A choronzon. They had a choronzon.
The giant beast undulated over the ground through the path in the center of the army, heading toward the draconians. It was the size of a dump truck, twice as large as the one she’d seen so many months ago. As it moved out of the trees, another shadow behind it turned into a second choronzon, its tentacles whipping in every direction with uncontrolled fury. Two?
“Shit,” Lyre muttered. He pulled another arrow.
“I don’t suppose you have any more of those super exploding arrows, do you?” Piper asked weakly.
“Only one,” he said. “And I’ll need to be much closer to use it—too close for them to destroy the arrow in the air.”
“One isn’t enough. There are two choronzons.”
“Three,” he corrected.
She looked back to see a third monster sliding out of the trees. Another ripple ran through the army as the first choronzon reached the front line. The soldiers lifted their scythes and a roar of sound rose from them, swelling as hundreds of voices joined the war cry. Fear swept down her spine, more chilling than any draconian’s Nightmare Effect.
And then the forward line of troops charged.
A draconian warrior began barking orders. The wave of approaching bodies surged toward them, dozens upon dozens of soldiers that would soon number in the hundreds. They would overwhelm the draconians in minutes. The choronzons would rip apart anyone who escaped the first attack. And then the army would flow through the pass and into the city beyond. It would be a slaughter.
Terror gripped her, shaded calm pulling at the edges of her mind. She shimmered into her daemon form as she spun and grabbed Lyre’s arm.
“The Sahar,” she gasped.
His eyes, as black as hers undoubtedly were, widened with shock. “No.”
“Lyre, they’ll butcher the draconians! No one here can stop an army. The Sahar is our only chance.”
“With the Sahar, you will be our butcher, not them.”
She struggled to concentrate. Despite everything else, his voice was making her knees go weak and scrambling her thoughts. Seiya rushed over, her head snapping from them to the army and back, her brow scrunched with confusion and fear.
“I can control it,” Piper said.
“No, you can’t!” he yelled, the force of his anger, compounded by the magic in his voice, shoving her back a step. “You didn’t see what that bitch did to you, what it took for the ryujin to put you back together again. She destroyed your mind, and you won’t survive it a second time!”
“I know what she’s planning now,” she yelled back. “I can hold her off long enough to attack the army. I know I can!”
“What then? She takes over your body and kills the rest of us?”
“Then save that last exploding arrow for me.”
He froze in place. Seiya’s mouth fell open. Behind them, the draconians scrambled to get in position as the gap between them and the charging army vanished too fast.
“You want me to kill you?”
“If Natania takes me over, yes,” she said tersely. “What other options do we have, Lyre? That army will destroy the draconians. We can’t let them. We have to stop them.”
He hesitated, hanging on indecision.
With a flash of red light, a reaper teleported onto the rock behind Lyre. Seiya sprang, her swords instantly in her hands. The blades cut deep, blood spraying. She kicked the body off the rock and it tumbled out of sight.
“Lyre!” Piper shouted. “Give it to me before it’s too late!”
His head whipped to the side as he took in the army. The front choronzon surged ahead of the soldiers, tentacles curling over the first of the boulders in the pass. A dozen reapers vanished in flashes of red as they teleported. The draconians shouted as the reapers appeared among them, scythes spinning through the air. Magic erupted all around as the draconians defended and the first casualties fell beneath the curved blades and red magic of the reapers.
Lyre swore and yanked her down beside a boulder. Seiya jumped in front of them, guarding them as Lyre dug in his pocket. He pulled out a walnut-sized amethyst and slapped it into Piper’s palm.
“The Sahar is inside. Once you break the outer stone, Natania will be able to possess you.”
She clutched the purple gemstone as familiar warm magic tingled against her skin. “The ryujin made this?”
“Yes, to protect you from Natania,” he snapped. He grabbed her arm, his fingers digging in. “Are you sure about this?”
Panic swam through her. “I can hold on long enough to make a difference. I have to.”
He jerked his head in a nod, his eyes black and his beautiful face so cold he hardly looked like the incubus she knew.
Red light flashed all around as more reapers teleported into their midst. A draconian screamed as a thick red tentacle wrapped around him, crushing his wings and snapping his ribs. The choronzon pulled itself onto the large boulder they were sheltered behind, tentacles snapping in every direction.
Lyre jumped up, an arrow in his hand and nocked on the bowstring in an instant. He fired almost point blank into the creature’s bulbous, octopus-like head. The tiny arrow was no more than a glowing gold speck on the massive beast—and then it exploded, blasting a gory hole in the creature’s skull. It bellowed and writhed violently, somehow still alive with its innards dribbling out the hole.
Lyre pulled another arrow and fired it, somehow hitting the same spot even as the beast flailed. It screamed and flung a tentacle toward him. Seiya jumped in front of him, casting a shield between them and the tentacle. The force of the blow shattered her shield and they were both thrown to the ground. The second arrow detonated, sending a spray of greenish blood shooting in every direction. The choronzon went limp, sliding off the rock and back down the slope.
A wave of Hades soldiers surged over the rocks, charging the draconians. The army had reached them. The second choronzon let out a furious, bloodthirsty howl as it reached the boulders of the pass.
It was now or never. She clutched the amethyst, mentally barricading her mind as best as she could. Please, please let her hold out against Natania. She took a deep breath and called on her magic to break the protective gem casing.
Over the sound of the choronzon’s cry, an earth-shattering roar erupted from somewhere unseen, silencing every other sound.
She froze in place, the muscles in her body locking down. She knew that roar.
Chapter Twenty
Every living thing on the battlefield hesitated in a single moment of shared surprise and confusion. Even the choronzons went still. Heads tilted up, eyes lifting from their enemies to the bright sky. Piper looked up with them.
A huge black shadow swept over the western summits. The great dragon screamed his war cry again, his wings trailing lines of blue fire like glowing banners.
Tenryu swooped past the draconians and over the valley. With jaws gaping wide, he unleashed a blast of fire into the middle of the army. Flames engulfed dozens of soldiers and their screams shattered the shocked paralysis of the rest of the troops. A hundred reapers hurled blasts of red magic at Tenryu as he swept back into the sky. The attacks sloughed harmlessly off his scales.
The dragon turned in the air and dove as blue fire erupted over his body. He plummeted out of the sky and struck the third choronzon with earth-shaking force. Fire exploded outward in a swirl of blue and black. The dragon’s wings lifted out of the flames and he launched back into the sky. The fire died, revealing the burning remains of the crushed choronzon.
The draconians let out cries of triumph and attacked the nearest reapers with renewed ferocity. With the Sahar in its amethyst casing still clutched in her hand, she scrambled on top of a boulder, staring desperately at Tenryu. She squinted as he wheeled around in the sky and dove again, unleashing another lethal blast of fire into the Hades army.
There, a tiny figure on the dragon’s back between his shoulders, his own wings lit with blue flame. It was Ash!
&
nbsp; “Piper!”
A hand grabbed her leg and yanked her off the rock as a blast of magic flew past her head. She fell onto the ground beside Lyre. A reaper spun toward them. Lyre whipped his bow across the daemon’s face then jammed the arrow in his other hand into the daemon’s eye socket. He ripped the arrow out, nocked it, and shot it into another reaper’s throat.
“Defend yourself, damn it!” he snarled as he pulled another arrow.
She jumped up and shoved the Sahar down the front of her halter top. The only weapons she had were the tiny ryujin daggers—totally inappropriate for a war. Why the hell didn’t she have any other weapons?
A surge of motion from the forest captured her attention. With the thunder of beating wings, a flock of giant birds flew out of the trees, reapers mounted on their backs. They surged into the sky, heading straight for Tenryu and Ash.
“Oh no,” Piper gasped.
Over fifty rocs sped toward the slower dragon. As Tenryu beat his wings, climbing higher into the sky, Ash leaped from his back. Folding his wings, he plummeted downward at impossible speed. He plunged into the midst of the rocs and snapped his wings open. Blue and black fire burst out of him, engulfing dozens of the birds in an instant.
Tenryu dove too, sweeping into the disoriented flock. He smashed right through them, bowling them out of the sky with his body, wings, and tail, heedless of the attacks their riders were throwing. Ash darted back to the dragon, retaking his spot as Tenryu tore through the remaining rocs.
With a red flash, a reaper appeared directly in front of Piper, blocking her view of the sky. His scythe swung toward her.
Mahala sprang off a nearby boulder, landing on the reaper’s shoulders. She rammed her sword into him, yanked it out, and spun on agile feet to clash blades with another reaper. With a quick parry, she sliced his thigh with the tip of her sword. He vanished in a blink.
Spinning on one heel, Mahala turned to Piper. She pulled a short katana from its sheath on her hip and handed it over.
“Ash is here,” she said, sounding as calm as if they were discussing the weather in a sunny meadow full of butterflies. “The dragon is attacking the Hades army.”
Piper nodded weakly.
“What does it mean?” Mahala asked. “Should we still fear the dragon?”
“I don’t know.”
“I see.” She raised her sword. “Let’s rid the valley of this scum, and then we will find out if we have a new ally or another enemy.”
Piper clenched her jaw. Ash was not their enemy.
Lifting her blade, she let her shaded instincts take over. Vicious calm spread through her, clearing her mind of everything but the enemies before her and the blood she was about to spill. She sprang into the fray, sword flashing. Fast as a reaper and protected by her dragon-scale clothing, she charged recklessly among the soldiers, dealing any wound she could inflict. Lyre followed her, his arrows picking off the reapers who teleported in behind her.
All around her, the draconian warriors poured down the pass, some flying ahead and landing among the enemy. The reapers were scattering under Tenryu’s onslaught and the draconians charged into them, driving them back into the valley toward the great dragon’s deadly fire.
Together with Mahala fighting on one side and Seiya and Kiev on the other, Piper pushed out of the pass and onto the flat, rocky ground after the warriors. Her sword bit into a reaper’s flesh, disabling his weapon arm. She flicked the blade up, cutting his throat. Another appeared in front of her. Another enemy to defeat. They seemed endless, more and more swarming over the valley as she and the draconians fought on. Her blade cut again and again until her arm ached and burned with fatigue.
And then, finally, there were no more enemies before her. She looked up.
Tenryu swooped over the battlefield, unleashing lethal blue infernos wherever the last of the reapers gathered. The forest was burning, great columns of black smoke boiling into the sky. The soldiers were fleeing but there was nowhere to go except into the forest fire. Those who could teleport far enough to outpace the spreading flames had already done so.
The dragon made another pass over the exposed soldiers, blasting them into blackened bodies. Piper looked around but there was no one left to fight. The last choronzon was dead, its corpse still burning. The army was destroyed. They had done it—all thanks to Tenryu.
She lowered her sword, the others standing around her, Lyre still holding an arrow in his bow. The last few draconian warriors who’d stayed to guard the pass glided down and landed behind them. Together, they watched the dragon sweep over the destruction again, but this time he found no fleeing soldiers to destroy. With a triumphant roar, he angled toward them. The waiting group tensed as Tenryu glided in, flaring his wings to land fifty yards away.
It was too easy to forget how massive the dragon was; her brain could barely comprehend it. Tenryu had tried to kill her more than once and she’d seen too many demonstrations of his power already. If he decided to kill them …
The dragon let out a loud, angry snort, smoke puffing out of his nostrils.
Then Ash slid off the dragon’s back onto the ground. Blue flames flickered over his wings and glowed from the cracks in his scales on his arms and shoulders. He still wore the strange black armor, a fitted piece covering the lower half of his face. Without so much as a glance at Tenryu, he strode toward them.
Piper’s heart swelled in her throat. No numb stiffness stilted his movements. He walked like a man in command of himself. Could it be? Was he free from Tenryu’s control?
Her sword fell out of her hand, clanging on the rocky ground. She threw herself forward, breaking into a mad sprint. The ground flashed by underfoot, unnoticed. All she could do was stare at his eyes, filling her vision even with fifty yards between them—eyes that didn’t glow blue with mind-destroying power. His irises had more of an electric blue tint to them now, but she could see him in them, could see his soul again.
She didn’t slow down. Lifting her arms, she flung herself into him.
His arms closed around her, holding her tight, and the torn and shattered pieces of her heart instantly mended. Scars from the pain she’d suffered would forever mar her heart, but it was whole again. She clutched his neck as hard as she could and fought the sobs rising in her chest.
After a moment that lasted an eternity, she unclamped her arms and leaned back. He met her anxious gaze as the last of the blue fire faded from his wings and the flecks of azure in his eyes disappeared. Familiar gray irises looked down at her.
“You’re back,” she whispered, forcing the words past the lump in her throat.
He reached up and detached one side of the armor on his face. Pulling it off, he pushed it out of the way to hang off one shoulder. She stared hungrily at his face, drinking in the sight of him. She’d thought she’d lost him … She’d thought he’d been lost forever and that it had been her fault.
Without thinking, she grabbed his face and crushed her mouth against his in a desperate kiss.
Someone behind her wolf-whistled and she jerked back, so fast Ash hadn’t even had a chance to return her kiss. Blushing hotly, she dropped her hands as though he’d burned her and turned around.
Lyre, the most likely source of the whistle, grinned. Seiya stood beside him, clearly torn between relief that her brother was back and disapproval of the kiss. Mahala simply smiled, while Kiev looked determinedly at his feet, a blush visible above his face wrap. Piper resisted the urge to melt into the ground. Aside from their first kiss in the Styx ring—which had been extremely public—she and Ash had kept their developing relationship as private as possible. So much for that.
Two dozen yards behind them, Hedya and Eyal stood at the front of the group of draconians. For a bunch of tough-as-shit warriors, they looked distinctly intimidated by Ash and Tenryu.
Lyre stepped forward, still grinning. He was back in glamour, looking as harmless as usual. He clapped Ash on the shoulder, giving him a once-over.
“Glad to
see you’re back. That was great timing. And … nice outfit?”
Ash smiled faintly. “Glad to be back.”
Piper shivered at the sound of his voice, so longed for while he’d been gone. “So are you … okay now?”
“Yes.” He glanced up at the dragon. “Tenryu and I worked things out. He’s actually not that bad.”
Tenryu growled, the sound vibrating from his massive chest—but it sounded almost … grumpy? He stretched out his neck, lowering his head to Piper’s level. If he’d opened his jaws, she could have fit her head and torso into his mouth with little trouble. She resisted the urge to step back; she wouldn’t let the oversized lizard intimidate her. Okay, actually, she was plenty intimidated, but she wouldn’t show it.
Buzzing pressure brushed over her mind.
You are a troublesome creature, silver child, he rumbled, but I am grateful for your tenacity.
She stared with wide eyes. Ash frowned at the dragon.
“That wasn’t much of an apology,” he said disapprovingly.
She shot him an alarmed look and gave her head a small, insistent shake; she really didn’t need a better apology, not if it meant antagonizing a beast that could squash her like a mouse.
It seemed Ash could hear the dragon’s telepathic voice as clearly as she could. Judging by the blank confusion on the others’ faces, however, they couldn’t hear a thing.
Tenryu snorted, the gust of air from his nostrils blowing her hair back from her face. Folding his wings, he lay down. Burnt remains of the battlefield crunched noisily under him as his weight settled on the ground.
Ash started to say something else but broke off, glancing at the horizon. A cluster of flying shapes came into view—a group of draconians heading toward them. As they drew nearer, Piper recognized Eliada, plus another dozen unfamiliar, older draconians. They landed beside Hedya and Eyal, leaving that same two dozen yards between them and Ash—or perhaps they just wanted to keep their distance from Tenryu.