Diana darts forward and smacks the side of the dragon’s head. Her blow sends the creature slamming to the ground with a loud shriek. In a blur of speed, Diana is astride the dragon, its neck in her hands as she jerks it around with a cracking twist. The creature slumps limp and lifeless into the dirt, black foam bubbling up from its mouth.
Jarod’s and Diana’s heads jerk upward. Two more dragons fly into the patch of sky above. They crash down, bending back trees with beating wings, branches cracking off and raining down into the clearing.
Yvan falls on me and pushes me flat onto the ground. Huge tree parts rain down on us. Arrows whistle by from multiple directions, one piercing the bark of the tree behind me with a dull thwunk.
“Stay down!” Yvan cries as he pushes himself off me and into a crouch.
A flash of steel glints amidst the thrashing confusion of dragon limbs as Andras curses and swings his labrys. There’s a metallic thud, a terrible, ground-shaking roar, the whoosh of more arrows, Diana’s low growl as she kills another dragon. Complete chaos ensues as the dragons fall, writhing on the ground, a new one bursting forth from the trees, its face twisted in ravenous fury.
Trystan raises his wand at the beast as it stalks toward him. Fire bursts forth from the wand’s tip in a powerful surge. The wave of fire engulfs the dragon and flames toward Yvan and me. A great burst of water drenches us both from the side, dousing the fire and chilling me to the bone. I sit up and rub at my eyes as I choke on rancid smoke.
I look over to see Tierney putting out Andras’s flaming cloak hem with another burst of water from her palms as Andras pulls his labrys from the dragon’s neck.
“What are you doing?” Diana yells at Trystan. “Stop setting people on fire!”
“Sorry!” Trystan calls to Andras, his voice rattled.
“Fire won’t hurt them!” Yvan cries out to Trystan as he rakes his hair in frustration. “They’re dragons!”
Without warning, another dragon crashes down from the sky to land in front of Yvan and me.
I scuttle backward into the woods as Yvan leaps at the creature.
Dizzy with panic, I hear a soft rustling to my left. I turn to see, amidst the dense brush, the head of a dragon. It’s motionless, with opaque eyes that watch me coldly. I stare at it, transfixed and realize I’m about to die.
The attack comes from behind as yet another dragon slams me into the ground. Claws scrape at my back with a red-hot slash, then there’s an unbearable pressure as a heavy foot comes down on my back, pinning me in place, the beast snarling behind me. I scream at the top of my lungs as the other dragon’s terrifying face slides into view, inches from my head.
And then Yvan is there, grappling with the dragon before me, his hands tight around the creature’s horns. Baring his teeth, he jerks the beast’s head back, blackened blood spurting out from the creature’s mouth.
The pressure on my back abruptly releases as the dragon behind me roars and lunges for Yvan. I spring free, scramble to my feet and break into a panicked run.
I race through the woods, my breath coming in deep gasps, not daring to look back at the snuffling creature that’s now crashing through the woods behind me.
I burst into another clearing and leap over the remains of a cage. A powerful blow to my side sends me flying toward a tree. My head collides with it, a shower of stars bursting to life behind my lids. A terrible, ripping pain on the side of my thigh reduces me to a wild state as I claw at the ground. I scream at the top of my lungs, the sound disembodied, taking on a life of its own.
Through my screams, I hear Yvan snarl out something in a strange language, the words quickly morphing into a bizarre hiss. Trapped in a blaze of pain, I roll over to see Yvan rip the dragon’s head clear off its body.
I stop screaming as the searing pain grows numb and the world begins to spin slightly off its axis. “Yvan...” I croak, as he runs to me and views my leg with horror, the green of his eyes having taken on a bright, otherworldly glow.
He drops down and grabs at my shredded skirt hem and rips off a long shred of fabric. His form blurs in and out of my vision, and I’m vaguely aware of him wrapping the long shred around my thigh and cinching it tight.
Trystan bursts into view. “Oh, Ancient One. No!” He runs to me, his eyes flying to Yvan in desperation. “What can I do?”
“We’ve got to get her out of here,” Yvan says. “There’s not much time. She’s losing too much blood...”
And then there’s an unbearable heat around my shredded thigh. The pain halves, and my leg feels knit tight again, but the world is a blur, and I’m ebbing.
“How did you...” Trystan’s voice breaks off in shocked awe.
“Does it matter?” There’s a fierce challenge in Yvan’s tone.
“No,” Trystan demurs, his voice calm and sure. “No, it doesn’t.”
Yvan’s arms come around me, lifting me as the world spins and goes in and out of view.
I’m vaguely aware of the voices of the others, sounding like they’re momentarily underwater as we move through the forest. The world briefly comes back into focus as we slow to a stop.
“They’re...leaving,” Cael marvels. I weakly glance over toward where the Elf is pointing. My head lolls strangely, like it’s partially disconnected from my body, my arms limply wrapped around Yvan’s neck. We’re high up, afforded a panoramic view of the military base. Naga is unconscious and being carried by Diana and Jarod, one wingtip scraping along the ground.
What looks like over a hundred dragons are rising and flying off into the west, as frantic soldiers try in vain to subdue them with hooks and spells.
“Where do you think they’re going?” Andras asks.
“They seem to be headed in the direction of Valgard,” Trystan says, incredulous.
“They have a mental connection to Damion Bane,” Yvan says. I can feel the subtle vibration of his deep voice along his warm chest. “So they probably are headed for Valgard.”
Complete chaos has broken out in the military base, soldiers yelling out to each other, shooting arrows and blue streams of wand light at the dragons, the majority of the beasts now a swiftly moving black cloud barreling toward Valgard.
One of the dragons, a straggler farthest from the others, rounds back, lets out a horrific roar and begins to fly straight toward us. I should be terrified, but I’m dizzy and so weak. It seems like a surreal dream as the realization hits me.
Before, when I touched Trystan—the latent power in my blood seemed to amplify his magic.
“Trystan,” I rasp as I set a weak hand on my brother’s back. “The cratering spell. Blow a hole through it...”
Trystan grinds out the words to the spell as the dragon swoops in. I gasp as heat shudders through me, through my hand and into Trystan’s shoulder. A beam of white light bursts out of the white wand and spears toward the dragon, colliding with the creature’s chest, piercing the dragon clear through. An explosion of limbs, flesh and blood streaks through the sky as the white beam barrels onward and crashes into the vertical cliff face of the mountain before us.
An explosion of rock and dust follows, the sound deafening, the ground shaking beneath us. Multiple avalanches rumble to life and rain down huge stones onto the military base, the largest of the structures quickly reduced to smoky rubble.
“Is that...” Jarod says, his voice dazed.
“Damion Bane’s new military headquarters, yes,” Trystan finishes for him.
Everyone flinches as another avalanche of stone breaks free from the mountain and takes out the last of the stone buildings. The soldiers below, small as ants, have grown silent as they stand near their small, isolated barracks and stare, along with us, at the destroyed base. One soldier yells out and points in our direction.
“They’re regrouping,” Cael says grimly as gruff voices begin to bellow out orders. “And they’ll come after us.”
“Let’s go,” Yvan prods, his arms tight around me. “I need to tend to her leg. Soon.”