One wasn’t paying attention as he tried to avoid the objects that Evan was throwing through the air and ran straight into one of the lookout towers.
Sophia let out a low growl. “Oh, man. That had to hurt.”
Although the air was chaotic, the Dragon Elite were handing the Rogue Riders their butts. She glanced around at the barrier. At this rate, it would destroy the elves’ island. They needed to get the Rogue Riders out of there. Hiker had stated he didn’t want to kill them if they could avoid it.
He wanted to give them a chance to reform and maybe after getting booted from the island that they stole, they’d straighten up. But before they could successfully get the Rogue Riders off the land, they needed the barrier dissolved. Sophia suspected that Liv and Stefan were hard at work on it. It shouldn’t be much longer.
The problem for Hiker was restraining himself, and Sophia was witnessing that firsthand as he and the leader of the Rogue Riders circled each other in the air. The woman with long black hair and wearing clothes that looked like they came off a Kardashian rode the orange dragon better than her other dragonriders on theirs. However, she paled in comparison to Hiker and Bell, who moved as one.
All the other riders gave the two leaders a wide berth and fought each other around them. Sophia got the impression that the woman’s dragonriders were afraid of her. And she got the impression that they were terrified of Hiker Wallace, as they should be.
If this woman went after Hiker, she wasn’t going to survive. Maybe she sensed this, which was why she was circling rather than going straight in for the attack. She seemed to be trying to size Hiker up. The leader of the Dragon Elite was simultaneously keeping an eye on his riders, Ainsley on the ground, the barrier, and also this enemy facing off with him. Conversely, the woman didn’t seem to care that one of her riders was fried with electricity by her very own.
The leader of the Rogue Riders did seem interested in something on the ground as she flew further in that direction. Hiker followed.
An explosion stole the sky as one of the demon dragons sent fire at the ground, trying to go after Mahkah and missing. It hit the Bentley. The gas tank exploded and sent the expensive car straight into the air. Fire went everywhere, followed by smoke and shrapnel.
Sophia shielded her face with her arm, suddenly worried about the fire that would spread and burn down the elves’ island. To her relief, she saw Evan speeding in that direction with Mahkah beside him and guessed they had the same concern and would handle things.
However, the explosion had stolen Hiker’s attention, and the leader of the Rogue Riders had capitalized on it. She gestured to someone on the ground, and it only took an instant for Sophia to realize what was about to happen. That person aimed the cannon and fired it straight at Hiker Wallace.
“Watch out!” Sophia yelled while speeding over on Lunis. Due to the intensity of the moment and the need, the blue dragon was able to instantly supersize although it was daytime and there wasn’t a full moon. It would deplete his reserves, but it was worth it. Faster than he’d be able to otherwise, Lunis sped through the air and knocked straight into Bell. The move pushed her out of the trajectory, and the momentum took them to safety as well as the cannonball flew by them, narrowly missing the dragons and their riders.
It hit in the center of the island and created another huge explosion. Sophia glanced briefly at Hiker, who had righted Bell, to ensure he was okay. He was startled but fine. And alive.
She didn’t waste another moment before turning Lunis around as he shrank back to his regular size. Now facing the leader of the Rogue Riders, Sophia scowled and screamed as she and Lunis raced straight for the woman. There would be no more dancing around each other. This woman had threatened her own, and now she was going to pay—with her life.
Chapter One Hundred Thirty-One
Wilder’s heart nearly exploded when he witnessed Sophia and Lunis speed in front of the cannonball to save Hiker. Watching the blue dragon instantly supersize had been incredibly inspiring. Lunis was an amazing dragon, and there was proof of it. However, he hadn’t maintained it long due to the absence of the full moon.
Thankfully Sophia had been successful, saving Hiker and Bell as well as avoiding getting hit. But now Sophia was mad and speeding toward the leader of the Rogue Riders on a dragon that had to be low on reserves. To Wilder’s relief, Hiker wasn’t going to let her have this fight on her own. The leader of the Dragon Elite quickly followed her. That meant that Wilder could take care of the other potential problem on the ground—the cannon.
Wilder reasoned that Ainsley was probably still devoting her attention to sabotaging the other weapons and hadn’t gotten around to the cannon.
“Looks like we have that honor,” Wilder said to his dragon, Simi. He bore down and raced for the weapon. At the back, he spied the loser Rogue Rider who was loading it and preparing to fire again.
“Not on my watch, you old bugger.” Wilder raised his hand and pulled on his wind magic. His ability to focus the wind was what made it the most impressive of his skills. Unlike the wind magic that many magicians had due to their alignment with the element, Wilder didn’t send out a wide wall. That was an option for him, but so was sending a neat stream.
The cannon was the only thing affected by the force that Wilder used. He hadn’t wanted to hit the trebuchet in case Ainsley was somewhere nearby.
The weapon flew backward and took the dragonrider loading it too. It toppled back, and the barrel bent in two from the force of the wind. The dragonrider wasn’t dead but was pinned.
One of the Rogue Riders nearby witnessed the whole thing, and instead of running over to help him, he simply turned and fled at the sight of Wilder racing past. While shaking his head, Wilder sighed at the horrible display of teamwork. He sent another neat bit of wind at the cannon and man, making it roll off him, allowing him freedom—not that he deserved it, but Wilder didn’t want his blood on his hands. He hadn’t wanted Tanner’s either, but the Rogue Rider had left him no choice.
Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Two
Sophia knew that she was allowing her emotions to direct her, but the Rogue Riders had gone too far, and she’d had enough of it.
She sped after the leader of the demon dragonriders, Lunis also urged on by his disdain of these people. The blue dragon soared across the space, moving stealthily.
The woman caught sight of the pair racing toward her and the orange dragon. To her credit, she didn’t retreat like many of the demon dragonriders did. She bent low on her dragon and whipped him with the reins, urging him forward.
This was it. Sophia was going to take this woman down—ridding the world of her and all the problems she’d brought with her. She pulled Inexorabilis from its sheath and brought the sword up, both hands on it as she held onto Lunis with only her legs.
The other rider yanked her sword from her back but held it in only one hand, unable to let go completely.
With a guttural scream, Sophia stood on her dragon. She felt as steady as a rock and knew what Lunis would do before he did it. The pair sped by the woman and orange dragon.
There were roars of protest. Claws raked through the air. Wings flapped.
Sophia blocked all that out as she brought her sword around and swung it straight at the woman. For a moment, they paused in the air on their dragons. The leader of the Rogue Riders blocked Sophia’s attack, but barely.