Breathing never got easier, though flying was, since I was no longer going against the pull to her. But the panic for hersafety didn’t abate, and I chastised myself for my over-active imagination. There was probably a small situation that was by now well under control.
Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw when I neared the Light Kingdom.
Creatures I’d heard much of, but never witnessed for myself, amassed on the shore. A dozen ships in the bay had obviously delivered this evil on the Light Kingdom and they continued to spill from their decks. The undead used each other like ladders, climbing like ants or insects, heaving unnaturally to get over the walls and flood the dock. Fae ran or tried to hide, but there was no escape. The undead seemed to consume all that lay in their path. Would those poor souls now become like them? I wasn’t clear on the details. But it made my stomach turn.
Nyx, in his massive Night Dragon form, with Zaria on his back, flew in a pass over the wall, a thick stream of fire pouring from his mouth. But the flames didn’t seem to do much good against a whole army of the undead. They charred and burned, but kept scaling, kept moving, and if one did stop moving, more just climbed over it to keep going towards the palace.It was a swarm, and there was only Nyx in the sky to battle them.
Where was Kol? Maybe I underestimated his ability to step up? Or maybe he was already hurt. I roared, letting Nyx know he was not alone in this fight. We couldn’t converse in our dragon forms, but we had ways of communicating our intent that went beyond.
On the walls of the palace, I could see guards braced themselves on the battlement waiting for the undead to climb the walls. Archers shot from their slits, but like the flames, the undead didn’t seem to notice when they were struck. They reached the walls with no issue and climbed. Nothing the guards did slowed them. There were undead with multiple arrow shafts protruding from their bodies still scaling.
New guards appeared carrying vats of hot oil, raising them over the sides on massive chains to overturn on the undead. I wasn’t sure that would be any better than dragon fire, but at least they were trying. The first vat tipped over the side and it washed screaming undead off the walls, but they simply got back up and kept coming.
When the second vat was tipped, I swooped down and lit the oil with my flames, causing a river of fire to flow through the mass of the creatures. It was more effective and many did not get back up after the flames abated. But still more came.
We needed a fucking plan or we’d be overrun.
I flew high over the bay, wanting to get into the palace to check on her, more than I needed my next breath. But I knew if the war on the outside was not won, no good would come of getting inside. So I had to think of something. Nyx and Zaria’s magic combined was helping him produce that deadly dark fire he was known for, cutting through the mass in places. But it couldn’t fight them all.
They didn’t seem to feel or see. They just attacked, all drawn to the same target, using their numbers to overwhelm. It was like they were being guided by magic. Something had to be controlling them.
I’d stayed out of discussions as much as possible when we rescued Kol and delivered him back to Nyx. They wanted to know everything we had seen and heard, and they went over it all again and again. And I willingly told them everything I knew. But as for the rest, I didn’t want any part of it. If I’d been involved in the discussions, I’d have been drawn in further than I already was, and that was not going to happen. So I only knew the basics of these creatures and what they were capable of. I wished for the first time that I had soaked up all I could learn.
I knew something had gone down with some dragon named Octavian, and Nyx had said he was a necromancer. They knewhe was behind the undead, though to what extent no one knew. But to control this many undead would take the kind of power never seen in all the Twelve Kingdoms and beyond. It was too much magic. Any normal fae or dragon would burn themselves out keeping this going for any length of time, but the undead didn’t falter.
And no one could be doing this from too far. It cost as much energy to wield magic from a distance as it did to expand it. The source of the magic had to be close by, and we needed to find it.I scanned the scene. Around the palace, it was carnage. Undead in states of burning were climbing over their smoldering brethren. Further out, around the bay, they swarmed, moving inland towards the palace and attacking everything in their path. It was a writhing carpet of destruction.
But there in the midst of the chaos, one fae stood out to me.
He was deathly still, and now that I saw him, there was no unseeing it.
He wasn’t one of them, but neither was he alive per se. His eyes were clouded over as if he himself was being controlled by magic. Could he be the transmitter? Could Octavian be somewhere safe, using fae to amplify his control? It didn’t matter. He had to be someone important.
I flew over, scouring the masses below, desperately looking for any other fae like that. Someone stood still, untouched by the undead and trance like. There. Another stood on the road to the palace, and once I was attuned to what I was searching for, I started to spot more. A pattern formed. There was a web of them, and in my gut, I knew if we could take out these transmitters, Octavian—or whoever was controlling these monsters—would be cut off.
It was the only hope we had.
If this didn’t change the tide, we’d lose this fight.
I couldn’t imagine the devastation such a loss would cause, and how it would affect the King's opinion on Nyx. I didn’t think it could get worse, but then it occurred to me. If we had to retreat, we’d lose everyone in that hall—Kol, the prince, the princes’ betrothed. I couldn’t allow that to happen. I couldn’t let her die. Everything in my body revolted against the thought. I would go to the Goddess before I let a hair on her head be harmed.
I also refused to acknowledge what those feelings meant as I flew over one of the statue-like fae and blasted him with fire. He didn’t so much as twitch while he burned under the flames.
Standing firm among the swarm, he remained in his trance.
What the fuck?
I broke off and circled back around, searching my mind for any advantage I could use against an unknown force.
It came to me. The elemental magic of my home was the power to wield the air. And if these fae were not undead like the creatures they controlled, then they were alive and therefore needed air to survive.
I beat my wings and hovered low, getting as close as I dared. I had no idea what I was doing, but it had to be worth a shot. I drew on my element, calling to the oxygen around me and feeling that connection with it. Reminding it who I was and where I had come from. We were one.
When I felt it respond to my call, I acted, focusing in on the vacant fae beneath me and—more importantly—on the air in his lungs. I snatched at it, pulling with all my might to command it away from the creature.
The fae gasped.
It was working! He was reacting to my attack.
