Legon Awakening

chapter Twenty-Three

Crimson Sky



“I look at life as a bridge with a toll on it. Depending on what part of the river you are crossing, you must decide if the toll is too high and how badly you need to cross the river. If the toll is too high then you move downriver to the next bridge. in my experience, I have never found a bridge whose toll is too low. Find the toll you are willing to pay and pay it. once paid, cross the bridge and move forward.”

-The Great Defeat, Secunum Renovatie



Legon walked next to Sasha as he took in his surroundings. They were nearing the lip of a hill. on the other side of it was a large flat area of rock where the battle would take place. This hill was rock as well. there was a slight breeze and his nostrils caught the scent of something foul. He thought back, wondering where he’d smelled it before. He had when he had fought the Iumenta who killed Kovos in the clearing. maybe he could find him in the battle. Right behind them was his guard, a group of Elves that were loyal to house Evindass. they would be his guard during the fight, allowing him to fight with magic without too much hand-to-hand interference. They wore the same armor as he, with House Evindass’ crest emblazoned on their chest plates. They all tensed with distaste as they smelled the vermin in the distance.

As they crested the hill they were immersed in the ranks of humans and Elves. they walked in between catapults and ballista. In this battle there would be no time for trebuchets. Nervous, Sasha closed the space between them. this was not her element and she would have to wait until just before battle to go into the Mahann state needed for the fight. He extended his arm and held her hand, interlacing their fingers. He felt that her pulse was high, but it slowed as he ran his thumb along the side of her hand.

“Sorry I’m not brave like you and Iselin,” she said with a hint of shame.

“You shouldn’t have to be,” Legon replied.

He tugged on her hand, making her shoulder gently bump against his. her pulse slowed down some more. He saw the guard closing ranks around them and felt Sasha’s apprehension through the mental network he was running. As they closed ranks she calmed more as she felt their concern and, surprisingly, love for her.

Taking his attention from Sasha, Legon looked at the sky. It was dark gray and no doubt it would rain soon. He brought his eyes downward and out over the sea of people on the other side of the battlefield. they were like waves with sparkling armor, blades, and banners. Along the back row were the dragons, their armor dull looking as they leached light. It was not difficult to see their colors. they had the same armor as the Elves with their leathery wings uncovered except for the leading edge.

They were approaching Iselin, with Feena trotting right in front of them. Iselin was standing stone still, and he felt a drop of rain on his cheek as he reached her side.

“Will we fight in the rain?” he asked.

She answered in their minds, as all dragons did. “No, we won’t fly in rain, nor will the Iumenta. it will be a big storm. We will wait it out.”

“Sash, give me the store. I will hold it,” Legon said.

“It’s not too heavy. I’m ok.”

“I know you are, but it feels like a small rock to me.”

She took off the pack that held the store crystal and handed it to him. He slung one of the straps over his shoulder. The rain was starting to come down much harder now and he too saw that this was going to be a bad storm. This land was hot and muggy, making the rain warm and not refreshing in the least. he was on the verge of placing a spell over Sasha to keep her dry when Iselin extended her wing out over them. The rain sounded like it was hitting canvas as it struck the pink membrane. she craned her neck down and winked at them.

“This won’t wear out your wing, will it?” Legon asked.

Legon heard a deep growl, but Iselin’s mind felt playful. “I am fine. This is like standing around for me.”

He looked behind him to see water flowing from the back of her wing like little waterfalls. He noticed that all the Elven dragons were doing the same. he saw this on the other side as well. but whereas the Elves let anyone who was nearby stand out of the rain, he noticed there were only Iumenta under their dragons.

The downpour helped clear his mind. the sound of rain on Iselin’s wing acted as white noise that quieted all of his worries and apprehension. Sasha was now sitting next to Iselin’s front leg resting against it. water was running under the massive armor and streaming out over Iselin’s pearl claws and gemstone scales. When he thought about it, he never really had seen anything so beautiful in his life as Iselin. maybe Sasha was right to try and set them up.

“No, don’t think about that now,” he thought.

Still, the thought of either of them getting hurt bothered him profoundly. It felt like only a few moments had passes, but it must have been longer. The rain was now starting to slow, and as he looked out over the landscape he saw large burlap sheets over both sides protecting them from the rain, and a steady stream running in the middle of the soon-to-be battlefield.

* * * * *

A sound woke Sasha from a shallow sleep. there were chills running along her spine. her eyes were still closed, but what was that sound? She opened them and listened to the eerie sound more intently. It sounded like animals, all small ones, all angry. she was still batting the mental fog away when she noticed the loudest one. it was a cat yowling. She looked to see Feena with his fire fur raised, teeth bared, yowls coming from his open mouth. She looked around to see other familiars in the forms of many different animals and elements, some bear cubs, some dogs, some cats—all predators. Then she realized the din was also coming from the opposition as well. all of the Iumenta familiars joined their cries, begging their masters to let them loose on the enemy.

Sydin joined her thoughts, directing her to go stand with the other spotters. These were the spouses of Elven Venefica; they too had stores slung across their backs. They would all stand along the top of the hill, looking and directing their Venefica. all of them would network their minds and in turn the command would do the same. everyone’s perspective was figured into commands. She started to let the Mahann take her, but before she did she walked over to Legon, kissed his cheek, and hugged him. there were no parting words that she could think of, so she took her position. She saw him and his guards walk to the frontline. She saw from her eyes and his. she felt scared, but then the Mahann calmed her and emotion left as she connected with the others.

The Dragons started to roar and a few took off and hovered above them. the Iumenta were doing the same. Both armies were mobile and forming into ranks. Legon connected with her and she felt the wards that he raised around his men and Barnin’s unit. There were the flickers of wards over both sides, and then large ones from the dragons, designed to defend against the other dragons and siege weapons.

She was in Legon’s head now, seeing the front line. they looked down out of the same eyes to Feena, who was all but screaming now. That’s when she saw it. Feena screamed, but as he did it changed from a scream to a roar. As the sound changed so did the cute little yellow cat. his canines grew, extending down past his bottom jaw. his tail vanished into a stub. Huge muscles rippled under the fiery fur and his eyes glowed bright with intensity. Feena was far from a cat. His new form was some sort of animal, but what was it? She reached in her mind. Years ago Arkin had showed her a picture…what was it called? It was some kind of tiger, she thought. Now that she listened there was no longer the barking and howling of small animals. all on both sides were now full-sized predators. She looked to her left and caught Mantic’s eye. he winked at her; now she knew what familiars were for.

She looked to the sky above the Empire forces to see the Iumenta dragons roaring and shooting flames across the sky. She saw and felt the fire above her and she looked up to Iselin and saw a jet of fire ripping from her mouth, stretching hundreds of feet across the sky. It reflected off her armor and she felt the mental presence of many dragons pushing hope out to the ranks.

She couldn’t feel much of her own emotions with the Mahann, but she felt Legon’s as he stared across the field at a group of gray-skinned Iumenta. The hate was so strong. his body was vibrating, begging him to rush at them. Then her eyes caught a flash of color that shot across the sky from an Iumenta dragon. The ball of magic was deflected by Sydin. She felt Legon prepare to use magic as she looked at Sydin. a gray-black light ran down his tail and he flung it at the Iumenta. As he did she was blinded with the light of hundreds of Venefica sending curses across the lines.

She clapped her hands to her ears as she heard the thunder-like claps of curses hitting wards. The field was covered in flashing light in every shade and color, like some nightmare thunderstorm on the ground.

Above them it was the same. all of the dragons were sending spells at one another. every time she closed her eyes there were new little spots of light. She felt Legon penetrating the wards of a human Venefica, saw him slash apart a few of their frontline men with a spell, and she closed the visual connection with him, not wanting to see anymore. The armies would charge soon; she could feel it. The other spotters were directing their spouses to different parts of the Empire’s frontlines and she realized that even though she wasn’t aware of sending commands to Legon, the rest of the network was sending them for her. She engaged the Mahann more and more fully joined the network and soon lost herself in the vast sea of minds.

* * * * *

Legon felt his body wanting to rush forward. Feena’s roars next to him echoed his feelings. An Iumenta Venefica stood across from him with a large blue wolf with raised fur next to him that was pacing agitatedly, growling at Feena. Then, mercifully, the order came. he heard Feena’s claws digging into the ground as he charged forward. he felt the wind against his face as he flew across the open landscape.

Soon Barnin’s unit was falling behind them as he knew they would. The sound of boulders crashing shook the ground, and he looked up to see an orange Iumenta Dragon and Iselin collide in the sky. Both flew through torrents of fire to crash together, letting their chest plates take the force of impact. He looked forward and saw the Iumenta closing, choosing targets; he squared off with a raven-haired one.

As the space closed he dropped close to the ground and leaned his left shoulder in. the Iumenta did the same. Pain erupted all over his upper body as he hit the Iumenta. the two shoulders plates made a horrible grinding sound when they hit.

In the moment of impact he felt the Iumenta’s shoulder buckle. like Iselin had said, he was heavy for an Elf, and his body continued forward, his momentum too much for the smaller Iumenta. His shoulder plate slid off the Iumenta’s and he turned himself, bringing it against the base of his opponent’s neck. there was a crack as the Iumenta’s neck broke. He dropped, rolled on the ground and up, not needing to look back at the filth that was now dead.

he drew the fenna and fell upon an Iumenta that was getting to his feet after hitting one of his guards. The Iumenta had his own fenna out, and soon Legon was consumed by the fight. the Iumenta Venefica held back, waiting for Legon to lose strength before he engaged him at close range, but his familiar and Feena were rolling around, biting and clawing at each other.

One of Legon’s guards joined him in his fight against the Iumenta. Legon’s early kill gave them an advantage that they fully planned on taking. soon the Iumenta was down, and Legon saw that his guard was winning. He turned to his left to see one of his men go down, a giant gash across his chest and through his lungs and heart. He heard Barnin’s unit behind them and saw two Imperial cavalry units approaching. Barnin’s men were outnumbered, but the Iumenta fell back to let the horses do their jobs.

* * * * *

Barnin raised his shield and felt a blade hit it. Poison was kicking and biting the other horse and he was doing his best to kill the other man, but they were outnumbered two-to-one and good armor or not, that wasn’t good odds. The rider to his left slashed at him, hitting him across his back. he felt whip-like pain where the blade hit. thank goodness Legon had given them chainmail and plate armor. The armor would keep them from getting cut by other humans for the most part, but it didn’t protect against them getting bludgeoned to death.

The Iumenta were retreating, letting the clumsy mortals hack it out for awhile, but Legon and his guard turned on the enemy cavalry. Barnin watched with detached horror as they attacked.

It was one thing watching the Elves and Iumenta fight each other. it was fast and difficult to follow, but he hadn’t seen them attacking humans before. The Elves, his friend included, were jumping from horse to horse slaughtering the men, who were screaming in terror and agony. The Iumenta Venefica would be giving them strength just like Legon did for them, and he noticed that the men and horses were starting to get faster now. the Iumenta Venefica were able to dump more energy into their remaining charges, making them formidable, to say the least. This meant that Barnin was now losing the fights that he was winning before. the enemy was getting faster and stronger. He wasn’t sure how long it would take, but soon they would be able to cut the armor with their new power. Warm liquid splashed across his face and he turned to see Ankle removing the head of a man next to him.

“I had that one!” Barnin roared.

“Yeah, that’s what it looked like, sir. Sorry for saving your…”

He didn’t hear the rest of Ankle’s retort as he turned his attention back in front of him. The Iumenta were back, and this time they were on the side away from the Elves, tearing their way through his men. he saw one, two, and then four men go down. He had a faint connection with Legon and he tried to communicate, but it was Sasha’s voice that answered in his mind.

“He knows. I am directing them to the Iumenta.” She sounded detached, the Mahann making her calm and unemotional.

Barnin saw Legon turning to them and they moved quickly through the battle. he was putting away his fenna. why on earth would he do that? He jolted suddenly as he felt the spell hit. there was a flick of purple around him as Legon’s ward took the blow and he moved just in time to have a blue bolt of magic fly by his head. The other Venefica was joining the fight.

Barnin yelled for his men to fall back and as he did, Legon ran by him, drawing the fenrra. one of the enemy’s cavalry got in the way and Legon slashed up with the fenrra, hitting the horse’s midsection and slicing up through the animal and the rider’s legs. the man screamed. Blood and organs gushed out of the horse, covering the ground as Legon hit the rear half of the horse with his shoulder plate and moved it out of the way.

Something wet hit Barnin’s face and he wiped it with his fingers. It was blood. Then another drop. he looked around him. it was like rain now. What on earth? He looked up. the pink dragon and the gray Iumenta dragon were above them. They were slashing at each other, their claws dripping with gore. their tails swung out to be caught by the armor on their opponent’s feet. Their glittering armor was all but gone now. only the real stuff remained, and he saw as they bit and scratched that they were wounding each other deeply, causing blood to pour from the cuts. It fell like scarlet rain in great drops from the gray sky. almost at once the injuries healed. The dragons didn’t seem to notice that they were bleeding all over the field. An involuntary chill ran along his spine, and he looked to see Legon start to engage the Iumenta Venefica.

* * * * *

Arkin felt his lungs burn as his broad sword severed a man’s spine. This was not his kind of fighting. he was more used to playing hide-and-seek before he killed someone. The constant exertion was getting to him. It was getting harder to stand as well. this area was all rock, and neither army was making any headway. The ground was littered with bodies and, even worse, their entrails. it slopped on his boots and made the flat rock slippery. All his wards were also being pushed to their max. he was losing people left, right, and center. the Empire had a higher Venefica to normal soldier ratio than the resistance, and that meant casualties on a large scale. He was doing everything he could to keep his people alive, and sadly the more men he lost the easier it got.

Arkin ran up to a man in all black wooden armor with some sort of cheese cloth over his face. Arkin swung at him and the man raised his sword with surprising speed.

“He must be trained in the Jezeer,” he thought.

This whole unit that they were fighting was like this. they all had the cloth over their faces and each was amazingly fast, and they didn’t back down. Their skill was formidable, but they weren’t Iumenta. His opponent was gaining ground and Arkin had to duck so as to not lose his head. he tried to change his style and trip up the soldier. Nothing. The soldier countered him easily, almost playfully. Arkin knew the man would be protected with wards form the Iumenta, so he couldn’t use magic.

Pain erupted across his chest as the enemy slashed a shallow wound across him, slicing his pectoral muscle and vein beds. He staggered back as blood rushed out of his chest. the man was coming up fast now, not wanting to waste time. He clutched his chest and tried vainly to stop the onslaught. he fell back landing on his tail bone, feeling it crack as it hit. The man was over him now and raised his sword for the death blow. In that moment he saw the flick of light, the flick that said that the Venefica protecting the soldier was dead. Arkin shot his hand forward and sent a fire spell at the man’s head. It evaporated in a cloud of blood, bone, and brains that spattered his face. There was a metallic taste in his mouth; he had forgotten to close it before the spell hit. he rolled on his side and retched, seeing the blood from his chest soak the ground. He blacked out.

* * * * *

Keither took in the field before him. it was an epic story gone horribly wrong. His ears cringed at the sound of grinding metal from the dragons. there was no progress being made there. Then there was the sound of spotters gasping or shrieking, then falling dead as their wives or husbands were killed in battle. The river in the center of the field no longer appeared to be running with water, but he knew that it was foolish to think that it was all blood.

Both sides were taking heavy casualties. they had gotten their wish. the forces were equal and as such neither gained ground. this battle would not have a true victor. His eyes were getting used to the flash of magic, and as he looked through the seeing glass he saw Legon fighting an Iumenta Venefica. he was using that large sword and both were sending spells in rapid succession at each other, but it looked like Legon was slowly winning.

Barnin’s unit was with Legon. The tall one, Ankle, was fighting a man. the soldier fell and tried to get up, but Ankle thrust down, stabbing the man in the chest. Keither saw the tip of the sword exit the soldier’s lower back instead of his chest. He saw another of Barnin’s unit on the ground, holding his hands up futilely as he tried to keep a horse from trampling him. the horse was trained well and reared up on its back legs and drove its front hooves into his chest and abdomen again and again. Keither shook his head and looked away. He noticed Sara and the Elves’ chief medical officer standing by them.

Sara was a medic, and most of those were busy at the moment, but she only knew how to fix things with magic and even then only minor wounds. she would learn more over time, but for this battle she was going to be most useful at the end when men returned with scratches and other small injuries.

He reconnected with the rest of command. the problem was dragons. they were evenly set, but with the somewhat tight air space they were being forced to fight in, only about half could engage at any given time while the others circled over their sections of the army, strengthening wards. It was rare for dragons to die in battle, but often they would get hurt and have to retreat. this wasn’t a problem in this fight; all they had to do was get close to being truly hurt and then fly back away from the fight and rest.

Sara interrupted him. “The lights from the magic are something else, aren’t they?”

He nodded his agreement.

* * * * *

Sara knew she shouldn’t be bothering Keither, but she needed to get her mind off the battle. it was so gruesome and Sasha would have been no help since she was too busy helping Legon. The Elves’ chief medical officer was next to her and she was feeling a little uncomfortable. She couldn’t remember his name but he had remembered hers, of course.

He spoke to her. “Are you ok? You look a little nauseated.”

“Oh, I’m fine, thank you. It’s just the flashing light from the fight, and the blood, and the flying colored things in the air. ok, well, I guess everything.”

He nodded grimly. “It has the ability to turn one’s stomach. the light especially. They can make epileptics have seizures just by looking at them.”

“They can? That’s horrible.” She was trying to remember what that was. she knew it was important. She vaguely remembered learning about it not too long ago.

She pushed it from her mind and stood for another few minutes before the thought buzzed back in her head. She decided to go and access Sasha’s mind to see if she remembered. The girl was a store of information. When she connected with her Sasha was still in a Mahann state, but not like she should be. there was something else that was going on, and Sara noticed that she was having issues with her connection to Legon. Sasha’s body had a slight tremble to it and she kept closing her eyes and trying to steady herself…

“You said the light can cause seizures?” Sara asked.

“Yes, why? You’re not epileptic, right?. The only one I can think of here who-”

He broke off and they both bolted down to where Sasha was supposed to be stationed. he outstripped her with ease, moving faster than a horse, but she made it to Sasha faster than she thought possible.

Sasha was on her knees, violent tremors jolting her body, but she was awake.

“How is she awake?” Sara asked.

“It’s the store. Its energy must be keeping her here, that’s the only way.” the medic said.



Sasha broke in. “Please take it off me. I can’t connect to Legon. please…”

“But what if you have an episode by taking it off?” Sara responded.



Sasha’s eyes blanked out for a moment and Iselin’s voice rang in their heads.

“Take the store off of her now! Legon is out of energy and is getting cut to ribbons by another Venefica. do it now!”



Sara didn’t need that voice twice. she wrenched the store off Sasha and threw it on herself noticing as she did that Sasha was now slipping into a full seizure. She found Legon’s mind with ease. he was panicked about Sasha and his men. she needed to connect fully with him. For Sasha she could just partially connect and send the energy needed, but Sara wasn’t advanced enough and had to force to connect all the way. as she did, she felt burning strips of pain along her left arm. She gasped and clutched it as the pain grew. his bicep was almost cut in half. it must have been a cutting spell that did it. She accessed the store and started dumping copious amounts of energy across their connection. this too hurt. she couldn’t handle it, but she poured more and more, feeling her body shudder under the pain.

She felt a cold hand against her skin, and then Sasha’s mind joined hers. she was still weak, but determined. She altered their connection with Legon and the pain vanished in an instant. Sasha forced the connection with Sara and then accessed the store and directed Legon’s healing wards, targeting the bicep and healing it in a moment. Moreover, Sara felt seething anger emanating from Sasha at her lapse in composure. Sara had never really thought about how Sasha felt about her episodes, but anger made sense; anger she understood.

* * * * *

Legon felt Sasha’s mind firmly reconnect with his and with it came an instantaneous stream of energy from the store. His arm knitted together instantly; the Iumenta looked worried, as he should be. Legon shot forward, swinging with the fenrra, changing his style every few blows. Soon the Iumenta was receiving small injuries, unable to use magic effectively under the constant assault. Legon saw fear in his yellow eyes, saw the Iumenta tasting mortality for the first time in his pitiful existence, saw the pain that it caused. He did not enjoy cruelty, so he decided to put this poor animal out of its misery.

He feinted to his left, and in his fear and fatigue the Iumenta took the bait. Legon crouched and brought the sword up, hitting the Iumenta square in the leg. most of the Iumenta’s weight was on that leg and he crashed down, clutching at the gushing stump. He was screaming in pain. Legon walked to stand over him. the terrified eyes locked on him and the scarlet fenrra he held in his hand. The Iumenta seemed begging for life in Elfish. Legon wasn’t sure; he didn’t know much of the language yet, but the look on the Iumenta’s face was unmistakable. The man wanted something from him. That was obvious. Legon pulled the blade back, ready to thrust it into the thing lying on the ground, and the Iumenta closed his eyes serenely.

Legon stopped. This man wanted to die. he wanted the pain to stop. he didn’t want the humiliation of having to go home disfigured, and most of all he didn’t want the shame of being spared by an Elf. Legon was going to kill him anyway. it was fine that he wanted it, really, but then he remembered the co-op and Sara and the boy that Barnin had told him about.

“Tell the queen hi for me,” Legon said coldly. “Curatias Crurim!” he barked, holding out his palm.

A bolt of lavender shot from his hand to the Iumenta’s stump, stopping the bleeding and cauterizing the wound. Then he kicked him in the head, knocking him out, and gave the order to leave him for his own medics.

Two massive thuds shook him as something hit the ground. He turned to see Iselin fighting the gray dragon. she was covered in cuts and bite marks. It only took him a second to realize that the gray dragon was far more powerful than Iselin. she was going to lose. He left his guard, sprinting toward the two dragons thrashing on the ground. Iselin’s front leg was torn up bad and so was her shoulder. she was bleeding a lot, even for a dragon. To his horror, two Iumenta appeared behind her. One jumped onto Iselin’s back. The Iumenta steadied itself, aiming his fenrra at an open place in her armor. Legon wasn’t going to make it.

He reached deep into the store, sending magic to his legs and shooting himself forward. He jumped, bringing the fenrra up above his head. the Iumenta turned and faced Legon, the look of triumph melting off his face as the fenrra made contact with his lower hip. the blade slid through him like butter, cutting his abdomen and ribcage and catching just a bit as it went through his shoulder blade. Legon landed on the other side of Iselin, winded from the loss of energy. she had no idea he was there. the other Iumenta was coming down at him, blade raised. he couldn’t stop it.

A flash of yellow struck the Iumenta, and Legon rolled to see Feena on top of him, slashing wildly with his claws, ripping off armor and flesh. He sunk his dagger-like teeth in the left side of the Iumenta’s ribcage and thrashed him around like a dog playing with a rag doll. There were muffled screams and a ripping sound as his ribs and shoulder pulled away from the rest of him. Then he stopped screaming and his body separated, one large chunk in Feena’s jaws, the other flung limply to the ground.

Legon heard the rocks under Iselin crunching and he leapt just in time to avoid getting crushed. she fell on her side, the gray dragon tearing viciously at her. Logic and reason told him to run, that she was lost, but he couldn’t leave her. despite his constant dismissal of Sasha trying to set them up, he did feel something for her. It was probably a crush—nothing worth dying over. the fight would be done soon and the dragon might turn its attention to him, and then not even Feena could save him. He thought of what Sydin said about making it count. he would. Iselin would be angry with him putting himself in this situation, but he would make it count.

He knelt down, as did Feena, taking his lead. it was like the dragon was a deer and he a mountain lion. he moved, not wanting to attract its attention. Feena suddenly leapt at the dragon, who moved to bite at him. when the dragon moved he turned his head to Legon’s right, exposing himself. As Legon jumped at the gray dragon, he activated cutting spells and brought the blade down over his head, aiming for where the head met the neck, but the dragon was fast. It saw him and began to turn its head. The fenrra hit the lower part of the dragon’s jaw, stopping just short of going all the way through.

Legon hung from the bottom of the dragon’s mouth, clutching the fenna tightly. He knew claws would be coming soon, but without the fenna he was done for. he twisted his body and kicked hard off the lower tip of the dragon’s mouth, using his body to try and leverage the blade. There was a crack as the bone gave way and the fenna came loose, sending him plummeting to the ground. He hit hard and a congealed liquid splashed his face.

He heard the dragon roar in pain and the overwhelming thud of its wings as it took off. He opened his eyes without thinking. the sky was crimson. He wiped the dragon’s marrow away, returning the sky to gray. The dragon was above him now and he saw gray light from the broken jaw. the dragon’s magic would heal it soon, and his sword was spent. Iselin jumped into the air, thrusting her wings down in a torrent of wind. She flew up and clamped her teeth on the dragon’s throat at the base of its head and neck. It gurgled a roar and she twisted her body in the air like a corkscrew. There was a loud report as the dragon-sized vertebrae broke, and the lifeless body started its descent. Iselin pulled back, ripping a chunk of the Iumenta dragon’s throat out and sent it sailing to Parkas’ command tent, followed by a river of fire.

* * * * *

Sasha felt her jaw drop as she watched Iselin throw the dragon flesh at the enemy. The next moment she clapped her hands to her ears as all of the Elven dragons roared in celebration, causing a deafening din to fill the air.

Everything sped up then. there was a gray flick in the center of the Empire’s lines as the dragon’s spells failed. At once, the resistance and Elven forces surged forward, all of the Venefica dumping energy into the forward group. They split the enemy line in a moment and the dragons all rushed forward, taking the stunned Iumenta off guard. The Iumenta dragons tried to block them, but it was too late. rivers of fire rained down on the Empire’s men, scorching them in an instant.

Sydin had said that the empire would retreat if they lost the advantage, that they weren’t ready to truly try their luck, and he was right. They sounded retreat. all of their dragons pulled back and their men ran, their hopes crushed with the slain dragon. Sasha heard over the mental network that Arkin was hurt, but that he was stable. As the men continued forward to secure the Sentinels, she felt Legon walking amongst the dead and wounded. She ran down to him, almost knocking him over.

He smiled at her. “Hey.”

“You’re an idiot!” she said, feeling the tears fill her eyes.

He smiled weakly and she heard a groan. She looked down. there was a man at their feet, dying. He was mumbling something about his wife and son. She didn’t know whose side he was on and it didn’t matter. they had no strength left to heal him. Legon knelt down and held the man’s head up off the stone.

“Who’s going to take care of them?” he was gasping. “M- my boy is too young and it will break her heart. What if they don’t-”

“They know that you love them,” Legon said in a soothing voice.

She felt him in the man’s mind. he was bring forward all of his happy memories, and with a gentle flick he forgot about his cares. Grateful happy tears filled the man’s eyes.

“Tha- thank y- you,” he said.

After a minute he passed. then she heard the waling and the crying from the other wounded. Legon went to as many as he could. He took their pain away. he made it so they didn’t have to die alone, so that someone was there, comforting. Finally, he was too weak to stand and she helped him across the field back to camp, the whole way biting back bile from what the day had cost.