Chapter 59
Chapter Fifty-Nine
With each swing of my fire blade, my arms scream.
My muscles burn hotter than the flames I struggle to conjure.
Sweat beads on my brow and drips down my face.
Between my shoulders and down my back. Blood and ichor drench the arena floor, the remains of twisted divine creatures scattered like broken dolls across the once-pristine dirt.
Beside me, Sterling’s ice shatters against the hide of a multi-limbed horror, the fragments melting in the light of a sun that’s way too bright for such a dark moment.
I drag myself forward, each step an act of pure will on legs as heavy and wobbly as filled waterskins. There is no fucking way I’ll give up.
The fire still burns within me.
The divine creature in front of us, another rugeru that’s spewing green flames, lunges with uncanny speed.
My fire blade flickers dangerously as I bring it up to block the attack, the flames barely maintaining their form.
I don’t need the flame.
Sharp steel is enough.
The impact reverberates through my exhausted arms and rattles me all the way to my bones. I push back against the creature’s incredible strength, my boots sliding through the gore-slicked dirt.
A sudden tickle at the back of my mind almost distracts me. Almost.
Something is coming.
No. Someone.
I don’t have time to dwell on it. There are already too many beasts trying to kill me.
“Lark!” Though he’s only yards away, Bastian’s voice is distant. His own fire, usually so vibrant, sputters in erratic bursts as he defends Leesa, who has relied solely on her weapons in this battle.
Her face is ghost white, loose tendrils of dark golden blond hair plastered to her forehead with sweat. The quiver on her back is empty. Even this far away, her heaving gasps reach me.
Impotent rage wells up in me. If only I had more power. Wasn’t nearing burnout. If only—
Sterling passes the lead of the merge to me.
I blast the rugeru away with an arctic wind that leaves it in a stupor. Then I turn to protect my siblings.
With a desperate surge, I slice through the vini’s limb, knocking it away from Leesa, who can now barely lift her fire magic-imbued sword.
The creepy jackhole bellows out a sound no earthly being could create.
The high frequency vibrates through my teeth and causes my vision to swim. Putrid black gore sprays across my face. The substance burns like acid where it touches my skin. I stagger back, wiping the caustic goo away with my sleeve.
Across the arena, Agnar stands with his back to the wall, his makeshift barricade of earth barely keeping a wave of chitinous horrors at bay. “Get back! I can’t hold them much longer.”
A dozen civilians who’d bravely, or foolishly, left the relative safety of the stands to join our fight when the gods disappeared cower behind him. Their weapons—fists, ceremonial swords taken from fallen guards, even a nobleman’s cane—are pitiful against the nightmares we face.
They weren’t supposed to get involved.
Instead of two sides battling each other, the fight has transformed into an all-out melee. No clear lines of engagement exist, which heightens the difficulty of keeping civilians safe.
But it’s their decision.
I’m in no position to tell people they can’t join this battle. Not when their own families are being threatened, same as mine.
From overhead, scores of Tirenese rain down elemental attacks to protect the magic-less foreigners. Heated swords cut through flesh. Timed blasts choke opponents. Dust and dirt fill eyes. Water slicks the ground in front of our enemies yet doesn’t hinder us.
A few clusters of people work together with merged power.
Apparently, some folks listened to us when we sent those training manuals.
Rafe appears at my side, chin lifted in defiance despite the exhaustion evident in every line of his body. His air magic manages only to buffet the approaching monsters rather than repel them.
Still, flinging dust in their eyes is enough to slow them down and screw up their aim. “We need to regroup. Central position. We’ll last longer together.”
And maybe coax the monsters away from the civilians.
I nod, too winded to speak, already searching for Sterling.
He’s surrounded by three creatures, each more horrific than the last. Blood streams from a deep gash across his forehead, turning one side of his face into a crimson mask. His wings are extended for balance, several feathers bent or broken.
Like me, his magic no longer cloaks him. The water only envelops his arms, while I confine my fire to my wings.
“Sterling!” My voice cracks with the effort to be heard over the fighting. “Fall back!”
His gaze slides toward me, his brown eyes meeting mine for just a heartbeat. Long enough for me to appreciate the grim determination there, the love, the apology. He knows, as I do, that we’re losing. That everything we’ve done, everything we’ve sacrificed, might not be enough.
A burst of emotions threatens to undo me.
Pure, unadulterated rejection of loss, and a raging desire to fight, to incinerate, to rip enemies apart with teeth and claws.
I know that rage.
So like my own.
A grin splits my lips, baring my teeth as the urge to bite and burn fills my throat. My entire body vibrates with savage glee. “Dragons!”
A shadow passes overhead.
Massive. Familiar.
And furious. So. Fucking. Furious.
My heart leaps.
My dragons came.
I’d sent them away, ordered them to safety.
They were supposed to be far away from here, protected from divine wrath.
Yet they’ve come to dive toward the battlefield with their talons extended and their wings folded for speed.
Three of them wheel above the arena, scales flashing shades of emerald, sapphire, and black.
Fire erupts from Ryu’s maw, and the stream of liquid flame engulfs a cluster of divine creatures. The monsters shriek, their otherworldly flesh blackening and bubbling. The mighty blue dragon lands, but only for a second. Just long enough to snatch up a clawful of rock golems.
Then he takes to the skies again. The air pressure changes as he beats his massive wings, creating a downdraft that forces the lighter creatures to the ground. Rendering them vulnerable.
Rubble rains down.
Broken parts of the golem fall strategically on the heads of our enemies.
Mygist seizes a particularly large abomination in his claws, lifting the thrashing creature high above the arena before releasing it.
The beast falls, hitting the ground with a sickening crack. Its body shatters on impact.
Tanwen circles lower, his green scales glinting as he lands beside Sterling. He opens his mouth, spewing red-orange fire and swinging his clubbed tail like a thresher.
They’re risking everything to help us. To defend their homeland and the people they willingly share it with.
My chest constricts with a tangle of emotions.
Gratitude. Fear. Love. Despair. Too many to separate and name.
They merge with the emotions of the dragons. Rage, anger, glee, territorial and protective instincts.
Above it all, bloodlust.
If we fail, they’ll die too. Everything I love, everyone I’ve fought to protect, will be lost.
A moment of warning is all I get as Ryu dives low again.
I peer up into his open maw. As the largest of the dragons, his teeth are longer than my legs. And I’m staring right down his throat as fire boils up from it.
Mygist is right behind him.
Nailah is on his left.
Three dragons wide. Enough to cover the fighting arena.
Inside me, hope battles desperation, both fighting for dominance.
As a plan formulates in my head, I cup my mouth. “Come to me! Huddle up!”
Sterling flies to me, leaving Tanwen to his own devices.
Rafe ducks low behind me. Bastian and Agnar carry Leesa as they sprint toward us.
I can only hope I have enough magic left to do what needs to be done.
Dragonfire, hotter than any elemental magic, hits the field like a river. Earth starts to boil and blaze.
Dragonfire is indiscriminate. It destroys everything while it’s being channeled. Only a fire-wielding dragoncaller has a chance of surviving.
I’ve done it before. When I wasn’t worn out from fighting.
I take a deep breath and wish for the best.
Power gushes toward me as Agnar, Rafe, Bastian, and Sterling give me everything they have left. My entire body trembles with exertion. The edges of my vision turn white.
Still, I reach deeper. To that second fire I have.
Phoenix fire.
I wrap every human in those flames as the river of dragonfire hits us.
With a trembling heart, I wait. I counted how many groups I covered. Hopefully the numbers will match after the dragons pass.
We’re like rocks on the beach as the tide of destruction surges around us. My hair, clothes, and mouth are all instantly dried as the flame passes over.
Sacred animals and divine monsters alike fall screaming, the fire pouring over them like water.
I pivot, keeping that wave in sight. At every pool of phoenix fire wrapped around our allies, I reach out. With my arms turning to lead and my mind screaming with exhaustion, I grab the dragonfire and part it.
Over. And over. And over.
My eyes burn, but I dare not blink.
The fire on my wings snuffs out as I lose control over it.
The dragons sweep overhead, flames streaming from their mouths. I search the sky ahead of them, finding every stream of phoenix fire by feel and parting the dragonfire to protect the people inside.
Once Ryu, Mygist, and Nailah reach the end of the field and ascend into the sky, the dragonfire hits the ocean and fizzles out.
Thirty. Seven.
I deflected dragonfire thirty-seven times.
The same number of groups I covered.
My knees buckle, and I crumple to the ground. Vision wavering, nerves shrieking, I don’t understand what’s happening until Rafe rolls me onto my side.
I’d collapsed beside him.
“Lark! Are you okay?”
I can hear his voice but can no longer sense him in my mind. The merge is broken.
I’m spent.
Overhead, I feel the pride and joy of my dragons. Pride in me. In my abilities. They’d trusted me to keep everyone safe.
By some miracle, I did.
My vision swims, and my head throbs. A tangle of voices blur together nearby.
Gentle hands wrap around me and lift me into a sitting position. “Talk to me, love. Tell me you’re all right.”
I blink, Sterling’s face coming into focus as he crouches beside me. “Yeah. Just need…a minute.”
“I didn’t know that was possible.” Agnar kneels beside us. “We should all be dead.”
A hand settles on my shoulder, and I peer up to see Leesa holding a waterskin in her other hand. “Drink up. It’s Fusion Root Vine tea. There’s plenty for all of us.”
Leave it to my sister to come prepared. I have no idea where she stashed the tea during our battle, but I’m too tired to ask.
I smile my thanks, take a long drink, then hand the container to Leesa. “You next.”
She accepts the tea, drinks some, and passes it to Bastian.
“Better?” Sterling skims his knuckles across my cheek, eyes shining with concern.
“Much better.” I lean over and brush a kiss across his lips. “Help me up?”
We stand, not bothering to wipe the dirt and ash and gore from our clothes.
I spare a moment to scan the crowd outside the arena. Some people have fled. Others who helped fight mill about. Some remain in the stands.
A strange sound rends the air. A booming, cracking noise from far above, like thunder but deeper and more resonant. I glance up, past the wheeling dragons to the sky beyond.
Though clear and blue directly overhead, the edges of the heavens look…distorted somehow, as if something massive is pressing against our reality.
The sound comes again, louder this time. A tremor runs through the ground beneath my feet.
Bastian’s eyes widen with alarm as he follows my gaze upward. “What is that?”
I shake my head, mud squelching with the movements.
Then an awful suspicion forms in my mind. “It sounds like what we heard in the portal outside the realm of the gods as they were fighting. Except worse.”
Sterling’s brow furrows. Dried blood smears his forehead, and he waves away my concern when I reach for the already-clotting gash. “I thought they couldn’t fight each other so long as we’re still their champions.”
Another tremor, stronger this time, nearly knocks me back down.
“Supposedly, they can’t.” Bastian passes the tea to Rafe. “Not with each other. If they’re fighting something, it has to be something outside the pantheon.”
Fantastic.
“Fuck.” Agnar rises from where he’d been silently catching his breath. “So we stopped one war just for them to start another? Bastards.”
Several rifts form across the field as the air warps and bends.
Creatures with too many eyes and limbs poke their heads out and peer around. Their grotesque features tilt upward as if listening to voices only they can hear.
Movement at the far edge of the arena catches my eye.
A figure striding calmly through the devastation as if taking a pleasant morning stroll. Tall, muscular, with golden hair that glows with its own light and eyes the color of distant stars.
The Guardian.
He struts past creatures and humans alike, and none of them seem to notice him. As if he’s not really here.
Just like when he appeared to us at the masquerade.
My heart stutters in my chest. His appearance can only mean one thing. The gods have sent reinforcements.
Whatever temporary advantage the dragons gave us is about to be obliterated. “Sterling!”
He whips around, his bloodied face a mask of exhaustion and pain. His gaze tracks mine, landing on the approaching figure. His shoulders slump for just a moment, like he’s recognizing that the battle is truly lost.
Then, with a fierceness in his eyes and stubborn defiance, he straightens again.
I push through the fatigue, through the pain, and force my legs to move. My wings strain against my back, aching to extend fully but too weak to do so. I stand a few paces from Sterling, ready to defend him and the others with whatever magic I can muster.
Bastian appears at my other side, Leesa just behind him. Rafe and Agnar move to complete our defensive circle, the civilians they were protecting running to huddle in our center.
The Guardian continues his unhurried advance, his perfect features arranged in an expression of mild interest, as if we’re an experiment with unexpected results. He carries a gleaming lance in one hand and a sword that pulses with strange light in the other.
“Seriously?” A drop of fresh blood trickles from the wound on Sterling’s forehead. “Now?”
“Now.” The Guardian hefts the lance, muscles rippling beneath his flawless skin.
In one fluid motion, he hurls the weapon directly at Sterling.
Pure terror wraps around my heart and squeezes. I forget how to breathe.
My husband is going to die.