Chapter 48 THE EASTERN FRONT #2
Their shrieks of delight turned into cries of confusion and panic, before all at once, the warriors with me were moving under the shouted orders of their commanders.
Torches were extinguished as fire magic lit the night as Sage and Ciaran unleashed their power upon the shaken Fuath army.
Earth and stone exploded from the force of the fireballs they hurled from the sky.
The ground shook under Pyrope’s paws as the two armies finally collided in a maelstrom of fire and blood and screams.
Once I was sure that the soldiers in my section were holding their own, I urged Pyrope to leap over all of them.
With just a few flaps of her wings, she landed right in the midst of the Fuath with a snarl vicious enough to briefly force them to make room.
I was eager to test out the new depth of my power as I quickly slid down from her back.
The second my feet hit the ground, I unleashed a surge of so much adrenaline that it made the hearts of the Fuath closest to me explode instantly.
“Yes!” I cackled when Rian automatically refilled my reserves before the effects of such a massive power drain could even kick in and slow me down.
Do not overdo it. Rian can refuel your magic, but you will still tire from wielding, Sage warned me.
Noted, I assured him.
I was still grinning at all the mounds of dead Fuath around me.
But I hesitated when I noticed the soldiers in our front line were staring at me after I’d completely obliterated their enemies.
They had clearly never seen Summer magic in action before, so I tried to waggle my fingers in reassurance.
Although I was not sure it helped. It was a good thing they couldn’t see the unhinged grin behind my mask because that surely would have only terrified them all the more.
Pyrope and I worked in perfect tandem, watching each other’s backs as we spearheaded the eastern defense and pushed south.
I also fell more in love with my armour.
Perhaps it was my natural knack for shapeshifting that made it easier to customize it, or maybe all riders could do it so easily.
Either way, I was able to adjust the fingers so my claws could extend through.
I also opened up the lower half of my face mask so I could still rip out throats with my teeth.
I also loved that the armour seemed like it was deflecting the empathic touch of the Fuath that they used to launch their psychic attacks.
The other warriors got over their hesitancy after the display of my power. Ironically, it was my utter ferocity in battle that seemed to win them over.
I tried to stay close to the aes sídhe and always kept my senses open to the other riders, even as the bloodlust threatened to overwhelm me.
The bulk of the Fuath had attacked at the southern bridge called Theas Droichead.
Since the fighting was thickest there, Sage and Ciaran spent most of their time there, but one of them flew back to check on our flank every so often as well.
You are terrifying, Ciaran advised me during a brief lull in the battle when I had a second to regain my head.
You should already know that, I chastised him a little breathlessly as I wiped black blood off my face.
I glanced around and realized we had decimated every enemy on our side. We had also moved too far south in the fray, so I ordered the soldiers nearest to me to reform their lines and hold. Which was when we heard a counter command from further back to continue southward.
“What the fuck,” I hissed.
I was just as eager as the next warrior to keep pushing deep into the fray, but Sage or Ciaran would have asked for reinforcements if needed. And Rian had asked for the eastern flank to stay covered during the battle.
“Stay here,” I snarled at the soldiers when they began to move to obey Drakja’s order.
I waited until they acknowledged my demand and then climbed onto Pyrope who was as covered in black blood as I was. Within seconds, we had flown back to where Drakja was watching the troops reform.
“What are you doing? We were ordered to cover the army from the east!” I shouted in irritation.
“There is nothing out there! Why would we stay here when the fighting is to the south?” Drakja demanded as he turned to face me. I saw him startle briefly at the sight of me covered in blood and gore, but he did a good job of hiding how unnerving he found my appearance.
“We stay and keep the east covered,” I growled at him unflinchingly. “You want more Fuath to kill? Then I will bring them to you, but we do as we were ordered.”
Following commands certainly wasn’t my usual style, so the irony of me advocating for it was not lost on me.
However, I agreed with these particular orders.
We lost Aes Suri to Fuath trickery. I simply was not willing to risk them springing out of the fucking ground as soon as we left the eastern flank exposed.
I could tell Drakja badly wanted to disagree, but there was no room for argument in my voice. And the tiefling either respected my rank or simply knew better than to pick a fight with me, because he bowed and then began issuing new commands for us to stay.
Assured that all sides would remain covered, I pulled myself back into Pyrope’s saddle.
“They want a fight. Let’s bring it to them,” I said to my vargr, who growled her agreement.
It had not taken much to entice Fuath further down the river to chase us back to the eastern flank, and now we were in the thick of it again. Where I preferred to be.
Until I felt a flinch echo through me. At first I looked up toward where my mate was flying, terrified Sage had somehow been hurt. But when I followed the trail of pain in my mind, it took me to Pyrope.
I spun around, my teeth clenching as I observed the bright green splash of blood on her shoulder.
I quickly healed her, and then I made the decision to transfer my armour to her.
I did not question the logistics, I simply allowed the armour to do most of the work as it evolved to fit her wolven form.
“Easy,” I murmured to her as she growled and tensed in uncertainty. She clearly trusted me because she relaxed right away and allowed the suit to finish adjusting to her. She looked so fearsome when it was done, especially with a wolf skull helmet with its empty eye sockets and teeth.
What are you doing? Sage demanded worriedly.
I can make armour for myself. She cannot, I reasoned with him as I began manifesting the interlocking plates of ironclad beetle armour.
The black-and-green exoskeleton ripped through my clothes with jagged ridges and spikes just like last time.
Except instead of a beetle head helm, my helmet was similar to the skull helms of the riders.
I vaguely heard the shocked cries of the other warriors around me, but I was too excited to acknowledge them.
When I’d used this magic in Autumn before, I had been freezing cold, and it hadn’t been long before it became too brittle.
But Feura was much warmer than it was in the Raveina Mountains, and I now had Sage’s fire and Rian’s well of magic at my disposal as well.
The armour felt indestructible this time.
Summer— Sage tried to protest, but I gave him the equivalent of a mental snub as dragonfly wings fluttered free from my back. They felt strong, and I knew that they were not going to become stiff after an hour of use.
Pyrope was also quick to get used to my armour and even utilized the serrated ridges along her shoulders and forelegs to devastating effect. Pretty soon, we were at the front of the fray again, the soldiers following our lead.
The battle had been raging for hours when I heard an odd sound above the clash of the battle.
I stepped back, allowing the other soldiers to close in while my eyes turned skyward. But I didn’t see anything aside from Ciaran overhead as he checked on us.
And yet something troubled me. My instincts were buzzing as I stared across the bloody battlefield toward the eastern forest. I watched, unable to breathe as I tried to figure out why the hairs on the back of my neck were starting to stand up.
Do you guys feel that— I began to ask the others.
But a fucking ball of fire had seemingly appeared out of thin air. A fireball that was flying straight at Ciaran and Aingeal who had turned to head west. I knew their shield would deflect arrows and spears, but not this!
“Ciaran!” I screamed at him aloud and in my mind.
He saw the threat in my mind, and Aingeal tipped his wings up just in time to twist them out of the way and avoid a full-on collision.
But unlike the aes sídhe riders, the vargr were not completely immune to fire.
I knew right away from Ciaran’s internal cursing that Aingeal’s feathers were singed.
And feathers were not like flesh. They were like hair, which Ciaran could not heal.
I heard the fireball hit somewhere behind me and felt the ground shake as fey screamed, but I was too focused on Ciaran and Aingeal to think about the army.
“Fuck!” I hissed as I watched the vargr and rider start to plummet from the night sky. I was about to jump onto Pyrope and do whatever we could to catch them.
I have them, Sage assured me, and I turned to see my mate streaking overhead impossibly fast. Luckily, he had already dropped his mother off with the other aes sídhe, and Ciaran was able to leap off his vargr and onto Serafin behind Sage.
I couldn’t breathe as Serafin grabbed hold of Aingeal by the scruff of his neck and beat his wings as hard as he could.
They were still going down, but it was a much slower and more controlled descent.
Are you alright? I asked the males once they dropped to the ground and out of my sight.
Fine. Fighting. On ground, Ciaran answered stuntedly. It looked like they had landed deep within the ranks of the Fuath army, so I had no doubt they were surrounded.
Don’t you dare die or I’ll kill you! I threatened both of them as Pyrope and I began to fight our way to them.
Love you too… little doe, Ciaran laughed.
Where did the… fireball… come from? Sage asked, clearly distracted as he fought.
That was a good fucking question I thought as I turned eastward to examine the dark meadows. Dawn was still hours away, but unless there was an army hiding out there in complete darkness, there was no sign of anyone.
Unless…
They have used illusion wards before, I recalled.
Scouts were… all over those forests. Found no army, Ciaran reminded me.
And yet I felt that tingle again that raised the hairs on the back of my neck. My instincts were screaming there was more to those eastern fields than met the eye.
But before I could articulate that, another ball of flame appeared right over where I was standing.
Sage’s panic for me, for his family and for his people, blared down the bond as I gritted my teeth and raised a shield with every ounce of my determination.
I braced for impact as the fireball hit, and for several fleeting seconds, it seemed like my sheer force of will would be enough to protect everyone around me.
But the fireball did not strike my shield like a normal projectile and bounce off or dissipate.
Instead, it seeped into my shield like liquid fire, and I felt all that explosive power transfer into it.
Pressure built so quickly that I was almost drained before realizing that magic was siphoning my power into the shield.
And now the shield was ready to detonate.
The longer I tried to protect the people who were seeking safety beneath, the more power it bled from me and the more explosive the shield became…
The realization settled in my stomach with an acidic dread that made me feel sick.
Sage had asked me to stay close to his people to keep them safe… and now I was about to kill them all…
Sage… I am so sorry! I love you! I thought to him.
Then I let go of the shield before it could become any more explosive and began to channel healing magic into the people around me. I had to at least try…
No… I heard Sage’s guttural denial as Pyrope pushed me to the ground and covered me with her massive body. Just as my shield became a weapon to magnify the very destruction it had been meant to protect against.
And detonated with catastrophic force.