The ground fell away as he sailed through the air. It took a moment for his brain to register the weave flung at him. Then he landed, hitting hard. His head bounced off the frozen mess of bloody snow. Air left his lungs in a rush.
Groaning, he reached for his own magic, and rolled to his back. The battle around him grew fuzzy then sharpened before turning fuzzy again. The magic slipped away from him. His head throbbed to the rhythm of the blood pounding through his veins. Then he saw her. Blonde hair blowing in the wind, a malicious smiled stretched across her face.
Rage replaced the pain. A red haze gathered around the edges of his vision. Oksana. She laughed as he lurched to his feet and stumbled, unable to keep his balance. Kellinar tried to pull a weave together, fumbling it before it could form. Even with the anger flooding his system, his mind wouldn’t work quite right.
Oksana laughed again and raised her bow. Kellinar stared at the black bolt aimed at him, the same kind that had killed Anevay. At the moment of release, something crashed into her, his fading vision unable to comprehend what he saw. Her bolt shot across the distance faster than he could move. Agony ripped through him. Was he on the ground again? He gulped air down his throat to lungs that didn’t seem to remember how to work properly. Tried to reach for his zahri with arms that felt too heavy to lift. The red haze at the edges of his eyes began to fade to black. The battle sounded as if it were far away. Somewhere from beyond the darkness that was pulling him under, Shryden roared.
Taela sprinted across the snow fueled by the fury that raced through her body, her eyes on the woman that had killed her bondsister. She flung herself at Oksana, realizing as she collided with the woman that the arrow released from her bow was intended for Kellinar.
It struck home. Her heart stopped. Kellinar dropped to the ground. Then she and Oksana were rolling across the snow in a tangle. Taela recovered first. With a scream of rage and fear, she pounced on top of Oksana and drove her fist into the blonde’s face.
Oksana’s head snapped back, slamming into the ground as blood sprayed from her flattened nose. Taela snatched the long-bladed knife from her belt and plunged it into the Shadow Rider’s chest. With both hands on the hilt, she twisted it, felt Oksana spasm beneath her, and then yanked it free.
Over the din of battle, a Shadow Dragon shrieked as it died.
Taela shoved the knife back into its sheath and drew her sword. The blade, already covered in drying blood, whistled through the air in a blur of movement as she carved a path to where she’d seen Kellinar fall. She found him laying on his back, eyes closed, the shaft of a black arrow sticking up from the right side of his chest.
There was no time to check to see if he was alive. From her position she couldn’t see Shryden anywhere. She sent a prayer to the Fates. Here was where she would make her stand. She flowed in smooth motions around where Kellinar lay, the dragon bond making her moves faster than her opponents could hope to match.
She spun and cut down a Turindari soldier. Twisted to engage another only to realize they were frozen, all looking into the sky. A heavy silence hung in the air. Taela followed their gazes. In the air above, hundreds of crystalline dragons and their riders flew against the shadows. The green fire couldn’t harm them, the dark weaves thrown simply slid off, leaving no damage.
A crystal dragon and shadow collided. The raking claws of the shadow slipped against the pristine scales of the crystal dragon, while in turn, its claws tore through the shadow’s scales like a blade through paper.
Taela snapped her attention back to the ground battle as everyone around her thawed. Some threw down their weapons and ran, others fought with renewed ferocity as if they could still win even as the shadows began to lose.
Kirynn slid back again with Jocelynn and Belynn moving in step with her. Adilynn moved with them, and with her, the four fingers of the Boromari line. Though Kirynn and her fellow riders were faster and stronger than those they fought, the sheer numbers were pressing in on them. Not enough to push the line as much as they were allowing though.
Another step back. Then another. They were almost to the tunnels in the upthrust of rock under Markene. The Turindari and Hanoveran pressed forward, victory in their wild eyes at the thought of the Boromari army being pinned against the rock.
Their victorious expressions turned to terror as two fingers of the Boromari army poured out of the tunnels to their sides. At the same time, howls rose up from the rear of the mixed Turindari and Hanoveran armies. Kirynn smiled. The other three fingers of the Boromari must have emerged from the tunnels farther out. The enemy was now trapped on all sides between nine fingers of the Boromari. The line moved forward.
The commotion in the sky drew everyone’s attention, and for a breath, the battle stopped. Kirynn stared, stunned at the sight of what looked like dragons made of crystal. What were they? Where had they come from? Wait…was that…Anevay? Emallya and Bardeck? She shook her head. No, that was impossible.
She didn’t think about it more. The battle on the ground began again as if it had never stopped.
Mckale watched the crystal-like dragons flying above him with horror. There had been no doubt in his mind from the moment the battle began that there was no winning this one. The number of ground troops or their skills would mean nothing when in the end the Guardians would be killed. Everyone would fall under the rule of the Shadow Riders anyway.
Even knowing that, he’d held out hope for something else, anything else to even the odds. Seeing the dragons that looked so much like Rylin had the morning Maleena pulled her from the lake so long ago drove home the knowledge of the weave. It felt like a knife twisting in his chest.
“Tellnox, I need you!”
“I come,” the green returned.
Mckale never let up while he waited for the dragon. His twin blades cut through the Kojen in a steady rhythm. He turned to engage the one he sensed coming at his back only to have it disappear under the weight of Tellnox as the green landed hard and shot flame over Mckale’s head.
Making use of the temporary moment of safety, Mckale sprinted for the saddle. Tellnox was in the air as soon as he touched the saddle. Mckale didn’t bother with the safety straps as the green opened the Slide.
Though the aerial battle continued above the lake, Mckale saw only Maleena, laying at the edge of the water, her hands clasped with those of Azurynn. What in the name of the Fates? He leaped from the saddle as the green landed and ran toward the lake only to be stopped by Nydara and the black that moved between him and Maleena.
“Do not,” Nydara sent at the same time the black snaked her neck and hissed at him.
Mckale halted, bewildered and astonished. “What is happening?”
Nydara huffed a puff of smoke. “It must be done or we will all die, the world will die. It may still die.”
Kalila stumbled to a halt, her blood-slicked sword hung heavy at her side. There was no one left to raise it against. They had held the bridge. Above, the sky was empty except for the Guardian Dragons and those that appeared to be made of crystal.
On the far side of the river, south of the castle, the Boromari dispatched the last of the Turindari and Hanoveran armies. Two fingers broke off and streamed south, chasing down those that had tried to flee the battle.
It was over. All around her, people bellowed victory cries.
A slow sweep of her gaze across the battlefield showed the cost. The cold breeze she hadn’t noticed during the fight swept over her as the rays of the sun setting low on the horizon cut across the sky in red-orange bands. Markeni soldiers, and many of their allies, lay twisted with the bodies of Kojen. The thick, pristine snow from earlier in the day was now trampled and only patches of a bloody-gray mess remained. The faded red, yellow, and blue of three Guardian Dragons added to the bleakness. Likely their riders were dead too. She didn’t want to think who they might be.
In the silence that followed the victory cries, only the crack of pennants snapping in the breeze and the groans of the wounded a
nd the screaming of an injured horse remained. Suddenly weary beyond anything she’d felt before, Kalila lifted her sword and slid it into the sheath, heedless of the thick blood that stained the blade.
Slowly she turned and began to walk toward the bridge where a gangly, young man stood where she’d left him, still holding her horse. Though the battle was over, the Defenders who had survived closed in around her.
Mckale stood next to Loki and watched as one by one the crystalline dragons and their riders returned to the lake, returning to Maiadar where they belonged. His eyes lingered on the group flying over him—Emallya, Bardeck, Anevay, Tania, Tallula, and Brock. Emallya turned her head as Rylin hovered over the surface, smiled at him, then the two disappeared with the rest right behind her.
And then they stood alone next to the perfectly smooth lake with the only surviving Shadow Rider. Azurynn’s hands fell away from Maleena’s. In a flash, the black dragon snatched her rider’s limp body up in her claws and fled east.
Not caring about the shadow pair, Mckale rushed forward, pulling Maleena from the water. Grief constricted his chest until he couldn’t breathe as he held her body. Nydara slowly sank to the ground and stretched her neck out, laying her head close to where he knelt in the grass. A heavy sigh shuddered through her as she closed her eyes and a slow ripple ran down her scales taking the color with it.
Mckale held Maleena tight. He bowed his head, broken sobs shaking him. The ground trembled in time to his sorrow.
A gentle but insistent tug on his arm pulled him from his grief. He looked up into Serena’s determined face. “Let me try to heal her.”
Why would she even offer false hope? Maleena had already predicted the weave would kill her. She knew it before she even sent Kellinar and Taela to Maiadar for it. He shook his head. “You can’t heal death.”
Serena glowered at him and let out an exasperated sigh. “Let me try to save her.”
“She isn’t breathing, Serena.” Mckale looked down at Maleena’s still form and ashen face.
“Lie her down before I knock you out of my way,” Serena growled at him. “There has been enough death this day. I will not allow her to join in it.”
He stared at Serena then nodded. Grief warred with hope. He laid her on the ground. Serena motioned to Nira who ran to her side. “Get her heart moving and breathe for her.”
Nira began to pump her hands rhythmically against Maleena’s chest, stopping at regular intervals to blow air into her mouth. Serena placed her hands on Maleena and closed her eyes.
One by one, the riders and the dragons that were able gathered around. Mckale tore his gaze from Maleena only once to rake it over those gathered. He knew immediately who was missing, and as he returned his attention to his bondmate, a new wave of sorrow broke over him.
Maleena stood before the translucent veil that separated her from Maiadar. On the other side stood a woman with white hair that fell to her ankles. Her kind eyes gleamed out of an age-worn face.
“Hello, Maleena.”
“Who are you?”
The woman’s face crinkled into a smile. “I am called Serendipity. Will you walk with me?”
Maleena nodded, confusion filling her. “Yes.”
“Come.” Serendipity held her hand out toward the veil.
Maleena reached to take it. Their hands touched, the veil widening and bright light obscuring her vision. When it dimmed and she could see again, Maleena took in the wide, glowing silver band under her feet and the surrounding blackness that filled everything else. Where was this?
“Is this…Maiadar?” She looked over at the woman who stood illuminated in the bright silver glow.
“No. We are inside the veil, which separates your world, Maiadar, and every other world.”
Maleena motioned to the glowing silver band beneath their feet. “What is this?”
“This is the strand. All worlds with magic are connected to the strand like pearls on a necklace,” Serendipity said as she let go of Maleena and folded her hands inside the wide sleeves of her white robes.
“Why are we here? Shouldn’t I be in Maiadar?” Sadness threatened to rise up and choke her, and in her heart, she couldn’t wait to find the peace that was supposed to lay deep within the world of the dead. Even knowing she was going to die, even knowing it had saved those she loved, it didn’t stop the longing to be with them or the ache in her heart at the idea of never seeing them again.
“You are not in Maiadar,” Serendipity said as she began to walk along the strand. “You are not dead, my child. The gates have rejected your claim on death.”
“You mean…I will live?” Hope sprang in her breast.
“Your healers are trying to revive you now. They will be successful soon.” Serendipity glanced sidelong at her. “What you did took bravery. It is good you took the assistance of Azurynn. It divided the power. Without her help, you would have died and in the process created such an upset with so much concentrated power that you would have immediately unleashed the Imbalance on your world.”
Maleena heard the emphasis that made the words a name. “The Imbalance?”
“When the balance of power gets tipped well out of proportion, it creates portals between worlds and the strand. The Imbalance is able to jump the strand and slip through these portals. Once it infects a world, the world is often lost. It is what destroyed the world your dragons came from. It infects a world on the strand now—they call it the Horde.”
“Because I accepted Azurynn’s help, I saved my world not only from Shadow Riders but from this Imbalance too?”
“I did not say that,” Serendipity said with a sad smile. “Only that you avoided it for now.” She pointed to tiny threads of darkness that slithered ever so slowly through the silver of the strand they walked on. “As it is, the amount of power you used, even divided, has drawn them. It slowly tears open a portal between the strand and your world.”
Maleena started at the filaments of darkness, barely visible against the glowing silver. “So my world is doomed anyway.”
“Not necessarily so. There is always a way if you can find it. The world dealing with the Imbalance now, if the proper choices are made by those who can bring about change, will find a way to drive it out. If not, there is nothing more we can do. The choices are always theirs alone.” She paused and looked directly at Maleena. “If you had not accepted, you would be dead and the Imbalance would be flowing like a raging river toward your world. Now, at least, you have some time. Time to find a way.
“When you face the Imbalance, do not discount the sacrifice of the shadow. Accept that you will find an ally in your enemy. Do not search for her. Let the shadow be,” Serendipity said.
Another confusing message that Maleena didn’t understand. “How much time?”
“I have no way of knowing. It could be decades or more. It could be less. Or, if by some stroke of luck, not at all. I would not, however, base the future of my world on the last if I were you.” She beamed a smile as if there were nothing wrong. As if she hadn’t told Maleena that another deeper darkness possibly lay in Galdrilene’s future. She reached out and touched a finger to Maleena’s forehead. “Time to go back.”
“Wha—” Maleena tried to finish but Serendipity shoved her.
Darkness enveloped her. She tumbled through it. Somewhere in the distance, a bright silver spot gleamed like a star. It grew closer and closer until Maleena realized it was Nydara’s spirit, plummeting the other way through the darkness toward Maiadar. Reaching out with her mind, she threw a net around the brightness that was her greatest friend and drew it back with her.
Relief nearly weakened Mckale when Maleena gasped in a long breath. Nira rocked back on her heels and wiped sweat from her brow. He looked quickly at Nydara. Her scales began to brighten to silver again. Maleena coughed a few times and opened her eyes.
Serena frowned. “I have no idea if what I did helped or if it was Nira simply keeping your body going that did it. I have to say whichever it was, I�
��m glad to see you still with the living.”
Maleena raised a shaky hand to her brow. “I feel so wrung out I can barely move.”
“It isn’t surprising given what you did here today.” Serena shook her head. “Get her back to Galdrilene, Mckale. And make sure they are ready for inbound injured. There are more than enough to spread around.”
Mckale nodded, unable to speak around the tightness in his throat as he gathered Maleena into his arms. He stood and looked at Serena and Nira, trying to form a thank you.
Nira gave him a tired smile and said, “You are welcome.”
Taela rolled Kellinar to his side, her shaking hands trying to steady him as a cough wracked his body, bright-red blood spraying from his lips.
“Flaming shadows, it hurts,” he groaned.
“Kellinar?” The ache in her heart eased at the sound of his voice.
“You sound scared.” His eyelids slowly opened, and he looked at her out of the corner of his eye.
She slumped with relief. “I am scared. Don’t you dare die on me.”
He gave her a comforting smile, though with the blood dribbling out of his mouth, she found no comfort in it. “If I die from this, Serena will kill me. As it is, I’m sure she will be here soon to kick my rear for getting hurt.”
“Of course I’m going to kick your rear for getting hurt but not until after I heal you,” Serena said as she walked up to them.
Taela sat back in the muck of the field and sighed. It would be all right. She wouldn’t lose Kellinar too.
Kellinar’s chuckle quickly changed to a howl as Serena snapped the feathered end of the shaft off and quickly pulled the rest through. His eyes were clamped shut and his breath came in sharp pants. “I can’t breathe right,” he gasped through clenched teeth.
Ashes And Spirit (Book 3) Page 41
