “In there.” She shifts her attention back to us. “We will move through the woods and towards the other side of the battlefield for this ambush of yours.”
“Good,” I pick up. “And we’ll send a small fae strike team around the other side.”
Draven snaps his gaze down to me, no doubt about to protest that he doesn’t want us to split up. But before he can do that, Galen points out the obvious.
“There is only a mountain range on that side.” He motions at the tall mountains that flank one side of the battlefield. “There’s no way you’ll be able to sneak along the bottom of it without being seen.”
“That’s why we’re going through the mountain.” Raising my voice, I call, “Trevor!”
Trevor turns towards us. When I beckon for him to approach, Kevlin and some other fae from the Seelie Court follow as well.
“Look,” I begin while they make their way towards us. “Most of us need a break from using our magic. But we can’t just sit here uselessly and wait for it to build back up. So instead, we’ll use that time to sneak around the battlefield while all of you keep Jessina and her army focused on you.”
“I don’t like splitting up,” Draven says, his eyes narrowed.
“I know. But if you’re missing from the battlefield for too long, she will get suspicious. And then the trap will never work.”
He draws his eyebrows down, looking like he wants to argue but can’t find any actual faults in my plan.
“I’m still waiting for the part where you explain how you will get to the other side unseen,” Galen says, looking at me with raised eyebrows right as the other fae join us.
I turn to Trevor and then point towards the mountain. “Can you open a tunnel for us in that?”
He blinks in surprise and then turns to look at the mountain. Drawing a hand through his blond hair, he considers for a few seconds before saying, “Yeah. It will take almost everything I have, but yes, I could get us through.”
“And if we walk on the other side of the mountain range all the way to the other end of the battlefield, will that be enough time for you to build your energy back up so that you can open another pathway through?”
Tipping his head from side to side, he seems to calculate it. Then he nods. “Yeah.”
I turn to Galen. “There you have it.”
He just looks back at me in silence for a few seconds. Then he lets out a huff of amusement. “Sometimes, I forget what a sneaky little schemer you are.”
“I did too, once,” Draven says. “Then she handcuffed me to my desk, and now I never make that mistake again.”
Everyone turns to stare at him. Heat flushes my cheeks, and I jab my elbow into his ribs. He just smirks down at me.
“So, about the plan,” Isera picks up, mercifully pushing the conversation back on track.
After going through the plan twice to make sure that everyone knows what to do and when, we all fall silent and just look from face to face.
Worry suddenly washes through me. It’s a quite risky plan.
There is no way of knowing whether this will actually work, and if even one part of our group doesn’t succeed in their mission, the rest are going to die.
Everyone seems to be feeling the same thing. The weight of this plan. This one last desperate plan that we really need to pull off. So there is no need for words.
We just meet each other’s eyes and nod.
Then we go our separate ways.
But right before I can leave, Draven’s hand shoots out and grabs my arm. Yanking me back to him, he slips his hand around the back of my neck and kisses me deeply.
“Be careful,” he whispers against my lips.
I pull him tighter against me. “You too.”
“I love you, little rebel.”
“I love you too.”
“See you on the other side.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
Then we pull back. My heart aches as I stare up at Draven for another few seconds, suddenly feeling like I’m making a huge mistake.
Before I can start second-guessing myself, I tear myself away from the love of my life and run after the small group of fae that are now heading towards the mountain.
This has to work.
Goddess, please, this has to work.