They think we’re with the other rider. How would they know that we’re still on their side when we show up at the same time that they’re under attack? Maija heard wooden arrow shafts snap against the energy shield Raffa had summoned to protect her. If I can just get their attention, they’ll see that we’re here to help. If we can talk to them, they might send word to wherever the rest of their people have fled that Anders and I will fight for them, she said.
Maija, Raffa said, sounding alarmed.
Maija looked away from those fleeing on horseback to the smoke-filled streets where Raffa had directed her attention. Pouring out of the haze and onto the streets came fairnheir. The massive houndlike creatures with hellish red eyes snarled and snapped in pursuit of their prey.
Reacting simultaneously, Raffa produced a jet of fire while Maija summoned magic. Just as she had done with the attacking kurr, Maija channeled a pulse of energy from her well of magic. This time the warm electric buzz didn’t fizzle out when it reached her fingertips, rather it exploded from her with more force than she’d ever been able to produce. The burst of energy splashed across the charging fairnheir, sending a deadly wave of battle magic and dragon fire through the streets.
Almost instantly she felt the massive amount of energy drain from her body. She wavered in her saddle, reaching for the crystal-hilted dagger at her side. Maija grabbed the dagger and felt a surge of magic shoot back into her reserves.
The people, she thought to Raffa. He flapped twice and disappeared into the smoke. Maija’s world became a dense cloud of unbreathable air. She held her breath, searching for the horsemen they had attempted to save. Like the others she’d seen, they were riding north, upriver. Feeling the pressure of the beastly hounds continuing to charge toward them, Maija called for Raffa to fly out of the smoke.
Once in the clear, Maija could see the chaos below. The black-haired giant hounds rampaged through the streets. A tangle of horsemen who hadn’t escaped earlier grappled and then fell under their charge. Maija looked desperately for Anders and instead spotted two dragons flying close together.
The dragonrider is distracted, Maija told Raffa. Now’s our chance to take the fairnheir.
There are homes down there, Raffa worried.
Empty homes. The people are gone, Maija said. To make sure what she said was true, Maija expanded her mental search now that the dragonrider was distracted. She fed on the power she’d absorbed from the crystal to gather the scope of the attack. Raffa shared his mind’s eye with her so they could combine what each was sensing.
The hounds below broke the defense, Raffa said.
The only survivors are galloping north. There’s one way to stop them from taking over the city, Maija said. Burn them. The thought made her cringe, but she couldn’t think of another option. She couldn’t reason with the fairnheir; they were evil creatures who acted as agents of chaos for Merglan.
She gripped her saddle and prepared to form an energy shield around herself. Raffa flew over the tops of the buildings and released a steady stream of fire as he passed. The heat and flames they let loose licked around the energy shield Maija had summoned. She continually tracked the fight with Anders and the enemy rider, watching the explosions and streams of flame coming from each dragon.
The fires from the enemy dragonrider and Raffa grew together, catching many of the fairnheir before they could flee to the Bareback Plains east of Aquina. From her perch, Maija could see far out across the grasslands. On the horizon, she saw the mountains tapering south to what she thought was the tree line marking the elven forests. That must be where the orc and kurr army is. There might still be time for us to secure the city before they reach us, she thought.
Having dealt with the fairnheir within the city, Maija turned her sights on Anders. Before she and Raffa turned away from the fire, a black streak came into view. A second later, Maija felt the jolt.
The sudden crash into Raffa’s underside caused Maija to buck from her saddle. She launched forward onto the back of Raffa’s head. Pain burned across her neck when she slammed into him. She would’ve fallen had she not landed directly between three of the dozens of spikes sprouting along the length of his spine. The burn on her neck felt wet and she could see the spike rising up next to her head.
I’m not dead, she thought when she realized she had full control of her body. Taking hold of the spikes and returning to her saddle, she asked, Raffa what was that?
Whatever it was, it hit hard, he said. I think it’s gone now.
Puzzled, Maija climbed back into her saddle and felt at her neck. Her hand was covered in blood, but not more than what a scrape would produce. That was close, she thought. Are you okay? she asked, leaning over to inspect him.
Stop that, it tickles, Raffa said.
Stop what? I’m not doing any... she trailed off when she saw the black form of a demon crawling out from under Raffa’s belly.
Seriously, stop, Raffa said, moving side to side in the air.
Maija’s eyes bulged as she made eye contact with the demon. It bared its sharp teeth and hissed at her. She sent a mental image of the threatening demon to Raffa and said, Don’t move. She prepared to fire a pulse of energy at it when Raffa reacted.
Get it off! he shouted, growling and reaching back with his head to snap at it.
Maija lost control of her pulse of energy sending it shooting past the creature and down into the city below. She gripped her saddle, trying not to fall off as Raffa flew wildly out of control over the city. Maija heard his tail swat at his underside in an attempt to squish the demon like a bug. In the push and pull of gravitational force, Maija lost track of the demon and where they were over the city.
Raffa twisted into a barrel roll. While she struggled to hold on, Maija saw the demon hanging from one of the spikes on Raffa’s side. Again, she transmitted an image of the demon. Seconds later they dropped, crashing into the streets once more. Maija quickly used her energy to create a buffer between herself and the dirt as they scraped to a halt. When she stood and pulled out her sword, Maija saw how close her leg had been to being trapped under Raffa’s side.
Expecting the demon to be battered after being dragged under the full weight of a very large male dragon, she hadn’t reformed her energy shield. The moment Raffa rolled back onto his feet, the demon rushed out at her. Stepping back instead of bracing for the attack, Maija was taken off guard. She barely got her sword in front of her before the demon crashed into her. They landed just feet apart in the street. Maija quickly located the demon, seeing blood seeping just above its hip. She hastily fired a sphere of energy in its direction. The twelve-foot-tall dark mass dodged the attack and took off sprinting down a side street. A fraction of a second later Raffa’s flames blocked her sight of it.
It escaped, but we can catch it, Raffa said, extinguishing his flames.
Maija pushed herself onto her feet, checking to make sure she wasn’t injured before coming to Raffa’s side. I wounded him, Maija said as she climbed back into the saddle and saw the long depression on the street where Raffa had crashed with the demon trapped underneath. One of the creature’s wings lay mangled and bloodied in the trench. And you took one of its wings off. Maija put her sword back in her sheath and settled herself in the saddle, ready for Raffa to take flight again.
He remained poised for takeoff, but his attention was fixed on Anders and Zahara’s fight. Maija saw in horror what had stopped Raffa from chasing after the wounded demon. From the ground, Maija watched the enemy dragonrider come at Anders and Zahara. The dragonrider folded backward onto Zahara’s back and she plummeted from the sky, the enemy dragon chasing them toward the ground.
Raffa unleashed a roar that shook the dirt under his feet and then leapt into the sky, flapping his wings hard.
Maija tried to feel his mind, but he was blinded with emotion; they were going to test their skills against one of Merglan’s dragonriders. She prepared herself and formed her mental barriers. The last real dragonrider fight would’ve killed her had Anders not been there. This time, however, she had a wealth of power.
Chapter 90
Facing the Silver-Backed Dragon
As Zahara climbed into the air, Anders felt the dragonrider’s attention turn to him. He felt a spear of mental energy stab at the barrier surrounding his mind’s eye. The persistent pressure burned like a hot iron against his brain. The crystals they had packed in Zahara’s saddlebags acted as a wealth of power to support him. He only needed to access them as needed, which gave Anders new-found confidence in facing the unknown rider. Though the dragonrider pressed them at a distance, the silver-backed dragon continued to make passes over the northeast end of the city where a wall of fairnheir rolled and piled on top of the corpses that represented the city’s meager attempt at a defense. It appeared that only a few groups of horsemen remained, and they were fleeing through the flames.
The city is empty, but they keep burning, Anders thought, trying to understand the goal to be gained by the burning. With a greater than average amount of magical energy, Anders was easily able to protect his connection with Zahara, When we get within range, I’ll attack him and try to draw him away from the city. Even if the cavalry isn’t protecting the city, Maija and Raffa can still burn off the fairnheir.
Zahara agreed so they focused on chasing down the dragon that continued to spread a thick stream of molten fire on the adobe homes.
Soaring around the thick columns of smoke, Anders could hear the fairnheir below. Wishing she could burn them as she passed overhead, Zahara held back her flames. Small groups of people were trying to outrun the hellish hounds. Zahara dove unable to let them get by without some form of attack. With the dragonrider’s mind still probing at their barrier, Anders pulled Lazuran from its sheath. It was too risky for Zahara to use fire so close to the people they were there to defend, but that wasn’t the only way she could cause damage.
As they approached the edge of the city, Zahara pulled out of her dive just feet from the ground. She let her legs drop from their tucked position; Anders could feel her stiffen in bracing for impact. She cut a swath into the pack, raking fairnheir with her sharp claws as they flew overhead.
Picking several massive black hounds out of the group, Anders summoned his power. The warmth from the electric buzz flashed through him as he released three streams of magic at once. The streams cracked through the air like lightning, striking the creatures in their tracks. A moment later, one of the fairnheir in the lead jumped at a fleeing horseman. Zahara’s speed carried them into the path of the hound and Anders swung his blade down, severing the beast through its back.
Suddenly a burst of flames flashed to their right. Anders reflexively produced a shield to block the intense heat. Pushing the flames away, Anders reached for more energy from the sapphires in his sword. The silver-backed dragon poured fire down at them, but Zahara swung up and out of the way. Feeling the heat vanish, Anders instantly dropped the shield and focused on his mental defense. He’d become used to absently leaving a barrier of energy walling off his mind from any mental attack and was surprised to feel Tarron’s presence bolstering his efforts. The ancient rider’s soul was taking the brunt of the attack from the enemy rider.
Not having time to react to anything else, Anders responded to the attack seconds later. The dragon cut across Zahara’s path, rolling upside down as it flew over her to allow its rider a clean swipe at Anders. Blocking the rider’s sword and pushing energy to enhance his strength, Anders lifted the passing sword above his head. The instant the sword scraped past Lazuran, its tip cut through the thick shoulder pad of his riding armor, missing his flesh.
Anders lowered Lazuran, adding to the magical energy in his arms and extending it out through the sword. His wild swing fell directly into the path of the dragon as it finished its barrel roll. Just when Anders thought he might end the life of the enemy rider in one fell swoop, his energy-blade deflected off an invisible shield. What he thought was light sparking from the deflection quickly turned into a sphere of energy rocketing toward him and Zahara.
Luckily, Zahara saw the attack before Anders did and reacted before he could recover from his swing of the sword. Anders tucked forward, pressing his chest flat against the back of her neck. With no shield prepared, he felt the brush of air as the blast of energy passed inches above him. The leather absorbed the heat from its path and moments later he felt the transfer of the heat onto his skin. He groaned as the heat gradually increased in a diagonal stripe across his back; he thought his leathers might actually be melting.
Zahara had turned to tail the dragon, tracing the dragonrider’s flight through several evasive maneuvers before Anders was able to fire an accurate shot of magic at them. The rider’s shield blocked it, sending shards of energy into Zahara’s path. She rose, tilting upward to create separation between herself and the dragon.
Unable to see the rider during their climb, Anders touched on Tarron’s presence. He was distant. At the back of his mind, Anders sensed Tarron chanting in the dragon’s ancient language. Recognizing some of the words, Anders realized Tarron was preparing a mental attack on the enemy. Thinking he might need a better conduit to release his magic, Anders opened himself to the sapphire’s soul.
When Zahara leveled off, Anders caught sight of the silver-backed dragon whipping around to face them head on. Sensing another challenge, Zahara pressed forward, increasing her speed. Anders prepared to use the magic that Tarron had been preparing. Hunkering low on Zahara’s nape to form a smaller target, Anders could clearly see the rider atop the dragon charging at them. The dark brown riding armor mirrored the color of his dragon’s flanks and underside while the silver trim matched the dragon’s back. Long black hair blew out from under his helmet. The pointed nobs on either side for his pointed ears told Anders he was an elf, as Natalia predicted.
Still waiting for Tarron to conjure the spell, Anders began to worry that the enemy rider would reach them before Tarron was finished. The elven rider’s palm glowed. Anders began to panic. He needed to keep himself open to Tarron if they were going to use the powerful spell. They were within range of the silver-backed dragon. Anders’ eyes widened as the dragonrider released the magic at him. Zahara hadn’t moved, anticipating Anders and Tarron would strike first. The energy flying at Anders was going to hit them if he didn’t act now.
Anders pulled his mind away from Tarron and pushed a massive wall of shield magic out of his palm. The bolt of magic directed at them collided with his shield energy directly in front of Zahara’s snout. Anders fueled more magic into the shield, holding it out in front of Zahara as she rolled out of the rider’s path. Anders released the energy, feeling its effect on him as he reached for the saddle handle to hold on.
Anders, you need to keep your mind open to me! Tarron shouted at him. We might’ve had him if you hadn't broken contact with me.
