And Jessina is about to have bigger problems. Because Draven in his massive black dragon forms shoots out of a cloud of smoke and starts attacking right at the same time as people in blue armor rush through a portal on the ground. More smoke washes over the grasslands as the leader of the Blue Clan and some of his soldiers shift into dragons and join the battle as well.
A short distance away from me, Emperor Bane looks like he is still trying to figure out how he ended up in fully human form. Little does he know that one of the rules imposed by the magical wards is that no dragon shifter can transform into a dragon in here.
Which is of course exactly why we lured Bane inside the wards.
In his fully human form, or even in his half-shift, which he still hasn’t had time to transform into, and isolated from both Jessina and the rest of his clan, Emperor Bane Iceheart is now the most vulnerable he has ever been.
Summoning my magic, I create a massive flame of fear and shove it towards Bane’s chest while he is busy blocking Isera’s attacks and throwing ice back at her as well. But just like last time, my magic slams into a shield and just bounces right back.
“He’s wearing some kind of shield!” I call to Orion as he runs up to me.
His black and silver eye begins to glow as he channels magic as well and no doubt tries to throw it at Bane. A low curse escapes his lips, and his eye stops glowing. “My magic can’t get through either.”
Ice shoots through the air as Isera and Bane battle each other with the same type of magic. Based on the way Bane is moving and blocking, Isera’s magic must be able to get through his shield. I frown in confusion.
Then realization hits me. Of course. The shield must only be for mental magic. Bane and Jessina have physical magic themselves, so if they had some kind of shield that stops physical magic, they wouldn’t be able to get their own attacks through it either. But after our battle in their ruined homeland, they now know firsthand just how dangerous Orion’s nightmare magic can be. They must have ordered Severin to create a shield specifically for that kind of mental magic, which would block mine as well but would leave their own ice magic unaffected.
Outside the wards of the Unseelie Court, Jessina roars in fury and panic that she can’t get through to her mate while Draven, now joined by Galen, Lyra, and Alistair, attack her relentlessly.
“We need to help her anyway,” Orion declares, his eye fixed on Isera. “The plan was for all three of us to attack him at the same time.”
“I know.” With a nod, I slide my dagger from its sheath at my thigh.
I lost this dagger in the battle out there in the Silver Clan’s ruined homeland, but Draven found it and brought it back to me. It feels so silly, but I was overjoyed when he gave it back to me this morning. This knife has been through a lot.Ihave been through a lot with this blade, so it feels very comforting to be holding it again.
Regardless of that, though, my actual skills haven’t magically improved. I might know how to wield a knife after all the fish cutting I’ve been doing all my life, but I’m still next to useless against trained warriors in close combat.
However, Bane doesn’t actually know that.
“Let’s try to create an opening for her,” I say, gripping my knife hard.
Orion nods while producing a wicked-looking dagger from somewhere inside his fancy garments.
We sprint forward.
Splitting up, we rush towards Bane from two differentdirections while Isera is shooting ice shards at him from a third one. He snaps his gaze towards us, and the look of surprise on his face is quickly replaced by anger and frustration. Twisting his body, he tries to move so that he can keep all three of us in view at the same time.
Ice shoots through the air. I dive to the side, barely able to get out of the way before a thick sheet whooshes through the space I used to occupy. Rolling across the ground, I leap back to my feet and charge forward once more. My soul is screaming at me to use my magic again. That it has been too long without that comfort now. But I know that it won’t work on Bane, so I block out that incessant urge and instead sprint forward with my knife.
On the other side of the grass, Isera throws shard after shard and spear after spear at Bane with fury and hatred burning in her eyes like hellfire. Her attacks are so relentless that Bane doesn’t even have time to perform a half-shift. If he pauses for just one second in order to bring his wings out, one of her attacks will get through.
A snarl curls his lips as he yanks up ice shields one after the other while still throwing blocks of them at me and Orion to keep us at bay. He whips his gaze back and forth between the three of us every second, and he twists and moves with expert precision. Even though there are three of us and one of him, we still haven’t been able to land a single attack on him.
But his six thousand years of experience and training pale before the sheer fury on Isera’s face. She looks the way she did after she snapped out of her dazed state back in the Ice Palace after finding out that Bane had tortured and humiliated her mother for a hundred and fifty years while draining her magic until she died from it.
Hell itself would tremble before the look on Isera Shaw’s dangerously beautiful features as she faces down the man who murdered her mother. She looks like a goddess made ofunforgiving ice who has descended from the frozen spaces between the stars to take vengeance on this world.
Her black hair streams behind her in the winds that rush over the landscape, and her blue and silver eyes are crackling with cold fury as she screams and throws spears of ice at Bane with a speed that makes worry flit across his face.
Orion and I dart forward with our blades again, forcing Bane to take his attention off her for a second to force the two of us back with sheets of ice.
“You should have killed me when you had the chance,” Isera snarls at Bane, her eyes flashing with vengeance that borders on insanity. “Because not even Azaroth himself can protect you from me now.”
“Little slave,” Bane retorts, a vicious smile on his lips even though it is getting increasingly difficult for him to block her attacks. “So filled with hatred. Such single-minded focus on revenge. You look like…” Shock suddenly pulses across his face, and he trails off.
Isera doesn’t even seem to notice. And she doesn’t give him a second to compose himself again. Increasing the speed of her attacks, she shoots a hail of ice shards at him before throwing three more spears. Orion and I dart forward the moment he’s distracted as well.
But I know exactly why Bane suddenly looked so shocked and I know how that sentence he began was supposed to end.
