Going through the Ionyc Seas didn’t actually feel like we were traveling. In fact, it felt very much like rocking in a hammock or floating in the middle of a gentle lake where the waves sloshed you gently from side to side. Though I had heard of great storms that rolled through the currents, tornadoes with massive lightning storms thundering through them.
Time vanished the moment you entered the Seas. I still had no clue of how the dragons and ice serpents and various other creatures who could venture here navigated between spaces, but there was a rhythm here—an ebb and flow, just like the ocean. If I hadn’t been a vampire, I would have succumbed to the tides, falling into a waking/sleeping pattern that was, in reality, actually energy draining and then recharging. The pattern mimicked a circadian rhythm. But with my nature and no sunrise or sunset to contend with, I stayed awake, my personal energy relatively immune. It was then that I realized this must be why certain creatures could enter the Ionyc Seas and travel through them—they didn’t follow the natural patterns of humans and the like.
The massive skeletal dragon beneath me swayed and dipped through the currents of mist. The Ionyc Seas’ currents weren’t actual liquid like water, but liquid energy, like flowing lightning and fog. I had wedged myself between two of the giant vertebrae at the base of the dragon’s neck, and the bone felt comfortingly steady.
And then, just as I was getting used to the ride, we emerged from the sea into the night sky. Below us stretched the city of Ceredream—pronounced with a hard c. The lights from a hundred thousand houses and the fires lining the city walls blinded me momentarily—I had grown used to the darkness here. Then a grim specter rose up to greet us. Even from overhead, we could see the massive armies gathered on all sides of the city. They were like a seething colony of ants, swarming against the gates. Goblins, mostly, but also sorcerers and mercenaries and ogres, and probably trolls. Their shouts filled the night, spiraling up to assault my ears.
I glanced over to the other dragons appearing in the sky—I could see Camille on Smoky, and Delilah on Shade, and the others. Vishana was leading the pack. As the dragons blurred into view, I suddenly realized how massive our force was. A thousand dragons strong, we blotted out the stars. We could level the city from here. Surely we could take on the armies below.
The goblins and other common creatures would be no problem—they would fall under the dragonfire, but we had to be wary of the sorcerers. I figured they were our main targets—and they would be farthest back from the front gates. Cannon fodder always went first unless you had a martyr at the helm. And somehow, I didn’t think Telazhar was the martyring kind.
There was a sudden outcry from the battalions below. They had spotted us. At that moment, Vishana surged forward, her sleek, massive form dive-bombing toward the ground. She leveled out, keeping just out of arrow-shot, and with a massive stream of fire blazing out from her mouth, she strafed the forces below her as she made a screaming run toward the back of the armies. Within seconds, the others followed suit, circling the city.
Vapor rumbled something that I thought was, “Hold on, Lady Vampire,” and then we were plunging toward the ground. I grabbed the vertebrae in front of me and held on for dear life as the ground rose to meet our spiraling descent. The wind whistled around me, streaming my cornrows back, and I suddenly realized I wished I could fly like this. Just as quickly, I brought my attention back to what we were doing. I couldn’t afford to make any mistakes. One wrong move and I’d fall off into the middle of a thousand soldiers clamoring to kill us.
I braced myself as the ground came closer. Then—at the last moment—Vapor pulled out of his freefall and we were flying on a level line, above arrow-reach, but low enough that Vapor could blast them with his fire. He opened his mouth and a massive jet of flames licked down to torch the troops below. Screams rose, along with a plume of smoke, as he struck barrels of oil they were dragging with them. I watched in silence as figures began to run and scream, flames flickering as their bodies turned into living torches. One whiff made me very grateful that I didn’t have to breathe. The char of burning flesh was beginning to fill the air, billowing in massive clouds as anything combustible around the area went up in flames.