He roars. Galen, Lyra, and the other two black dragons break formation and charge to the left before the mass of silver dragons reach us. Ice and fire and huge dragon bodies smack into each other as the two forces collide.
Jessina breathes a torrent of ice flames straight at Draven and Diana while she shoots upwards into the sky to claim the high ground. My stomach lurches as Draven rolls to evade the ice flames while surging up after her. To our right, Diana roars while Fenriel clings to her spikes. Talon flies above his shoulder, keeping pace with the speeding dragon.
Storm winds howl around us as Draven slams his magic straight at Jessina. She roars in fury and breathes ice flames like a wall before her. The winds smack into it, followed by bolts of lightning that crack into the ice with enough force to make chunks fly through the air. Draven presses the advantage, breathing fire at her. With the help of our union bond, the fire roars through the air stronger and farther than before, and Jessina is forced to dodge as it burns through her already cracking shield.
Ice shards shoot towards us from one side as Jessina uses her magic to attack from the right while breathing more ice flames at us from the front. Diana dives, barely escaping before the shards can slash through her wings, while Draven throws a blast of wind at the ice. Both of them breathe torrents of fire straight at the ice flames, melting them before they can hit.
I press my thighs harder against Draven’s scales as he swerves in the air and then shoots forward. Lightning crackles around his massive black body. Jessina roars in a challenge and charges straight towards him.
“Draven!”I yell into his mind.
He closes his side of the union bond right before Jessina slams into him. I scream as her claws slash across his chest. But because he closed the union bond, I feel none of the pain.
Clawing at her body, he tries to keep her trapped while he lunges for her throat. She yanks her head back right before his teeth can sink into her flesh. With a furious roar, she rips her claws out of his chest. Draven screams in pain but then breathes fire straight at her face.
Desperate, I shove at Jessina with the meager energy I have recovered, but the shield that Severin made for her remains intact, so my magic can’t get through.
“Open the fucking union bond!” I scream at Draven.
With it, he is faster and stronger, and both his dragon fire and his magic are more powerful. He needs every advantage he can get.
Jessina sends a block of ice shooting towards Diana while she snaps her teeth towards Draven’s throat. He twists his head out of the way, lightning flashing around him. It cracks into Jessina, and she roars. Losing her final hold with her claws, she is forced to jerk back as Draven tears himself out of her grip.
“You thickheaded overgrown bat!” I bellow and thump my fist down on Draven’s scales. “Open it!”
He yanks himself the final distance away from Jessina’s claws and then finally opens the union bond again.
“Don’t ever fucking do that again!”I growl into his mind.
His exhausted laugh, laced with pain, rolls through my head.“So bossy.”
Before us, Jessina swings back around and breathes a massive torrent of ice flames all across the sky. Draven and Diana shoot upwards, barely escaping it. But Jessina anticipated the move. Surging upwards as well, she speeds straight for Diana.
“Watch out!” I yell.
Fenriel ducks.
Jessina barrels forward.
But right before she can crash straight into Diana, a massive cawing cloud slams into Jessina instead. She shrieks in shock as a huge flock of birds flies out of Draven’s storm clouds and swarms her.
With a roar of challenge, Draven lurches forward. Speeding through the air, he aims straight at Jessina while the birds scratch and claw at her scales, blocking her vision. She slams her wings, trying to force the birds back while breathing ice flames all around her. The birds screech while trying to get out of the way, but whole sections of them are caught in the ice.
Diana, who summoned them all with her magic, screams in agony.
I duck as Draven flies right into the storm of birds, aiming for Jessina. She snaps her head towards him and shoots more ice flames, but she is forced to retreat as the birds try to rip at her wings.
Keeping my magic at the ready, I wait for the right moment. It will come. I know it.
Jessina lets out a furious roar as she is forced backwards through the sky.
The dragons around her go completely insane.
“Selena!” Alistair bellows from somewhere on my left.
I snap my gaze towards him.
Panic clangs through my skull as a horde of red, white, and silver dragons breaks past our own forces and barrels straight for us. Draven and Diana are still desperately forcing Jessina backwards through the sky.
