Embers at Galdrilene (58 page)

He stood and turned, pulling his sword from its sheath. He preferred the zahri to the sword, but his zahri was tied to Shryden’s saddle. It wouldn’t be long now. He felt the blue enter the Slide. Taela came to stand next to him, her quarterstaff ready. Paki pressed against her. Kellinar looked at Loki. “Take the book and scoot back with Maleena. If I die, do your best to protect her. Mckale and the others should be here any moment. You won’t be alone.”

Taela rested her hand on the dull-silver neck of her draclet. Tears shimmered in her eyes. “You stay with Loki. I will do my best for us.”

The draclet moved to place herself in front of Loki and Maleena.

Kojen boiled out of the canyons. Kellinar set himself for the onslaught. Taela braced herself next to him. “Whatever happens,” she said, “thank you for trying to help us.”

Kellinar nodded and brought his sword up against the first Kojen to meet them. He took the first and the second in a blur of movement and turned to engage the next. Above him, Shryden and the other dragons of Galdrilene burst into the air. The blue angled his wings and dove, a loud roar issuing from his throat. The timbre of it shook Kellinar’s bones. The Kojen reversed their forward charge in the face of the dragon.

Shryden landed in front of Kellinar with a heavy thud, his head snaking toward the retreating Kojen. A burst of fire swept their ranks. Screams and the smell of burnt leather and flesh filled the air. Kellinar reached to help free the Weather mage from the saddle straps, impressed by her courage to fly alone. Another shriek from above drew his eyes as he untied his zahri.

The other Guardians engaged Shadow Dragons in the air, green and orange fire lighting the area around them.

Syrakynn slowed in the air, allowing the three Shadow Dragons pursuing them to catch up. Kirynn saw what her dragon planned and tightened her hold on the mage in front of her. “Hold on!” she yelled over the wind at him.

The red flipped around in the air and flew straight at the Shadow Dragon in the lead. Her mouth opened, a wide band of bright-orange flame bursting forth into the shadow’s face. Her mouth opened and a wide band of bright-orange flame burst forth into the shadow’s face. The black dragon screamed and dodged away, the scales on its head and face smoking.

The formation of blacks splintered. Syrakynn dodged a black as it spit green fire at them. The sharp sting of the green flames bit into Kirynn’s shoulder and she reached to beat them away. The man in front of her smacked at the flames eating at the sleeve of his shirt. Kirynn looked around and saw Vaddoc and Serena in similar battles.

Three Shadow Dragons in the air. According to the information passed to them through Paki that meant at least four Shadow Dragons and their riders were missing from the aerial battle. Below, Kellinar and Shryden fought Kojen. It would soon be time to get their passengers on the ground.

Syrakynn twisted again, pushing Kirynn against the saddle straps. To her left, Tellnox set the wing of a black dragon on fire before diving for the ground.

Mckale and Tellnox flew low to the ground behind Emallya and Nydara. A Shadow Dragon landed and a blonde woman leaped off its back. Nydara touched the ground, threw her wings out to catch the air, and came to an abrupt halt. She twisted her head around on her sinuous neck and shot a mouthful of flame at the unsuspecting dragon. The woman on the ground screamed in protest and ran toward Nydara with a sword. The silver swept her tail into the woman and sent her slamming into a rock formation.

Tellnox touched down. Mckale let the man in front of him go. The mage immediately undid his straps and leaped to the ground. It only took Mckale a second to lose the safety straps then he too was on the ground, swords drawn. Kojen poured out of the shallow canyons. Nydara, now riderless, turned on the Kojen. Her flames took out another wave while Tellnox fought with the Shadow Dragon on the ground.

Mckale’s eyes swept the area for Maleena. His chest tightened and for a moment, he couldn’t breathe. She lay in a depression at the base of a rock formation. A deep gash marred her forehead and the massive bruise around it discolored a good portion of the right side of her face. One arm was covered in festering blisters. Her left pant leg and part of her shirt was burnt away, the exposed skin blackened and oozing. She looked dead.

He ran toward her, his heart constricting. A gray draclet leaped to block his path. Mckale pulled his swords. The draclet hissed and unfurled her wings, drawing her head up as high as she could.

Loki jumped in front of the draclet. “Paki, no!” he yelled, trying to push the young dragon away. “This is her bondmate, he won’t hurt her.”

Paki backed away and let Mckale pass. Then she pressed Loki back and stood in front of him.

Mckale moved to kneel beside Maleena. He touched her face gently. Her skin felt like fire. He drew a shuddering breath around the lump in his throat. “Oh, Maleena.” She stirred. He felt her pain spike and she whimpered. He traced the line of her brow as he struggled to bring the rage building in his heart under control.

A woman strode toward him, ignoring the battle around her. “How dare you mess with my pet. You will pay for that.”

Mckale stood and placed himself between the woman and Maleena. This woman would never hurt his bondmate again. He watched evil looking shadows uncoil from the woman’s hands. Mckale reached out for the earth beneath her feet. Shrieking, she floundered backward as the ground turned to liquid beneath her feet.

The shadows jumped at him from her hands and connected. Excruciating pain shot up his leg. He refused to acknowledge it. He was not a severely injured person deprived of food and warmth for days. He was healthy, fully focused, border trained and battle hardened. She would get no pleasure from his pain.

The earth reached up to grab the woman. She yanked back, struggling to find solid footing. A flicker of movement caught his eye. He turned like lightning. His swords caught the Kojen, trying to sneak up from behind, in the throat. Another rushed forward to engage him. Instead of finishing the woman, he found himself standing between the Kojen and an unconscious Maleena.

Distantly, he felt the Kojen trying to attack him on a mental level. Their mental attacks came up against the shield of his dragon bond and floundered, unable to reach him. It was easier when he only fought the battle on a physical level. The Kojen depended on their mental attacks to divide their opponent’s attention and weaken them.

He looked for the Earth mage that had rode in with him. He lay dead in a puddle of blood several feet away. A group of Kojen struggled a few paces beyond, mired in the earth up to their waists. At least the mage had taken out a few of the beasts before he lost his life.

Tellnox, on the other side of the open space between the canyons and the rock formations, tried to fight his way back to his rider. Kirynn and Vaddoc stood back-to-back, fighting the hordes swarming out of the canyons. Mckale lost sight of his companions as more Kojen pressed forward.

Emallya turned from the Kojen she felled. A Benduiren walked toward her. Dreth. How many times had they faced each other in battle? She couldn’t remember. She met his attack smoothly. Without half his soul, he didn’t move quite as fast as he had as a Shadow Rider. Not that it mattered. Her swords couldn’t kill him.

They danced circles around each other, Emallya trying to keep an eye on her back. One other Benduiren was present. They had no offensive magic anymore, but any magic thrown at them absorbed and fell apart. The danger lay in their inability to die by either sword or magic.

She parried a blow and narrowly missed the swipe of another blade as a second black cloaked figure moved opposite the first. Bern. Where was Alden hiding? Two Benduiren would test her skills. She didn’t get long to fight them both. Nydara’s massive silver body hurtled out of the falling darkness.

The dragon grabbed Bern in her teeth and flung the black cloaked figure far into the night. Dreth stumbled backward when confronted with the one thing that could kill him. He turned to run, but Nydara gave him no chance to escape. Bright-orange flame poured from her mouth. Dreth’s scream echoed off the rocks as the silver reduced him to a pile of black ash.

Emallya looked into the large violet eyes of the dragon. At that moment, Nydara looked so much like her mother, Rylin, it made Emallya’s heart hurt. “My thanks, Nydara.”

The dragon bobbed her head and turned on the black dragon that dove at her from the sky. Nydara dodged the green spit of fire and launched herself into the air after the black.

Emallya turned back to the fight and saw the one Paki had identified as Sadira. With her snake-like shadows writhing around her arms, the woman tried to work her way around the Kojen toward Mckale’s back.

She ran to head the woman off. Shock and anger chased each other across Sadira’s deceptively beautiful face. “Come then, mage,” Sadira snarled. “Come feel the bite of my shadows.”

Emallya raised an eyebrow. “It would not be the first time I have felt the bite of such shadows, child. I am not afraid. You think because you have spent a few months practicing that you know everything, do you? Then please, show me the bite of your shadows and we shall see who hurts more.”

The shadows jumped at Emallya and she struck Sadira’s mind with a wave of Spirit magic. It made her own head hurt to do it, with Bardeck so far away, but it was nothing to what the child felt as she staggered back clutching her head. “You do not know what other magic can do to you. You perceive Spirit and Healing magic to be weak.” She struck at her again. The younger woman cried out and fell to the ground. Emallya wove a net around the woman’s mind and began to pull it tight while Sadira thrashed and screamed.

The black tail of a dragon slammed into Emallya. She flew backward through the air and smacked into the side of a rock formation with a crack. She slid to the ground. Blood ran down the back of her neck and soaked her shirt. Emallya staggered to her feet. Her sword gone and her head spinning, she had no defense against the Kojen sword that stabbed into her abdomen. Pain seared through her body as the creature yanked the sword out and moved on. She put her hands to the wound. Blood poured out between her fingers as she crumpled to the ground.