Chapter Forty-Four
Ace
“ G et them to the ground!” Atreya commanded all the Sky Elves, also gesturing with hands. I kissed Luana’s knuckles, and then I was soaring through the skies with the rest of my brethren into battle. Everything was moving fast.
Cyran's eyes met mine, a silent conversation passing between us.
He twisted his finger, letting me know exactly what he was thinking, and we seemed to be on the same page.
I nodded, our wings beating in unison as we carved through the air.
I raised my hand, signing the plan to the others.
We needed a storm, a vortex of our own making to bring down Ember's floating ships.
The others caught on, their nods sharp against the backdrop of war. In moments, our formation tightened. Cyran and I led the charge, diving headfirst toward the underbellies of the skyships. The world became a blur of motion, the howl of the wind deafening.
Fireballs roared past us once we got close, bright balls of death that we twisted away from with the grace of falling leaves.
Then, we started to circle. We bent the winds, coiling them around us like serpents ready to strike. My comrades took their places, forming a ring of defiance around two ships. We would have to do it two at a time for our winds to be powerful enough to be effective.
And so we summoned the storm.
A slow-moving cyclone started to form. It grew, and soon it was a behemoth wrought from our hands, a spiraling tornado that clawed its way upward.
The skyships shuddered, their massive frames groaning under the tornado's embrace. Metal creaked, and cries of alarm echoed from their decks as the vessels began to rock violently. Fire that fueled their ships now flickered in distress, the flames dwarfed by the fury we had unleashed.
It was working. The sky itself seemed to betray them, heaving them about like toys in a child's hand. With every passing moment, the tornado's grip tightened, the winds screaming. And then I glanced down and saw Ember’s soldiers already fighting with the rebellion below. Fuck. Was Luana alright? I had to be sure, and I couldn’t see her through all of the chaos.
"Fall back! Fall back!” I signed frantically to everyone. We needed to escape through the eye of the storm. Each of us darted downward the same moment the ships were ripped from their course and started tumbling through the skies.
I signed to the others to move to the next set of ships and told Cyran to lead them as I separated from the group.
I pulled my blades from their sheathes, shooting them out with my wind before calling them back to me as they slit throats mid-fight.
Then I found her. Luana was fighting in the distance, but two more soldiers were coming in her blind spot, and I was too far away.
I wouldn’t get to her in time. I wouldn’t be able to save her.
I pumped my wings, pushing them as fast as they would take me. But it wouldn’t be enough.
I screamed her name across the battlefield, using my bending to send it even further. Down our bond, it echoed everywhere all at once.
“LUANA!” I roared, my vocal cords shredding from the amount of power I pushed behind them for the first time in all my years since making my vow.
And she turned and sidestepped at the perfect time to miss their blow, and then sent a wall of earth crashing against them.
I made it to her side, taking out the other man she was fighting with a single fling of my daggers.
I cupped her face, moving my hands over her to ensure she was safe. She was alive. I hadn’t been too late. Tears lined her eyes.
“What is it? What is wrong? Are you hurt? Luana . . .” But tears just started trickling down her cheeks like rain.
“Your vow . . . You broke your vow,” she whispered, and I pulled her against my chest.
“My vow is meaningless compared to your life, Lu. You are my mate. You are my vow,” I murmured against her shoulder as I held her, and she gripped onto me.
My vocal cords still felt raw with disuse, and it was strange using my voice instead of my hands, but I refused to let go of her.
She pulled back, and I cupped her cheeks, wiping the stay tears away.
We didn’t have time to stop though. I quickly gathered my blades back to me, and then we were moving again. Another wave of soldiers were coming, and with them I saw Valla and Valos at the front line.
This really was the last battle if the emperor himself was here to claim this land as his own.