Over the cairn, guardians rose into the sky. They spread out over their homestead, using the flight pattern Tristan had devised. Their airborne numbers would top Jessie’s.
It wouldn’t matter, not even a little. Tristan had learned from Alpha Steele and the shifters, and his strategies and planning had grown in leaps and bounds. He’d come a long way in a short time. Gimerel would feel their wrath.
His heart thudded. Jessie’s magic matched it, the drumbeat of war. She fed it through the connections, invigorating them all. Getting them on the same page.
Alpha Steele was nearly to the last tunnel. There, they’d exit their vehicles, shift, and head up the rest of the way in beast form.
Guardians beat their wings above their fortress. At the top, a lone figure walked out onto a wide landing.
Nelson.
He’d watch the battle from his stoop, the way he always did. He’d probably assume a smug expression as he did so, assured of his victory. He had no idea what he was about to face.
Here we go,Tristan thought, pushing himself to attack speed. Austin’s motor brigade stopped. They exited quickly, hyper-organized.
Jessie braced herself within Tristan’s grasp. She didn’t wiggle to free herself yet. They were still too far away.
Thunder rolled through the sky. It drifted all around them as the great thunderbird flying above the guardians sounded his readiness. Cyra was next to him, probably a streak of fire. Below the guardians were Jessie’s immediate crew, Jasper, Ulric, Niamh, and Mr. Tom.
Another peal of thunder reverberated across the valley. Jessie’s magic pounded them with anticipation.
The big polar bear emerged from the other side of the tunnel, moving at a measured pace. His shifters followed. Basajaunak ran last. Their purpose would be to scare the absolute hell out of anyone on the ground while the guardians battled above.
Closer now. Nearly above them. Jessie’s magic swelled, and the power in it stung his eyes.
She’d grown by leaps and bounds as well. When she’d confronted Gimerel’s raid, she’d had training wheels. Now, she was a force to be reckoned with. She had more experience, more determination, and fewer reservations about ruthlessness. She’d found her darkness and learned to bask in it the gargoyle way.
He strained, wanting to fly faster. Wanting to slam into the enemy with everything he had. But he held himself back. They had a spectacle to provide first. The battle would come next.
Tandor Holling flew at the front of the Gimerel guardians.Huh.He wouldn’t have been Tristan’s first pick for the lead enforcer position. He could be ruthless, but he got frazzled much too easily.
Tristan would spin his head around today.
Nelson stood stoically, his hands spread along the stone banister. Tristan could just make out his expression: annoyance. It took him a moment to understand why.
Garhettes crowded the square, stood along the sidewalks, and populated the lanes. They looked at the skies, ignoring their guardians and focusing on who was coming. All ages were present, from those just barely old enough to be on their own to females well advanced in their years. Some wore slinky dresses with made-up faces, customary for finding mates, but others wore pants, long sleeves, and sturdy boots, standing in a way that said they wanted to fight. They didn’t have weapons, though. They wanted to be taken, and then they wanted to be armed. They were looking for jobs, not mates.
A rush of pride filled Tristan unexpectedly. All the garhettes from Kingsley’s had gone home, back to their lives. It seemed they’d liked the taste of battle, and then they’d told their friends. They were a battle species, after all. They’d been held back because they didn’t have wings. But the battle at Kingsley’s hadproven wings weren’t necessary to kick some ass, and now the garhettes wanted an opportunity that Gimerel wasn’t providing.
Jessie absolutely would. Gargoyles weren’t like shifters: if the raiding cairn could take their opponent’s people, they did so gleefully. He’d rob this cairn blind of personnel.
The guardians above the cairn spread out, ready for impact. Tristan drove right at their heart as thunder rolled around them and fire streaked through the sky.
Jessie’s power throbbed once, twice, and then her spell tore loose from her outstretched hands. A great wind rose up from near the slope, tossing the clothes and hair of the garhettes before gaining force and slamming into the guardians above. The elemental magic shoved them hard and high, scattering their patterns and tossing some into the turbulent updrafts above. Fire took over, billowing and blasting them, sending them careening into the sides of the mountains or down toward the distant ground.
Her strength and power were incredible. Eye-opening. The garhettes’ mouths dropped open, and Nelson took steps away from the stone banister.
Tristan put on a burst of speed.
More spells ripped loose, more explosions aimed at the air next to the guardians so Jessie wouldn’t do any real damage. They’d get a thrill, a shock, and they might think she’d missed at first, but soon, it would be obvious she was clearing them out of her way. She didn’t need to fight with tooth and claw. The damage she could do from a distance was plenty to win this battle.
Nearly to the cairn, and the guardians were all over the place. Not one had been able to hold their position.
Garhettes looked up at her, dazed and smiling. More than a few put their hands up like children, wanting to be taken with her.
Jessie wiggled, and Tristan flung her toward the gentle slope and the cairn. She caught herself and flew until she was on level with Nelson, twenty feet separating them in the air. Her roar sent a thrill through Tristan’s heart, and then she fired off spells, slapping Nelson with magic.
He spun to find cover, trying to duck into the fortress, only to hit a magical wall. A tumult of spells peppered him, shoving him this way and that. He screamed, terror ringing in his voice. Pain.
