Too fast to be stopped, a brilliant ball of energy surged from Raithian, crashing against Midnight’s chest, and blowing him back. Blood sprayed over Braxton’s face when they tumbled backwards, the hit being far more powerful than anything I’d seen the Warlock use.
“Braxton!” The distressed shout burst from me, anxiety gripping me because I could not help him, Star and I had a battle of our own to endure. We swerved left when another spear flew towards us.
“Midnight!” Braxton bellowed at the same time, falling off Midnight’s unconscious form while it plummeted to the ground. A tattered hole carved Midnight’s chest.
No!
I turned away, pain slicing through me as Star and I destroyed another launcher, her fire breath engulfing the sentries blindly following Raithian to their deaths. When I looked back, pushing the whipping hair off my face, what resembled a blanket of golden magic suddenly spread below my mate, creating a floating platform for him. He landed on a crouch, then swiveled to the right, his Dragon Eye glowing.
Midnight’s body crashed onto the fight below us, taking out about a hundred sentries as well as some of our own warriors. Answering Braxton’s command, Vyper and Ardor rushed towards him, lifting Midnight from the battlefield, and pulling him towards the sidelines. Using their combined energies, they tried to heal him.
Our few surviving warriors writhed on the ground while others rushed to help them.
“Do not touch my Dragons!” Braxton roared at Raithian, standing to his full height, and hurling an energy ball of his own towards him.
When Star circled the sky, I noticed the first slave behind Raithian had collapsed to the ground. The shot Braxton fired in response should have blown him back, but it only fizzled before the Warlock’s lifted palm, and another slave crumpled.
Horror and fury coursed through me with the realization. He was using our people as disposable sources of energy to increase his power with each attack.
A sinister smirk stretched Raithian’s lips when his eyes suddenly pinned me in the sky. He knew I had figured it out and he seemed proud of his feat.
Behind him, the slaves began to fight the chains that held them, their cries of fear increasing with the realization of what awaited them.
Braxton’s arms began to circle the air, glimmering power gathering between them—perhaps the extra energy he absorbed from the ward.
“Let’s go to him!” I turned Star in the air, heading straight for my mate, and seeing him jump from the magical platform.
Steps of light formed beneath his feet while he ran towards Raithian. Spinning to get momentum, Brax thrust both hands forwards, sending a surge of deadly power at him. It hit its mark. The Warlock King’s body was blown back, forcing him to crash into the next five people chained to him.
Star and I dove under Braxton the moment his last light step vanished, sweeping him from the sky. Landing on her back, he rolled to a stop on Star’s neck, and we both watched in dismay as the wave of energy spread over the Warlock’s form, but instead of roasting him, he redirected it to the five slaves. Their bodies convulsed over the ground; their mouths open in silent screams until they stilled.
“Are you alright?” I asked, reaching for Braxton, and seeing him nod.
Several more spears flew towards our Sky Legion, but they quickly shot back.
Among the mayhem, fire balls suddenly flew towards us from Raithian’s hands, and Star abruptly swerved to avoid them. Braxton’s magic exploded several of them mid-air, but many more followed.
“They are fucking bursting out of him like bullets from a machine gun!” My mate growled a second before one of them came straight for me.
All I saw was fire. Fire crashing against my chest.
“Aaah!” The scream echoed around us while the force of the hit sent me against Braxton’s body.
Except, the blaze that should have consumed me only fizzled, a shimmering golden shield instantly spreading over my form. Heart thundering, I glanced up at Braxton, ragged breaths fighting to enter my being. “What did you do?”
“Protect the one woman I can’t live without.” His eyes glazed with relief when he pulled me closer, clearly thankful his protection had worked.
So was I. Pulling him by the neck, I claimed his lips fiercely, showing him just how much.
“You need to get away from me,” he urged, his eyes boring into mine. “Raithian’s only attacking you because—"
Star jerked in the air, two shots hitting her no matter how desperately she tried to evade them. Thankfully, her scales withstood the fire, yet we whirled in the sky for a few moments.
Exchanging his energy with Star, Brax helped her recover, then pressed his mouth to mine, stealing another kiss. “I’ll be okay.”
Without waiting for my response, he jumped off Star’s neck, creating a new magical platform mid-air. The fireballs immediately changed course, heading straight for my mate.
Squaring off to Raithian, energy spread out of him instantly, creating a swaying wall before him that disintegrated the shots on contact.
His Dragon Eye glowed yet again, sending a message to the other Dragons, but I lost sight of him when Star circled back. Instead, I witnessed the spear launchers once again rebuild from the ashes with green energy, and new sentries pushed away the bodies of the dead, only to take their place.
Slave after slave collapsed behind Raithian, their life energy drained so he could keep his attack on Braxton.
My grip on Star’s scales tightened, fists trembling as the loss of each of them sliced through my being. Tears ran down my cheeks, dragged away by the whirling breeze like they were never shed, and drums of war beat louder and louder within my warrior heart, demanding justice.
The Warlock King would pay for this.
He would pay for every single life he stole from us.
I swore it.
“Enough!” Braxton roared, and all the Dragons echoed his demand, even Star.
Tharion slammed against the side of the volcano the next instant, with Azazel on top of him. Sharp black rocks exploded in all directions, raining over us, but Alkor, Spartan, Spike, and Star got Elijah, Kingston, Harper, and I out of the way in time.
Pulse raising, I glanced back at the volcano, noticing one of Azazel’s heads limply hung from its neck—dead—the green light gone from the two eyes. Several more wounds covered his body, but there were also injuries on Tharion.
“It will never be enough!” the Warlock King snapped, calling my attention towards him and Braxton.
Before he could move, the wall that protected Braxton disintegrated, and he sent a whip of light flying towards Raithian. It swiftly curled around the glowing chains that extended behind him, connecting him to our people, and melting them off him. His link to them severed.
They all ran back, petrified, trying to get as far away as they could from the Warlock, and gathering against the caves. A smile of appreciation gripped my heart as I glanced at my mate. Even if he couldn’t see it.
Furious, Raithian captured the light whip, yanking Braxton forwards, and throwing him out of the platform. Unfortunately for him, my mate called on the magic again, vanishing the whip, and with it, Raithian’s hold on him. The sphere of energy formed around Braxton, and he hovered in the air, his defiant gaze on Raithian.
Harper, Elijah, Kingston, and I fired with our Dragons at the spear launchers once more, incinerating them and the sentries who manned them. This time, however, they didn’t resurface. We all glanced at each other across the sky in both shock and elation. Raithian’s renewing magic was broken now that he didn’t have the slaves directly connected to him.