High above, the shadows disappeared, but the fear that struck my heart when Isolde had unleashed them remained. She’d done so to save Filip—right in front of Lord Balik, and although I was quite far away, I could see the Warden of the South’s reaction well enough.
I wished to fly to my mate. To comfort her and then go to Lord Balik and convince him the shadows were nothing to worry about. That Isolde was learning to control them.
But the battle still raged, and fresh blood spilled across the trampled snow. I needed to focus, and focus I did, weaving my destrier between the legs of giants, slicing at their tendons. I struck true once more, and the giant fell, the ground shuddering beneath his weight.
A series of whistles pierced the air. The sound wasn’t recognizable as anything our small force had devised to signal. Nor did I believe it came from a giant. Their whistles would be far louder.
Maneuvering out of the danger, I scanned the valley, hunting for the source, only to see dwarves burst out of their mountainprison. Their stocky horses’ hooves pounded the ground with vengeance as the first wave of dwarves joined the fight.
I changed course and rode to meet them, locating the king easily in the throng of dwarves, thanks to his golden-handled battle axe. When King Tholin spotted me, he held up a hand. His soldiers parted around him, around me, as we stopped to debrief.
“That darkness was Neve’s?” the king asked.
I pretended to be distracted by the dwarves streaming around us.
“I was watching, Prince Vale. I only ask as a courtesy.”
I cringed. “Yes.”
The king exhaled but nodded. “Considering what she’s doing right now, I can’t complain.”
I gaped. Far away from other battles, Isolde and Thyra were fighting together again, and this time both wielded shadows. Their tendrils wrapped tightly around the giant’s thick neck, choking it. The creature thrashed, but the shadows remained steadfast until the giant’s knees buckled, and he toppled.
“I should join her,” I said.
“As will I.”
“Out of the way!” I shouted as the king and I veered out of the river of dwarves in the direction of my mate.
We raced, side by side, through the melee. A handful of dwarves, knights of the Dergian royal house by the looks of them, joined. Giants approached, slowing us, but we were all trained warriors. We downed one, and began work on the second, then the third. However, when a fourth barreled our way, no one saw her until she extended her hand and the king flew off his horse, right into her waiting palm.
“She’s a magic user!” I pivoted to charge the giant holding King Tholin, but the light-footed giantess was already rushing from the fray for the far end of the valley.
“Summoner?” Sayyida called out.
“I think so,” I replied but didn’t dare to look back to see where they were.
Not only was this giantess a rare magic-user among her kind, she was fast, far faster than the other giants, and her long legs ate up the ground. I could not lose her in all that was going on.
Qildor, Thordur, and Sayyida pulled up to race alongside me. I caught the Prince of Dergia’s eyes, stony and hard.
“We’ll get to him in time,” I promised.
“We’d better!”
Pushing the horses to their limits, they wove through chaos until we ran alongside the female giant. Careful to keep a safe distance, I sized up the situation. The giantess was clutching the king in her fist, so I could not see him, could not make sure he was safe. We had to operate under the assumption that he was not. Ropes wouldn’t work here, not when we were all traveling so fast. No, we had to attack from above.
“Qildor and I will fly,” I shouted. “Sayyida, when the king falls, catch him.” Once the giant fell, the king would too. “Otherwise, try not to draw her attention.” The last thing we needed would be for the giantess to summon more people into her palms.
Thordur didn’t need instructions. The moment his father was free from the giant’s clutches, he’d go to his aid.
“Now, Qildor!” We shot out of the saddles, our wings lifting us high.
The giantess’s bloodshot eyes widened as we neared her face. “Monsters!”
Monsters? How rich, considering her tribe was eating other fae.
She waved her free arm in our direction but we scattered like frostflies, avoiding the hand that could take our lives. Her magic pulsed past me, narrowly missing calling me into her hand. Wezigged and zagged out of her reach, until finally, I spotted an opening.
