The Lion Soul by Amy Sumida

Chapter Forty-Five

We were nearly to the coast when they caught up with us.

General Shelvak flew at the head of an army easily three times the size of the one we left behind at the fortress, perhaps even larger than that. Which meant that he'd found his reinforcements on the way to us. At least, I think it was the General who led the army; it was hard to tell since he was a dragon.

As soon as I saw the flock of dragons approaching, I knew that the Farungal wouldn't stop until they recaptured me. I was more than a prisoner to them, I was their chance at regaining what they'd lost. But that would only be possible if the General could recreate his Queen's spell. Since he had come after us, I was assuming he could. He had Ry'zaran to help him after all.

As if dragons weren't deadly enough, a storm gathered ahead of us and drove us back, sharp spikes of lightning striking the beach to leave scorched circles of glass. It wasn't an ordinary storm, nor had it been summoned by death magic. Which left elemental magic as its source, proving yet another claim of Tristan's—that the Farungal could use magic in their beast form.

Thunder rumbled along with dragon roars, and our armies ground to a stop, then turned to face the oncoming force. The soldiers were exhausted, especially the humans, and the faeries, recognizing this, stepped forward to settle into the front lines. No one screamed at seeing dragons in the sky and no one fled. Though there were many bleak faces among the troops.

“We need to take the dragons down!” Devyn shouted as he ran toward me with the other warlords and valorians.

Lightning struck the ground just in front of Devyn and the giant wolf beside him snarled at the sky as if accepting a challenge. The Avians swooped around the jagged spears of searing light, shrieking as they shot toward the dragons. Black clouds gathered but rain didn't fall; the General wanted us to be trapped, not wet. He pulled up short, his great, golden breast gleaming, and shouted orders at his grounded troops in a booming voice. The dragons flanking him, scaled in jewel colors, stretched out their necks, and summoned the elements.

They were small dragons, about the same size as one of the Avians, but dragons nonetheless. They could have decimated our troops with swooping attacks, but they chose to attack us with magic instead. In short, the fucking dragons were a flock of cowards. But they were powerful cowards.

Giants birds caught fire and plummeted to the ground to roll out the flames, their strident shrieks raising the hair on my arms. Others were blown backward, tumbling through the air, many falling beside their burning brethren. Boulders launched from the ground and hit others, breaking bones before the birds even hit the earth. And that was just the aerial attacks.

General Shelvak's unit also washed away entire platoons, sending them crashing into the trees that lined the road. Those trees were already buckling from earthquakes, but they fared better than our soldiers. Massive cracks appeared in the trembling earth, gobbling everyone nearby. Lightning struck. Trees and people caught fire. The screaming finally began.

Faeries began shifting back to Sidhe to counter the magical attacks, manipulating the soil back into steadiness, closing the cracks while expelling those who had fallen down them, quieting the air, smothering fires, and dispersing water. But they were a step behind the dragons, and while they fought for control of the elements, our soldiers died.

The General's laugh rumbled over us as his troops closed in from every side. Our forces were massive, with a large portion of every army in attendance, but we were on Farungal soil and it seemed as if every able-bodied Farungal had come to defend Alantri. I looked upon the battle with the eyes of a seasoned warrior and knew which side I was on—the losing one. We wouldn't make it to the beach, much less back to Stalana. The war was going to end all right, but not in our favor. And definitely not peacefully.

I stared at Kaelen, back in his glorious lion form, and silently lamented that I wouldn't have the chance to tell him how I felt. I hoped he knew, and that we'd die side by side and enter the afterlife together. I would tell him there, if I was fortunate enough to find him on the other side. I thought of his soul, that shining truth inside him, and vowed that I would search the land of the dead until we were reunited. It wouldn't matter what form he was in. Physical or spiritual, I would recognize Kaelen in a heartbeat. My mate. Damn, I should have told him.

“Join hands!” Devyn shouted as the other valorians reached us. “Warlords, shift back to Sidhe and fucking help us!”

The valorians! I'd forgotten about them in the face of dragons. Maybe all wasn't lost just yet.

Kaelen shifted and grabbed my hand while giving me a heavy look. We hadn't done so well with our first try at emotion magic, but I was hoping that had changed when I'd presented him to my father. I hadn't confessed my feelings to him, and I wasn't about to do so in the middle of a battle, but he had to know. Right? He had to.

“Kae,” I said with more meaning than one word should have.

“I'm with you, Rie,” he said firmly. “We can do this.”

We had no time to prepare, our troops were dying around us, and my heart stuttered when I saw that my clan was on the front line with the faeries. The front line that had been the back of our group. And it was my fault that they were there. I had slowed them because I had insisted on presenting Kaelen to my father, and now, they were paying the price.

I prayed that the Goddess would be with them even though they belonged to other gods, and I took comfort in their skill which hadn't failed them yet. They spun amid the monsters with grim grace, unfailing despite the exhaustion they had to feel. And there, right in the center of them, were my father and sister, fighting side by side.

I couldn't lose them now, right after we'd been reunited.

That fear bloomed in me, and I was going to channel it into magic, but then I felt a tickle at the base of my spine, a little shiver that only came when I shifted, and I remembered that I was more than this too. Queen Vervain had said we should fight fire with fire, and I was the flame that her forces would wield. I had to be that flame now.

Just as the wave of magic from the other valorians and their warlords reached Kaelen and me, just as I felt the love they were channeling and my own love for Kae rise to meet it, I lurched forward, one body bursting out of another, and shifted into a Shirie. Amazingly enough, I didn't lose the connection with the others. Instead, my magic surged down the line of us, magic that shifted the others I was connected to in a wave until every Sidhe race but one was represented in our line.

And the magic didn't stop there. Like a tidal wave, it burst out from us with our transformations, rolling out in every direction to pass harmlessly through the ranks of our soldiers before condensing into an attack. I roared as our emotions became pure energy and that energy blasted into the monsters who'd been closing in around us, sending them tumbling backward like leaves in a storm.

The dragons were hit the hardest and were blown so far that I lost sight of them entirely. The rest of their troops hit the ground and laid there unmoving.

“Get to the rowboats!” Dalsharan shouted. “Avians, grab as many as you can and take them to the ships!” He shifted as soon as he'd made the order and shot into the air, Ravyn and the other birds quickly following him.

People were plucked from the ground as they ran, but only those who'd been fortunate enough to be wearing flight harnesses. Being grabbed by an Avian without a harness could kill a human. Still, a great many of our troops were flown to safety in seconds. My clan was not among them.

I roared and ran to my people with Kae by my side. “Get on my back!” I shouted at my father while Kaelen went to my sister and her husband.

My father shook his head and kept running with the others. It would be dishonorable to leave the rest of our clan behind. My sister and brother-in-law also refused. I didn't argue because they were right. All of these people were my blood, and I couldn't leave any of them, especially not after they had fought to free me. Instead, I slid in behind them, guarding their back as they ran.

The Farungals were slowly starting to awaken and get to their feet, but the dragons were nowhere to be seen. My heart raced as I herded my clan to safety, my fellow valorians scattered among the armies, probably doing something similar with their people. If the Farungals regrouped now, we'd be right back where we started.

Luckily, as I said earlier, we were nearly to the beach, so we didn't have far to go. What slowed us was the small number of rowboats and the speed at which they could be rowed. Avians kept transporting people, bringing harnesses back to humans who weren't wearing them, and that helped. But there were still hundreds left to transport when the first Farungals started to appear on the beach.

And by then, our forces were significantly reduced.

“Get on that boat, Rie!” Kaelen shouted.

I just shook my head and went to stand beside my father. Nearly all of our clan was on the Nazakian ship, but my father wouldn't leave until the last warrior was in a rowboat. Which meant that I wouldn't leave either.

“Damn you, we need you safe!” Kaelen shouted at me.

I just gave him a long look, then leapt forward.

Magic blasted from me as I met my first opponent. He went flying backward and took down five of his brethren with him. The Farungals paused. I roared and fire crackled over my horns. To either side of me, my father lifted his swords and Kaelen bared his teeth. The Farungals backed away hesitantly. There were maybe forty of them, most of their troops still unconscious, and not a leader in sight. I condensed the air beneath my feet and ran forward, each step taking me higher until I loomed over them, then I roared.

The Farungal turned their barbed tails and ran.

The remainder of our forces cheered, but I didn't move from my lofty lookout until the last group was in their rowboats. Finally, Kaelen and I shifted back to Sidhe, got into a boat with my family, and rowed away from Alantri.