More warlocks came behind them. So many Abi couldn’t count them all. They were all clones of the first four.
Peter ran to them from the cabin. Seeing him was a relief.
Seryn ran toward Eshan. He must have realized the danger he was in. There were too many. He couldn’t take them all at once. Seryn shoved Eshan, making him stumble and then fall. The magic streams were severed.
Peter pushed magic into Nash, healing him. Abi had seen him do it a thousand times. He knew what came next, but he hadn’t prepared himself for Nash screaming in pain.
Abi growled.
Nash's eyes opened, and then he lost consciousness again.
Peter met Abi’s gaze. “Get Eshan out of here!”
Abi shifted into a dragon again. He made a beeline straight for Eshan. Once he got to him, he shifted to his human form and grabbed his hand, pulling him as far away from the warlocks as possible.
He practically dragged him into the forest. He kept going into the trees until he was well away from magic users.
Eshan leaned against him. The exhaustion was evident.
“I’m going to shift into a dragon. Do you think you can hold on if I fly you out of here?”
“Don’t drop me.”
Abi rolled his eyes. “I won’t drop you.” Nash had made the flying thing look easy. Abi wasn’t sure if he would be stable enough in the air to not crash-land, but Eshan needed a getaway plan fast.
Then the doctor jogged to them. His entire focus was on Eshan. “I’ve got him,” he said to Abi.
“How is your energy level?” he asked Eshan.
Abi was ready to get back into the fight, but he stayed long enough to watch the doctor shift and fly Eshan out.
Nash was already conscious again by the time Abi got back to him. He sat up and just breathed because that was what Peter told him to do.
Nash met Peter’s gaze. “Abi?”
Abi raced over to him. “I’m here. Right here, mate.”
Relief turned to tears. He held Nash’s face in his hands.
“The warlock coven is helping Mallor,” Nash whispered.
It made sense. They were the only warlocks close enough to create an army so fast. “Their magic is strong. Strong enough to create copies of themselves.”
“Copies?”
“Clones, I guess. I don’t know how they’re doing it. They just keep coming.”
“We need to do something and fast,” Peter said, just as someone screamed.
Indeed, fighting raged on around them.
Peter threw a gray light at someone who ran toward them.
Nash met Peter’s gaze when there was a lull in the warlocks who tried to get close enough to kill them. “Do you trust me enough to fly with me?”
Peter nodded.
Nash hooked an arm around Abi’s waist, then around Peter's. In a move that defied gravity and just about every other law of physics, Nash jumped with them in his arms and turned toward the cabin. Running at a speed no one as big as him should be able to accomplish, he took them far enough from danger so he could shift in relative safety.
