I pulled myself taller. “Okay, we need to hurry. She said to create some obstacles; that must mean that this world can be manipulated by our thoughts.”
As soon as I mentioned that there was a roaring crash around us, and suddenly the sky was filled with dragoonas.
I jerked myself around to see Fury, who was wearing a bit of a sheepish expression.
“Uh, oops.”
“Oops?” I blinked a few times.
She shrugged. “I was just trying out our new power of creation.”
I really wanted to yell at her; I was about at the end of my patience. But there wasn’t time. We all hit the ground as a large beast skimmed right above us. I reached for my tether, and flung free the golden cord. In an instant the seven of us were connected. As the power flowed and built between us, I gritted my teeth and tried to hold on to my sanity. I understood why the Mother had said that we’d barely survived the first joining of seven. The energy was literally peeling the flesh off my bones and enamel off my teeth.
We have to try and figure out how to manage this much power! I was shouting mentally, hoping that someone could hear me.
Maybe we need to use the animals …
That was from Ria, and I thought it was a brilliant idea. Although, I had no idea how to make that happen.
I decided to just throw more tethers in the guides’ direction. Of course, all that happened was some of my energy left for a moment, before returning to me again. The sensations we were battling right then were a lot like the moment we absorbed the Crais sun, a power that would eventually destroy us. We gained no control, and when I couldn’t take it any longer I severed the connection between the seven of us.
My body smashed into the stark ground. I wasn’t the only one. All of us heaved and breathed deeply, trying to regroup.
“Okay, so that really didn’t work.” Eva had a bit of a scowl going on and it was directed at me. “Thought you knew what you were doing?”
“Abby is no god. She knows no more than us. We learn together. The seven of us have never joined. Six was powerful, but seven is too much.” My unexpected defender was Sapha.
It must be Eva’s turn to be the outsider-attitude-problem-Walker. One after the other. I had to go through the same stupid dance each time before I earned their trust.
“It has to be something to do with the animals,” Talina said, defusing the situation.
She stretched out her spine, an attempt to work out the aches. The emerald strands of her hair twisted around her. They had a life of their own. Though they did look a little parched right then.
“The Mother God wouldn’t have mentioned them if they weren’t important.”
She was right. But how was I supposed to connect to them and the females? We all hit the deck again as another sweep from a dragoona came a little too close. The majority of the scaled beasts were forming some type of battle circle above us. They were going to attack together.
“Can you get rid of them, Fury?” Delane had her twin axes in her hands, twirling them around as she took in the scene above us.
“No,” Fury said with a hitch in her voice. “I’ve tried, but it seems that as soon as they appear, you can’t will them away.”
Okay, well here’s hoping everyone else was more circumspect with their thoughts or we’d soon be running from every dangerous creature that had existed across the seven worlds.
A shadow fell over me, the darkness obvious against the white of the area. I dived down, expecting to feel flames wash across my skin. But this time it wasn’t a dragoona; it was Cerberus.
My hellhound stood protectively above me. He was growing in size, and soon would be bigger than most of the Crais fire-lizards. Which was great, but he was only one, and Fury had imagined up dozens to face us. She was an overachiever, our fiery half-Walker.
Then the other sacred animals crowded closer too. All of them could change their size to some degree, although most of them were not as big as Cerberus. Except for Apollo. That water dragon was a massive beast.
As I reached out and ran a hand over the bristly fur of my hellhound, I could also feel his power. Simmering beneath the surface. It gave me a sudden thought.
“Everyone touch your animal,” I barked out.
My tether was already at the ready, and the moment I saw the connection between each female and her guide, I sent the golden cord free.