Unleash the Storm (33 page)

She sat back and let her arms fall from Natania. The woman wiped her cheeks and pushed her hair back from her face. She lifted blurry blue eyes to Piper.

“I just wanted one more chance to live, to try again.”

Piper touched her arm. “I know. It’s okay.”

More tears trickled down her cheeks. “Don’t make me go back. I can’t bear it. I can’t—I just can’t—”

Piper squeezed her arm, smiling gently. “You don’t have to go back. I don’t know what comes next, if there’s another life after this one or just peace, but your time is long past due.”

Painful hope lit Natania’s eyes. “Is … is it over then?”

“I think so.”

“Please,” she whispered, clutching Piper. “I just want it to end.”

Piper pulled Natania back into her arms, holding her the way she would a heartbroken child.

“Close your eyes,” she whispered.

Natania buried her face against Piper’s shoulder, holding her tight as though she really were a lonely child in too much pain. Piper closed her eyes too and slowly pulled in all her love and compassion. She wrapped it around Natania, letting it flow through the woman, filling in the gaping wounds left by betrayal and isolation, calming the seething hatred and acidic bitterness.

Natania sighed softly, the tension lifting from her body. As she went limp in Piper’s hold, Piper could sense peace well up from within Natania, pushing away the last of her violent rage and leaving only gentle melancholy and a quiet undertone of hope.

“Thank you,” Natania whispered.

“May you find peace, Natania,” she whispered back.

With an aching heart and tears running down her face, she felt the chains of magic that bound Natania in her stone prison dissolve, the rage that had fueled them gone. The woman’s mind and soul slipped away like water rushing through her fingers, and then she was alone in her own head.

H
er eyes flew open
.

In a single instant, she felt it all: the raging maelstrom of power ripping through her body, her fist still poised in the air for the strike Natania had interrupted, and the Sahar’s magic rapidly unraveling inside the stone clutched in her hand. Layer upon layer of weavings laid into the Sahar five hundred years ago were coming apart at the seams.

In a single burst, all the power contained in them came howling out of the Stone and into her body.

She screamed in agony and fierce determination as she whipped her fist down, unleashing the vortex of power within her. Magic tore out of her. The four towers exploded in colossal blasts of silver power. Bolts of white lightning shot for the sky as wood and stone debris launched in every direction, raining down on the estate before the explosion dissipated, leaving giant black craters where the structures had been.

And then, finally, silence.

She dropped to her knees, gasping for air through the blinding ache that seared every nerve in her body. Even though the raging maelstrom of magic from the Sahar was gone, it still hurt to breathe. Her muscles shook violently and her heart pounded erratically in her ears.

Painstakingly, she lifted her trembling hand and opened her fingers.

A crumbling clump of silver dust sat on her palm where the Sahar had been. She stared at the remains of the all-powerful, indestructible lodestone. A gust of wind blew over her, whisking half of it away and scattering sparkling dust across the wet rooftop.

Natania’s soul was free. Piper smiled weakly as a few tears mixed with the rain on her face.

A loud warning chirp made her look around and she was shocked to see Zwi standing beside her, back arched and mane standing on end. She’d forgotten all about the dragonet. Zwi growled at her and nipped Piper’s elbow, the pinch shocking her out of her daze.

Flicking her hand to cast away the Sahar dust, she lurched to her feet, staggering as her muscles threatened to give. Just as she regained her balance, red light flashed all around her from a dozen reapers teleporting onto the rooftop.

Zwi snarled ferociously and transformed in a flash of black flames. She spread her wings and jumped in front of Piper. As she arched her back and lowered her head threateningly, blue fire rushed over her wings and down her tail—Tenryu’s blue fire. Zwi was drawing on Ash’s new powers too.

The nearest reaper flung a glowing red attack at them. Piper tried to summon a shield but agony flared through her every nerve and she almost collapsed.

Zwi roared and the blue fire running over her scales leaped higher, devouring the attack in a flare of azure. The dragon leaped forward, springing at the reaper before he could react. She bowled him over, her fangs ripping into his body, then she snapped her tail around, connecting hard with another reaper. His pained cry didn’t quite cover the sound of his bones breaking.

As the other reapers hesitated, Zwi whirled around and jumped toward her. Piper had one shocked moment to realize what Zwi was doing—then the dragon used her head to scoop Piper onto her back as she jumped off the rooftop.

Sprawled backwards across the dragon’s back, Piper hung on as Zwi dropped with her wings spread wide—wings no longer capable of flight and barely slowing their fall. The dragon crashed down on the ground, her legs buckling. Piper was thrown off her, rolling across one of the dragon’s flame-coated wings and onto the wet cobblestones. Her clothing sizzled as the puddles extinguished the flames that had clung to her. Good thing neither leather nor dragon scale was very flammable.

She staggered to her feet as Zwi clambered to hers, shaking her head side to side in a daze. Piper’s eyes shot for the rooftop to see the reapers illuminated by nearby flames. She swore, her eyes darting to the entrance to the Chrysalis building. She was supposed to be with Lyre but she couldn’t lead these reapers straight to him.

“Come on, Zwi!” she yelled.

She broke into a limping run, bullying her body into cooperating. Zwi followed and they darted into a dark, narrow pathway between two buildings. Red light flashed behind them as the reapers teleported onto the ground. She and Zwi ran, careening through twisting alleys and pathways in an attempt to lose the reapers. The pouring rain hid the sound of their footsteps but also disguised any noise of pursuit.

When she couldn’t run anymore, she stopped in the shadowy opening where a footpath opened out into a sprawling stone courtyard. Breathing hard and still shaking from the aftermath of the Sahar’s power rampaging through her body, she propped herself on the wall with one hand, looking around as her desperation grew.

She didn’t know where she was. She didn’t know where anyone was, including the reapers chasing her.

Blue light lit the clouds above.

Tenryu soared above the barracks as he unleashed another blast of blue flames. At the same time, a red orb shot from a rooftop below the dragon. It struck his underbelly and Tenryu roared, so loud that, even at a distance, the sound vibrated in her chest. A swirling inferno of blue and black fire consumed the dragon as he dove for the rooftop where the blast of magic had come from. Flames erupted in every direction, tearing the building apart.

From another rooftop near the dragon, a red glow appeared as a new magic orb was fired, illuminating the distant silhouette of some kind of large turret gun. Three more blasts shot from various rooftops as Tenryu raced into the sky, ascending out of the weapons’ reach.

Guns to shoot down flying opponents: another deadly combination of magic and human weaponry. Ash and Tenryu needed to help the draconians fighting the Hades soldiers on the ground but they couldn’t if they were too busy evading and destroying the turret guns. She clenched her hands, helplessness choking her. How was she supposed to help?

As she studied the nearest turret gun, frantically thinking of what she could do to destroy it, a different kind of red flash caught her attention. A reaper appeared beside the dozen soldiers manning the weapon. He spoke briefly with them before vanishing again.

The urgency drumming in her head stilled, turning to ice. That reaper had been a runner delivering orders to the soldiers operating the gun—orders from a general. The well-timed activation of the shockwave spell hadn’t been a coincidence; though they could have activated it immediately and prevented a great deal of damage to the estate, someone had waited until all the draconians were inside the perimeter wall and engaged in combat before incapacitating them. And someone had ordered men to those guns to attack Tenryu. Someone was coordinating all of this.

She shouldn’t have underestimated Samael’s preparedness. Even with his war on Earth, he’d been ready for an attack on Asphodel. He was too calculating, too organized, too ready to counter anything they could throw at him. They wouldn’t win this war, not as long as Samael was in control.

She knew what she had to do.

She spun around to the dragon behind her. “Zwi, do you know where Samael might be? Can you take me there?”

The dragon cocked her head, then rumbled in her deep dragon voice. In a flash of black fire, she transformed back into a dragonet and chirped at Piper. Turning, she ran across the courtyard and down another path. Piper sprinted after her, pulling her bloodied short swords from their sheaths.

Zwi led her toward the center of Asphodel. Even though the draconians had intended to focus their attack on the barracks, the battle had spread into the rest of the estate. As she ran, reapers and draconians darted across her path, fighting viciously, seeking the killing stroke. She dodged them, not stopping. Every minute that passed was a chance for Samael to reveal his next surprise and she didn’t think they could survive anything more.

Charging past the raging flames of a building on fire, she put her arm over her nose as the smoke burned her lungs. Her eyes watered, the toxic haze blinding her as she ran through the smoke—straight into a horde of monsters.

The half-dozen beasts stood over seven feet tall with scaly black skin and huge pointed horns like a bull. Their hooved feet clattered on the cobblestones as they jerked around toward Piper, glowing yellow eyes finding her. Terror rushed through her when she recognized them as the same caste as a daemon she’d seen leaving Samael’s office on her first visit to Asphodel.

Zwi shrieked a warning and transformed again. Piper threw herself backward as the nearest beast snatched at her, its stained claws missing her face. She whipped her sword up, slicing across its hand. It snarled, the sound like an infuriated grizzly bear.

As Zwi leaped into a pair of the monsters, Piper swallowed her fear and lunged in. Using her first sword to force the creature’s hand away, she ducked under its arm and jammed her blade into his ribs—except her sword hit its scaly hide and barely scratched it. It roared and swung its arm, clubbing her in the head and knocking her clear off her feet.

She landed hard and rolled upright, only to take a blast of sickly green magic in the chest from one of the beasts. Her dragon scale clothing blunted it but it still hurled her to the ground all over again. She crashed down on her back as Zwi roared furiously. The beast that had blasted her jumped forward, claws reaching for her.

A dark shape dropped out of the cloud of smoke and came down on the beast’s massive shoulders. Seiya ripped her claws through its throat, jumped clear as it collapsed, and unleashed three blades of black dragon fire at another daemon.

Piper surged back up, steeled herself for the coming pain, and called on her magic. It burned through her like acid but she managed to summon a whip of twisting blue and purple power. She flicked her hand, sending it snapping out toward two beasts. They both tried to shield, but with flashes of orange light, her attack sliced right through their barriers and into their bodies. Zwi pounced on the last daemon, her jaws snapping down on the back of his neck.

Seiya whirled toward her, her ponytail swinging out behind her.

“Piper!” Seiya grabbed her arm. Blood ran down her face from a slice across her temple. “Are you okay? That Sahar blast was insane.”

“Fine,” Piper gasped, still catching her breath after the pain of using her magic. She wasn’t really fine, all things considered. Ariose had sliced her up pretty good with his spell and that didn’t even include what the Sahar had done to her. “Where’s your company? Why aren’t you with them?”

“We were separated.” Seiya’s jaw clenched. “That
sound
started up and we were barely managing to defend ourselves through the pain and they drove us apart so they could pick us off more easily. We lost so many.”

She broke off, hastily regaining her composure. “We need to help Ash. They’re pinning him and Tenryu down with those damn guns.”

“You can go for the guns if you want,” Piper said, “but I’m going for Samael.”

Seiya’s eyes widened. “Is he here?”

They’d all been hoping Samael was on Earth, supervising his war there, but Piper couldn’t believe it.

“This is going too badly for us. He’s here. I know it. I have to find him.”

“Cut the head off the snake,” Seiya said fiercely. “Yes. He’ll be in the main hall.”

Piper straightened out of her pained hunch. “Where’s that? Are you sure?”

“It has its own special wards. With the estate wards compromised, it’s the only place he would be. Let’s go.”

They broke into a fast jog. Zwi ran after them, still in dragon form. Zala flew in out of the darkness and dashed ahead, scouting for danger. Seiya led them into a narrow alley and they picked up the pace, running for the center of Asphodel. In the distance, explosions of magic boomed and the earth shook. Piper glanced back and saw an eerie blue glow on the horizon.

With Zala leading them around any further reaper encounters, they moved fast. The buildings morphed from simple and industrial to elegant, old-world structures of stone and wood, with peaked roofs and curling, decorative eaves. They sprinted through garden courtyards and cut beneath covered wooden boardwalks.

As they ran into a narrow gap between two long structures, Seiya slowed and dropped into a half crouch, creeping toward the opening. Piper followed, the pattering rain and distant—sometimes not so distant—explosions covering the sound of her footsteps, and they stopped together, peering out from their shadowy shelter.

An enormous, elegant building rose at the far end of a cobblestone courtyard. Beneath a steeply sloped roof, massive double doors etched with shining silver designs, at least fifteen feet high and quadruple the width of a regular doorway, dominated the front face. A grand entrance to a throne room, no doubt.

Piper glanced over the building before focusing on the courtyard. Over thirty soldiers—elite knights, judging by the gold bands adorning their right biceps—stood guard, long-handled pikes in their hands.

“The whole thing—building and courtyard—is heavily warded,” Seiya whispered. “The only way in is through that arch.”

At the front of the courtyard was a large wooden arch inlaid with matching silver designs. It looked utterly innocuous, just another decoration, but they couldn’t approach the arch without every reaper seeing them coming. And even if they could get inside the arch, she, Seiya, Zwi, and Zala were no match for thirty elite knights.

“How do we get past them?” Piper whispered hoarsely.

Before Seiya could answer, the reapers in the courtyard stirred to attention. Pikes flashed down in readiness. She and Seiya flinched in unison but none of the reapers were looking at them.

Diving out of the sky at high speeds, two-dozen draconians shot like dark bolts straight through the arch and into the courtyard. They crashed into the waiting wall of reapers with roared battle cries. Black and red magic flashed, and two-dozen dragonets transformed into their dragon forms. They ripped into the reapers.

“That’s Raum!” Seiya gasped, jumping up. “Raum is leading them! Let’s go!”

She ran out of their hiding spot, sprinting for the arch. Piper ran after her, raising her swords as the shaded battle calm swept over her. They charged through the arch and into the bloodbath.