Rowan checked the instrument panel on his plane and dipped the wing, heading along the shore toward Vlad’s stronghold. Rowan remembered a small area where the Talons and the Grey Council used to land their private planes. Vlad always had a contingency plan for everything. Keeping a plane ready and the landing strip clear for a quick escape would be the Grand Vizier’s top priority, but it wouldn’t remain that way for long. From the smoke and burst of fireballs, it was clear the battle was moving toward Vlad’s landing strip.
Renegade followed Rowan in the other twin-engine plane, keeping below the radar. They’d brought along as many warriors as the two planes would hold, hoping Hunter’s forces could hold off until they arrived. And out of the corner of his eye he spied Stryker, in his Dragon form, flying high above them. Their secret weapon.
Flames and bolts of lightning illuminated the dark sky as hurricane-force winds raced across the island. The rain was unexpected, but welcome. Fire, Air, and Water Wizards, along with the magical community, were locked in a life-and-deathstruggle against the forces controlled by those loyal to Vlad. The storm could tip the scales.
A week ago, the grounds on the site of Bealtaine had resembled something out of a fairy tale. Now they looked like the inside of an active volcano. The tents were in flames, the statues and fountains reduced to rubble and the gardens to ash.
Rowan landed his plane on the private strip behind the castle and cut the engine. Trolls and Fire Wizards from his plane filed out in silence and took cover behind two burned-out vehicles. When Renegade landed, he and his men found cover behind a collapsed helicopter.
Two of Vlad’s mercenaries began firing weapons and flames in their direction. From the tattoo markings on their arms and necks, they were Fire Wizards. They wore Vlad’s crest embroidered on their tunics, marking them as Rowan’s enemies.
Rowan gathered his core heat into a white-hot flame in each hand and hurled it toward the mercenaries. The fireballs hit their target and the Wizards caught fire and turned to ash.
Rowan motioned for the others to follow him into the heart of the island.
He nodded toward Renegade, who, with his men, at a dead run, scooped up weapons left behind by fallen warriors. Meanwhile, Hunter, with a contingency of Air Wizards behind him, raced for the perimeter of the battlefield to cut off the escape of any of Vlad’s men.
Sending fireballs against Earth Wizards was useless. It was like trying to set a diamond on fire. Only the weapons forged and dedicated during the festival of Bealtaine had the ability to kill an Earth Wizard.
With Renegade and his men going to help Hunter, Rowan sped into the thick of the battle. He spun around to gather speed and momentum and cut off an Earth Wizard’s head, then finished off another two. Feeling the heat of moving arrows, heducked as poisoned arrows sped in his direction. They missed their target but embedded in the necks and chests of two mercenaries near Rowan. Screaming their defiance, they cursed Rowan with their dying breaths as they spiraled to the ground.
Rowan’s breath caught. He recognized them both. They were amongst the Wizards who had participated at Bealtaine. He’d known both as good men. Somehow Vlad had turned them against their own kind. Rowan feared the open wound Vlad created would never heal.
Renegade signaled Rowan that he was taking his men to an area over by the entrance to Vlad’s headquarters. The plan was as old as time. If you cut off the head of the leader, his followers would surrender.
Rowan prayed the strategy worked. The battle was in chaos. Unless an opponent wore an armband or crest, it was impossible to identify who was friend and who was foe. Rowan found Hunter and pulled him into a burned-out alcove littered with dead bodies. “Have your Air Wizards located Morgan?” He needed to find her. If something had happened to her, he’d personally level the island.
Hunter motioned toward what was left of the Grand Vizier’s headquarters. “Morgan was ordered to meet with Vlad this morning. That’s where Renegade and his men are headed. We got word that members of the Grey Council and the Talons tried to leave the island. We stopped a few, but Constantine escaped.”
Rowan ducked as an arrow whizzed past his head. “Was Morgan with them?”
“Not sure. The battle has taken its toll. We’ve lost good men in the fight. I’m not sure how much longer we can hang on.”
“No worries. No one else leaves the island without our permission.”
“How can you be so sure?”
Rowan nodded toward the sky and the shadow of a Dragon circling overhead. “My brother. Our secret weapon. Now, will you be able to take control of the island while I search for Morgan?”
Hunter nodded. “With Stryker patrolling the skies, I’ll divert all the Air Wizards to the ground. Until now, we’ve been outnumbered. With your brother and the Trolls, the odds are in our favor. From the little I’ve seen first-hand, the Trolls fight like they have something to prove.”
“They do.” Rowan clenched his hand around the hilt of his blade and reached for another one that lay beside a fallen Wizard. He was going to need two swords for what he planned.
Chapter Forty-Six
Morgan, with Willow’s help, had escaped Vlad, and her first order of business was to find her sister Wizards. She found them huddling together. The walls and floor of the cinder-block room were blinding white. Every chair, table and bed were made of chrome, and the eating utensils, plates, pitchers, and cups were all from polished silver. The sheer glare, and the cramped space, was enough to drive even the most stable mind insane.
That is what happened when, over a half century ago, humans captured Orca whales by the thousands and sold them to aquariums. The whales were forced to live out their lives in blinding white tanks, barely large enough to accommodate their size. Many died of starvation, others went insane, and the few who survived looked like hollowed-out shells.
Three sets of haunted eyes lifted toward her. The female Wizards leaned on each other to stand. Her heart ached as she rushed into their embrace. Of the seven healthy, vibrant women Morgan had left behind a week ago, only Zephra, Bridget, and Aisling remained, and they were close to death.
Zephra was the first to find her voice. “We told Vlad you’d come.”
Bridget’s glance snapped with hatred. “I think that’s what made him so angry. He couldn’t smother our hopes. He couldn’t force us to betray the location of you or our Wizardlings. But I was weak,” Bridget said on a sob. “I never revealed your location or that of the Wizardlings, but I gave him a spell that would counteract Water’s hold over Earth.”
Aisling drew Bridget to her. “You had seen your sister Wizards die at Vlad’s command, and he threatened your life. You did the only thing you could to survive. Spells that are made can be unmade.” Aisling drew her shoulders back and faced Morgan. “We were under constant threat of death. Vlad murdered Briana.She died instantly. Her heart just stopped. It happened so fast it caught us all by surprise. I believe that was the point. Vlad wanted to send a message that he could kill any one of us whenever he liked.”
“When it happened, Patrice rushed toward him with a knife,” Bridget added, her anger so evident Morgan could taste it in the air.
