44. Myelas
MYELAS
I knelt, Izzy’s dead body in my arms as the other men crowded close, hurling curses at me for my failure to protect her.
“She trusted you!”
“Look what you did!”
“How could you ever think you were worthy of her, of being one of us!”
And yet… I didn’t believe a word of it.
This wasn’t right at all.
If Izzy was dead… my soul would be crushed, the bond a void, pulling me toward madness or my own death. Yet, that wasn’t happening. The bond held strong. I felt Izzy’s pain and strain clear as the beating of my own heart.
Izzy was alive.
I focused… and the body in my hand faded away.
As I’d thought.
I pushed harder against this false reality and the men — my brothers — vanished. I stood slowly, flashing out my steel wings. The sting of pain wasn’t as bad as the first time, I was getting used to it, and it served to clear my head even more.
The fog faded, and the true battlefield came into view.
“No!” hissed a sylph nearby. “How…?”
I turned to the angel, and what he saw in my eyes made him flinch.
“You’re just a pathetic shifter… how…?”
I stalked toward him. “A shifter, yes, one with a mate bond to the woman you forced me to watch die. But I know she lives, and you’ve made a rather grave error.”
“Still, I’m an angel. You can’t…”
“Do you know what happens when a shifter watches their mate die? They either kill themselves or go mad.” A vicious grin split my face. “Welcome to my madness, motherfucker!” And with a slash of my wing the angel lost his head.
The enemy had only sent one of the vile air-wielders after me. They’d dismissed me as easy to overcome, weak. I would show them the error of their ways.
A quick scan of the battlefield showed me where I was most needed.
Yes, Vyns and Rook and Bayn all seemed lost in their own minds, but they also still fought as best they could.
They flailed wildly and though it did little to the elves and sylphim attacking them — and they looked increasingly rough — they were all tough.
They’d survive a little longer. Koar looked worse, and would need help sooner, but Izzy needed me the most.
With these steel wings, I couldn’t fly, at least not well, but my shadow-step carried me quickly across the field, to Valnea’s own shadow.
Her earth sense must have alerted her the instant I touched the ground, because she spun and met my wing attack on her sword.
Her eyes went wide.
“A shifter?”
I used her confused shock, attacking relentlessly with a savage roar.
She defended well, even being on her back foot.
But my goal wasn’t to kill her. Well, that wasn’t true.
I burned with a fierce desire to kill her, but what I wanted more…
was for Izzy to recover. And every second I kept the false queen occupied was another for Izzy to heal and regain her strength. She wouldn’t need long.
A manic laugh escaped my lips as I landed a blow on the befuddled false queen, a deep gash, slicing through her fancy armor to draw blood on her shoulder. Then another cut to her abdomen.
“What are you!” Valnea hissed, eyes wild.
“I’m everything you didn’t expect,” I quipped.
“I was there, in your room when you plotted against all the races. Everyone knows of your treachery. I see you in the dark when you least expect it. I am shadows and death!” And since our little fight had moved us around a bit, I used my shadow-step to get behind her again and this time she didn’t spin fast enough and I slashed her leg out from under her.
She fell, but instantly earth pushed her back to her feet, her wounds healing. She was tough, but… I’d done what I’d came for.
“I’m also one hell of a distraction, aren’t I?” I bantered. “Isn’t there someone else you should be fighting?”
The realization hit Valnea as Izzy reached her, fully recovered. Izzy grabbed the woman’s shoulder, spun her and clocked her hard in the jaw.
Valnea stumbled, reeling.
“Thanks!” Izzy said to me with a radiant smile. “I just needed a moment. I’ve got this now!”
I nodded and let her resume her fight with Valnea.
I took out the sylphim nearby so they’d not bother her, then I went to join Koar in his areal battle.
I couldn’t fly, not quite, but my shadow-step could get me very close behind some of those dragons, into their own shadows.
I shifted to my hybrid form and blinked myself up there, sinking my clawed feet into a dragon’s tough hide and slashing with my wings at the same time.
Another wild laugh escaped me as that dragon faltered and Koar realized why.
I kept stabbing that dragon with my wings as he fell, then I let my wings out and glided away as the dragon hit the ground, dead.
I’d just killed a dragon one-on-one.
And that’s when it hit me.
I’d saved Izzy.
Me.
Not any of the other guys.
I’d resisted the sylph mind control.
I’d fought Valnea toe-to-toe and held my own.
I’d killed a dragon.
Holy fuck!
How could I say I was unworthy of anything after that? I couldn’t. No one could. Well, they could say the words, but I’d no longer believe them.
A different sort of laugh, proud and savage, escaped me as I flashed into the sky again to bring down another dragon. With yet another gone, Koar had the upper hand.
Thanks! Koar sent to me telepathically. Then he roared and redoubled his vicious fight against the dragons around him, who suddenly didn’t know how to handle what should have been an easy fight.
And as I dragged this second dragon to the ground, I caught Izzy’s fight with Valnea, which was far different now than it had been before. Izzy had been hurt and probably used a lot of her power to resist the attacks till now, but it didn’t matter. She was a beast and Valnea had no chance.
I swooped low. I’d help free the other guys first, then I’d return to Izzy, if she needed me.