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“You’d better pray you never need us.” I raised my hands, magic dripping onto the ground, surprising me when weeds, not flowers, sprung up around me. My mood must’ve been manifesting my magic. “A demon army is coming. Soon, they will infest the entire countryside of Caldaria, including your fortress.” I could only imagine the devastation if those demon spiders who took Thorin infiltrated the Itarian fortress.
The centaurs laughed.
My mates swore.
Before I could answer with an angry retort, I clutched my throat, leaning against my sister when I was overcome by a vision of spiders falling down the side of the Itarian fortress like ink spilling in water. Was this the future fate of the centaurs? They wouldn’t be able to stop such an invasion. What would the spiders do to them?
Cenric’s mouth flattened as a cold gleam reflected in his eyes. “The Itarian soldiers will be ready.”
“No one can be ready for the horrors these demons are capable of releasing,” Ash said. “We’ve seen their spider army. They overtook a full-grown mage in a matter of seconds.”
Cenric tossed back his head with a laugh. “They wouldn’t dare cross the centaurs, for we will stomp them to ash with our hooves.” Then he jutted a finger toward the direction of the setting sun. “The dragons are that way. Join them if you wish.” Shadows fell across his features as he gave Shiri a menacing look. “But do not bother us again, for next time, we shall be ready for your siren.”
They wouldn’t be ready for Shiri, but I was tired of arguing. I tugged on Ash’s and Helian’s sleeves. “We’ll leave, but the day will come when you’ll regret it.”
Cenric answered by laughing out loud, sealing his own death sentence, as well as dooming his people.
Tari
WE DIDN’T HAVE TO FLY far before we arrived at a sandy beach that went on for miles. Undulating waves gently rolled in and out of the shoreline, unlike the monster waves that battered the Northern Shore. But even more surprising were the clusters of dragons congregating on the beach. Many had built what resembled large bird nests among the sandy dunes.
Dragons swarmed us when we landed, stumbling over one another while trying to get close to Isa. The heat was overwhelming, as if Isa had flown into a furnace. Radnor snapped at the advancing dragons, and Shiri and I nearly fell off Isa’s back as she reared up on her hind legs and swatted a rather large blue dragon away. The dragons kept coming, making all kinds of strange sounds like a pack of honking geese.
Blaze and Drae swooped in and snatched us off Isa’s back before depositing us on a ridge overlooking the beach. I swiped sweat from my brow, relieved to be away from the crush. But where was Helian? I didn’t see him on Radnor’s back. Dragon riders emerged from tents behind us, their eyes wide with shock as they reached for their swords.
“We mean you no harm!” Drae called, holding up his hands in a gesture of surrender. “We travel with Prince Helian.”
I cringed, hoping his admission didn’t make things worse, considering they weren’t on good terms with Helian before. I opened my hands, calling to my magic, but it wasn’t readily at my disposal and summoning it felt like cranking a rusty wheel. Shiri stood between her mates, clearing her throat, and I knew her siren was slow to manifest, too.
My gaze flitted between the advancing dragon riders and toward that growing throng of dragons. I worried my bottom lip, searching for Helian.
My hand flew to my mouth when he emerged unscathed from the crush, dodging tails and paws before racing up the dune toward us. Ash and Bea landed beside us. He practically flew off her back before she took to the sky, joining the other wyverns overhead. I was surprised none of the dragons had attacked the wyverns, but they were all focused on Isa.
I grasped Ash’s arm when he let out a menacing growl, and I recognized the dragon rider who approached us, for I remembered Ivar’s shiny, bald scalp and beady, dark eyes. My mother had transformed Finn’s face to look like Ivar’s the night he and my father had put that indus head in Arabella’s bed. He was the captain of the dragon riders who’d attacked Lupine. His nose was still crooked and slightly swollen, and he had faint bruises beneath his eyes from when Helian had punched him for insulting me over a week ago. He raised an arm, and I inwardly cringed at the bloody stump that ended at his wrist. My magic finally flooded my fingertips, and I knew I had the ability to heal him, maybe even grow back his hand, but I wouldn’t, not after what he did to Lupine.
Ash growled louder, fur sprouting on his face and arms as Ivar approached.
Ash, please remain calm, I pleaded through thought as a throng of riders circled us.
Keep your cool, Ash, Helian projected as he pushed ahead of us. The last thing we need is a thousand pissed-off dragons.
Ignoring Ash’s menacing growls, Ivar stopped before Helian. “I was wondering when you’d show.”
“Why are you so far south?” Helian asked him.
Ivar spit a wad of tobacco on the ground. “Where else do you expect us to go?”
Ash continued to growl as they spoke, despite my pleas.
Helian shrugged. “Somewhere on the northwestern coast. Not this far.”
Ivar shook his head, acting as if Ash wasn’t on the precipice of shredding him to pieces. “The hunting and fishing are better down here.” He nodded toward the crush still swarming Isa. “It takes a lot to feed a thousand dragons.” He pulled a leather pouch out of his pocket and shoved another wad of tobacco into his mouth. “Did you know your father’s corpse has been resurrected as a demon?”
Helian rubbed his chin. “So I’ve heard. The Fae lands are infested with demons now.”
Ivar’s gaze swept across our group. “Are you planning on doing anything about it?”
Helian crossed his arms. “We’re going to snuff out every last one.”
