Battle With Fire by K.F. Breene
Nine
Unicorns racedfrom the trees north of us, neighing, their hooves stamping the ground. Those young ones Vlad spoke of galloped with four left feet beside their mommies, some of their legs wobbling and most not coordinated enough to run at high speeds.
More unicorns of all sizes burst from the sides of the island in a mad panic to get out. One took a great sniff as it thundered by, tilting its nose into the air, its nostrils flaring.
“Penny can stick to the ground with me,” Emery started, “since Reagan can use her magic from—”
He cut off as the unicorn skidded to a stop, its hooves cutting into the grass and churning up dirt. Another unicorn bumped into its rump. It slowed as it circled past, then looked back at its pal before continuing on its way. They clearly didn’t like the idea of leaving anyone behind, which was probably why the matriarch still stood beside the vampires, her head swinging, watching her herd head south.
The unicorn that had left the stampede regarded me with shining black eyes as it stomped at the ground. It huffed, blasting me with its hot breath, before bending and sniffing me. I watched that horn come within a foot of my head, not impressed by this turn of events.
That must be Lucy, Darius thought, and I remembered the foal whose mother we had saved. The foal had rubbed against me, which was apparently a no-no—vampires were forbidden to touch without permission, and mothers rarely gave it—and then went to Darius.
I grimaced as it—she—nudged me with her nose. The matriarch stamped her foot and nodded her head, clearly annoyed. Or warning me? Lucy did it again, though, now snuffling my temple with her nose. Her horn stuck out above me, and if she crashed her head down, I would be sorry.
“Apparently she wants you to pet her,” Vlad said with a flat expression, his suspicious gaze sliding to Darius.
“Right, okay, but there’s danger coming, Lucy,” I said out of the side of my mouth, and rubbed her nose. “You need to get going.”
“She has a human name, too. Interesting,” Vlad quipped.
The flow of unicorns defecting from the trees had slowed. The sky boiled, angry black clouds announcing that bad news was coming. At the rate the elves had been moving down the path, they should’ve been here by now. Then again, if they’d noticed the dragons, they probably realized they should wait for backup from the boats. Vlad and Darius had clearly known the elves wouldn’t immediately rush in.
Lucy neighed, stomped the ground, bumped my head with her nose one last time, and ran after the others. The matriarch’s head was still now, and she stared at me. She was not impressed.
“Look, I’ll explain later. Just get out of here, would you?” I motioned her on, not wanting to run for Archion and show her my back. I didn’t want that horn through it. Then again, at the rate these beasts were fleeing, I wasn’t sure about their prowess in battle.
Cahal jogged up, offered a bow to the lead unicorn, and pulled his sword from its place on his back. It glittered like the unicorn’s horn. “I will fight on the ground. Coppelia will follow Archion’s lead in the air.”
“Ah. The druid is back.” Vlad smiled, and it was like we weren’t under attack and running out of time. This freaking vampire was too cool for his own good. “It seems you’ve chosen your side again.”
Cahal’s eyes were so hard that I was surprised they didn’t stake the vampire where he stood. “Yes. I like to win. I intend to have a perfect track record.”
Vlad’s smile sent a chill through my body. He glanced at the matriarch unicorn. She bobbed her head and then pushed through us, taking up the rear of her herd.
“Excuse me,” I mumbled, knocked to the side. Clearly I was on her shit list.
“What’s the plan?” Penny asked, pointing at Darius. She probably knew I didn’t have one.
“I’ll lead the team on foot,” Vlad said, looking between Penny and Emery, at the vampires that hadn’t gone with the unicorns. He looked at me. “Heir.” It was the first time he’d officially recognized me by title. Huh. “This is an illusion. I assume you can take away their hiding places?”
“But then we’ll also take away yours,” I said.
“We don’t need them.” His form shifted into a pasty monster, Darius following his lead. The vampires to the back did the same, readying for battle.
I patted Cahal. “Give ’em hell.”
“With pleasure,” he murmured.
“Penny, you good—”
I cut off when she hurried north with Emery, not needing me to shove her into battle anymore. “Cat’s in the Cradle” was playing somewhere, I just knew it.
I delved into the magic on the island, feeling its connection to the sky and careful not to sever it lest I expose everyone to what had to be dawn by now. Once that aspect of the illusion was protected, I hovered into the air toward Archion, already picking at the rest of the illusion. The overall design was some great work, large in scope, but they hadn’t equipped it with any fail-safes—once you started pulling on a thread, the whole sweater would unravel.
Why are the other riders on foot? Archion asked as I took out a bushy tree and let him lift into the sky. This was a place designed for unicorns—there wasn’t enough open space for the dragons’ great wings.
We need more numbers. They’ll take the ground, and the dragons can provide cover from the sky.
You might leave my back?
Possibly. One can never tell what will happen. Fly close to the tree line.
I continued working on the illusion, pulling faster now, wiping away the trees first. The ground began to shift into a flat, sandy surface. I watched over Archion’s shoulder for any stray unicorns that might have been revealed, but they’d all made it out. Most of the boats had docked, but a couple of them lingered in the murky water, their rowers pulling for all they were worth. They wouldn’t make it.
Can you handle the boats? I thought, seeing Darius lead the charge through the quickly disappearing trees. I skipped ahead in my thread pulling, working at the edge of the swamp where boats had docked. The illusion started to falter as Archion pumped his wings and gained speed. He swooped low, opening his maw and spewing fire across the boats still headed toward shore.
Magic blasted us from behind as flames enveloped the rowers, all of them stopping and throwing their hands up to ward off Archion’s wrath. Then they stopped moving, not able to combat fire. Good news for us.
Magic slapped us, then crushed. Archion faltered, tilting dangerously toward the right.
I turned toward the onslaught and found two elves standing side by side with their hands up. Saphira was right behind us, though, just cresting through the unraveling trees, and she didn’t hesitate to act. Her flame washed over them, catching them unaware. They spasmed and tried to turn, but it was too late. In moments, they were incinerated.
More and more trees cleared, leaving squatting elves caught with their pants down, so to speak, looking around wildly for cover that no longer existed. Coppelia slammed them with fire next, dipping low to get good and close. She wasn’t as powerful as Saphira or Archion, but it made her no less eager to join the battle. She charred the sandy ground and set fire to any trees that hadn’t yet cleared away.
I don’t like elf magic, Archion thought, gaining altitude now that the other dragons had handled the immediate threat. It makes me very angry.
He didn’t sound angry in his thoughts, and I had a suspicion this type of anger was cold and calculated. He was about to go on a killing spree. I was game.
Fire at will, I thought, watching Darius in his monster form zoom into the vicinity of the elves. He caught them as they turned to look up at the dragons, probably intending to combine their might against them. They were likely better at magical cooperation than old-school mages, but not the mages Penny and Emery were training up at the Guild, who would hopefully be meeting us at Roger’s shifter compound. Hopefully because Vlad had a way of infiltrating people you thought were loyal and turning them to his cause. It would be very interesting to see which sides people chose in all of this.
Myself included.
Can you protect your friends? Archion thought, swooping low again.
Yes. Burn the shit out of those bastards.
He roared, using his special brand of magic to freeze up everyone but Penny, who was behind Cahal one moment and in front of him the next. She’d become amazing at the mind over matter side of things.
As we neared, I covered Darius with ice magic. Archion blew fire, scorching elves and the ground alike. The elves on the periphery managed to jump to safety, but Darius was on them a moment later, slashing his claws through their middles or stopping to wrench off their heads.
Pick me up in a minute. I pushed up to standing and then jumped, allowing myself to free-fall for a moment, until I got below the oncoming dragons. Fire slashed into the exposed ground to my right, charring elves and sand, while I covered a spell-slinging Penny, and then Coppelia breathed fire to my left, and I shifted my protection to Cahal and Emery.
A shock of magic slammed into my back, knocking the breath out of me. Pain trickled through my middle and twisted, like it would snap my spine.
I’d felt this magic before. It would not, in fact, break my spine. They’d had to bring in a higher-powered elf to even make me scream, and when that wasn’t enough, they’d resorted to breaking my fingers and other bones by hand or using weapons. This pain was nothing compared to what had come later in those dungeons. I could ignore it easily.
The elf crouched in the few bushes that my magic had not yet eaten away.
Another burst of magic came at me, but I pushed back, free-falling for another moment to get into range before shifting to a hover and blasting the creature with hellfire. It seared through the illusion and the elf both, cutting a line through its chest and unraveling the bush. Whoever did up this illusion had done a bang-up job, but wasn’t trying to protect it from magic like mine.
Archion flew at me, and I turned around.
Now, he said, because Penny and Lucifer had both made us look like amateurs when they’d done this, and Penny was an amateur. We clearly had to practice with vocal cues for the time being.
I dropped onto his shoulder and nearly bounced off. He tilted to keep me on, and I grappled for a better hold.
You need to line up better, I told him.
You need to hold your hover a little stiller, he barked back.
It was clear neither of us planned to accept responsibility for that nearly failed attempt.
A spell swept a line of running elves. It sliced through them at an angle, killing a few of them immediately, and severing limbs on a couple of others. An arm blew off. One flew backward, sans right leg, and into the murky water. A wormlike creature with fins and little legs exploded out of the surface, chomping the body with its sharp-toothed maw before rolling onto its side and falling back into the water with a splash.
Archion pumped his wings to gain a bit of altitude and keep away from the water’s surface. I just stared for a moment with wide eyes. That would not be a fun way to go.
Of course, neither would facing Penny and Emery when you’d wronged them in the past.
One of the elves was trying to crawl away to God knew where, but Emery stalked toward it, his face closed down into a terrifying mask of rage.
Cahal waited behind him, his sword out and dripping. Three elves popped up from behind an unraveling group of bushes near him and ran for it, but Cahal caught up with them easily, whipping his sword around and cleaving them with a few skillful slashes. Darius went after a few others, jumping and landing on their backs, ripping and tearing.
I think they got this, I said, looking over the island. There were still a few spots of vegetation to the south, the west, and the east, where Vlad should be fighting. Beyond, no boats filled the swamp and nothing walked the paths.
Let’s go check on the other group.
We flew that way, and I realized just how much three dragons could tip the scales in a battle.
Vlad had a dozen or so upper-middle-tier vampires. They were strong and fast and experienced, and yet their battle hadn’t ended. They still fought a dozen or so elves, Vlad moving incredibly fast—swiping at one, turning and sticking a second in the chest, and launching at a third, teeth ripping at the jugular.
A band of elves had broken off, racing for the path.
They are probably the track-and-report squad, I said as Archion sped after them. Or else they thought they might intend to do some damage to the unicorns and the vampires already on the way.
I guess we’ll never know.
He bore down on them, offering them no way to dodge or scoot around the outside. His flames rolled over them, blistering in intensity.
It’s almost too easy, I thought as he made a loop around.
Half of the demons in the Underworld won’t be bothered by fire, and I can’t kill with Glaciem magic. Not to mention that they have dragons as well. Very experienced dragons. If we are battling them, it won’t be easy at all.
I blew out a breath. There was that. And also the fact that the more powerful elves might be able to knock him out of the sky with their magic. We’d have to cross that bridge when we came to it.
Vlad and the vampires were too close to the enemy, all of them spread out, so I wouldn’t be able to shield them if Archion did a fly-by flaming.
I’m headed down, I thought. Kill whoever you can, however you can.
The vampires, too?
I laughed. Tempting, but no.
I leapt off and free-fell a good ways before putting on the air brakes. My feet touched down, and then I was running, throwing air knives at the nearest elves. The first knife sliced an elf in the neck, dropping it to a knee. The second missed, and I disintegrated it in midair.
When I reached the kneeling elf, I kicked it in the face and lit it on fire before running toward Vlad, smashing the second elf between two bursts of air.
“Push them away,” I yelled, grabbing one with magic and tossing it into the air. Archion swooped down just in time, like a dog after a ball, and cracked bones between his teeth. We might not be great at midair landings, but that move had to earn us some style points. “Or crowd together, and I can cover you with ice.”
Vlad stuck an elf in the middle with his claws and ripped upward. He flung the creature off and grabbed another to fling, apparently for me. I lit it on fire. Easy-peasy.
He darted toward the others, barking a few words I didn’t understand, and they broke away from their fights. Once they were close enough, I covered us all with ice and stuck up a thumb for Archion to go scorched earth. Or…scorched Realm, I guess.
“Dragons are quite the asset,” Vlad said, in his human form again. He stood naked and slightly disheveled beside me, blood leaking down his arm. “You have…three, correct?”
“We don’t have any of them. We work with three of them. How many do you work with?”
His gaze was cool as fire coated the group, flaying the elves on the outside of my spell.
“You made quite the impression on Lucifer when you were down there,” he said as Archion passed. The vampires rushed forward, killing the elves while they were down.
“Yes, I did,” I replied, stepping farther away. “Take a hint.”
The island’s illusion continued to unravel, but no enemies remained standing. The elves lay in twisted, blackened messes along the charred sand.
Silence settled around us, the vampires catching their breath. One zoomed away as a few changed back into their human forms, and I assumed he was going for clothes. Vlad wouldn’t be so stupid as to pick a fight with us right now.
He put out his hand, indicating the barren ground. “Thank you,” he said, his voice smooth and silky, his stupid face unbearably handsome. It was very disconcerting, like appreciating the look of a lion. Dazzled one minute, dead the next.
Archion landed not far away with a rumble in his throat and smoke coming out of his nostrils. It was a warning for Vlad.
“For helping us protect the unicorns,” Vlad continued. “I know that you hoped to win them, or some of them, to your side. And you might’ve, but now they are beyond your reach.”
There it was—there was the dig.
“The elves are clearly starting to play dirty,” I responded, ignoring it. “And I don’t have a side. Apparently I’ll be standing in the middle.”
Darius ran into the area, slowing when he saw us. The dragons sailed lazily overhead, Penny and Emery on Saphira and Cahal on Coppelia.
“The elves are starting to play dirty, yes,” Vlad said, glancing at Darius. “From reports I’ve received, their…foul play won’t be relegated to the Realm. If you truly plan to stand in the middle, you might watch yourself.”
Darius tilted his head down a bit, coming to a stop next to me.
“One last thing.” Vlad shifted his weight a bit, his gaze on Darius now. “Who led the other vampire group into the Underworld?”
Darius’s arm came around my waist. “Someone who isn’t to be trifled with. Someone who doesn’t have a side in this conflict but is pretending to choose ours at present.”
Vlad’s eyes sparkled, and I bet that he knew it had been Ja. I mean, who else could it be? Ever since Penny had awakened the extreme elder from her old-age fugue, she’d been sticking her fingers in everyone’s affairs.
“We should go,” Darius murmured to me.
Before I turned, I looked Vlad straight in the eye and said, “I didn’t tear down the whole illusion. But the elves might do so on the battlefield.” I looked up at the sky, then back down at him. “Choose my father if you want to, but I guarantee he won’t protect you if the sun makes an appearance. Not if he doesn’t have to. I, on the other hand, will give my life to protect Darius. If you stand next to me, you will stand in shade. Either way, you will never sit on the throne.”
