Calen leaned forwards, pressing his gauntleted hands against Valerys's neck as the dense canopy of the Aravell blurred below. Valerys streaked through the air, the wind crashing over his scales.
Above, the crimson light of the moon bled across the night sky, staining dark clouds with a red hue. With the glamour gone, Calen could see the white peaks of Aravell's towers in the distance, rising from the basin within which the city had been built.
Three enormous shapes tore across the sky over the city, wings black against the light of the moon. Rage surged through Valerys at the sight of dragonfire pouring down over the city. The dragon angled his wings, sweeping upwards, blood burning.
Take them from below, deal as much pain as we can, then lead them towards the valleys. The others need time.
A deep rumble resonated through Valerys. The dragon soared through the sky, moving from air current to air current, keeping his wingbeats to a minimum. With each torrent of fire that poured over Aravell, their shared rage swelled until it blazed like the sun. Calen could see the purple light of his eyes glowing against Valerys's scales.
As they drew closer, the city of Aravell coming into view below, the sheer size of the other three dragons became clear. Calen tensed. He stopped himself from drawing on the Spark. Surprise was their only advantage. In the bleeding light of the Blood Moon, it was difficult to make out the colours of the dragons' scales, but it looked as though the largest of the three was brown. Hrothmundar. Chora had said that of the living Dragonguard, only Hrothmundar and Meranta had brown scales. Meranta was dead now.
The dragon who flew on Hrothmundar's left was two thirds the size of the larger dragon, scales shimmering blue in the Blood Moon's light. Seleraine. That meant the last dragon, with black wings and scales of polished silver, was Eríthan, soulkin of Ilkya.
Calen drew in a short breath, a strange sense of calm overcoming him. Solian ata'yar. Dauv ata'yar. Nur temen vie'ryn valana.
Live as one. Die as one. For those we've lost.
Rage, loss, and defiance radiated from Valerys, and the dragon cracked his wings and swept upwards. As the wind thundered past, Calen pulled their minds together, their hearts beating as one, their thoughts colliding, rage and fury igniting through their shared soul.
Chora had said Eríthan was the quickest of the three, and so that was who Valerys streaked towards.
The three dragons lifted higher, flames raging in the city below, and then Valerys angled his wings and tore through the air like an arrow.
The world shook as Valerys crashed upwards into Eríthan's underbelly, talons ripping and tearing, teeth cracking through scales. The dragon was easily twice Valerys's size, but they'd caught him off guard and now Eríthan shrieked in pain as blood sprayed into the air. Before the other dragons could react, Valerys released his talons from Eríthan's belly. The wind hammered against Calen like a crashing waterfall, his stomach turning as Valerys rolled through the air. Valerys crashed into Hrothmundar. He raked his forelimbs across the enormous dragon's back, using his momentum to carve furrows through Hrothmundar's scales.
Valerys stretched his neck forwards and snapped his jaws shut, coming inches from ripping Jormun from his soulkin's back. Valerys's talons came loose, and he hurtled through the air.
Calen pushed himself deeper into Valerys's mind, closing his own eyes and instead seeing only through the dragon's. They rolled and spun, fighting against the force of the wind. Then Valerys unfurled his wings. Inertia pushed back at Calen as Valerys changed direction with immense speed. He clamped his legs down, leaning forwards.
Monstrous roars tore through the sky. Calen opened his eyes and looked back to see the three Dragonguard hurtling towards them. Through Valerys's nostrils, he could smell the iron tang of blood, taste it. Eríthan wobbled in the sky, his motions uncertain next to the other two.
"Dive!" Calen roared, pressing himself close to Valerys in anticipation. Weightlessness swelled in Calen's stomach as Valerys curled his wings inward and plummeted, the force of the world trying to pull Calen from the dragon's back. As they swept down past one of the city's many white towers, Valerys shifted and changed direction. Calen's muscles burned as he held himself in place. A column of dragonfire poured down after them, illuminating the night as it crashed into the side of the tower. The force of the fire sent white stone tumbling into the city below.
Calen and Valerys's shared heart pounded like a drum, its beat thumping through their veins. As Valerys rolled towards the mouth of an open valley, an arc of purple lightning streaked past them, crashing into the mountainside in a spray of rock. Calen hadn't felt the Spark. Blood Magic.
Valerys cracked his wings, shifted, then dove again, sweeping down to catch an upwards current of air, soaring into the mouth of the valley. With each movement, Calen pulled himself tight, pressing his armoured chest against Valerys's scales. They had flown these valleys almost every day for months. They knew every curve, every peak, every jagged cliff. 'You must fly until it is as effortless as breathing.' Chora's words echoed in Calen's mind. 'Until Valerys can turn and move quicker than his own heart can beat.'
Calen leaned forwards. "Fly."
As though chains had been pulled from the dragon's wings, Valerys surged forwards, rising and falling, swerving around cliffs and below bridges of stone. As he flew, rain began to fall, droplets at first, then turning to a downpour so heavy it clouded the path ahead. Calen looked back to see the three Dragonguard still following, growing closer with each wingbeat, the light of the Blood Moon scattering in the rain. Two rivers of fire poured forth, and Valerys banked left, the flames crashing against the mountainside.
They moved as one, diving and swerving, bolts of lightning and pillars of fire illuminating the night.
Calen felt a pulse of the Spark, threads of Water, Spirit, and Air, swirling. The rain coalesced, clinging to Valerys's wings like a paste. Within moments, the water on Valerys's wings froze, and panic jolted through the dragon's veins as they fell from the sky, wind and rain crashing against them like a tempest.
Calen opened himself to the Spark, scrambling as he dragged at threads of Fire, pushing them into the ice that held Valerys's wings. A sense of relief flooded Valerys as the ice fragmented and shattered. He unfurled his wings, arresting their fall and sweeping them forwards.
Not a moment had passed before threads of Earth, Spirit, and Air whipped at them. Pressure closed around Calen's breastplate. Terror gripped him as the steel pressed inwards against his chest and ribs. He pushed his fear away and sliced through the threads of Earth with Spirit, gasping for air when the pressure dissipated.
As the Dragonguard drew closer, more threads clawed at Calen and Valerys, threatening to break bones, snap wings, and rip them from the air. Calen drew as deeply as he could from the Spark, feeling it burn in his veins. He let Valerys fly free, rain hammering down as he did everything he could to counter the threads hurled at them. But with each passing second, the drain pulled more and more from him, sapping his energy, leaching his strength.
'The Dragonguard will tear you apart, Calen. Piece by piece. They have killed hundreds of our kind. Draleid far older and wiser than you.'
Calen pushed Atara's words to the back of his mind. They didn't need to kill the Dragonguard. They just needed to give the others a chance.
As the pinkish light of the Blood Moon sprayed through the deluge, Valerys banked hard around a cliff, turning back through the valleys towards the city. If Aneera's message had gotten through, the mages might be in position. It was their only chance.
Valerys tore through the valley, clinging to the mountainside, following its curves. Calen glanced over his shoulder, rain drumming against his helmet and dripping into his eyes. Two shapes closed on them, illuminated by a flash of lightning. Calen scanned the valley frantically for the third dragon, only for a thunderous roar to sound overhead. He turned just in time to see one of the Dragonguard dropping over the cliff's edge, blue scales glinting.
Seleraine crashed into Valerys with the force of a landslide. The world spun as the two dragons hurtled through the air, claws ripping and tearing, jaws snapping.
Valerys let out a shriek. Pain burned in Calen as Seleraine's talon raked a gash through Valerys side. As they spun through the air, Calen turned to see Seleraine's head snaking towards him. The dragon's ice-blue eyes shone as she snapped her jaws, trying to rip Calen from Valerys's back. Calen swung himself to the side, teeth as large as swords ripping through the air beside his head. He pulled on threads of Air, Fire, and Spirit, sending an arc of lightning smashing into the side of the dragon's head. Seleraine roared, reeling backwards. At the same time, Valerys clamped his jaws around the blue dragon's neck and bit down. Scales cracked and blood sprayed, but before Valerys could do any more damage, Seleraine kicked at him with her talons, sending both Calen and Valerys careening through the air.
Once more, the world spun, the wind crashing against Valerys, pinning his wings to his sides. Calen pressed himself against the dragon's neck, his hands gripped tight to Valerys's scales. Valerys's panic scratched at him, but he drew in short breaths, focusing, then pulled on threads of Air. He whipped them around himself and Valerys in much the same way he had done with the Wind Runner in Durakdur, creating a sphere of air. All they needed was a moment's relief, and then Valerys opened his wings, caught the air and swept forwards, his talons raking the mountain, tearing rocks free.
The wound in Valerys's side, along with several others that Seleraine had gouged into him, burned with a fury. Ahead, he saw the white stone of Aravell's western towers. "Come on. Keep going," Calen whispered, grimacing. Seleraine's forelimb had sliced a tear through Valerys's left wing, and Calen could feel the pain with each beat. "The longer we keep them away from the battle, the more chance the others have. We need to protect our family, Valerys. We need to keep them safe."
Valerys let out a roar in response. Power surged through the dragon's mind, pouring into Calen. Threads of each elemental strand snapped at Valerys and Calen from all sides as the Dragonguard tried to pull them from the air, but Calen continued to fight back, countering spikes of ice with Fire, slicing threads of Earth with Spirit.
A bolt of purple lightning collided with the cliff to Valerys's left, a cloud of rock and dust bursting outwards. Debris smashed into Valerys, sending him spinning sideways. Calen whipped his head around to see a stream of dragonfire pouring through the dust and rock. Valerys folded his wings and dove, the flames washing over the dragon's tail and side. As Valerys dove, Hrothmundar and Eríthan burst through the cloud after him, Eríthan's wings shimmering with a pink hue.
"Faster!" Calen roared. He pulled on threads of Water, Fire, and Air. He used the threads of Water to forge the rain around them into hundreds of small spikes, pulling the heat from the spikes with threads of Fire. As the spikes froze, Calen launched them backwards with the threads of Air, roaring as he did.
Eríthan and Hrothmundar unleashed pillars of dragonfire, vaporising the projectiles. But shrieks followed as some of the spikes slipped past and sliced through the dragons' sides and wings.
Valerys soared over the western towers of Aravell, and Calen felt pulses of the Spark below. Arcs of blue lightning streaked upwards from the towers, followed by thick spears launched with threads of Air.
The lightning and spears soared past Valerys, hurtling towards the Dragonguard. But the sense of elation that surged through Calen was short-lived as Hrothmundar, Seleraine, and Eríthan spun and twisted in the air, then dropped and bathed the towers in dragonfire.
Calen's heart wrenched as he watched elves fall from the towers, consumed by flames.
More bolts of lightning streaked upwards from tower tops and cliff sides, more spears were hurled. But wherever lightning or spears rose, dragonfire fell and Aravell burned.
Through Valerys's eyes, Calen could see that further south, the Lorian and elven forces had crashed together outside the walls, fireballs and flashes of lightning streaking through the air.
Calen looked back at the three Dragonguard who were soaring towards them, pouring fire over the city as they went. He leaned against Valerys's neck, running his gauntleted hand across the dragon's scales. "We need to pull them away. We need to—"
An air-shaking roar cut Calen short. Valerys swerved in the air, craning his neck around to see a fourth dragon emerge above the Darkwood and soar over the city. A glint of purple caught in the pinkish light of the moon, and then the dragon dropped towards Seleraine, Eríthan, and Hrothmundar.
"Avandeer… Tivar." Every hair on Calen's body stood on end as he watched the purple dragon tear through the sky towards the others. "They'll die on their own."
Valerys cracked his wings against the air and surged back towards the other dragons. A rage swelled within Valerys, a burning, searing rage that consumed everything. Calen pushed his mind into Valerys's, willing his strength into the dragon. He closed his eyes, seeing through Valerys's. Each beat of their wings resonated through their body. Each beat of their heart thundered in their mind.
Ahead, Avandeer collided with Hrothmundar in a flurry of fire and talons. The two dragons careened into Seleraine, roars echoing through the valley. The silver-scaled Eríthan swooped towards the three dragons who were ripping each other to pieces. Threads of Fire, Air, and Spirit rippled around Eríthan and his Soulkin Ilkya.
"Solian ata'yar. Dauv ata'yar!" Calen roared, repeating the words he had spoken to Valerys earlier. "Nur temen vie'ryn valana!"
Live as one. Die as one. For those we've lost.
A tremor shook through Valerys and Calen as they smashed into Eríthan, jaws snapping, talons raking. Pure, white-hot rage blazed within them. Nothing existed outside of that moment. The two dragons tumbled through the air, spinning with such force Calen thought he would be ripped from Valerys's back. Pain seared in Calen's mind as a talon ripped through Valerys's right wing, another tearing into the muscle on his hind leg. Valerys bit into the larger dragon's forelimb, bones snapping beneath the force.
The two dragons came apart enough for Calen to see Avandeer and Tivar plummeting towards the city, blood streaking across the air in their wake. Coils of dread twisting in his chest as Hrothmundar and Seleraine soared towards him and Valerys, Eríthan roaring above them.
"I hope we gave them enough time." Calen clasped his arms around Valerys's neck as the dragon spread his wings and spiralled away from Eríthan, the energy draining from his bones. They wouldn't be able to keep it up for long. "Draleid n'aldryr, Valerys. Myia elwyn er unira diar."
Dragonbound by fire, Valerys. My heart is always yours.
Ella pulled her arm across her face as a fireball crashed into a tower behind her, shattered stone raining down into the courtyard before the walls. The ground shook as the debris fell, humans and elves crushed beneath.
Tanner and Yana had managed to get back inside the city, and Ella and Faenir fought beside Dann, Haem, Lyrin, Varlin, Lyrei, and Aneera, rebels and elves all around. Aeson and the others were spread out through the chaos.
A monstrous roar tore through the skies overhead, and Ella lifted her gaze to see Valerys soaring above, the three Dragonguard pouring fire over the towers and cliffs as they streaked after him. But as she looked, a fourth dragon, scales shimmering purple, appeared in the skies and crashed into the Dragonguard.
All around, elves, rebels, and Lorians stared towards the sky as the dragons tore at each other. Valerys joined the fray, and Ella's heart twisted. He was less than half the size of the others.
A hand brushed against Ella's, and she looked down to see Haem's fingers cupping hers, his green metal gauntlet gone. Her brother squeezed her hand as the dragons ripped each other to pieces, roaring and shrieking, flames pluming into the night.
Ella couldn't look away. Calen was going to die up there. After everything, after all they had gone through, she had only found him, and now she could do nothing but watch him die. When the purple dragon fell, her breath caught in her chest. Beside her, Faenir whimpered, rubbing his head against her shoulder. The fear that permeated the wolfpine's mind flooded into Ella, serving only to exacerbate her own. With each shriek and each plume of fire, her hands shook harder, and her jaw clenched tighter, a cold emptiness filling her chest. Then she remembered something and squeezed Haem's hand.
"I can help him."
"What?" Haem looked at her as though she were crazy.
"I don't have the time to explain. I need you to trust me."
Haem nodded, his expression shifting to a hard stare. "What do you need me to do?"
"Carry me somewhere safe." Ella looked up to where Valerys was streaking across the sky, the other three dragons soaring after him, one of them lagging behind. Please, Calen. Keep going. Faenir let out a rumble as he brushed against Ella's side. She looked at Haem, who was just staring back at her. "No matter what happens, trust me, Haem."
Haem nodded. Dann and the others moved around them, but their questions faded into the back of Ella's mind as she closed her eyes, a calm settling over her. As she felt Haem's arms wrap around her body, she tried to remember what she had done that night in the Lorian camp, how her mind had separated, how she Shifted with the owl.
The wolf howled in her blood, the sound echoing through her mind, growing louder and louder until all else capitulated, and then there was silence and darkness.
Ella opened her eyes to an endless sea of black. The armies, the dragons, and the city were gone. Just as before, she floated in the darkness. Her body was no longer flesh and bone, but shimmering white light. She knew it was not her true body; that was cradled in Haem's arms. When travelling, Ilyain told her that his Ayar Elwyn, Andras, called this place Níthianelle – the Sea of Spirits. It was a world between worlds.
Within moments, the darkness was illuminated by thousands of small spheres of glowing white light. The spheres glittered across the darkness around her, each radiating their own thoughts and emotions. Each sphere was the soul of an animal. The more she focused on a particular sphere, the more it took shape: birds, horses, deer, goats, and a wide variety of creatures she had never seen before. Ella pushed her ethereal body through the darkness of Níthianelle, drifting past sphere after sphere, searching. After what felt like an eternity, she found what she had been looking for: six enormous spheres of light, one larger than the other five. Now that she saw them, their presence dominated everything. Rage, loss, fear, sorrow. The myriad of emotions that radiated from the spheres pulled at Ella, scratching at her mind. As she drew closer, the spheres took shape, forms wrought from ethereal white light, massive wings, bodies covered in overlapping scales, jaws framed with horns as long as her arms – dragons.
These dragons were different to the two Ella had felt in the Lorian camp near Steeple. She didn't know how or why, but they were… empty. Like the others had, these dragons sensed her presence – she could feel it. But they didn't instil in her the same fear the others had. She pulled her mind closer to the largest of them, its eyes shifting like pools of molten steel.
The ethereal dragon, wrought in a white light, rose to its feet, its head tilting side to side as it felt the touch of Ella's mind. It knew what she was, but it didn't push her away.
A series of thunderous roars ripped through the sky above Ella's true body in the mortal plane, sending a shiver across her mind.
Ella couldn't deny the panic and fear that pounded in her veins. She remembered the pure terror that had wracked her when she'd Shifted with the owl and felt the unseen force crush her wings and ribs – when she'd felt herself die. But she didn't have time for fear. Calen needed her. As she made to push her mind towards the large dragon before her, she felt the others dragons moving closer, felt their pain and their fury. The sheer volume of agony that poured from them took Ella's breath away. Their minds were little more than empty caverns touched only by the aching torment of loss. She could feel the tears rolling down her cheeks as Haem held her true body in his arms, running.
She pushed everything to the back of her mind and reached out. I'm coming, Calen.
Valerys shrieked as Hrothmundar clamped his jaws on Valerys's hind leg. Fury and pain burned through Calen like fire. He twisted to avoid an arc of lightning that ripped past him, then pushed threads of Earth into the scales on Valerys's leg, trying to stop them from shattering. Valerys kicked at Hrothmundar's face, talons slashing across the larger dragon's snout, blood spraying into the air.
Valerys spiralled as Hrothmundar released him, only for Seleraine to crash into his chest. The blue dragon snapped at Valerys's neck, talons sinking into his underbelly. The high pitched cry that left Valerys's throat ignited an anger in Calen so overwhelming it felt as though lightning flowed in his veins. He opened himself to the Spark, and the drain pulled at him, carving through him like a sharp steel; it felt as though his soul was being ripped from his body. Images of the Lorian mage's burning eyes flashed across his mind. Even still, he pulled on threads of Fire, Water, and Air and launched a spear of ice towards Seleraine's exposed belly.
Before the spear connected, Voranur, Seleraine's soulkin, snapped at it with a thread of Fire. At the same time, Seleraine kicked Valerys away.
Calen and Valerys hurtled through the air, wings laced with long gashes, blood streaming behind them. Calen's right hand was numb with pain from where one of the Dragonguard had sent a thin lance of stone straight through his gauntlet. They slammed into something hard, Valerys roaring in pain, rocks coming free.
Valerys fought through the pain and spread his wings, rocks cracking off his scales. Calen looked behind them to see the silver scales and black wings of Eríthan dropping towards them, and then a flash crossed Calen's vision, and Eríthan was gone.
Shrieks and roars echoed through the sky. Both Calen and Valerys looked around to see dragons careening past them. Scales of yellow, grey, blue, pink.
Calen shifted his gaze at the sound of a blood-chilling shriek. He looked down to see an enormous green dragon dashing Eríthan's silver-scaled head off a cliff. Ithrax. Calen and Valerys watched as the blind dragon tossed Eríthan through the air. Ithrax roared, then caught the silver dragon in her jaws once more, ripping and tearing until the rain turned crimson.
"What's happening?"
Valerys swerved in the air, looking back to see the other four dragons tearing strips from Seleraine and Hrothmundar. It was the Rakina dragons from Aravell. The only one missing was Sardakes, the black-scaled dragon who had lost his flight.
As Calen watched, Hrothmundar clamped his jaws around the neck of the pink dragon, Thurial, and ripped his head clean from his body, dropping the pieces into the city below. At the same time, arcs of purple lightning streaked from Seleraine's back and seared holes through the chest of the grey dragon, Onymia.
Another monstrous roar echoed through the sky, and Ithrax soared towards Hrothmundar, crashing into the brown dragon's back, tearing and ripping. Aradanil, the large yellow dragon who had barely moved in the Eyrie, clamped his jaws around Hrothmundar's wing only to have his underbelly opened from the neck to tail by one of the larger dragon's talons.
A wave of agony consumed Valerys at the sight of the carnage. Four dragons had been torn from the world in a matter of minutes.
Valerys tore across the sky, rain crashing against his scales. But all he and Calen could do was watch in horror as Hrothmundar sank his talons into Ithrax's chest. Then, in one mighty pull, Hrothmander bit down and ripped Ithrax's lower jaw free, roaring triumphantly as he dashed the green dragon against the mountainside.
Rage consumed everything. Valerys pulled Calen's mind into his, their vision blending, their souls intertwining. The only sensations that touched Calen's mind were wrath and fury. An earth-shattering roar left Valerys's jaws as the dragon slammed into Hrothmundar with the speed of a shooting star. Valerys tore and ripped, his talons slicing, jaws cracking through scales. The larger dragon was weakened and injured. He didn't have time to understand what was happening before Valerys gouged his talons into Hrothmundar's belly and unleashed a torrent of raging dragonfire down over Jormun, who sat at the nape of the massive dragon's neck.
Lightning coursed through Calen's blood, the power of the bond surging within him. He felt no pain, no aches, no sorrow – only rage. He opened himself to the Spark, pulling in threads of Fire and Spirit. He weaved the threads into Valerys. The Spark pulled at his soul, but the bond held him in place. He pushed harder as the flames cascaded down over Jormun.
Hrothmundar's talons sliced through Valerys's side and leg, his jaws snapping at Valerys's throat. Calen could feel the panic and fear in the dragon, and for a moment a pang of sympathy twisted in his chest. But then he remembered Avandeer falling and Ithrax's bloody corpse slamming against the mountain.
Calen leaned into Valerys's rage, adding his own, feeding the bond with pure fury. The blood-curdling shriek that left Hrothmundar's jaws told Calen that Jormun had succumbed to Valerys's flames.
"Solian ata'yar. Dauv ata'yar," Calen whispered. Live as one. Die as one.
In response to Calen's words, Valerys took advantage of Hrothmundar's loss to clamp his jaws around the larger dragon's throat. Scales snapped and cracked, blood sluicing as Valerys bit down with every shred of strength left in his body. Even through the crashing wind and the hammering rain, Calen heard the sharp snap as the scales on Hrothmundar's neck gave way, and Valerys ripped out the dragon's throat.
Calen watched as the Hrothmundar's body fell, lifeless, to the city below, Jormun's blackened corpse dropping beside it.
All Calen's pain and aches returned, the rage dissipating from his and Valerys's mind. He turned his head to see the last remaining Dragonguard flying awkwardly over the canopy of dark green to the north – Seleraine. The dragon barely managed to stay in the air, her wings torn and bloody.
Only one of the Rakina dragons had survived: the blue-scaled dragon, Varthear. She descended back towards the Eyrie, blood drifting in the air behind her.
Every beat of Valerys's wings resulted in piercing pain. Tears had been raked through the membrane, and more than a few bones had been broken. The dragon's entire body was a tapestry of gashes, wounds, and broken scales. Simply staying in the air was not something that would be possible for too much longer. But as Valerys turned back towards city, towards the torches and glistening armour of the Lorian armies that flooded the land before Aravell, Calen knew there was still one more task for them.
"Ella! Ella!" When Ella's body had gone still, Arden had carried her through the fighting and back into the city, finding a building to keep her safe. He knelt on the floor of the small room, holding Ella in his arms as she convulsed, screaming at the top of her lungs. He'd never heard anything like it. She shrieked and thrashed, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Beside her, Faenir nuzzled his snout into her chest, alternating between whimpering and howling.
Dann burst into the room, the cries of battle drifting in through the open door. "What's wrong?" He took one look at Arden and Ella and turned back, screaming. "We need a Healer! Lyrei, a Healer now!" He dropped to his knees beside Arden, cupping Ella's cheeks as she wept. "Haem, what happened?"
Arden shook his head, his heart pounding. "I don't know. She just started screaming."
Ella curled her knees to her chest, screaming and screaming until it sounded as though her throat might tear open.
Aneera, the Angan, sprinted into the room, her long fur-covered legs clearing the ground with enormous strides. She knelt beside Arden, her amber eyes gleaming. "Son of the Chainbreaker, are you harmed?"
Again, Arden shook his head, panic freezing his blood. "Ella, she just…" He looked at his little sister who curled up in his arms. I'm so sorry, Ella. I'm sorry I haven't been there.
Aneera leaned over Ella, her head tilting from side to side. Dann moved out of the way as the Angan pressed her hands against the sides of Ella's face. It was only then, as Aneera held Ella's head in place, that Arden's saw Ella's eyes were white from edge to edge, no pupils or irises. Tears still streamed down her cheeks, her body convulsing.
"What's happening to her?" Arden's voice trembled.
Aneera stared into Ella's eyes, then looked up at Arden. "Her mind is fragmented."
Calen grunted, lifting himself upright on Valerys's back as the dragon soared towards the city gates. He held his right hand to his chest, trying his best to block out the pain. He'd wanted to cauterise the wound, but he'd feared doing lasting damage to his hand.
In the distance, the fires the Dragonguard had ripped through the Darkwood still raged, the light of the Blood Moon dripping over the forest canopy. Below, fires blazed in the city as the Lorian and elven armies battled before the walls. Through Valerys's eyes, he could sense the warmth of tens of thousands more Lorian soldiers stretching back into the woodland.
Even with the Dragonguard gone, the Lorian army, along with its Fades, could still burn Aravell to the ground. Both Calen and Valerys knew what they needed to do, but that didn't make it any easier.
'The path you are on will bring death beyond your wildest dreams. I say this not to steer you from it, but to steel you for it.'
Calen drew in a rasping breath, his chest aching and lungs burning, Rokka's words echoing in his mind. He knew now what the old druid had meant.
Valerys dropped, his wings aching. That familiar pressure built at the back of Calen's mind. He leaned forwards, stroking his hand down the scales of Valerys's neck. "We do what we must to protect the ones we love."
He looked down at the Lorian soldiers who had now seen Valerys diving towards them and were screaming at the tops of their lungs. "May Heraya embrace you all."
Valerys kicked back his head and unleashed a raging river of dragonfire down over the Lorian forces.