Battle With Fire by K.F. Breene

Sixteen

“Ready?”I asked Penny, channeling nothing but cold determination and a can-do attitude. Battle day. Our futures and fates would be decided.

“Nope.” She frowned and tapped her extravagant fanny pack with the various compartments. “Not at all.” She took out a red stone and held it in her palm. “I do not want to do this, I’m afraid we’re all going to die, and I want to go back to my sheltered life and forget I ever even met you.”

“Quite the tune change.” I lifted my chin and hovered up onto Archion’s back. We’d spent the last two days practicing against the other dragons and their riders. This was because I’d had a moment of weakness and told all the dragons they wouldn’t be allowed to come with us.

In my defense, they were three against a sea of dragons. How could they possibly help against Lucifer? I didn’t want them to get hurt.

I’d been forcibly ignored.

“Didn’t you tell me just the other day that this was the right path and you wanted to be on it?” I asked as she climbed onto Saphira.

Emery crawled up behind her, and behind us, Cahal was mounting Coppelia.

“I was delusional, and now I have come to my senses. I regret to inform you that I must resign as your bra—a very stupid nickname for a girlfriend, if I might add—”

“Shut up, you love it.”

“—stop being your fall guy in the bounty hunter gigs—”

“Garret’s fall guy, you mean…”

“—and stop the insanity. I just need to stop the insanity,” she yelled at me.

“It’s going to be—”

“Stop telling me it is going to be okay, Emery,” she hollered at him. “We’re going to get crushed. You better take that deal, Reagan.” She leveled a finger at me. “Donkey turds and old-man farts, you take that deal, and you take me with you, do you hear me?”

Is she always like this before battle? Cahal asked me.

“Yes. Literally always, though she isn’t swearing as much this time. I think she might be getting more acclimated.”

“I don’t think she was quite this bad before the Mages’ Guild battle,” Emery said, wrapping his arms around her middle.

“Yeah, but there wasn’t much warning before that one,” I replied.

“Sure. Why not?” Penny muttered. “Talk about me like I can’t hear you. It’s fine.”

I looked out across the large host of gathered troops, everyone in neat lines to go through the portal. Darius stood off to the side with his faction of vampires, all of them in normal human attire with backpacks. Within those backpacks were large sun-repellent blankets that they’d hunker down underneath should something happen to my magic masking the sky. Which wasn’t a problem right now, since it had just slipped into evening.

I’d wanted him to ride to battle with me on Archion, but he declined, saying he needed to lead the vampire faction. It seems Charity’s vision—or visions, I guess—had been thoroughly theoretical. For all the variations she’d seen, she’d never once mentioned our dragons or the surly druid.

“What’s the story with your people, Cahal?” I asked as Archion beat at the sky. “Are they going to be on the elves’ side?”

“Druids in general are a peaceful sort of people. There are only a few of us that end up in my line of work.”

“Killing people, you mean?” I yelled over the thump of Archion’s wings.

He didn’t comment on that directly. “They are spread out throughout the worlds and don’t often involve themselves in politics. They certainly don’t engage in battles of this nature. It’s not where our true strengths lie.”

“So why are you involved?” I asked as he drifted beside me, waiting for Saphira.

Mostly because I count you and the others as friends. Because I care what happens to you. And because there is honestly nothing more amazing than riding a pink dragon into battle. It also makes my choice completely beyond reproach by my people.

I laughed. Sounded legit.

With Penny finally ready, we flew toward the portal. We’d be going through first. If it were just us against the elves or the Underworld, I suspected they’d be waiting there, ready to pick us off as we came through. But I had it on good authority that the Underworld planned to storm the elves’ castle, and I doubted they’d split their forces to stop a much less intimidating group.

That was the logical conclusion, at least, and I really hoped logic held up this time.

Darius looked up at me as I flew overhead. The other vampire had been gone by the time we left the room the other day. I hadn’t asked where he’d been taken or by whom, and no one volunteered the information. We could sort that out if we lived.

I felt his love through the bond and took a deep breath to steel myself against the feeling of grave uncertainty of what was to come. If I were to ever get a semblance of a happy ending, it would be on the other side of this battle. The problem was that I didn’t see how this battle could go well. I really didn’t. Not for us, anyway. It filled me with dread for my future. Dread I pushed down and refused to dwell on.

Roger, still in human form, looked up from his position beside Romulus and Charity. He didn’t raise a hand, but that moment of acknowledgment was his way of wishing me good luck. He wouldn’t have bothered to take notice of an underling.

He’d approached me a couple hours ago, taking a break from preparing everyone to march.

“It’s an honor to fight beside you,” he’d said, putting out his arms for what would become a very awkward hug. I patted his back a little, at a loss, until he squeezed me tightly and rocked me from side to side. It had felt a little weird, until he said, “Am I making the vampire jealous? I hear he has a weakness for stuff like that.”

“I do not get jealous over mere dogs,” Darius replied in a snooty voice.

Roger backed off with a smile, but it faded as he looked at me. “What you said in the conference room the other day has stuck with me. You might’ve taken a get-out-of-jail-free card in the past, but not now. We never saw eye to eye in the past, but now we do. You are made of solid stuff, Reagan Somerset. I respect you. I respect your position. As I said, it is an honor to fight by your side.”

I twisted my lips to the side, a little nervous this might get emotional. How embarrassing. I’d never live it down.

So I just nodded and said, “Ditto.”

“Stop chasing my shifters around the bars.”

I cracked a smile. “Now you’re asking too much.”

He laughed and turned to stick out a hand to Darius. “Durant, we won’t ever see eye to eye. But I am glad as hell to have you in this battle. You had other options, and I’m glad you chose this one.”

Darius took his hand in a firm grip, meeting his eyes. “I had no other options. You are a good leader to your people.”

“High praise coming from a vampire,” Roger said, stepping back.

“Yes,” Darius replied.

“See you out there.” And then Roger had left, probably off to find Penny and Emery, making more spells for easy access, or maybe even Cahal, hiding in the shadows or whatever.

“Why have you never weighed in on what I should do during the battle?” I’d asked Darius while strapping on my leathers.

“In short…I don’t know what you should do in battle. The Seers are not confident, the fae are not confident, and Roger is expending all of his energy on the best practices of defense. There is a very real possibility that this could go wrong. A very real possibility. Almost a certainty, in fact.”

“I get it, I get it.”

“When everything goes wrong, you and Penny—and Emery when he’s inevitably dragged into it—are at your absolute bests. When all is lost, you three create miracles. You will not allow yourself to fail, not when it means the failure of those closest to you. Quite simply, I have put my trust in you. I have led you many times—it is time for you to lead me.”

And that had finally set the waterworks off. Roger had loosened me up, and Darius shoved me over the edge.

But now? Hard-core badass. Action engaged in leather. Ready to kick some ass and forget their names.

I did a lap, the other dragons flying behind me as we soared over the forces gathered below. Callie and Dizzy waited about halfway down the long line, Steve beside them. They’d wanted to be on the front line, but Roger insisted on keeping all of the mages toward the middle. If elves sprang up out of nowhere, he wanted swords and teeth to quickly meet them, and for the mages to step in as backup.

I doubted elves would pop up out of nowhere, though.

Besides, why would they bother with us? We were about a thousand strong, which was great. It was an awesome force. But the elves had enlisted the help of almost everyone in the Realm, drafting those who didn’t come willingly. Anyone who’d escaped the draft but still wanted to fight had apparently headed down to the Underworld. They certainly hadn’t come to us. Plus my father had the other half of the vampires (or maybe a bit less, because Darius had gathered a right few), his rage and violence sects, random draft selections from the edges, a host of experienced dragons, a herd of unicorns—did I need to go on? Why the hell would the elves worry about us when the Underworld was marching toward their castle?

A wave of nervousness washed over me, but I shoved it away with a showing of my teeth.

Let’s go, I said to Archion, leaning forward to gain speed.

He must’ve felt my building adrenaline, or perhaps he was feeling his own, because he let out a trumpeting sound before he dove for the portal.

The magic of the crossing pulled at my energy and scraped across my skin. Archion touched down on the ground before lifting back up, pushing into the sky. Those portals weren’t meant for dragons, since they weren’t in the sky, unlike those of the Underworld. The other dragons flew in after us, and then the troops followed.

Nobody was waiting, but somehow that didn’t reassure me.

We tookan accelerated path through the Realm, heading toward the castle. My heart beat a steady drum in my chest, my adrenaline pulsed low, and I did my best to stay calm.

Is it always this deserted? Archion asked as we flew over little huts and empty fields.

I shook my head slowly, looking for any signs of movement and seeing none. I don’t know, but I doubt it. They are either hiding, or getting ready to fight.

The land didn’t change much, unlike the constant changes in the Underworld. Always pretty. Always leaning toward fake. I hoped Romulus lived to spruce the place up a bit, turning the walkways into pleasant gardens and the trees into more convincing semblances of the same thing. This whole place was just stagnant, waiting for a breath of fresh air. It almost reminded me of the Mages’ Guild just before we busted it open. It needed some new blood. New ideas.

It was too bad it would take a battle and bloodshed to achieve that result.

There.

I flicked my eyes up at Archion’s thought. Cahal flew to one side of me, Penny and Emery on the other, and their gazes were turned in the same direction. Penny glanced at me with wide eyes.

The breath left my lungs.

A massive host had gathered in front of the elves’ castle. Catapults were lined up on the golden pathway, carts teamed with crews waiting beside them. Troops stood before them in neat lines, armed to the teeth, with elves at the back and creatures like minotaurs, centaurs, and trolls pushing out in front. Because of course they were being pushed into danger first. Even as we watched, creatures pushed up off the ground and flew into the sky, all manner of flying creatures—faeries, griffins, hippogriffs, lamassu… Their host had to be two thousand or more strong. Holy shit.

Coming toward them, spread out across the land, the scenery being stripped bare of its enchantments as they moved, came my father’s host. Demons of all shapes and sizes wore battle gear or just their own skin. Other demons flew overhead, their bodies gross and spindly. Some of the trolls from the Realm had joined them, and I noticed goblins as well as several other strange creatures I’d never seen before. They walked amongst the demons, not in front of them. Vampires walked to the right in the army, all in their monster forms, moving like graceful predators ready to kill. Behind them pranced the damn unicorns, creamy white and gorgeous, shaking their heads and neighing like a horse might do.

My gaze tracked upward, and I sagged on Archion.

There are all of your friends, I thought, seeing the large beasts fill the sky. Lucifer didn’t have as many fliers as the elves, but his were of a much better quality. Larger, deadlier.

At the front, flying low, Lucifer rode atop Tatsu, her jet-black scales soaking up the night.

My heart thudded in my chest. A strange feeling of being misplaced settled over me.

I should be beside him, I thought without meaning to.

You will be, Archion replied.

I shook my head, looking at the messy horde he had following him, tromping through the land and thirsty for blood. His host was larger than the elves, no question. More eager. Likely more violent. He would win this battle if we didn’t stop him. He’d tear into the elves and everyone who stood with them. He would show no mercy.

The memory of the grimy walls of my prison, my broken legs, my askew fingers, and the constant thrust of pain as I lay on that dingy floor filtered through my mind. Rage kindled into a fire within me. Lucifer knew what the elves were capable of. He’d seen it firsthand, applied to his own flesh and blood.

But what was Lucifer capable of? He had great darkness within him. It balanced the light I’d seen. I had to ask myself again whether he was any better.

There was too much hate in the worlds, and not enough compassion.

Someone had to stand in the way. We had to stand in the way. We had to be the ringleaders for a different, better future.

Our people moved forward in orderly rows, the most vulnerable in the middle and the strongest taking the front, back, and sides. It was the opposite of the fae’s usual strategy, but Roger wanted everyone to make it to the battle without falling behind.

It doesn’t look like we have time to rest before battle, Archion thought as we continued forward, unrelenting.

We’d rested along the way a couple times, getting water and food for those who needed it. Donors gave the vampires blood—with more vampires accepting than probably needed to. Roger had forbidden any banging, though. He’d even agreed to give Marie blood (who had definitely not needed it, given her age), but would not allow her to touch him anywhere, save her mouth on his arm.

When her serum hit his bloodstream, I’d watched with glee as his entire body tensed, like he’d grabbed a live wire. His stern expression could not hide the rush of pleasure from her bite, and his lack of clothing was further testament to what he thought of the experience. Marie had pulled back with a blood-soaked smile, her eyes twinkling. The whole experience had probably been one of the worst of his life. He’d done it for the team, though. I’d given him a cookie right afterward. He’d needed one.

The plan had been to stop about here and get one last rest in before we shoved ourselves between the two brawling worlds and played the good guy, whatever that meant. It wasn’t to be, though.

I leaned over Archion’s side so I could look down at Roger in his wolf form. He was looking up. When we connected gazes, he looked straight ahead. Romulus, still beside him, nodded, and pointed toward the battle. Overkill, but whatever.

Prepare for battle, I thought, a sheen of sweat breaking over me. It’s time we decide the fate of the worlds.