Chapter 49
Chapter Forty-Nine
Flying Dead
MAGNOLIA
We were shrouded in darkness for one minute as the Solstice began. At the start of the first cycle, when the six moons fully aligned, Hilitilia went dark before the Ferro moon took over, casting a gray hue over the world.
The moons rotated which one was forward, each of the six Moon Gods orbiting and pivoting to be the front of the Solstice for an hour, before another moon would shift and the process would start all over again.
I was counting down the minute in my head for the first one, and I knew Jaxs was doing the same.
Sixty seconds and the Solstice would start.
Fifty-nine. Fifty-eight.
I knew my heart was racing—or it would have been racing if I wasn’t in my ghost form—Suns, that was so weird thinking.
Ghost form.
Not transparency.
Forty. Thirty-nine.
I could become a freaking ghost. Even after a week of accepting my Token, it was still hard to wrap my head around it.
Breathe. One. Two. Three. Four. Exhale.
Keeping counting—Twenty.
Not only could Dahes not control me in my ghost form, but he couldn’t kill me. I had an advantage for once.
Eight. Seven. Six. Five—
I exhaled.
Four. Three.
Two.
One.
The second the Ferro moon took over, Dahes’ monsters appeared in the sky. The illusion dropped, and we were surrounded.
I swallowed as I took in the full breadth of them. Hundreds of thatchers were dropping sentries into the village.
“You should leave,” I called to Jaxs over my shoulder. “I can’t be killed in this form,” I said, trying to sound steady, “but you—”
“Relax, ghosty, we’re covered,” Jaxs grinned.
I glanced over my shoulder to see a mountain of water hovering behind him.
My eyes bulged out of my head. I still hadn’t fully grasped the fact that drakins possessed powers. I was getting comfortable with Hael’s magic, but to know every single rider possessed something was still shocking.
“There’s a lake behind the mountain pass,” he smiled, noting where my eyes went. “Let’s see if these demon-spawns can swim.”
I didn’t get a second to respond as we were swallowed up by a swarm of monsters.
Ghost. Real. Ghost. Real.
I kept switching between my two forms, keeping myself in my transparency right until I made a kill.
Dahes only sent thatchers and sentries into MonClem, which was both good and bad.
Good news—there weren’t any Talliks or other creatures from Hell, yet.
Bad news—Bluey was the only one who could take out the sentries. Jaxs and I couldn’t kill them. The daggers I donned wouldn’t pierce their metal bodies and Jaxs couldn’t drown something that didn’t have a mouth or a nose…
I was thankful Jaxs’ dragon was here. I wasn’t sure if we would still be breathing without him. Jaxs confirmed what I thought with Aura—that the sentries were made from imported metal that was Ferro-made—which made dragon fire the only thing hot enough to melt them.
I was happy he was burning them to ash. Not only for our sake, but for whatever remnants of a soul was left in Dahes’ mindless foot soldiers.
It wasn’t a life worth living. Even though most of them begged for it, had pleaded to serve Dahes rather than face death, I was almost certain all of them regretted their decision once they learned the price.
Hopefully they’d find peace in the After. I always felt like they were a physical version of myself, of my deal. I knew they didn’t have a choice in their actions, just like I didn’t.
The thatchers though—I had no problems killing them, and neither did Jaxs.
I was standing knee-deep in water as Jaxs kept pulling from the lake.
I only knew Jaxs was still alive whenever a wave tumbled over my head, but I couldn’t risk a glance to see him. We were swarmed. The more thatchers we killed, the more that kept coming.
Whenever I materialized into my physical form, I was sweating, completely drenched from head to toe. The warm air grew smoldering as Bluey used his fire to incinerate the sentries.
His flames scattered over the surface, heating the water to an unbearable temperature.
My stomach turned, praying we didn’t send the drakins into a trap, or worse, what if Hael had already killed Elion…
Hael was only safe as long as Elion was still breathing.
I gritted my teeth as a thatcher’s talon scraped across my abdomen before my Token came on.
“Jaxs,” I called.
“A little occupied, ghosty,” Jaxs’ voice rasped back.
I stole a glance over my shoulder, staying in my ghost form, so I wouldn’t get killed for the distraction.
Four thatchers were surrounding him, while another one held him down.
I bolted toward him, only materializing the second before I was in front of them and used my dagger to slice through the throat of the thatcher holding him down.
I whirled, not waiting to see if Jaxs came out of its death grip as I threw a dagger through the heart of another one, then pulled two more out and swiped both blades up the leathery material between the bony wings of the third.
It wailed, its rotten breath encompassing me.
Jaxs broke free the next second, but before he lifted his blade, teeth snapped as Bluey bit off the heads of the remaining two.
“I think this,” I blurted, gesturing around us, “is a distraction.”
Jaxs whirled his head, his gaze locking in on the tunnel. “Dammit,” he swore, seeing it too.
Jaxs had instructed the drakins that wanted to fight, to fly back after the Ferro moon took over.
We were supposed to surround the monsters from the outside of MonClem, but the skies were still empty.
It was too calm above the mountains. There should be dragons, there should be more monsters, there should be the Dead King…
“We need to get out of here,” I said, materializing for a split second to take out the nearest thatcher.
“How the hell are we supposed to get out of here when we’re surrounded by a freaking army of the flying dead and voiceless tin-men?”
A laugh escaped me because those were the perfect nicknames for the thatchers and sentries.
“How much of the lake can you pull?” I asked, bringing my focus back. “Can you completely flood MonClem?”
Jaxs hesitated for a moment, glancing at the buildings around us. I was asking him to destroy his home, but we weren’t getting out of here alive if he didn’t, and if Dahes won, everything in Viven would be destroyed.
We could rebuild, but we couldn’t bring people back from the dead. I learned that the hard way.
“Jaxs, can you?” I pressed.
“Aw, fuck. Yes,” he nodded. “Give me a few minutes and I can.”
He pointed toward the sky, to the moons about to shift again. The Ferro moon was still forward, but I was starting to see glimpses of blue appearing behind it. The Caerulus moon was about to take the front position. It meant we’d been trapped in here for an hour, getting absolutely nowhere.
“What does the shift in moons have to do with draining the lake?” I asked.
“Drakins’ powers are enhanced during the Solstice,” Jaxs grinned. “And it’s about to be my fucking turn.”
“Enhanced? What are you talking about?”
The Caerulus moon was moving faster, now adding a blue glow over the gray Ferro, about to fully move in front of it.
“Each moon that is forward has amplified powers during the Solstice,” he answered, cutting into two thatchers. “It’s another blessing from the Gods.”
Well, that was handy, and terrifying. Would Dahes’ power be amplified during the Ater moon? Dahes had to have had the Plenus bond since his magic didn’t fade after his dragon died, but would the Ater God still bless him?
I had to find Dahes before the Ater moon came forward.
“We need to leave now,” I said. “Will your dragon fly me?”
“Not unless you want to burn.”
“But I flew with Hael—”
“Yeah,” he cut me off. “I don’t have the time to explain that to you right now.”
“Fine,” I grunted as a thatcher knocked into me. “Will Bluey fly me in his claw?”
Jaxs was silent for a second, then nodded.
“Okay, great. I want you to flood MonClem. Pull as much from the lake as you can.”
“That’s your plan?” Jaxs mused. “You want us to ride my dragon and make MonClem a glorified swimming pool? In case you haven’t noticed, the tin-men can’t drown.”
I bit my lip. I did notice that. I needed Aura. I needed her shield so I could—
I swore something flowed through me at the thought, I just couldn’t decipher what it was. I turned my head toward the tunnel as a shimmering glow erected around the opening.
I wasn’t going insane…
Aura was in my mind. I had no idea how or why, but she just gave me exactly what I needed.
I smiled. “As soon as Bluey picks us up, have him add fire to the water. We’ll melt them and drown the thatchers.”
“Are you fucking crazy? Not everyone has a built-in saving mechanism to become ghosts, the water will flow into—” Jaxs words stopped short as he turned his head to the tunnel, seeing exactly what I already had.
Thatchers and sentries had been using it to go into the Dome, despite Jaxs and I trying to keep them contained inside MonClem, but now they couldn’t leave.
There was a barrier around the opening. I watched as sentry after sentry bolted forward, only to fall backward from the momentum.
“What the hell? Do you have more than one Token?”
I shook my head. “It’s Aura.”
“Oh fucking Moons, have mercy on my soul.” Jaxs mimicked the worshipping hands of two crescent moons as he folded them above his head. “I’m fighting with an insane ghost.”
“Just trust me or we’re going to die down here anyway,” I seethed as a thatcher’s talon scraped up my forearm, cutting into the leather shirt Jaxs gave me.
“Fine,” Jaxs said as Bluey scooped down, letting him run up his back. His claw opened, his talons spreading before closing around me. My stomach jolted as he launched into the sky, clearing the cabins surrounding the perimeter.
It only took one second before thatchers started following us into the air. But it didn’t matter, the Caerulus moon was fully forward, and I prayed it was enough power for Jaxs to do what he needed.
“Now, Jaxs,” I screamed, hoping he could hear me.
A wave of water swarmed over the mountain range. Any thatcher that was airborne, fell back onto the ground from the force.
Bluey let out a single roar before dousing the lake in his fire.
The water sizzled, turning from a deep blue to gray as iron melted off the sentries and the leathery part of the thatchers turned to ash.
I was full on grinning as Aura’s shield worked. Everything was confined into the village.
Pressure seared inside my head before I heard it, “MAGNOLIA—”
Dahes’ voice ruptured my eardrums from the inside out.
Shit.
He knew I got out of my cage.